The Great North Road (Part 2)
After our long drive north from Manila all the way to the northern tip of Luzon, Nikki and I still had a few days left in Ilocos Norte before we had to head back down south to Manila, and then home. We booked a few nights in a hotel right in the city proper, which was a much more sensible decision than our earlier stay in Fort Ilocandia, as, uh, interesting as that spot was. December 9 was my birthday, so I decided to take a day of leave and head back up to the Solsona-Apayao road where we had been the previous week. Nikki had to work that day (and wasn't a huge fan of the dodgy roads anyway), so I went up on my own, hoping I wouldn't be buried in a landslide on the way up- not my ideal way of spending my birthday. In the days leading up to it I had grand plans to leave at 2AM to get there in time to look for Luzon Scops-owl, Bukidnon Woodcock, and maybe a wayward Luzon Rail or two, but in the end I was so tuckered out from the previous day's birding in Kalbario-Patapa...