Blogs from Vigan, Philippines, Asia

I hope these photos will just do the talking.... read more

From Banaue we travelled to Baguio City. The journey here was in a mini van and took us all around the mountains. It was all bends. Now I suffer a bit with travel sickness and I have to say it was a miracle I was not sick. The bendy roads were bad enough but the people in the van did not help. Firstly the old lady by the window (luckily) spent the whole 5 hour journey with her head out of the window being sick. Then the baby started and then the little girl. There was also a terrible smell that every 15 minutes would rear its ugly head. We blamed the baby. I found the whole experience nauseating but Kev sat there with a smile on his face eating biscuits. When we did stop to ... read more

Die Busfahrt in einem bequemen ac Bus von Baguio nach Vigan dauerte fünf Stunden, zunächst hinunter in die Küstenebene, dann entlang der Küste in Richtung Norden. Vigan ist UNESCO Weltkulturerbe und das am besten erhaltene Kolonialstädtchen auf den Philippinen (und wohl das einzige). Das touristische Potential Vigans ist enorm, aber im Vergleich zu anderen asiatischen Kleinoden wie Hoi An oder Luang Prabang sucht man Touristenmassen in Vigan vergebens. Ganz im Gegenteil, die vorherrschende Atmosphäre ist sehr authentisch, ein philippinisches Städtchen, viel schöner als die anderen, aber die Leute gehen hier ganz normal ihren Tätigkeiten nach und als ‘Kano wird man wie anderswo interessiert beäugt. Viele Straßenzüge der kolonialen Altstadt wurden noch nicht restauriert, dennoch ist ein Spaziergang durch die Pflastersteingassen magisch, vor allem nach Einbruch der Dunkelheit, wenn die lähm... read more

I am now going to write the one, and likely only, real travel blog I will ever produce for this site. I am breaking from my traditional style for a couple of reasons: because I am finding even government sponsored tourist information in the Philippines hard to find, incomplete or unreliable, and, consequently, because I had to rely so heavily on information from other travel blogs on this site while planning my vacation to Vigan. My sister, Laura, decided to come from Canada to see me during this last leg of my internship in the Philippines. Her trip was scheduled ages ago for the end of August, beginning of September and I was left to plan a vacation at the height of the rainy season. My first though was Boracay, but Laura wanted to see where ... read more

We'd heard (read) good things about Ilocos from the various guide books, and Apple knew that investment over the years in the area was high cos of the Marcos connections in the area. Heading North the area was more serene that most of the Philippines. We stoppped off at Santa Maria on the way to look at a world heritage listed baroque church designed in the classic earthquake proof style. The church was fantastic, and in most cases - no other tourists. We chatted to some local ladies who confirmed what we knew - that they still love Marcos up here! Then onto Vigan - this place really impressed me - apparently it was spared destruction in WW2 as the japanese retreated just before the US bombers moved in. The design of the city and the ... read more