Saturday, August 25, 2007

Traveling round Zambales, Vigan, and 100 Islands

I drove north of Manila to Zambales, Vigan and the 100 Islands.

Zambales for a few days cos a friend offered a fab house overlooking the ocean:



And then Vigan cos I'd often planned to go there, a trip never realized. The city has the best preserved Spanish colonial 'bayan' (town centre) in the country, with 'kalesa' (horse-drawn carriages) functioning as taxis.


This CBD is full of rather grand old mansions:



And more humble houses:



Some of the former have been evocatively re-furnished. You have the sense that this 'frozen' scene could suddenly come to life, with the original C18 or C19 owners walking in and asking what you doing there:




The lighting in two and three, remeniscent of C17 Dutch interior painting, is as much the product of the photographer as the moment! Calculating art-ster!

Finally, on to the 100 Islands and something much more athletic. Though the act of traveling round is, in itself, not for couch potatoes!!!

So, the hotel restaurent there, set over the ocean:


And a vantage point for the islands:

The start of a day trip round the islands:

Landing on a deserted beach, and climbing for a view back over where we landed and our boat:

Followed by snorkling and kayaking. And eating and sun-baking.

Post Script

In Vigan Zoo, I realized a life-long dream - getting up close and personal with an orangutan, a couple in fact:

They were so gentle, fixing my gaze with theirs and spontaneously holding my hands and stroking my face. I was totally blised out. And I mean totally.

5 comments:

  1. The only way I could endure a 'partner-less' road trip (what with all the breath-taking scenery conducive to love-making) is by laying a hunky local in every town...
    Thanks for sharing.

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  2. Thanks you very much for sharing pix of your mini-vacation. It looks very romantic there.

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  3. Damn, so much for hairy dadd... ahem ... very impressive oceanic pics!

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  4. I'm sorry!..where is this?.....beautiful pics!...I travel by myself most of the time & have so much fun making friends...BUTT it's also nice to bring a good friend along if they can get off for that length of time

    thanks,
    Tony(nyc)

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  5. sorry again...I just READ...north of Manila...jeez I just finished looking at 11 hours of Ken Burns's documentary, "The War" and you would think that the Japenese destroyed everything in that country...I'll have to go with a good phillipino friend of mine next time she visits her family

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