One of the famous destination of local tourist in the Baguio is the strawberry farm located at La Trinidad Benguet. When you go to Baguio you must not forgot to visit the strawberry farm. There you can see actual plantation of strawberries, experience how to harvest this fruit.

If you don’t have your own car, you can ride a taxi at ask the driver to bring you to the strawberry farm at La Trinidad. If no traffic it will take only 20 - 30 minutes.

Here are some pictures I got during our visit last April 8.

Fresh strawberry fruit direct from the strawberry farm of La Trinidad Beguet.

You can even experience harvesting strawberry fruits from the farm.

This is the plantation of strawberry of La Trinidad Benguet.

Paoay Church of Paoay Ilocos Norte is been famous in the Philippines. When visiting Ilocos Norte Paoay church must be part of your itinerary or destination.

Visit the Paoay church and  see why UNESCO listed it as one of Philippines Heritage site.

Construction of the church started in 1704 and was completed in 1894 by the Augustinian friars led by Fr. Antonio Estavillo.

It is probably the best-known “earthquake Baroque” church in the Philippines. Large coral stones were used for the lower level while bricks were used for the upper levels of the church. The walls are 1.67 meters thick and are supported by 24 carved and massive buttresses.

 Most recent Picture I have taken while visiting the place on April 9, 2008

I would like to these picture collection I have got from Vigan City at heritage village for my blog visitors to see how the vigan city heritage site look like.

By the way Vigan City is located at Northern Luzon. The capital town of Ilocos Sur. If you’re from Manila you will pass the following provinces Bulacan, Pampanga, Tarlac, Pangasinan, and La Union.

UNESCO Vigan City Heritage Site

The heritage village of Vigan City Ilocos Sur, a place a must visit.

My wife and my sister in law at Vigan city heritage site

Calesa is the best transportation you will get when touring the city. All this calesa drivers knew the best places in the city.

My favorite place to stop and take some rest when visiting the my home province abra, and other beaches and tourist spots in Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte. There is a sea side place in the national high way Sta. Maria where you can take some rest for the long drive from Manila or nearby provinces. There is an space beside the national highwaywhere you can park your car.
If you want to swim to refresh, you can do it here for free and enjoy the clear and cold sea water at this part of Ilocos Sur.

If you plan to stay longer I guess there are cottages available for guess.

This picture was taken while we are watching the fisherman riding on his balsa.

At the national highway the beach side is rocky but still you can swim because there are places of the beach where you can swim.

If you want to rest and stay at the beach for the day for better beach swimming.

Pictures of cottages at Sta. Maria beach resort. Available for local and foreign tourist.

The only SM branch in the Philippines that don’t need Air condition. SM baguio is one of the favorite place of local residence and tourist to standby. The location of the mall is really great, it situated at the top of session road the most popular road in the city.

There is a view in every floor of the mall for you to view the entire city. Don’t forget to bring your camera when visiting the mall because you can get some souvenir picture at each view with different background, like the city cathedral, burnhum , and mountains.

This SM Baguio City at city view look.

This is Baguio at night. It’s beautiful isn’t? This picture was taken at SM view deck. At night viewing the city at SM baguio is a must not forget when you visit the city.

This is SM Baguio city  look like at nigh…

This is the front view of Baguio City SM. This is the main gate of the mall from Session Road.

This is the Baguio City Cathedral which was taken from SM Baguio City third floor view deck.

This is the famous burnhum park of Baguio City taken from SM baguio, the picture is little bit foggy because the time I took the picture is foggy. At SM you can see the entire burnhum park.

Picture taking at the view deck of the SM baguio city is great also with nice background.

We spend our holly week to this beach resort which located at Pug-os, Cabugao , Ilocos Sur. Cabugao is second to the last municipality of Ilocos Sur in the north before you reach Ilocos Norter.

If you’re looking for a solemn place to unwind then this resort is the best place to scape the noise and pollution of the city. I like the place , cabugao beach resort have nice clean air conditioned rooms with private bath room and toilet. The only awkward to their rooms is that there is no TV, but that’s fine with me as I have my own laptop with me where I can watch DVD movies.

I enjoy the white sand in the beach and swimming at the beach with a wave. Waves are not that big good enough to massage your body.

If you don’t like or you’re afraid to swim to the beach then you can use the resort swimming pool. The pool is situated infront of the beach. You can do the warm up first at the swimming pool before going to swim at the beach.

Also if you bring your own car no problem with parking, they have wide space for car parking of their customer.

I guess it’s better if I will show you the some pictures I have taken while staying in the resort for you to see how the beach resort look like.

Was taken on Good Friday morning while I am watching this tourist enjoying swimming at cabugao beach.

If you don’t have plan to stay at the resort over night, cabugao beach resort offer nice cottages for their walk in customers. I guess the rate is 500 pesos only for the entire day.

The swimming pool of cabugao beach resort exclusive for their visitors. After swimming at the beach you can continue swimming here. Water is not cold.

The resort have their own restaurant and they call this as Cabana if I am not wrong. They are offering free breakfast to their customer. The restaurant is big can accommodate up to 50 person I guess or more. They server delicious foods , also local foods like dineng deng, pakbet and other are available here.

As you see in the picture , the sand in this beach is white soft.

When we arrive Vigan our first problem is where to eat, because I was very hungry then it’s 2 PM in the afternoon already I guess.

Since we are new in the place we are not familiar in the area. Thanks God people in the town are all very friendly. We found the place where to eat our late lunch :). Fast foods like Jollibee, McDonald, Chowking are all located at one place near the Vigan City Hall beside the famous Vigan City Cathedral.

At the place also Max Restaurant is there. Tourist are amazed with the structure of this fast foods and restaurants because they were designed like the old houses of Vigan City.

What do you think with this building? The McDonal Vigan branch building was design like the famous old houses of Vigan City. At the area you can find Max Restaurant, Jollibee, Chowking, National Bookstore and more food houses.

La Veranda Restaurant one of the best resto in the heritage village site of Vigan.  Many tourist love to eat to this place because of their good place, food, and the fact that it’s located near the Vigan City Heritage Village.

Vigan City Ilocos Sur is known and famous of their heritage village. I and my wife don’t miss the opportunity to visit this famous landmark of the province and country.

My first impression when I saw this old houses was wow! Yes the place is really amazing I can’t imagine how they preserve this buildings or houses for more than 100 years now. If you want to see how Philippine villages look like during the spanish regime Vigan Heritage Village is the place to go.

The local government of Vigan City and Ilocos Sur preserve this houses for tourist and for students educational tour.

UNESCO is also officially declare Vigan City as one of the world’s heritage site.

How to go to this heritage village of Vigan? Visiting the place is not that hard, if you don’t have your own car you can ride bus from Manila or Baguio City, Partas bus line , Philippine Rabit, Viron Transit and other bus companies have their trips bound to Vigan City.

As you see from this picture there are many tourist visiting the place. Both local and foreign tourist enjoy the place.

This houses at Vigan City showed the design and architecture of pre spanish regime during 16th - 19th century.

Our first stop over when we go back home to my home province Abra is Candon City. Candon city is one of the 2 cities of Ilocos Sur and the tobacco capital of the Philippines. Even do Candon City is not as developed as first class cities like Baguio city, metro manila cities, and cebu , still candon is not left behind by other developing cities in the country.

If you’re planning to visit the Ilocos region Candon is a great place to stop over to take some rest for the long drive from Manila or near by provinces. There are many banks in the city, fast foods like jollibee, Chowking, McDonald and more for you to eat.

Don’t forget to visit the church of Candon while you’re in the city.

Don’t forget to drop by to this church when you’re planning to visit the nort. The church is located near the national highway at Candon City. It was situated behind the old Candon City Plaza.

Well You don’t need to go to Paris to see the eiffel tower because in Candon they have their own eiffel tower located in front of the Candon Church.

Candon city is known as the tobacco capital of the Philippines. Most of their tobacco are virginia tobacco as you can see in this picture

Finally After more than 15 years of staying out side my home province Abra, I decided to come home and attend my sister wedding. At the same time to have vacation from my home town. I missed the fresh air of the province that until this days I guess still one of the cleanest province in the country. I missed also the clean Abra river where I used to swim and catch fish when I was a kid.

Abra is nice place to go if you’re a nature lover. Even do the province was left behind by developed provinces and cities in the country, the advantage of the province is that the natural resources was not abuse.

Going to Abra takes 8 - 12 hours trip from Manila. I prefer commuting than bringing my own car when going to Abra from Manila because of long trip. There are some bus company bounding to Abra like Partas, Philippine Rabit, Dominion, and Viron Transit. All these buses bound to Bangued Abra the capital town of the province.

<h2>Where to go in Abra</h2>

During my vacation I don’t have enough time to explore the nice places of the province as I am very busy entertaining my friends and my family. But I an my family scheduled for picnic, like old times go to the very clean Tineg river which located in our Barangay (Isit, Dolores , Abra). I was impress after more than 15 years I left the province , the water still the same cooled , crystal clear, and many fishes. I have been in many provinces of the Philippines and all the rivers I have seen in those provinces are dark, cream color.

I have heard from one of my auntie telling me that Abra river is still almost 0 percent pollution.

Here are some places that you can go to visit when you go to Abra.

Luswak Piñarubia a nice place to for swimming in the province with very cold water and clear water. So rounded with big trees. The water is cold because it’s a free flow.

Abra River - Well don’t forget to visit Abra river when you drop by in the province. Experience to swim in the clean and cold water of the Abra river.

Lagayan Luswak Dam - Another place for outing, like luswak Piñarubia the water here is clean and very cold. The source of water is natural also.

Tangadan Tunnel - The tangadan tunnel is the only way to enter and exit Abra. It was situated at the boundary of Ilocos sur and Abra. Tangadan is a landmark of abra.

There are more great places in the province, and I will try to mention them here in the future so visit us from time to time for new experience in my home province.

Here are some pictures I got during the vacation