The Day Before The Pagudpud Experience

We are now at the last week of March 2015 and the heat is terrible around Manila City. School has ended and summer has officially just began. With the excitement of getting relieved from school's stress, office burnout, and heavy load of house chores, we thirst of a relaxing break. To get out of the busy city, polluted environment, and just go where we can unwind and recharge our strength.

So we decided to go to Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte where they call it the untouched Boracay of the North. So secluded and 2 hours away from Laoag City, we can experience a bit of out of the civilization. We went there before sometime of April 2011 and it was fun, though I was not able to get pictures because of unpreparedness.

But before we packed our bags, we took care of the housing of our lovely siberian husky pet. We do not want her to be alone in the house and we cannot take her with us too. (We just commute you know).

Bags are packed and we dressed simply, shorts and t-shirts, we just wore sandals with the anticipation of warm beach, white sand, green to blue waters, and to have some fun too!

It is 5PM and we hopped in the tricycle to give us a ride to Partas station bound to Pagudpud. We are early at the bus station but unluckily, the bus bound to Pagudpud is fully booked and our option is the bus going to Vigan. We can wait at Vigan bus terminal for the Pagudpud bus, technically waiting the bus from Manila to arrive in Vigan as the bus line employer told us that there will be ample space when the bus arrives. The fare is peg around 599 each from Manila to Vigan. Huh, no choice but to take it. Why did I not planned purchasing tickets months before our trip?!

At last 7pm and off we go, we hurriedly climb the bus and look for our bus seats. Jaha and hubby sat beside each other while my I sat across us. I should be sitting beside Jaha but since the supposed seatmate is a woman, hubby just let me sit there instead :). So excited and nervous at the same time because I haven't traveled this far by bus for a long time. So many speculations like a heist on the way, bus breaking down the highway, road accidents, and the likes. We did not even had time to eat dinner because of the waiting.

Our ride is cool, very nice conductor. He knows every passenger stop and he did extra effort to wake them up, and carried their bags. I cannot exactly remember how many bus stops before we reached Vigan, maybe 4 or 5 and we ate along the way. I can feel the hunger but cannot eat much... afraid of taking a dump in case my stomach aches. Plus my daughter vomits because she complained about the bus perfume she disliked and the food that bounces in her stomach as the ride sometimes went rocky.

At last we made it to Vigan at 4am and made a quick stop at the bus station eatery. Jaha ordered her favorite leche flan from Marsha's and tastes so yummy! Happy tummy!

We anticipated that the bus bound to Pagudpud will arrive after an hour but to our surprise it made it by 4:30am and off we went again! Thank God for the exact vacant seats just for the three of us. The fare from Vigan to Pagudpud is around 250+, cannot remember the exact number. So bye Vigan for now, you will be our next scheduled vacation trip, for sure.

From Vigan to Pagudpud, travel time estimates around 3 hours. We had a stop at Laoag station and some foreigners hopped off. Looks like they were Brazilians as they chat with the language I recognized... Español. Or maybe a nationality somewhere in Latin America. One of the men I saw looks like my hubby's friend... Noy, silly I was not able to take a picture, am shy, hehe.

Along the route from Laoag City to Pagudpud, a fresh delightful view of farms, trees, beach, rocks, animals, and so much more that manifests a rural life. Life outside the city, so relaxing, so fresh,so clean, and so friendly. As I laid back at my seat, I did not noticed that slept and just awaken at Pagudpud station.

This now starts our beach experience!