Oh, Palawan! ♥

The last leg of our sort of WOW Philippines tour this year – Puerto Princesa, Palawan last Nov 19-21,2011.  We arrived in Puerto Princesa Airport around 9:30am via ZestAir. 

Awaiting us is our van that will take us to Tropical Sun Inn. This Inn is not bad at all. I recommend this to all the travelers especially the backpackers. We checked-in and took a rest for around 30minutes then we decided to go to Honda Bay.  

We learned that there we should take or early lunch because there are no restaurants or food stalls in Honda Bay. So w on our way to Honda Bay, we stopped over to “Balinsasayaw” – a restaurant that serves grilled chicken like Inasal.  

It is around 11am when we got to Honda Bay and road the boat that will lead us to 6 islands. Fee here is fixed per boat – P1450 so the more people in a boat the less you will pay. I think one boat can accommodate up to 12 persons. In our case, we are six joined by two couples from Cavite.  

Our first stop is Pandan Island. Of all the island, this is the most crowded because it is where the people can swim. I didn’t know that at first. I thought that I can swim in all six islands so I suggest that if you want to swim, choose Pandan Island, though you can see many starfish in the water. In my case, I only eat halo-halo, listen to music while in Trina’s banig, and made my own MTV (emo mode). We stayed here around one and a half hour then we are off to the 2nd island – the Snake Island.  

 

We thought there are snakes in “Snake Island” but this was really named as it because of the shape of the shore that is like a snake. You can also swim here but the water has many jelly fish so I suggest not. Also, the sand is not as beautiful as Pandan Island. So after strolling in the shore and getting shells, we decided to leave after 20 minutes.  

It is around 2:30pm, the weather is so hot so we all look dugyot. We decided to skip two islands and choose to visit the last two island – LULI and Coral Reef.  LULI is short for “Lulubog-Lilitaw” because it is an island with a private house in the center. During high tide, you can only see it like floating in the water but if it is low tide, it is like a majestic beach. So after taking pictures, we were off to our last Island.   

From afar, Coral Reef is like a Turtle Pagoda. If you like snorkeling, they said that this is the best place to do it. The couple we met dove into the water while we are resting and taking pictures in the Pagoda. We left around 4:15pm so we could catch Baker’s Hill since it is closing around 7pm.  

We are all tired from Island Hopping but we need to go straight to Baker’s Hill without refreshing ourselves. Many tourists are in Baker’s Hill to buy pasalubongs. I can say that this place is like theme park because I can see life-sized Looney Tunes, Snow White, etc characters. We bought their famous Hopia (Ube,Monggo,Baboy) served hot. We also bought choco crinckles and bwonies here. So after around one and a half stay in Baker’s Hill, we decided to go to our Inn to refresh and take our dinner.  

We took our dinner in Kinabuch. It is like Gerry’s Grill only without live band. Actually there is no music at all. So you could here only people talking. If you talk aloud, many can hear – that’s how quiet it is in Puerto Princesa. Our dinner was sumptuous but cheap. We loved it. Around 11pm when we decided to go back and rest as we all need to wake up early the following day for the Underground River Tour. Day one, done.  

Our main highlight of Puerto Princesa Trip is the Underground River. After dinner, we are fetched by the van around 8am that will take us to the river. We are full in the van as we are joined by others. Our tour guide, Ate Mae., is very nice and she knows almost anything about history of Puerto Princesa. It is a two-hour drive from the city so some of us slept. As for myself, I just enjoyed the beauty of the road. After an hour, we stopped over to a pasalubong shop where I bought my red summer hat. After 15minutes, we then continue to our road trip. We then arrived to Ugong Rock where you can go inside the cave and do zipline. We only tried the cave. But we didn’t finished up to the highest point because it struggle for some of us as we are not ready. Some are only in slippers and we thought that it is too dangerous. 

 

So we went down again instead of zipline. Whew, it was really effort. We are all sweaty but then we couldn’t wipe our face. Just look at our pictures so you can see our before and after looks. I actually have pictures where my headband is in my forehead but still I cannot fix it. Haha.  

We are all so tired and in dire need of lunch. So awaiting in Sabang Beach is the buffet lunch. Not bad. While taking our lunch, it rained hard. We are afraid we might not continue to Underground River but fortunately it stopped after around 15minutes. So we are all set. The people in our van were separated into two groups, two boats going to Underground River. From the beach, it is around 10minutes boatride before the River. So as we arrive, we registered and see monkeys and “bayawak” walking around the area.   

After putting our life vest and hard hat, we are ready. Our only light in the river is the flashlight held by Patrick. The tour guide is funny. But as I am inside the river, I am worried that there will be bat poop and urine dropping from the ceiling. I don’t know if it’s water or urine. The river is approximately 20feet. We traveled about 45minutes in 1.2kilometers. The whole 8kilometers is not yet passable since scientists are still studying the rock formations. I don’t know if all the rock formations we saw were natural because they are beautiful like the 3Kings, Candle, Dinosaur, Mangrove tree, mushroom, naked lady, and the best – Jesus’face. Natural or not, I think they are beautiful. But I suggest that the life vest should be cleaned everyday since they smelled bad already it sticks to your skin. After all, many tourists will come and go after being included in the new 7 wonders of the world.  

So we finished and we are set to go back to our Inn. Before we were dropped to our Inn, we stopped over the tiangge to buy pasalubongs. Here I meet a new friend.. =)  

After saying goodbyes to our new friends, we headed to “Noki-Noks” and tried their famous halo-halo. It is like Razon’s but with many ingredients, delicious.  

We are supposed to have dinner in Kalui but the tricycle driver said that it is closed during Sundays so we took our dinner in Divine Sweets which is not bad after all. We stayed here until 9pm and decided to visit their Baywalk where they said we could ride the bicycle. So we rented their sidecar while Chard rented solo bike. It is nice to try this after all. Bonding bonding while under a beautiful night atmosphere. Yes, I can feel it’s Christmas.   

After an hour, we head back to our Inn and packed our things as we are leaving early in the morning the following day around.  

Goodbye Puerto Princesa. Besides being a beautiful and peaceful city, I will never forget that this is where I meet my new friend. I will never forget my Palawan moments.☺