Vigan is actually located in the northwest of Luzon (the northern island of Philippines). So the next question would then be, “Why Vigan?” Well, from the pictures I found on the internet, Vigan looked the most interesting – it is one of the UNESCO World Heritage historical sites that claims to be “… the best preserved example of a planned Spanish colonial town in Asia” and has “… no parallel anywhere in East and Southeast Asia.” The only tradeoff was that it’s really far, far away…
So how far away is Vigan? After arriving at Clark airport, it would take another 8 hours in the Partas bus before we reached our destination! But before that, there would be a 2.5 hour wait for the next bus, so we had to join the big crowd at the outside waiting area…
While waiting for our bus, the Pizza Hut booth ran out of pizzas twice and had to wait for their own pizza delivery… hehe. The size of the crowd was partially caused by flight cancellations due to Typhoon Fengshen (aka Frank), which sank the MV Princess of the Stars just 2 days earlier! Phew, talk about timing…
Most of our almost 8-hour bus journey to Vigan would be along a single-lane (per direction) trunk road.
We got to see a lot of the countryside where dwellings resembled villages and squatters (which were very close to the road), punctuated by small townships every now and then.
We arrived in Vigan at 9.30pm and took a tricycle (motorbike with a passenger sidecar) straight to our hotel.
Upon check-in, we found that not only was Vigan Hotel a budget hotel, it was poorly maintained as well. But since it was already quite late - the city sleeps (becomes very quiet) before 8pm – we decided to just stay there that night.
The following morning, we had to endure a 1-hour wait for the hotel breakfast:
8.00am – 1 staff woke up
8.15am – heard gas stove switching on
8.30am – hot water arrives, with DIY instant Nescafe coffee
8.45am – heard gas stove switching on again
9.00am – breakfast arrives… we ordered 2 American breakfast meals but what came was 1 American breakfast and 1 Filipino breakfast (Longsilog)… hehe.
Vigan felt very much like Spain. Its old, colonial charm and heritage has been preserved and restored to maintain the uniqueness of its UNESCO World Heritage status.
A ride on the Calesa (horse cart) is a must in Vigan. We had never sat in one before and had good fun trying it out on 2 occasions touring the old city, which brought us back to the 16th century!
We also found a better place to stay in after our 1st night in Vigan… we checked-in after lunch at the nearby Cordillera Inn, which is on Calle Crisologo (the cobblestone heritage road).
Food in the Philippines was generally not to our taste – we had to rely more on western fast food. Pork (including the fat) is used extensively in Filipino cooking but we were not really fond of that meat :( Their typical breakfast is Longsilog (with Longaniza/sausage) and Tapsilog (with Tapa/beef jerky).
Longsilog
For lunch, rice will be eaten with various dishes of meat and Pinakbet (mixed vegetables). Other common food includes the Siopao (steamed Pao with fillings tasting like soy sauce pork), Balut (egg with embryo), Chicharon (pork rind/skin) and maize, among others.
We visited many places of interest such as St. Paul’s Cathedral, St. Augustine Parish Church, Illocus Sur Capitol, UNESCO Marker, National Museum, Plaza Salcedo, Plaza Burgos, City Hall, Pagburnayan, Public Market and Hidden Garden. More photos of these places can be viewed in our Photo Gallery.
We spent 2 days in Vigan, which was more than enough time to see most of the city attractions. We then decided to take the night Partas bus to spend a day in Manila, although this was not in our original plan. Along the way, we passed by a huge 24-hour wholesale wet market around Cubao in Quezon City – this was our 1st glimpse of big city life since we touched down in the Philippines.
We arrived in Sampaloc, Manila shortly after that (5.30am). We took a cab to Malate and tried to check-in at the Pearl Lane Hotel but it was too early. So, we left our luggage with the hotel and took an early breakfast at Jollibee fast food. Even here, it felt like yet another Longsilog meal… haha.
After breakfast, we walked around the city and came across the Manila Bay waterfront. It was quite dirty after Typhoon Fengshen (Frank) had passed by there just several days earlier. Behind the retaining wall were some of the locals selling fresh fish they just caught from the sea.
After checking-in to the Pearl Lane Hotel at 11am, we took a badly needed shower and a short rest before lunch. We saw the Penang Hill Restaurant at Robinsons (new shopping mall) and decided to give the Malaysian restaurant a try. The menu did not look very Penang at all as there was no Laksa, Char Koay Teow nor Prawn Mee. We both ended up ordering Nasi Lemak - it came in big portions and was somewhat different (served with fried kangkung and very spicy sambal anchovies) but tasty. However, the waiting service was rather poor and the staff needed retraining.
After lunch, we took a walk to the historical Intramuros. We visited the San Agustin Church (another 16th century UNESCO World Heritage site) and Manila Cathedral (which was hosting a church wedding at that time).
San Agustin Church
During our 5-day trip to the Philippines, we found both Vigan and Manila to be pretty safe places – I felt secure carrying my handbag around unlike in Kuala Lumpur, where there is a high risk of snatch-theft. The people here were soft spoken and polite but we also saw several very poor families sleeping by the sidewalk, just a few blocks away from a big, grand casino.
After breakfast the next morning, we took a 2-hour Philtranco bus to Clark airport. It felt good to be coming home once again :)
More pictures from our Philippines trip can be viewed in the Photo Gallery.
