The third part (and probably last) of my literary documentation of the North Luzon 360 Trip.
To backtrack, we spent most of Dec 27 exploring Lal-lo, Cagayan and its neighboring towns. December 28 was a Sunday and also the celebration of the Holy Family. The entire family caboodle shuttled to attend the 8am mass in the same church where dad was baptized 50+ years ago. Apparently Lal-lo was the seat of faith for Nueva Segovia prior to the area being drowned by the Cagayan River. Which is why many of the churches in the area are from the Spanish Occupation. The church was made of brick with a leaning belfry. It's frontage faces the river where a 300 year old cross stands. The place is really immersed in history -- many of the places still have the Spanish Influence. After lunch, martin and i packed ourselves into the car to start our drive back to Manila. This time we decided to take the western coast route instead of backtracking our previous travel. This meant we would be passing by many Ilocos tourist offerings which include:
The drive would be a long one, which we didn't feel at all because the roads were BEAUTIFUL! And every so often you get treated to a view of the sea. Both martin and i were totally amazed at how different the scenery was up north. Vast lands full of rice will then be interrupted by strong waves breaking the shore. The entire trip was a great adventure that even my body could not take anymore. As we approached the end of the North Luzon Expressway i had started to warm up with a fever. Too much excitement for the holidays but totally worth it. Below is a gallery of photos I took en route:
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Averaging 500kms per day, we went through an epic journey of North Luzon from December 26 to 30 travelling a total of 1,500+ kilometers from Manila to Lal-lo, Cagayan to Laoag, Ilocos then to Batangas.
Martin likes to call it the Luzon 360! And it feels like it! We started our trip meeting up with my dad in Petron Edsa on Dec 26 at 5am. Excited to the bones, we were readying ourselves for a 12 hour journey to my dad's hometown-- Lal-lo Cagayan. I have never been there -- as most of my family-- so we didnt know what to expect. All we knew is that this area becomes the hottest part of the Philippines during the summer. And is the center of agriculture -- rice, vegetables, you name it. We made our way through the North Luzon Expressway and was met by the sea of humanity as Martin puts it. Perhaps many had the same idea of going north for the holidays to the point that there was a 3km gridlock leading to the toll plaza. However, after this hurdle it's easy going along the SCTEX and TPLEX. (How I envy the expressways leading to the North, when will there be one to replace the South Road leading to Legazpi, Albay?) We exited in La Paz, Tarlac and drove our way upwards through Isabella until finally reaching Lal-lo about 17hours after we started. (Of course we made pit stops one of which included a stop at the Carabao Institute in Munoz to buy fresh carabao's milk -- DELICIOUS!). The convoy was met by my uncle, Tito Jun who then lead us to dinner and housing in his home shared with his wife, Tita Patsy. The weary travellers ate their fill of kambing (goat), rice and sleep! Tomorrow the real exploring happens. |
Who is sab_adventures?I have always wanted to write. This will now be a creative outlet-- home to all my arts and crafts. So feel free to browse around my everyday adventures. Interests
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