The Great Ilocos Norte Off-Road Adventure

Warning: This post is photo-heavy!

It took me a week to post the awesome trailing adventure with out-and-out adventurers Jeena Llamas, Jason Afable Luengo, Jacq Yu, Jun and Mylene Flores, Isabelle, and Jeena’s twin daughters Isis and Sabrina. If the names ring a bell, it is because Jeena and Jacq were in Amazing Race Asia, and Jeena, Jason and Jun are from the Philippine paragliding team for the SEA Games. There’s a cute story behind Jeena’s finding Adams. I’m really grateful to Gillian Caballero, A-list photographer Melvyn Calderon’s niece, who was in Adams with Melvyn before the new year (BlauEarth story here).

This travel and adventure post is morphing into a motoring post. It will look like a tie-up with Toyota, hell yeah, the FJ Cruiser meets the Land Cruiser Series 75 and the legend extends to the Laoag Sand Dunes, home of the Ilocos sand adventure, with LEAD’s pimped Land Cruisers.

Did you catch Adams on the frontpage story of Yahoo Philippines at the start of the new year? Adams made the top 15 PH destinations to visit in 2015 (story here). I was not surprised, I’ve been blogging about this heaven on earth since day one. LEAD Movement and yours truly are so happy other bloggers have reached as far as the northernmost Cordillera mountains where the once obscure town is quietly resting.

Mallards at Saud Beach Resort, where we met Jeena and company..Jason Afable Luengo is the creative soul behind Tribu and Headware.

Adams. I don’t know what to call a person who will not love this timeless town up North. Isis says Adams is her second most favorite place. And AOTW, Jeena says, they can’t get the whole Ilocos experience out of their hearts and minds, with an exclamation point. (So sweet of you, Jeena.)

The Baset Bridge, the longest hanging bridge in Ilocos Norte.Meet Mang Kiko Jun Flores, Singapore’s Top 10 Filipino Entrepreneurs. With wife Mylene and daughter Isabelle.The clear jade Bulo River.Paul Acupan and son Paolo at the Lover’s Peak, a famous spot named by LEAD Movement member Boyet Leano.Adams is also known to be the producer of premium bugnay wine in these parts. We did wine tasting and also bought indigenous coffee.Bugnay wine aging.Tadek dancing to the beat of the gong. A mini Iyapayao cultural show was performed by the cute teeners from the Adams High School. Move over chicken joy, 2-way forest frogs for dinner.Isis and Sabrina and Mylene’s Isa spent the night quietly in Jeena’s FJ Cruiser and tent.Jeena, Jacq and Jason.Adams’ new product — baraniw (lemongrass) juice concentrate.Teresa and Susan Basingan, two of the original mountain guides of the AMO (Adams Mountaineering Org) trained by LEAD-DOT Regional Ofiice and SMOC’s (Sierra Madre Outdoor Club’s) Pio Munoz in 2005. Brandon’s photo op with FHM’s 100 sexiest, Jacq Yu.Check out LEAD Movement’s fave comfy homestay in Adams. It’s named Mama Anna’s.Head lamps on.

With fondest thanks to Jeena, Jacq, Jason, Jun, Mylene, Isis, Sab and Isa.

Photographed by Brandon Tan, Paul Acupan and Blauearth.
© Blauearth™ All Rights Reserved 2009-2015

Eugene learns to kitesurf @ Kingfisher

The great seaside getaway in Ilocos I’ve discovered last year got even more lucid, with the family getting to love my description of an unperturbed beachful bliss, blissful beach, both.

Eugene happens to aim high on a board. It’s only at Kingfisher where one can grow the flappers for more salty boarding. The Discovery Course, the first step to flysurfing, makes you get to feel the kite, become one with it. Euge says it was not as easy as he initially thought because the winds were great. He loves the sport and wants to progress to the next stride. Seeing him, as Jana, his wonderful kite instructor, said, “I’m surprised he’s learning fast,” we’re happy exploring with him.

Alexa, on the other hand, was beaming. There’s this side to her that wakes up — by that kind of potency from the sea, sky and sand that brings someone into self-healing. Like my magic bullet.

And goldie romances the camera. Hahah, he moves like a model.Current read: The Devil’s Dictionary.Jana is from the Czech Republic. She came back, with John, after visiting in 2009. And Lisa (below) never left Capirispisan after I last saw her. The rubber piggy to call attention for the steak I’ve been craving for a long time.

Another beautiful find: kilawin na tuna with a kick of Asian zest.

Sports Unlimited Laoag “La Paz” Sand Boarding/Duning BTS

Sports icon Dyan Castillejo and prominent TV host Marc Nelson were in Ilocos recently to shoot for Sports Unlimited’s upcoming episodes. At the end of a via ferrata adventure in Narvacan, Ilocos Sur, Sports Unlimited proceeded to the capital of Ilocos Norte, Laoag City, where they were led to the capital of sandboarding in the Philippines for the uniquely Ilocos thrills, with no less than the pioneers of sandboarding in the country, the Laoag Eco-Adventure Development Movement, simply known as LEAD.

Dyan and Marc are not new to La Paz. Sports Unlimited was the first sports and adventure show that featured the iconic Laoag La Paz Sand Dunes more than a decade ago. A couple of LEADers were among a group that hosted Sports Unlimited for that first ever local sand duning adventure on Philippine television, which later evolved to a creative palangana, yes, a batya adventure, if you will recall. And then came the trending sandboarding culture introduced by LEAD Movement.

Very pro to the core, the duo tried every imaginable trick on a board. The younger members of LEAD were so amazed.

Catch Sports Unlimited every Saturday evening on ABC-CBN with replays on the ANC Channel.