Tales From the Central Plains: Chicks

Good Friday, 10 Apr 2009.

No explanation necessary. This should be everybody's concern.

Tales From the Far North 3: Stuck in the Sand

Maundy Thursday, 9 Apr 2009.

These beautiful windmills are located in the municipality of Bangui, Ilocos Norte.

When you visit this place, make sure this doesn't happen to you:



What to do when your vehicle gets stuck in the sand:

1. Make only one attempt to bail yourself out.

If it doesn't work the first time, call for help. The vehicle will just dig itself deeper and deeper into the sand.

2. Help can come in the form of total strangers.

And for that, we thank Mr. Earl Navarro, and his other two friends Tom and Marge.

Earl is now my Facebook friend. Haha.

3. Go to the police.

Well, the first person you should call is the Baranggay Captain (following the true local government heirarchy), but if he or she's not there, go straight to the police.

Do not be scared of cops. They are our friends. And the provincial cops are a nicer breed.

Thanks again to Earl, et al., for driving us to the police station. It would've taken more than an hour on foot.

And thank you to Officers Burgos and Bumanglag, the coolest cops in Bangui. Too bad we have no picture of them.

And finally, our true rescuer:

Special thanks to the Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative (INEC) for their electric/towing cable (which cost us P35 per meter). And very special thanks to the guy who owns this payloader.

Everyone should know how to say "thank you", especially to those people who helped you without any thought of reward. On behalf of the 420 boys, again, thank you very much.

Tales From the Far North 2: The Boracay of the North(?)

Pagudpud calls itself "The Boracay of the North."

Come on, you can do better than that.

Pagudpud has a totally different terrain. It looks more like Astoria, Oregon. As if I've been to Astoria.

Well, it just looks so much like the sea in The Goonies (which was an eighties film that most youngsters today probably never even heard of). And all the time I was half-expect a pirate ship to come sailing out of the mountains or something.

Sea. Mountains. And an unmistakable northern climate. That and the very strong undercurrent that creates long stretches of foam. Just like the foam in Madonna's video "Cherish".

Pagudpud should never be called "The Boracay of the North". Pagudpud is Pagudpud, and Boracay is Boracay. So there.

Tales From the Far North: The True Kings of the Road

In the metro, there is a certain tricycle driver culture, wherein the tricycle drivers know their place in the traffic scheme. When travelling on a national road, or even on smaller roads, they move aside to let bigger vehicles pass.

But such is not the case in the northern provinces. Tricycles think they are on equal footing with eighteen-wheeler trucks.

In a two-lane highway, a tricycle moving at 40 kph will not yield to an SUV travelling at 120 kph.

I love you, you suicidal and maniacal yellow tricycles of Ilocos Sur.