While sandboarding is fun, just look at their faces here, it somehow is limited to a small area of the expansive La Paz Sand Dunes. To really enjoy the wide and beautiful scenery that stretches for several kilometers, a ride on a 4×4 vehicle is recommended.

You need not go to the Middle East just to experience sand boarding in the deserts. The Ilocos Norte Sand Dunes is just as perfect!

It would have been the perfect complement to Vigan’s empanada but the okoy was a bit of a let down. It was more flour, and lots of it, a few pieces of small shrimps and kutchay.

Batac’s empanada is said to be the best produced in Ilocos. Crispy thin shell filled with longanisa, bean sprouts and egg, its a delicious treat that can be a meal in itself.

I’m familiar with the usual attractions in Ilocos Norte having traveled to this part of the country many times. Except for Paoay Church, the two other stops: Paoay Lake and Mair-ira Cove was something new to me.

Sandboarding at the Ilocos Norte Sand Dunes is one of the newest attractions in the area. While this adventure sport has been around and is in fact popular in many desert areas, here in the Philippines, its a new and exciting sport.

The Ilocos Norte Sand Dune is one of the best places to go for a wild 4×4 offroad adventure with its wide expanse of sand dunes that stretches for kilometers before bordered by the sea. Of all the places we’ve visited in our Lakbay Norte tour, this was the best experience.

Ilocos Norte is just more than churches, gigantic wind turbines and empanada. At it’s western coastline, a desert like landscape awaits the traveler who is bold enough to go to this out of the way geographic wonder. But once you get face to face with the Ilocos Norte Sand Dunes as it unfolds before you, just prepare to be bowled over.

It’s already March and one thing is for sure: SUMMER IS HERE! It surely is a hot time and other than indulging oneself with cold halo halo or hitting the malls for the nth time, what better way to make these awaited vacation months worthwhile than a list of top 10 things to do during this time of the year.

This is Part 1.

I am tracing a good five years of travel with my amour around the country and in this two part series, I am featuring ten of those sojourns. This is Part 2 which covers Davao City, Romblon, Lucban, Sagada and Ilocos.

Laoag City in Ilocos Norte is all aglow during December. The plaza in front of the Provincial Capitol is all decked out in lights and Christmas decorations featuring native as well as recycled materials.

But more than that, the province’s well known landmark, the massive belfry of St. William’s Cathedral, lording it all, is lit up.