My five-day vacation at Bacnotan La Union

I'm thinking, was it worth it to skip work on a Holy Week (I know I'd get deductions for it) but you never know until you actually do it. XD

Well, I filed my leave (unpaid), and joined them in a 6-7 hour travel to La Union. It's my first time to go up north again after all these years together with my wife, daughter and my in-laws to get there. We left Manila at 11:30pm on a Maundy Thursday and arrived at their hometown at almost 5:00am as the place was still pitch black.

Taken from Wikipedia

According to Wikipedia, Bacnotan is a first class municipality in the province of La Union, Philippines. According to the 2007 census, it has a population of 38,743 people in 7,183 households.

Ilocano is the language spoken. English and Filipino are the languages used in government and business while English is the medium of instruction in schools.

Economic activities in Bacnotan mostly involve farming, fishing, bee-keeping, pebble extraction, tourism and Portland cement manufacture. Bacnotan is the seat of the beekeeping industry in La Union. A mining engineer from Bacnotan who saw the limestone deposits in Dumarang (renamed Quirino) also saw deposits of coal and traces of gas.

Well enough of those facts (just look at it from the link up there). When we got there, almost all of them slept right away as they're to tired from the long journey. I set-up the laptop and tinker with it before taking some pictures and went to sleep. By the time I got up again, I was somehow energized and ready for the afternoon.  

The weather was really hot and humid during the day so we tried our best to cool down. However, internet connection is extremely slow as my wife could hardly connect to the internet using all service providers possible (Smart, Globe and Sun). Bacnotan is a very simple place to stay if you really want to unwind and to think over. 

What I really look forward to is the beach which was only 5-10 minutes away from our place where we stay. I'll try to do a separate post about it. 

After staying there for a couple of days, we had to go back to Manila. I was kinda sad because I wasn't able to do a long photowalk but the next time we go there again, I'll make sure to take those pictures. ^_^

Photos to follow soon.

My First Travel Tour Expo 2011 Experience

I went to the 18th Travel Tour Expo 2011 with one thing in mind. To see what other countries could offer and to gather as many information on other countries as much as I can.

Good thing my wife gave me a Saturday-off to enjoy the day and do things I wanted to do (only for that day XD). I had to take a quick stop at Intramuros to help myself before going to SMX. The travel took me more than 75 minutes but once I got at SM Mall of Asia, I wasted no time in going to SMX to see the event. I recall my experience at The Philippine Travel Mart 2010 last year and I was able to apply the experience I learned from there except that I wasn't able to attend on the first day.

I checked on the local booths first hoping to gather as much maps and brochures as I can. I know I won't be able to travel for long days nor via plane or sea for now but maybe in the future, I would be able to use them, who knows.

I noticed the long queues for Philippine Air Lines, Cebu Pacific, and other airline companies that give out the best value for customers who wished to travel at a minimal cost. I don't think my wife would be patient enough to wait on a long queue as she prefers doing transactions online for a hassle-free travel. 

My bag got heavy even before I proceed to other booths which were for foreign (or international) tourist spots all because of brochures I've been receiving for local destinations. I took a breather before going to the other side and got my bag heavier. I know I have a long way to go.

Then I went to the booths for international destination. I grabbed as many leaflets as I can for comparison between travel agencies with their itineraries. They have almost the same destination and itineraries but they vary in costs and the discount they could give to potential clients. Some of the foreign booths that interests me are Japan and China. Their brochures really got my interests and probably I'm looking forward to visit their countries soon. I got the booklet on Europe and its majestic travel destinations. Since most of their tours costs around 2000 US Dollar, I had to be contented with looking at the pictures.

After scouting the area for more than 2 hours, it was time for me to take pictures of the places that interests me the most. I never imagined that it took me that long to visit the entire area which was quite uncharacteristic of me.

Anyway here are a few more pictures I took.