Bangui Windmills

Don Quixote jousted with windmills, imagining that those are monsters and he is a hero who needs to fight them. This whole “outdoor” stuff is not far from that. We create dangers and hardships because we want to be heroes of some sort. The safer and more environment-friendly alternative would have been staying at home and watching NatGeo. But then again, nobody is nicknamed Alexander the Great by watching TV.

October 11, 2011. I was at Bangui, Ilocos Norte. It is where the windmills are. It lies at the northern tip of Luzon, two hours from Laoag City, 14 hours from Manila at best.

We were stationed in Vigan, our third destination on our Baguio-Sagada-Vigan-Bangui trip. There is a direct bus from Vigan to Bangui, the CMW Trans. As it was not available, we took the Partas Bus that connects the Manila-Laoag route.

From Laoag, we took an old-school bus called Claveria Tours. It is similar to Cebu’s Librando buses, only that it was the best bus ride ever. The driver was not at all reluctant to floor the gas pedal and we arrived 30 minutes earlier than expected—an hour before sunset. (The driver was not reckless. He slowed down at populated places, schools, and difficult curves.)

The windmills are 2.5 kilometers from the bus stop but their huge stature make their presence known even way before you get there. Tricycles are parked on the bridge near the entrance of the wind farm. Your driver will gladly volunteer to drive and wait for you. We spend about an hour there and paid 150 for everything—the amount that our driver asked.

At Bangui, you can see how the sunset looks like from the northwestern part of the country. You’d love to stay there until it is totally dark.

It breaks my tiny bitty heart that I don't have my Nikon S570 and I found it difficult to work with a Samsung PNS. But the trip was good. The fleeting scenes at the bus window tells stories like a rolling film does.

For the whole trip, I am happy and gay. But more on the gay side (as my mountain bike friend Egay would often add. IMY betch, hope you are fine there at your new gay side of the planet).

Mr. Windmill please don't turn your back on me.

The Bangui Windmills and waves from the South China Sea.

I still could not accept that there are no cows in windfarms.

I would not be surprised if there's a made-in-China print in these stuff.