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 11:30AM 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 7:30PM yesterday evening and arrived in Fort Ilocandia at around 5:30AM this morning, which makes it roughly about 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 8:30PM 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.

Here are some pictures taken today.

CJ in the shade:

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Related Blog Entries:
Holy Week 2008 – Fort Ilocandia and Pagudpud – Day 2

We were finally able to take a family vacation at Puerto Galera over the weekend. Conne has been egging me all these times to try Puerto Galera out, and so, off we went.

This was sort of a post-valentine date, family vacation and celebration (Conne’s promotion to manager-lvl2) – rolled into one – event.

Conne, CJ and I had lots of fun. And we thank the Lord for giving us the opportunity to have a safe and wonderful trip.

Cheers!

Update ——- July 21, 2010 ———

The DFA has implemented a new passport processing system. Philippine passport applications and appointments must now be done online via the official DFA passport application website at http://www.passport.com.ph.

Passport pictures shall also be taken at the DFA premises.

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We were finally able to apply for CJ’s passport yesterday, Friday, for our upcoming trip this December which was, as expected, accompanied by the usual hassles prevalent when applying for, or securing, any government license, certification or identification document.

We just found out that the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) recently issued new passport application guidelines, specifically on the new colored photo requirement where the photo of the applicant should be taken against a royal blue background.

We already had a passport-sized picture of CJ taken a month ago with a white background, the old requirement. And it’s a good thing that Conne checked out the DFA website to verify the requirements, otherwise she would have wasted a trip to the DFA office if she brought along CJ’s old pictures. And so we had a new set of CJ’s pictures taken last Thursday, his 2nd birthday.

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Update: Here’s a link to the new PASSPORT PHOTO GUIDELINES dated August 14, 2008: http://dfa.gov.ph/?p=234 and you can download the PDF file here: http://www.dfa.gov.ph/consular/PHOTO%20GUIDELINES.pdf

CJ’s 2nd birthday is next week, November 22nd. And we still don’t know how we’re going to celebrate it! Ha!

We were originally planning to visit Hong Kong Disneyland but might be rescheduling it this December in time for Conne’s birthday, or at least until our budget allows it.

Calling all “ninongs” and “ninangs”: “Yoohoo! Utang niyo!” :)