Phillippines | Sept 26-27 2024 |
Sector 4 of my north Luzon journey. A fairly pedestrian ride, with a fun pit-stop in Laoag. Stayed one night in Pagudpud. It's a cool place, but not much happening in low season.
Laoag
The Vigan to Laoag ride is not exactly exciting. It's basically a plod along the MacArthur Highway through a never-ending strip of towns. After about 90 minutes I hit Laoag, a place I was familiar with from my Taipei days. Back then, there were direct flights from Taipei to Laoag - I recall my co-worker saying, "Hey, we shoud plan to trip to Laoag", whereas I was thinking Boracay was high on my list of future destinations (apparently there are still flights Khoshung-Laoag). Anyways, while my stop in Laoag was brief, I got considerable attention from super-friendly locals, including a mentally ill woman who asked me to marry her. I also stopped in an electronics shop where a staff member asked me where I was staying (just being sociable - but you never know?). Outside of the electro shop I tasted Calamares for the first time (yes, it is what you think it is), a fast food that proved to be a fave of mine throughout my trip in the Philippines, it's everywhere on the coast, found as a a nice cup with chili and vinegar, for $1.
Shopping and Calamares in Laoag
Laoag to Pagudpud
I had no idea what to expect beyond Laoag. After doing a quick research, I learned that Pagudpud is a surfing area of the north, so I made a plan to stop there. There's much less traffic after Laoag. The landscape here is dominated by huge wind turbines. I made it in a reasonable 3.5 hours.
One of hundreds of wind turbines (Trump would have a conniption here)
Pagudpud
At Saud Beach I checked out a few hotels (pretty meh, honestly), and booked at Villa Manuela, mainly because there was a BMS 1200 gs parked in front (though I never saw the owner). It's a decent place. There I caught an amazing sunset and observed a huge dinner event of local tourists sharing a massive free-for-all of rice, fish and chicken, laid out the length of the table. I also befriended a lonely dog, tied up - perhaps to keep other animals (including humans) safe. An interesting POI in Pagudpud is a memorial of the USS Stingray marking where it landed insurgents and arms against the Japanese during WW2.
Villa Manuela
Ride: 183 km / 3.5 hrs
Stay: $25/ ***
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