Puerto Princesa

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Well we tried to leave Manila but the typhoon wouldn’t let us. Our original flight was booked to Coron and then we would work our way down through Palawan and then fly back to Manila from Puerto Princesa. However, the typhoon meant no planes could fly to Coron but we managed to get on another flight that same day going to Puerto Princesa. This ended up being a bit of luck really because the route was now much more natural - heading up Palawan to finish in Manila again. Cebu Pacific didn’t charge anymore for this longer flight either, so it wasn’t all bad!

We fly to Puerto in what can only be described as dense, black cloud – the whole way! It wasn’t a comfortable flight but you’ve got to hand it to Cebu Pacific for having the guts to fly through the storm clouds. Good luck to them. We flew in over terrain that I had not seen before. There was something different about it, very Filipino. We landed in rain as it was late afternoon and during rainy season it often rains later on in the day. The airport was tiny and we were ushered into one of the many motorbike taxis. Was very cheap and the driver was very nice. He took us to Banwa and straight away we could see why it was so highly recommended. It is a beautiful place – made from the trees that surround it. Tucked away just off the main drag, this place has great character.

The brother of the manager carves all the furniture and all the ornaments – they are all very good. Most of what you see is for sale as well. The common area is really pretty and there is a really chilled atmosphere here, slightly bohemian. We had a dorm room for the first night and then one of the nice, compact doubles for the remaining 2 nights. This place is a little costly – but well worth it.

Things to do in Puerto are limited. It is a cool little village and I happily spent two days here not doing much but meeting the locals and eating in local restaurants. It is actually a lot more built up than I thought but it is very clean and the people are very nice. It isn’t really anywhere near the scale of beauty that the rest of Palawan is famed for but it is a nice introduction. We paid a motorbike taxi man to give us a tour of Princesa. You can book Princesa tours anywhere but it is much cheaper with a motorbike taxi and they take you to the same places. The main attraction is the croc farm about 30mins out of town. Some of the crocs there really are impressive – I’m a keen wildlife fan and not even I realised they got that big! The tour guide explained in somewhat broken English that the place was full of crocodiles being rehabilitated or cared for in some way – so this was reassuring when I saw a huuuuge specimen in a pool too small for him.

“why is he here” I asked,

“what?”

“Why is this crocodile here?” expecting to hear about an injury or some disruption he may have caused.

“because he is big. Too big for river.” This seemed reasonable – maybe he outgrew his natural habitat in Palawan...

“And the foreign people love him.” Oh right.

He was an attraction, sadly, and so was the enclosure full of about 100 small to midsized crocodiles that you could pay to feed. Was worth a visit but it was also a bit of a shame.

We were then taken to a couple of crap little tourist stops before being dropped at the end of town. Was quite a nice way to spend a few hours but I wouldn’t pay for one of the professional packages.

From here you can book the subterranean river tour which Puerto is famous for. We opted to book to go to Sabang on the minibus, have the tour and then stay in Sabang. We spent a couple of hours shopping around for a good price before finding out that the price was fixed by the tourist board, so don’t waste your time!

Puerto Princesa was a really nice place to stay for a couple of days - especially being at Banwa. The people are exceptionally nice and the place is kept very clean but it isn’t really the type of place you come to the Philippines for. It reminded me a bit of Medan, or Mataram – cities surrounded by beauty but quite bland themselves.

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