Roadtrip to Pagudpud (Day 1)

Left Manila at 4am. Drove 100+ kilometers through NLEX to the edge of Pampanga. Low fuel warning light is on.

Mild panic for almost half an hour looking for a gas station, to a very beautiful sunrise on the highway. The feeling is confusing.

I will remember to fill up my tank at the start of any long trip. I just told myself it could have been a boring drive otherwise.

We reached Gerona (Tarlac) at around 8am. First stop: Isdaan. I've seen and read about this in blogs, but I wasn't expecting a restaurant this large. Behind the rocky parking lot there's a huge fishpond with so many small huts built on it. There are a lot of design elements around the place like stone fishes, tribesmen with allergy-lips statues, giant peeing monkeys, and giant buddhas with nice curly hair (he's a fish fanatic?). I also saw their famous Tacsiyapo wall and San Kilo Bridge.

Had breakfast, then left. Went past Tarlac, Pangasinan, and La Union. Somewhere in Sta. Maria (Ilocos Sur) we saw water just beside the highway - Suso Beach. I didn't see resorts around, just some people enjoying the beach. It looks clean and has fine light brown sand.

The fun part of the day was somewhere further in Sta. Maria. We searched for a place called Pinsal Falls. We were told to pass through some very narrow road about 7kms long, park at the end, and walk for about 20 minutes on a footpath. It was summertime when we visited so there isn't that much water. Locals say this is the footprint of some Ilocano giant called Angalo.

We reached Vigan late in the evening. Picked some hotel to sleep and we ended day 1.