Manila was overcast and the air was electric with rain as we boarded the RCJ bus bound for Ilocos Norte. This was supposed to be a summer getaway but the rains pouring over the metro the previous days were becoming more and more frequent. It was the last days of May and summer was about to end. 

We slept away the twelve-hour midnight ride to Pagudpud, waking up only for the occasional stops along the road. I was hoping to catch the sunrise at Saud but was sorely disappointed upon waking up and finding the bus filled with the golden light of the early morning as we passed by the towering Bangui Windmills, too bad.

It was around six in the morning when we finally alighted from the bus and flagged a tricycle for Saud. The warm yellow light that greeted us earlier seemed to be disappearing across the horizon as our tricycle sped away; gray clouds incoming.

Strong winds and huge waves greeted us at Saud Beach. The usual bright green waters were pallid gray and the majestic rays of the rising sun was blocked off by thick clouds.

Times like these, you have to make do with what is presented to you. The twelve-hour night ride wasn’t about to go to waste just because the sun was unable to break through the blanket of clouds; we still have the churning sea and the jagged rock formations of Pagudpud to photograph anyways.

 

RCJ TRANSIT BUS LINES
1558 España, Sampaloc, Manila
Telephone: (02) 741-2994