vacation vigan

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Friday: April 14, 2006

Anne, Kuya Kris, Kuya Karlou, Kiqs and I were eating our holy week fishballs when all of a sudden she tells me "Kuya Di, let's go to Ate April's house in Vigan!", to which I reacted negatively as Vigan was about 8 hours away from Pampanga. The next thing I know was that we were bound for Vigan.

We arrive at Cholo and April (our cousin) Baquiran's quaint vigan home at about 4:30 am, which is already short since we left at about 10:30.

A Tour of the House


Ate April's home was filled with exotic and original items giving it an refreshing eclectic appeal, decorated by no less than herself, the interior designer du jour.


Before, the house just served as a bodega but when they married, she decided that they move there and overhauled it into it's present state: A country themed exterior with all the comforts of a modern home on its interior.


calesa loveseat

the bar

candle fixtures

They also have actual horses in their backyard.



Saturday, April 15, 2006

We woke up with these critters licking our faces:


Then we headed to Chavit Singson's resthouse at Baluarte, Ilocos Sur.

Here's Anne with a python.

Warning: this is not a wire.


A trip to Vigan is never complete without visiting my Ate's resto. Make sure you make a stop at:

The Hambre Restaurant
Crisologo St., Vigan

Ate April's bread and butter.


That afternoon, Anne and I went for a walk at the brick-laden streets of old world Vigan.


At about 5:00 pm we went to Cabugao to chill at the beach.


We headed back to Hambre then Kuya Adrian, Anne, Ate Apes and I went to grab a vigan classic: the empanada.



Then we went to the town plaza to shop at the tiangge.


After that, we headed straight at the street party directly in front of the infamous and historic Cafe Leona where we drank with the owner of Max's Vigan while drinking beer and gobbling nachos and maki.


Sunday, April 16, 2006

Little did I know that I was assigned to be one of the judges for the Battle of the Bands whose winner will also be the front act for the upcoming Bamboo concert. It was held affront the Hambre restaurant who is also one of the sponsors of the said event.

The event started at about 9pm. Turns out the judges had unlimited food and booze. Lucky me. During performances I would compare my top 3 with the Tribe of Levi's own Rex Vargas, another judge in the event. By 2:00 I was already hammered by the beer that I wasn't paying attention to the performance levels of the band, it's like I was just in some bar listening to hard rock music while guzzling the free beer and munching on unending servings of baked stuffed chicken, buttered corn, and mozzarella sticks.

Pictures to come.

Monday, April 17, 2006

Before heading home we ate lunch (more like breakfast because we woke up at about 1pm, thanks to the battle of the bands) at Hambre. The food was stunning for only 5 of us will be eating. There was bagnet, vigan longganisa, garlic mushroom, buttered corn, adobo, and tokwa't baboy, among others. We finally said goodbye to Vigan at 4:30pm then arrived home at 1pm.