Day 3 Luzon Tour (Bulacan and Pampanga)

I have been trying to post a video of our jump in Marcos Island, Hundred Islands, Pangasinan but each time I tried, I got an error message. I shall try again in my coming posts but in the meantime, here's our Day 3 travel details.

We were picked up by our tricycle driver, Gerry, and his brother at 7:30am. They took us to the Victory bus terminal. The bus leaves at one-hour interval and our bus left at 8:10am from the Alaminos terminal; it arrived in Dau, Mabalacat, Pampanga terminal at 11:35am (fare: P224.00, ordinary aircon bus). We took another bus (non-aircon) just outside the Dau terminal for San Fernando (P30.00), it was just about 25 minutes ride.

At the San Fernando terminal, we looked for rental vans for our day trip. Rental rate was P2,700.00. Before we started our trip, we had lunch at KFC Restaurant, SM San Fernando.

At 1:50pm, we were on our way to Barasoain Chuch, Bulacan. When we arrived, there were people milling around the church as if waiting for somebody. It turned that somebody of prominent stature must have died as their city hall's flag was raised at half-mast. Anywayh, we took some pictures of the Barasoain Church and had bola-bola dipped in sauce and sago’t gulaman afterwards from the nearby stalls. Next stop was the Malolos Cathedral (Our Lady of Immaculate Concepcion Church), another historical church. Then we proceeded to the Provincial Capitol of Bulacan. As Malolos will celebrate its foundation day this coming August 31, 2009, buntings and banners were already visible everywhere. At the capitol building area, bamboo arches with intricate designs were already installed aside from the buntings and banners.

We then proceeded to San Rafael, Baliuag, an hour drive from Malolos to visit Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church with its blue-themed walls and ceilings with intricate beautiful designs. This is one of the most beautiful churches I have seen so far.

Next destination was the St. James the Apostle Church at Betis, Guagua, Pampanga. The church is called “The Sistine Chapel of the Philippines” for its beautifully-made ceilings and wall murals. It is one of the 26 churches all over the Philippines that was declared as a national treasure. Not only the church’s interiors were impressive but also its exteriors and surroundings. There were angel statues guarding its gates, its wooden antique doors have beautiful carvings (please! Somebody protect these as people tend to lean on them while hearing mass and vandals might destroy them).

We were supposed to proceed to swing by Bacolor Church, the lahar-submerged church that is getting more attention as part of the location site of TV sitcom, May Bukas Pa with Santino as the main character. But we got lost along the way and before we knew it, it was already dark and we have yet to find a place to sleep in.

We went back to San Fernando and decided to try Hotel Sogo which is right infront of SM San Fernando. The rooms were just for two persons but the hotel staff was kind enough to offer us a discount for the three rooms for the five of us. Surprisingly, the hotel was quite clean and even smelled good. At P540.00 for 12 hours, their rooms included TV and toilet and bath.

Dinner was at SM mall’s foodcourt and I tried the famous Aling Lucing’s Sisig at P71.00 with rice. We bought water and Gardenia breads at the grocery store. Back at Hotel Sogo before 9:00 pm and had our dessert of ube jam at the hotel room.

At 11:00 pm, it was lights out time.