It was a blessing that I married someone who likes road trip, dining out and the beach of course. Another blessing is his being Ilocano had brought me to most cities and towns of the Ilocos region. And every year I look forward on visiting my in-laws, partly visit new places, and discover something unique about the place. Our travel period mostly falls on or before holy week, which is perfect because we can enjoy a longer weekend and the scorching heat of the sun.
This year one of our stop is at surfing capital of the north, which is San Juan, La Union. Though surfing was very new to us, my husband did not waste time and tried his Surfing 101 from La Union folks. He paddles and ride as many waves as he can. By the way, surf lesson is available at San Juan Surf Resort at Php400.00 fee for the surf instructor and rental of surfboard and Billabong Surf School does group session headed by none other than the surf hunk and guru, Luke Landrigan. On the other side, I enjoyed the big waves. It was cool being slapped by the powerful waves. I enjoyed much that laid-back atmosphere, the clean coastline and the nice people. I admire how the Green Zinc movement maintained the surfing ground.
Accommodation is not bad, San Juan Surf Resort and Sebay Surf Central offers affordable, homey and clean cottages. Standard Room range from P1,200.00++ and villas to Php1,400.00++. And there’s this Midway Grill at Carlatan, fairly five minutes drive, which offers delicious breakfast to dinner.
How can you go wrong with the ultimate serving of omelette and fresh catch from the sea? It was so filling! Budget starts at P110.00++ for breakfast and P150.00++ for lunch and dinner.
Another remarkable stop this year was at Candon City. It was for my search of Marsha’s delicacies that drove us at this city. Marsha’s branches are at Bantay and Vigan Ilocos Sur respectively and going further north was not on our itinerary that time, so, it was our convenience to find this red box goody at the heart of Candon.
Marsha has known for its bibingka and super moist brownies and my family and friends love these as “pasalubong”, who doesn’t anyway? A box is priced at Php120.00-P140.00
Going around Candon City was another first for us. We made a short visit at St. John Sahagun Parish, which is one of the many Ilocos church with such great architecture. And then, we started our search for authentic Ilocano cuisine. Though I did a little research of this place, I had very little info and some online suggestions were Café Bossa, Bistro Candon and Twinkle’s Restaurant. We initially checked for Twinkle’s but I was not so impressed of the home-cooked favorites they offer. We were supposed to check Café Bossa but it was a little distant so we opted to go to Bistro Candon and dine. Bistro Candon offers genuine Ilocano cuisine says their menu book. The good thing is the have my husband’s all time favorite popular Ilocano dish – Sinanglaw.
For all you know, Sinanglaw is made of innards and skin of cow or carabao or goat (to some areas) sautéed in onion, ginger, garlic, peppercorns and moderate amount of cow’s bile for the bitter taste. Wayback in Manila, this dish is very near to “papaitan”. Another dish we ordered was Bagnet, which is deep-fried and characterized by its crispy skin. Again, it was a very filling meal and I would love to go back to taste the rest of the flavorful IIocano dishes soon.
Back to my husband’s hometown in Tagudin, Ilocos Sur I enjoyed the rest of our trip relaxing and embracing the countryside lifestyle.
I would always love the afternoon walk at the nearby Amburayan River; it was a perfect place to watch the sundown. And my husband would love to recall his childhood as we soak our feet on the fresh water. Though it is not very often that we travel north, I have adapted the life my husband had grew up. I enjoyed eating her sister in law’s cooking of “dinengdeng” and anything boiled and dipped in fish sauce. I heart everything about Ilocos.
Though most of the roads going to the north were badly damaged by typhoon Ondoy we are still planning a short vacay before Christmas time. It would be a short trip to Ilocos and La Union. I look forward on exploring most of La Union this time. A heavenly breakfast at Midway Grill, then this shabu shabu lunch at Kaw Bin would be perfect, and would definitely stop at Halo-Halo de Iloko and check their house cooking. There’s this Ma-Cho Temple at San Fernando, La Union, which I missed to see during our last trip. My husband is telling me how beautiful the town of Luna is. Oh my! There is so much to explore with so little time.
No comments:
Post a Comment