Holy Week 2008: Fort Ilocandia and Pagudpud – Day 1

After two years, Conne, CJ, and I finally decided to revisit Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte, for the holy week. We decided to stay at the Fort Ilocandia Resort Hotel and Casino in Laoag, Ilocos Norte. We were accompanied by our close friends, Cocoy and Li-ann.

We left Manila yesterday at around 11:30 AM but had to make an initial stopover at Clark, in Pampanga, for lunch and some provisions. We also had to meet up with Li-Ann, who had to come from Subic.

We left Clark at around 7:30 PM yesterday evening and arrived in Fort Ilocandia at around 5:30 AM this morning, which makes it roughly a 10-hour drive (9 hours on the road, 1 hour for stopovers). Cocoy and I took turns at the wheel, where I drove the first half of the journey and Cocoy the final half. Our first stopover was at 8:30 PM at the Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac. We stayed there for about 30 minutes to have dinner. Our next stopover was at 12 midnight at a gasoline station somewhere near the border of Pangasinan and La Union.