I recall a message years back from an old friend telling me about a place in Ilocos Norte that resembles something straight out of the Star Wars universe. She said it was like Tatooine, only everything’s frozen.

I’ve been to Ilocos countless times already but I can’t believe I still haven’t seen this George Lucas induced landscape yet.

On my latest trip north, Kapurpurawan Rock finally made it into the itinerary. The plan was to shoot the iconic landscape for the sunset. Only problem was, it had been raining on and off all day and it would be a miracle if the sun showed itself at all.

It seemed our luck was about to turn though. The sky showed hints of blue as we started to descend the stone steps that lead to the shore where the nature-sculpted rock of Kapurpurawan is located.

The rain fell again. More permanently this time.

The original plan of visiting Kabigan Falls and Saud Beach were scraped off our list and the only place we were able to check out at the northern end of Ilocos Norte was the Patapat Viaduct. A brief respite from the dour weather allowed us to alight from the van and shoot a few photos.

The drive took longer than our visit and we were soon on the road again, going back to Burgos for the Farola of Cape Bojeador.

The rain pattered through the cold bus window as we navigated the evening traffic through EDSA. We buzzer-beat the time and were soon loading our bags through the back of the rented van we’ll be calling home for a three-day jaunt in Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte.

With two beautiful models and four photographers aboard--two more waiting along the way--I made myself comfortable, plugged in my ultra-morose Ryan Adams playlist, covered my eyes with my Headware and tried to sleep off the ten-hour ride to the Ilocos Region.

I have been to Ilocos quite a number of times but this province up north has always captivated me. A chance to revisit it presented itself a few days ago and I can never say no. A grueling overnight trip later and we’re visiting old familiar sites and a few new ones. The old farola at Cape Bojeador had been one of the revisits, and although I have quite a few photos of this 19th century lighthouse from previous trips , it delighted me to find that I still have a few angles that I haven’t covered yet.