Playa del Oro Resort, owned and maintained by the city government of Vigan, is a decent place to stay if you want to experience the nearest beach. Situated in barangay Mindoro, it’s just a short tricycle ride from the Vigan town proper.

We decided to check in at Playa del Oro for our first night, since it’s one of the most frequented accommodations in Vigan. The air-conditioned beach view rooms are presentable, cable TV is available (like most hotels/inns) but the reception is poor, and they serve authentic Ilocano, Asian, and Western dishes.

Mindoro Beach isn’t perfect for swimming because of the rocky areas and big, strong waves, but it is nevertheless picturesque and nice for strolling or getting a bit wet. The beach offers a nice backdrop for souvenir pictures both during a bright sunny day with clear blue skies, or early in the morning if you want pastel hues.

Fishermen also frequent Mindoro Beach, and according to my friend’s aunt, if you offer to help pull the fishing nets by the shore, the locals will give you some of their catch. It’s interesting, and we’re yet to try it the next time we go back to the beach.

We woke up early to see the full moon still bright against the beautiful morning sky. It was a picture-perfect morning, so brought our cameras along for a stroll. We weren’t really intending to get in the water, but after a while, the waves called out to us for a quick dip!

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This is bad, I keep missing TILT posts, and I’m starting to get a bit more random than usual! Anyway, here’s my TILT for this week…sorry if it’s too sucky, I promise to come up with a better post next week!

♥ Maneki Neko

My first Maneki Neko

My favorite Maneki Neko from my collection, given to me by my Japanese boss

Who doesn’t love these cute bringers of luck? I started collecting Maneki Neko dolls last year, sparked by my first Saizen shopping spree. I bought two dolls–one for my desk and a wind chime I hang by my window. Then, my Japanese boss gave me a very cute one when she came back from Japan. A big, ceramic coin bank type Jennie gave me for my birthday and a solar-powered toy are the most recent additions to my collection.

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by battlestone08 on Flickr

March 7, 2010
12:30 a.m.

My boyfriend and I, with some friends, and my parents, were staying in a posh hotel in Makati. Boyfriend and I decided to stroll around in a mall that afternoon, several blocks away from the hotel.

That night, while we were in a cab on our way back to the hotel, we passed by an area where a strange carnival-like event was taking place. It was so strange that there were even horse-drawn carriages with flaming (literally) wheels! Part of it looked like a carabao race. A few blocks away from the event, we started seeing men running away from something; we heard that there were two big carabaos that escaped an enclosure, went berserk, and were running around chasing people in the streets.

The cab driver tried his best to get away from the area. He managed to do so at first, but at one turn, we noticed that the carabaos were tailing us! One of the carabaos was so huge, especially his horns, that he was almost behemoth-like. He had a driver on his back, but couldn’t control the beast. As the cab driver sped up, the two carabaos ran faster; it was funny at first, but when we noticed that they weren’t slowing down, panic was written all over our faces. The cab driver looked pale and he seemed so lost.

Suddenly, my phone started ringing. It was my mom calling, perhaps to ask where we are and why we’re still outside late at night. I was about to answer the phone when I woke up.

It was boyfriend calling me. I was still groggy, “tired,” and palpitating from the dream, but I managed to tell him everything that happened in my dream. A few minutes later, I sat down to write this dream diary entry.

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♥ An Education

When I first heard of this film from a friend, it really intrigued me. Sources point out a Rotten Tomatoes rating of a whopping 95%. Seeing a rating that high, I knew I had to watch it.

Lead actress Carey Mulligan was delightful to watch, and indeed a charming “show stealer.” The 24-year-old British actress (22 when she was casted) starred as Jenny Mellor, a 16-year-old schoolgirl who gets into a relationship with an attractive but much older man named David Goldman (portrayed by Peter Sarsgaard).

It all started in 1961 England, when David gave a seemingly harmless offer to give Jenny a lift upon seeing her soaking wet in the rain with her cello. He calls out to her and introduces himself as a “strange man” she wouldn’t talk to if she has some sense in her, but also “music lover” worried about her cello. Jenny accepts his offer and the two engage in conversation.

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A quick tricycle ride to Bantay, a town next to Vigan, will take you to a beautiful belfry of the same name. Towering over the town, the Bantay Bell Tower is a sight to behold, standing separately over a hilltop next to the equally beautiful St. Augustine Parish Church.

According to the guide who accompanied us inside the bell tower, the original structure as it stands today was built by Augustinian Missionaries in 1591, most likely as a part of the parish church nearby. It was made of bricks, rocks, and a mixture of seashells and sugar cane (the guide called it apog, but I’m not sure if this is correct). There are hardly any renovations done to the structure, except for the repairs of the stairs inside the tower.

Our guide also said that the bell tower stands on the tallest point in the town, and was used as a watch tower during the Spanish colonial period. As such, the tower is aptly named since “bantay” is an Ilocano word for both “mountain” and “guard.”

Climbing up the second level of the belfry is no problem, but going up the third level may take a bit more guts. The wooden stairs are new, but the rickety sound and the tall, open windows may trigger vertigo among the faint-hearted. The views from both levels are breath-taking; the bell tower provides a good view of the houses and town cemetery below, and the mountains in the horizon.

As a quick trivia before he parted with us, our guide mentioned that the bell tower is also popular as a location for the filming of the Panday movies by the late Fernando Poe Jr.

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