Travelog: Iloilo, Philippines

Iloilo is truly a beautiful city in the Philippines. I have a handful of friends who are from Iloilo and I have always found them to be very kind- hearted, welcoming, and sincere. So it felt like it was also time for me to visit the city they (once) called home, the city that they had been telling me great things about all these years.

Before I knew it, I was on the plane with friends to Iloilo one sunny Friday morning 🙂

First stop straight from the Iloilo airport, which by the way looks MUCH better than our own NAIA international airport in Manila, we headed for Breakthrough Restaurant at Villa Iloilo. It was lunchtime! That’s our table. Breakthrough in Villa Iloilo is by the water’s edge, so you get a sense that they really have the freshest seafood.

This was my favorite dish. On first glance it looked like noodles. But this is a type of seaweed, served with thinly sliced green mangoes.  I had the whole plate to myself 🙂 *I wish to take home more of this please!!*

Grilled Marlin. I was not a big fan of marlin because I didn’t quite like the texture (perhaps because I’ve had the frozen kind?), but this particular one was delicious!

I was so full from our meal. And for everything that we had ordered (we had doubles of each dish plus some other dishes I didn’t bother to photograph because everyone began “diving in”- LOL I wanted to eat too, right? :D), we were charged an amazingly reasonable amount!

I also realized later that beauty (yes, beauty) comes with a VERY nice and affordable price tag as well in Iloilo! My friend’s cousin is Dr. Aileen Montero and is a dermatologist in Iloilo at SkinCare at the Atrium. So after meeting 2 twitter friends (Raisa and Isay), my friends and I decided to have a facial (which has not touched a dermatologist’s tools in 10 years!) and I also decided to have my facial warts removed. I swear, I didn’t even know I had them LOL. But then again I’m very dense about my skin’s “health” and condition (among other things!). After the facial (yes, red, blotchy, treated skin after), I decided to have a quick hair wash and blow out. It cost me US $ 3.50 ( PhP 150). A world of a difference in price in Manila too! I mean, where else can you find a good blowout for that price? More reasons to love Iloilo, right? 🙂

Dinner was at Deco’s for their authentic La Paz Batchoy (noodle soup).

That night, we stayed at the Presidential Suite of the Amigo Terrace Hotel in Iloilo City (read about my experience with the hotel on ManilaSocialDiary). The whole hotel is undergoing renovations right now and the newly renovated hotel rooms are very nice, modern, and spacious. The rates for stay are also very, very affordable and competitive. The Suite was impressive!

I would’ve wanted to stay longer in Iloilo if I had more time but I had to fly back to Manila already the next day.

Before we left, we went to pay our friend’s dad a visit in their ancestral home. Passed by a few beautiful old houses (we saw the Lopez house too– it was really so beautiful). This was one of the quirky ones we saw. Was told that the reason why this house seems bent and “out of shape”, literally, was because long, long ago, the owner was told that there was gold underneath his house, so he began digging in search of the gold! 🙂 The foundation after some years, became unstable (I’m thinking some spots on the ground are hollow :D). It made for a good story (if it weren’t true). And the house was quite a sight to see.

Oh, and guess what,  on the morning of our flight, we also almost didn’t make it to the airport on time because my friends had wanted to make a pitstop at Biscoho House for edible souvenirs or pasalubongs.

We did not anticipate a road accident on the way to the airport and traffic was backed up pretty bad! The accident was not a pleasant one 🙁 We heard that some passengers aboard a public transport vehicle were hurt pretty badly after a truck carrying soil plowed into it. 🙁

Apart from that accident/ incident, I do know this very well– Iloilo is really such a beautiful city and I would go back again– in a heartbeat! I was told by my Iloilo readers (hello everyone :D) that there are a lot more places to explore! I can’t wait for my next trip out there!! It is really fun in the Philippines 🙂

P.S. Please allow me to thank these special people who made the Iloilo trip so much fun: Thank you CV Travel for arranging our domestic travel tour itinerary at the last minute! Thank you Dr. Aileen Montero for accommodating me, my face, and my questions!  Thank you Aileen U.O. & family for our wonderful stay at the Amigo Terrace Hotel! Thank you Raisa and Isay for seeing me, and for the Mama’s Kitchen cookies (OMG they are so addictive!), and thank you Marga Go for the massive box of Biscocho pasalubongs– am so happy to have met you and your “mini me” in your city :). And super special thanks to all the peeps from Iloilo who tweet- welcomed me and offered me their suggestions on where to go/ where to eat 🙂 You are all so amazing! I need to meet up with you peeps next time! 

Iloilo, I will definitely be back!!! 🙂

x
TheBagHag