Blogs from Palawan, Philippines, Asia
Palawan (1)
Feb 5thCebu - Puerto Princesa I woke up and it was raining a bit, and I had a flight at 11am so I decided to not try to see Cebu instead take an easy morning. I grabbed a taxi to the airport, and this time negotiated a flat rate that was the exact same as I paid for the metered to the hotel. If you know the flat rate, it’s the way to go. Unlike the old wisdom of meters being safe, it’s just not true anymore. I got to the airport, which was relatively small for the second largest transport hub in the country. Cebu Pacific Air (which I exclusively flew with) is based out of here. Virtually every airport in Philippines has only 2 destinations: Manila (or the nearby Clark) and Cebu. I got ... read more
Limestone cliffs in Bacuit Bay
Living on a subtropical island such as Taiwan means that the winter does indeed bring cool weather, with conditions perhaps comparable to a damp autumn day in North America. Nevertheless, traveling south past the tropic of cancer, which passes through Taiwan near the medium sized city of Chiayi, puts you in swimming-year-round territory, and another hour south by plane brings you to the Philippines, which are outright hot any time of the year. The Chinese New Year holiday provides the must needed days off during this chilly season. This year my parents were in town for the holidays. First, we did a hot springs tour of Taipei City and surroundings, shot off some rounds of fireworks, and then hopped on a flight to Palawan, a thin, 650km long island; one of 7000+ that make up the ... read more
Boat to Coron
Happy Monday to you all, hope this finds you all well. Before we left El Nido we decided to hire a Kyack and do some island hoping. It worked out cheaper than the tourist package and meant that we could visit the islands we fancied and stay as long as we wanted. We packed a picnic and plenty of water to last us the day. So we handed over our 1000 Pesos, and was given 2 minutes worth of instruction which included a map of the islands which we could reach by our Kyack and set sail. We had been paddling for only a short while when the reality of it kicked in, it wasn't going to be the romantic day trip we had had in mind. I'd done a tiny bit of Kyacking on lakes/rivers ... read more
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For sand, sea, and sun lovers, Coron is one of the country's best yet affordable destinations. Fresh seafoods, awesome snorkeling sites, breathtaking rock formations, calm waters, beautiful sunset, and friendly locals.... read more
P1010272
Hi everybody, We've landed in El Nido after a 5 hour bus journey. In this part of Palawan, electricity is only on between the hours of 2pm and 6am with fairly frequent blackouts. That is the only slight negative about this place. We're surrounded by white cliff mountains, clear blue sky and amazing beaches lovely!! Found a secluded beach on the second day, a short tricycle ride away. We were on the beach for most of the day and only saw a stray dog and two little local kids playing in the sea. We decided to go back to the same beach today, which was a little busier with a group of 8 local children who came running over once they saw scrabble being played. They sat with us for ages watching and playing sand ball ... read more
underground river
Hello all, Backdated blog due to gremlins in our laptop... We landed in Puerto Princessa after a short flight from Manila and what a place!! Touched down in a tiny airport with the most random passport control/airport you could imagine. It's so green compared to the concrete jungle we left behind. No litter filling every which way you turn, jeepneys are few and far between, tri-cycles are still the preffered method of transport. Bartering the drivers is much the same though, it seems that when there is a whitee as a passenger the fair goes up dramatically. So much for the Catholic ethos... We arrived at Mannys guest house, a lovely family run place, our room consisted of a double bed with a shared bathroom which we shared with a lovely Phillipino family. As it was ... read more
Island hopping in the Bacuit Archipelago
Well. I’ve been sitting here drinking icy cold beers for the last few hours just trying to work out how I could possibly describe the last five days. Pictures will barely do it justice, let alone my feeble attempt at putting the experience into words. My fellow travellers and I ran out of superlatives in the first few hours of our five day trip and resorted to ecstatic grins, satisfied sighs and genial shrugs of the shoulders for the rest of our journey. I mean, I couldn't even come up with an interesting and creative title. But here goes anyway… I flew out of Dumaguete at sunrise and after two flights and a cramped and knee-shattering van ride, I arrived in the little village of El Nido sixteen hours later. The real delights of El Nido ... read more
We were up by 6:15 to eat breakfast and catch our van to Honda Bay. Named for the Spanish name “Hondo Agua” (Deep Water), it’s apparently a popular tourist destination for snorkeling, fish-feeding, swimming, and eating. Our first stop was a floating dock in the middle of the bay where you could swim or snorkel. We didn’t stay there long before heading on to Snake Island (named for the shape, not the inhabitants) where I read and wrote, everyone else tanned, and we ate lunch (more grilled tuna and cucumber salad!) After lunch we headed to one last island before heading back to town with the other tourists on the 5:00 flight back to Manila. We learned that if you pronounced Palawan “PAH-lah-wan”, it means someone from Palawan. “pah-LAH-wan” means the island. When we got back, ... read more
We were up by 6:15 to eat breakfast and catch our van to Honda Bay. Named for the Spanish name “Hondo Agua” (Deep Water), it’s apparently a popular tourist destination for snorkeling, fish-feeding, swimming, and eating. Our first stop was a floating dock in the middle of the bay where you could swim or snorkel. We didn’t stay there long before heading on to Snake Island (named for the shape, not the inhabitants) where I read and wrote, everyone else tanned, and we ate lunch (more grilled tuna and cucumber salad!) After lunch we headed to one last island before heading back to town with the other tourists on the 5:00 flight back to Manila. We learned that if you pronounced Palawan “PAH-lah-wan”, it means someone from Palawan. “pah-LAH-wan” means the island. When we got back, ... read more
Armie Yuson As Happy Loner Traveller!!!
The Most Awaited Travel Contest Of The Year Is Back!!! Do you want Extreme Fun, Excitement and to have the best adventure of your life just like HAPPY LONER TRAVELLER for the 2nd time around? Then this is your chance to have that dream again! As an opening for my 3rd Series of Blogs and In line with my advocacy which is promoting Philippine Tourism and giving Job opportunities to our fellow Filipinos to eradicate poverty and allow them to have the gift of education in valuing and protecting our Mother Earth. I am returning the contest that swept you out of your feet!!! In which you will have the chance again to WIN a Pampering, Relaxing, FREE and ALL EXPENSE PAID 3 Days and 2 Nights trip to CORON PALAWAN PHILIPPINES PLUS you will join ... read more
