Super Ilocos Tour Guide - Mang Arnel

I was browsing the blogsphere one day and came upon this entry from Chyng Reyes. She also loves to travel and her writing style is so engaging that you will feel as if you have already gone to the place with her. But what struck me most was her Ilocos blog, especially her story on her tour guide Mang Arnel.

A brief background: she is supposed to travel to Ilocos with a friend but the friend decided not to join at the last minute: when she is just about to board the plane. Instead of canceling her trip, she decided to  push through. Only later did she realize that problems will surely arise budget-wise, since most of the expected expenses she estimated to spend for the trip was to be divided in two. Suffice it to say, she scrimped, to the point of even depriving herself of a bottled water!

And here comes Mang Arnel, her tour guide. One, he treated her to a P100 peso tour (which she cannot afford because of her money situation) just for her to see the Kabigan Falls. Two, he treated her to lunch!

Honestly, as I was reading her blog, I was crying! Here is a man who spends his entire 2 days to drive somebody around for P1200, not to mention act as a tour guide and photographer too, and is willing to part with some of his hard-earned money just so his guest will have a good time! Now that is for the books.

I have been to Ilocos last month and our guide/driver Lee is also very nice and is worth of my referral, but I believe Mang Arnel deserves this separate entry. Thank you Mang Arnel for making us believe that Filipinos are good people.

Mang Arnel 0918.689.0723

Here is Chyng's blog on Mang Arnel.