Vigan

Next up was Vigan which meant heading out of the mountains and over to the far West of North Luzon.  It was a long journey as the most reliable route required heading 7 hours South to Baguio and then 5 hours back North on the other side of the mountain range.  The first bus was fairly rudimentary and a rather uncomfortable ride.  The second was much more comfortable, but again had the extreme air conditioning. At least I was prepared for it this time!  It was on this journey that I discovered chocolate popcorn - delicious!

As we passed through Baguio I noticed that they have loads of crazy jeepneys there.  I kind of wished I was spending a night there just to get a picture of a few.  They are painted crazy colours and have great names (one of them was Canada Dream!) and decorative objects all over them.  So fun.

When we finally arrived in Vigan, I had my first trip on a tricycle riding side-saddle on the back of the bike.  A bit dodgy, but not so bad since they don't go very fast.  We were dropped off at our accommodation - Grandpa's Inn - to find that they LOVE Christmas here and the place was decked out in great decorations (keep in mind this was November 8th).

Inken showing off the lovely snowmen.

Katrin and the Christmas tree.

Vigan (pronounced like vegan) was untouched by the bombings of WWII and so it still has a quaint Spanish colonial feel to it.  The first night we had a lovely dinner at an outdoor cafe - pretty much the only place still open at 9pm.

The next couple days were mostly spent poking around shops, enjoying the little cafes and restaurants and reading.  One day we took a horse and buggy tour around Vigan and some of the neighbouring villages.  Our guide took us to the bell tower, a clay jar factory, a garden and a loom weaver's shop.  We were quite the novelty in the small surrounding villages and I'm pretty sure part of the tour was designed just to put us on display for the locals.  I finally understand why the queen has such a prim and subtle wave - it can get tiring!  Everyone wanted to say hello!

Our tragic looking horse.

I had a bit more time than the Germans, so we parted ways in Vigan for them to head back to Manila a day earlier than me.  I spent my last day in Vigan hanging out in cafes and reading before getting the night bus back to Manila.  I opted for the deluxe bus (with lazy boy like seats) this time and still didn't get any sleep because it would stop all the time.  Sigh.  At least I was able to check in for a half day when I arrived at 4:30am to get some sleep in in the morning!