Breaking Dawn: Notes from a 12 hr bus ride to Laoag City

Partas Night bus

It's 11PM now. I woke up after 2 hours of sleep, where are we? I have no idea. We left Partas terminal in Pasay at 9PM and headed North. As our driver pulled over to what looks like a pit stop, I saw a signage that says Tarlac. Ah, hometown of President Noynoy and the Cojuangco clan.

 We got off the bus to stretch our legs. Decided to buy Chicharon (Fried Pork skin) and made sure we were able to pee. I have no idea when the next pit stop would be so even if I didn't need to go, I made sure I did. I can't go back to sleep now even if I wanted to. The driver turned off the bright white light inside the bus as he started to back up and headed to face the dark highway again, the only light that I can consistently depend on now is this annoying red light over my head supposedly good for reading. But, for some reason all it does is give me a headache. I've heard of unconventional writing techniques but tonight, I think I'm using the most unconventional one. I am not looking down at all to see what I'm doing to avoid getting nauseous, keeping my hands as steady as I can while I continue to write like a mad blind man would and just hoped for the best that I will not get any words written over so I will be able to  read it after this trip. Fortunately for me, I was able to second guess and translate some of the things that I've written when we took a 12 hr night bus ride to Laoag City.

As time slips more, my eyes started to fully adjust to my surroundings, my body became more relaxed and my heart finally settled to forgive myself and my husband for having that stupid argument earlier that day that made us missed our flight. 

Watching the dark road as I pass on time. I can't wait for daybreak. We stopped four more times and occasionally would let passengers off in between towns. I would fall asleep then wake up again and wonder again where we are. The moon shines a little brighter each time I would wake up. I can see a bit of stars in the sky and the black silhouette figures of trees, fields and tiny houses outside my window would take form from time to time. 

When the sun finally broke the night, the most beautiful colors of indigo, orange and yellow spread throughout the Cordillera mountains that highlighted its beautiful jagged peaks. It was such a stunning sight to see.

Cordillera mountains, Philippines at dawn

Layers of mountains with their feet touching the great Abra river serves as a backdrop to Abra's long steel bridge. Passing by it made me want to drive myself all the way here someday and have a cup of coffee while enjoying this view. It will be a wonderful way to start any day.

Abra bridge, Philippines

Once we've crossed over to the provinces of Ilocos, the scenery changed at once. The long stretch of highway now gave us a front row seat of the former China Sea and now called West Philippine Sea. I have never seen water this blue before. ^_^


We made our final pit stop at Vigan Partas Terminal, where we took another bathroom break.
I was expecting a short trip to Laoag from there but I was so wrong. We spent another 2 good hours before we were able to reach our final destination.

West Philippine Sea, view from Ilocos, Philippines

The 1 hour flight to Laoag that turned in an all-night adventure. I was thankful that we did took the bus to save time when we missed our flight. I was a bit tired when we met up with my family but I was more glad that we arrived safely and excited to start the day. I am finally at the edge of Luzon and so far so good. I can't wait to see more of it. ^_^