Road Trip to Ilocos, Part 3: Pagudpud....... the next Boracay?

As I walk on the shores of Pagudpud, I noticed that it has come alive and is brimming with the typical activities that you would normally find in Boracay.

White sand beach festooned with multi-colored flags.



A variety of hotels and resorts.









Henna tatoo



Shell trinkets sold on its beaches.



My, it even had a bikini open!



Some guests even chose to vacay there instead of Boracay for a change of pace.

Pagudpud is a better option, I think, because unlike Boracay, most of the beach is relatively free of bancas. The bancas are only allowed to dock in two designated areas. Prices are much cheaper, there's less people, the water is bluer and most of all, it's more tranquil and less commercialized.

Now, a braid girl and a masseuse on the beach are the only ones missing for a truly "Boracay-ish" experience.

Road trip to Ilocos, Part 2: Into the deep

Our day started with the alarm going off at 6am. To take advantage of the empty beach for pictures. Hubby and I both said we'll sleep five minutes more. Five minutes turned to an hour.

At 7am, the beach was already teeming with people swimming and taking an early morning walk. Even Jay-jay beat us to the beach. He was already happily playing with his toy soldiers in the sand.


Here are some of the pictures from this morning's early beach romp:







The fourth photo was taken by my nephew Jay-jay.

After playing with the kids for a while, everyone was hungry. We all opted not to eat at our hotel since the food really sucks. We ate at Villa del Mar again and had the usual tocino, tapa and corned beef meal. Except for the tapa, everything was satisfactory.

We were itching to visit a small area that we've visited during our very first trip to Pagudpud many years ago. It's a mangroved area where the stream meets the sea and is accessible both by foot (which is 3 kilometers away) or by boat, five minutes away. The boat it is. We were sadly disappointed that the sand from the incoming tide had closed the "opening". We saw some rock formations near the beach and had decided to snorkel while Jay-jay plays in the sand with my mom and his nanny.

I was extremely freaked out with the amout of seaweeds in the water and found it icky to swim amids the weeds. Perhaps because the bangkero (boatman) warned us that there are poisonous fishes lurking in the water. Fortunately, none of us were harmed, poisoned or killed. We watched carefully where we swam. We saw some interesting fishes there but were unsatisfied. We were perhaps comparing it to our past experience in Dakak where the corals and the many species of fish and anemone are just a stones throw away from the shore. We instructed the bangkero to take us to a good snorkeling area that's not too deep.

The bangkero really knows his stuff. He took us exactly where we needed to go. It was just deep enough for us to snorkel in confidence. I was so glad that the boatmen only drop anchor in the sandy portion of the reef, to avoid damaging the corals. We all voted for Jacob to see the snorkeling landscape first to make sure it's worth our time :-). The water was crystal clear and we can make out the rock formations from above. He quickly came up and said "Ang ganda, you should see it!" Both Angel (Jacob's wife) and I opted to keep our life vests on while snorkeling so that we don't freak out if our masks get some water or something. Jacob braved the water sans the life jacket so that he could dive deeper and get closer to the fish.

It was such a fantastic experience! We saw an assortment of corals in different colors and sizes and multicolored fish that you would just normally see in books and the Discovery Channel. The view from above water cannot compare with the beauty that we found under. I could spend the whole day snorkeling there. Each landscape and fish variety is prettier and more diverse than the previous one. There was even a brain coral that was so huge, we were able to stand on it and the water barely reached our knees! (The water is maybe 25-30 feet). Too bad we didn't have any pictures :(

I was so glad that Tita Socky taught us to snorkel in that Dakak trip! Otherwise, I wouldn't have been brave enough to see the wonders of the deep. Next step, diving...Gulp, kaya kaya ng powers ko?

My mom was getting antsy on the boat and wanted to have a cold soda and she was getting nervous with both her children in deep water. It was also past lunchtime, time to go back and eat. We reluctantly said OK.

Now, getting back up to the boat was the greatest challenge for me. I have zero upper body strength and pulling myself up was excruciating. My brother and the bangkero both had to haul me up while I frantically flap my legs to get on the friggin' boat. I was laughing hysterically the entire time that they were pulling me up. After heaving me to the boat my bro said "Ang, laki ng huli natin!".

Lunch again was at the Villa del Mar. We had "Bagnet" Bicol Express which we all declared as "panalo". We also had inihaw na Liempo which was served with tomatoes and chili, Lemon Chicken which has a weird taste, "talo".



After lunch, hubby and I stayed in our room to rest and blog :)

Afternoon came, I demanded my sunset walk at the beach. Merienda first said my hubby. We saw a fishball/sago/gulaman concessionaire along the beach and we tried that. It was your typical Pinoy street food. They only had kikiam and cheese sticks left. It was ordinary and not very good. I decided to take some pictures instead.

The sunset was very picturesque indeed. As evidenced by this picture. We found a nice spot at the end of the pagudpud cove. Perfect for taking pictures and a great vantage point if you want to watch the surf crash into the rock formations below.


Dinner was at Casablanca Grill at the other side of the cove.. It was quite a walk from our hotel. The menu looked promising, unfortunately, most of the dishes that we ordered were out of stock. The food there though is just so-so. But, they do have the best service in the cove. The staff was courteous and accommodating. The grillery is located within the Terra Rica Beach and Dive Resort overlooking the beach. Nice view, at least.

We have a full day ahead tomorrow. We all voted to immediately retire to bed right after dinner. My husband is already fast asleep as I write this blog. Goodnight...for now.

Roadtrip to Ilocos, Part 1: Saud Beach Resort and Hotel

My initial trip to the scenic province of Ilocos was many many years ago when the whole family went on a long road trip to see what Ilocos had to offer. Hubby was just my boyfriend then. My late Tito Florante toured us around and showed us the wonderful old churches, markets and of course the white sand beaches of Pagudpud. I was entranced by the sheer beauty of the province.

This Holy Week, hubby and I decided to come back the third time around. Together with myy mom, brother with his family and his children's nannies, we took this opportunity to trek back to Ilocos and rediscover its wonders once again.

We left home at 11:00pm to avoid traffic. Usual daytime trip would normally last 12-15 hours depending on the traffic and how long your bathroom breaks are. We made such good time. We only spent eight hours on the road including stopovers. Woohoo!



Our ultimate destination is Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte. We love it's white sand beaches and turquise waters. We've booked three rooms at the Saud Beach Resort and Hotel. The rooms are conveniently located near the dining area and very close to the beach which is perfect for us. Very near the action, so to speak.

The rooms that we booked were spacious enough. The resort itself is quite old. But it's clean and it's not too crowded despite the holy week season. The bathroom has hot water and bidet, they provide simple towels and soap. The water pressure in the shower was low and I had to spend twice as long to take a bath due to this. I was told that this is already the best place to stay in Pagudpud. Hubby and I have stayed here before a few years back. And our stay was overall pleasant and enjoyable.

Since we arrived early, rooms were not ready yet. First order of business was breakfast. We opted to just eat at the resort's one and only restaurant. The breakfast fare (as well as lunch and dinner) is very limited. For breakfast, you have a choice of Tocilog(Tocino, Sinangag at 2 Itlog), Longsilog (Ilocos Longanisa,is garlicky and sour, Sinangag at 2 Itlog). Both come with either fresh fruits or juice or coffee (P180 per order). They also have buttered toasts with jam and fresh fruit and coffee (P120 per order). American Breakfast with bacon, eggs and toast (P195 per order). Their menu is quite unimaginative and tad too expensive for the quality of food that they serve. We scanned the nearby resorts for possible dining alternatives.

We went swimming at the beach earlier. And even brought our snorkeling gear with us. The snorkeling lanscape in our resort wasn't up to par (However, my brother was able to spot an eel and a salt water catfish). Eager to find better snorkeling digs, we decided to explore the nearby Blue Lagoon which reportedly has the best snorkeling landscape in the area. The information counter in our hotel told us that it's just 30 minutes away by car. So off we go, thirty minutes included traversing through zigzag roads, uphill climb and a P20 entrance fee per person to the lagoon. It's not really a lagoon, it's a white sand beach with clear blue azure water much like the resort where we're staying.

The Blue Lagoon is very nice and picturesque but a bit crowded since it doesn't have the "exclusivity" that the other beaches in the area enjoy.
The bathroom and picnic table facilities were minimal, at best. We opted not to snorkel there since the waves were quite fierce. We just snapped to few photos as mementos and went our way.

We wanted to go to the Kabigan Falls. We've seen lovely pictures of it on the internet and would love go see for ourselves. Also, it would be the first time for Jay-Jay and Ashley to see a natural waterfall. Upon arriving there, we found out that we cannot bring our cars and would have to trek 1.5 kilometers to see it's natural beauty. We had children with us so we opted out on this adventure. The guide told us that they can provide a "convertible" for us to take us to the falls. Convertible is a car with it's roof hacked off. Um, no thanks. Back to the hotel please.

Upon arriving at the hotel hubby and I walked hand in hand on the beach with the beautiful sunset guiding our path. That was by far, the best part of my day. I'm demanding a repeat by tomorrow. Wouldn't it be just fabulous if we can do that everyday?


Dinner was at Villa del Mar. A nearby resort, five minutes away by foot from our hotel. We feasted on Bagnet with bagoong isda and tomato dipping sauce (yum!), shrimp sinigang and chop suey. Food here is 100% better than Saud Beach Resort and they change their menu depending on what's available in the market. Everyday is a new culinary surprise.

Overall, the Saud Beach Resort and Hotel is a very nice place to stay in when you're in Pagudpud. Prime beach front location, clean rooms, courteous staff. Their food is their major downfall. The food is sadly "carinderia" quality in sheep's clothing.

Say, what?!!!

I was browsing through Shopwise earlier to buy some storage bins. I chanced upon this bamboo chopping board. It was cute with alternating light and dark stripes. I thought it would make a nice board for cheeses, breads and stuff. Until I read the label:



Read carefully and please let me know if you've made sense of it.


Here's another mind boggling description on the packaging. It's a bit blurry but you can still make out the cryptic message:



I mean, who writes these things?

"100% simple savageness"

"Come from the new life"
"In tasty, in great universe"

I swear the writer was abducted by aliens. Either that or he's on crack.

Unusual Desserts

One time, hubby was in the mood for some Japanese food and we happen to be in the Roxas Boulevard area. We opted to dine in Kimono Ken at the Blue Wave mall. We ordered the usual fare that we both favored. Katsudon, Gyudon and Futo Maki. A unique dessert caught my eye. It was the Mango Tempura.

Mango Tempura is basically just fried mangoes with tempura batter. Topped with vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup. My curiosity got the better of me, so I ordered it. I was quite disappointed, it didn't meet my expectation on several levels. First, the mango wasn't sweet enough. Second, the tempura batter was too bland, some powdered sugar on the batter would have improved the taste remarkably. Third, the ice cream was just your run off the mill variety, I was hoping that it was home made like some Japanese restaurants have. Last, I would have preferred a vanilla syrup or condensed milk instead of the chocolate. Of course, this is just my personal preference. The price was cheap enough, it was just P80.00 per order. You're better off with a mango parfait somewhere else. Barring that, the food in Kimono Ken is pretty good and quite affordable. Meal for two would typically cost P700 with drinks and one shared dessert.

Another dessert that caught my eye was the strawberry cheesecake of Starbucks (P120 per slice). Their version is very different from the traditional cheesecake
with strawberry topping. Theirs has a nut crust, I'm guessing cashew nuts. It's quite hard to tell because the nuts were pounded to oblivion. The crust is not too cinnamon-y which is great because it doesn't overpower your taste buds. The cheesecake itself is light and not too sweet, just the way I like it. What's so unusual about it is that the cheesecake itself is topped with a thin layer of sponge cake, jam and then about an inch of strawberry mousse which was really really good. Finally, paper thin slices of strawberries and clear gelatin. Yummy. Perfect with your cup of Joe. It was so good, I ordered it again the following night :-)

Simple Strawberry Trifle

Hubby and I found some really great strawberries at the supermarket last night. We bought some and I made strawberry trifle. Same as the one that I made on Valentine's day.

It can be made in four easy steps:

1. Cube the store-bought Taisan or sponge cake and place a single layer on your bowl. You can use pound cake or butter cake for this recipe. I prefer Taisan because it's lighter and fluffier.

2. Hull, cut and marinate strawberries in balsamic vinegar. You can do away with the balsamic vinegar if your strawberries are already super sweet. Save some (unmarinated) for garnish.

3. Make the whipped cream. Make sure that you chill your cream, mixing bowl and whisk before whipping the cream. Add powdered sugar and vanilla (as much or as little as you want) to the cream and whisk until double in volume.

4. Layer. Taisan first, then the drained strawberries followed by the cream. Repeat. Garnish with cut-up strawberries. Chill to set.


For extra punch, you may add a layer of strawberry jam after the layer of Taisan.

The trifle that I made on Valentine's Day looked better because I refrigerated the cream a day ahead and placed it in the coolest part of the refrigerator. This time, I placed the carton of cream in the egg tray that's why it's a little gooey. Don't make the same mistake that I did. Good luck!

The secret to my roses

My roses are loved by my neighbors. Every time that I am out weeding or tending to the roses, one neighbor will always come up to me and tell me how pretty they are. One of my rose bushes was even stolen, uprooted or whatever. I woke up one day and there were only three left!

The kind that I have are the semi-wild ones. Small buds that are imperfect and rustic. Which I love. Surprisingly, a rose bush would sometimes have one pinkish colored bud and a red bud. It's amazing.

I would love to take credit for my roses, but I can't. I don't particularly like gardening specially in this humid weather. My roses bloom in such huge quantities due to my utter laziness. Let me explain from the beginning.

I had this dream of having a fabulous and lush pocket garden in front of my house. I went out and bought several plants. I started with white and yellow flowers (no idea what they're called) that bloomed all year long. Neighbors loved that I always had flowers blooming in my garden. Neighbors asked for cuttings whenever they see me outside (which is very very rare). Pretty soon, the cute harmless little flowers started dominating everything. They're like weeds. The cute garden was later on christened as "the gubat" (forest). I had to uproot them. Who knows what creatures lurk under the brush. Then I had the hibiscus phase, which the aphids loved and killed within a matter of months. Scratch that idea again. I hate using pesticides because they kill the beneficial bugs too.

The latest incarnation is a combination of Rosal (which haven't bloomed since I got it 2 years ago), a olive like tree that came with the house, my mother's pink lilies, basil, sage and my beloved roses. It still looks forest-like except for the bright red blooms and the occasional pink lilies. There is no rhyme nor reason to the placement of the flowers except that I placed them exactly where the water runs when I drain the washing machine. Yup, that's the secret. Laundry water. I don't know what's in the detergent but they seem to work. Someone asked me the other day, what's your secret? "Umm.....Ariel?"

Here's a typical weekly cutting.



I planted my roses during the rainy season a couple of years back. Since it was raining all the time, there's no need to water them. Summer came, and they almost dried up because I don't like hauling water outside. So, I had the bright idea of extending the washing machine hose so that they drain directly to the pocket garden. The gravel that I placed on the garden soil filters the water. My 3 to 4 times a week laundry seems to provide all the nourishment that the flowers need. I just had to weed occasionally (umm... that means almost never), and deadhead the blooms (that means cut) weekly so that they can sprout more blooms later on. Less hassle on my part and more flowers for everyone to enjoy.