Palawan Adventure

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Finally, I had been in Palawan - said to be the last frontier of the Philippines.

Last Aug 10 -13, Me and Lorenz , my travel buddy headed to Puerto Princesa, Palawan.
We were so lucky that on that day, Aug 10, the sun was already shining after a week’s typhoon.

The adventure starts..

On the day we arrived , just outside at the airport, I saw the stand post of Puerto pension where my name was written. This is our sundo who will bring us to the hotel. Al, the driver accompanied us to the Van and we waited for few minutes for the other guest of the hotel. We were full in the van. Hmmm, I was thinking the hotel must be good that many of the tourists chose it.

It took us 10 minutes before we reached the hotel. I loved it. It was simple, has garden, silent, good for relaxation and was near the city proper. The pension is made up of native materials, sawali, anahaw, bamboo.. the type of houses which i have always looking for whenever am on a holiday. It makes me really feel am in the province.

After we fixed our things, unloaded our bag, relaxed a little, felt the coldness of the aircondition we decided to have our lunch. The reception suggested Ka lui’s or Kinabuch’s for a good lunch but Ka lui’s needs reservation. Hmmm. Anyway, we just thought we can look in the city.

We took a tricycle and asked the driver (Wilner) to bring us to a nice restaurant. After some talking, we asked him if he can tour us in the city. He said yes and he was only asking for P400. We thought, it must be a good price. In the hotel, the city tour will cost us P600 each or P1, 200 pesos for the two of us. So we got the deal to Wilner, he will tour us. We just asked him first to drop us in Jollibee so we can have at least some food in our stomach.

Day 1. City tour

Palawan Museum - this exhibits pre-hispanic jars and porcelains; artifacts found in the Tabon Cave and antiques from Cuyo Town

Butterfly Garden - Lots of different and colorful butterflies can be seen here. A 5-minute tv viewing about butterflies is required before entering the garden. It was so nice that it was only us in the garden that we played with the butterflies freely, took our pics with the butterflies flying around us. I really enjoyed here.

Palawan Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Center ( known as the Crocodile Farm ) - here, there are really thousands of crocodile. At the entrance, the biggest crocodile’s skeleton and its skin is displayed. They said it’s the biggest in the world so far. Then, they brought us to the nursery where baby crocs are inside big basins. Its about 1, 200 crocodiles in there. Yeah, its smelly. Then we passed to a bridge where under are big crocodiles. I really got afraid crossing the bridge. Its like, what if I fell, I will be eaten by these big crocs.. just thought of it anyway so I just walked really carefully.
Outside is a zoo where mostly are birds, eagles. In one hut there, the people are taking some souvenir picture holding, carrying a crocodile. I thought, I should do that too. Oh my god, am the only one who is screaming there. The muscles of the croc is moving..wwaaaaahhhh… the people are laughing at me.😊 Its an experience though and was able to surpass it and doesn’t show in the pic that I was scared holding it.

Baker’s Hill - the place was so relaxing, the air is so cold, the ambience is great. Great for a snack here. There is a zoo here where we played with the ostrich, I was scared though that I cant go near. There’s also a sarimanok, a very colorful chicken like, and nice peacock.

Sta. Monica Ranch ( popularly known as Mitra’s Ranch) - this is where Former Speaker of the house Ramon Mitra was staying when he was still alive. There’s no more horses and cows around except for hundreds of rosters. The location of the ranch is very nice. Its on top of a hill overviewing Puerto princesa and the sea.

Immaculate Concepcion Cathedral - the city’s catholic church

Plaza Cuartel - just on the other side of the church which now also became like a park that we saw there some groups of high school students practicing their dances.

Sea port area- this already look like the baywalk of manila though still under construction.

Day 2 - Underground River, a UNESCO Heritage Park

On our day 2, we decided to go to the well talked about underground river of Palawan. We took the package of the hotel under Topstar tours and travel agency.

We were 8 in the tour. All of us stays in the same hotel. They are all lovers except us. Hahaha. Kainggit naman sila... First couple, is both Japanese who I learned was working in RCBC, an expat in the Philippines. Second couple, the guy is a Spanish and the girl is Japanese and the guy admitted he is anti social so they chose palawan which has less people than boracay. The third couple, was both Filipinos who was also based in Manila. They are all nice.

Len, was our tour guide, already told us to bring extra clothes coz we will be allowed to take a swim after the underground river tour.

It was a long travel, more or less two and half hours. Half of the way is good road and half is bumpy. Our first stop was a view deck where nice view of the beach can be seen. There’s also 3 mountains there named Tatlong Maria.

Along the road we saw limestone mountains. Very beautiful that sometimes we are asking our driver to have a stop so we can get a good picture on those.

We finally arrived in Sabang. From here, we took a banca that brought us to the underground river. It’s about 20 minutes boat ride before reaching the main entrance of the park . Mountains and different formations of big rocks can be viewed along the way.

We have to walk a little from the shore to reach the underground river registration area. We have to wait for few minutes til the next boat arrives as only four boats are allowed to go inside the cave.

When the boat arrive, its really small banca, they asked us who will hold the light inside the cave. I volunteered my friend Lorenz so we were seated in front. Hehehe. Nice idea.

Inside, was very very cold, was scary, was dark, the bats are flying around though most are just hanging in the stones. Good that the bangkero talk a lot, a joker that made our navigation inside the cave not as scary as what I felt. Just like what the bangkero said we should be good in imagination whenever we look at the stones. Its true there the stalagmites and the stalactites create different formations. There is San Roque formation with dogs around, there’s cathedral where mama mary is there, baby jesus Christ, jesus Christ face, mother and child, and lots more. Really amazing. The navigation was about 25 minutes.

Outside, lots of people are already waiting for their turn. Its really good thing that we were first to arrive there that we don’t have to wait for long for our turn.

Another main view here are the monkeys who are freely moving around the place. I saw about 10- 15 monkeys there. The other is the monitor lizard ( bayawak) who are also moving freely around the area. They said they visit the place almost everyday especially during lunch time (maybe looking for some food:0) Its true, do not harm them and they will not harm you.

We then went back to sabang for our food which is included in the package. We went to Taraw beach resort where they prepared yummy foods for us in a buffet style. After out lunch, we already splunge into the water. Its so nice that even we are in the middle of the sea , the water is still only up to my chest. Really so nice. Was so fun to swim on top of the wave.

At past 2pm, we started to travel again going back to the hotel. All of us were so tired that we fell asleep on travel. On the way, we stopped at Vietnamese Village. This is the place where the vietnamese refugees are staying. They have this nice and famous Viet Ville restaurant. I ordered their Beef Stew Noodle and their garlic bread. These are their best sellers. And its really, really, really yummy. Its like Phobac in Manila.


Day 3 - Honda Bay Wharf, Island Hopping

We took the service of Wilner again to bring us to the Honda Bay Wharf. From there, we got our own banca that will bring us to different islands.

Arreceffi Island - The place of Dos Palmas Resort. We toured around the famous resort. Was really nice here. Their facilities are nice, the rooms, the swimming pools and everything. Was breathtaking.

Snake Island - I really enjoyed here. The best place for snorkeling. I saw school of fishes as in school of fishes here. I was really amazed here. Lots and different kind of fish are here, all colorful in hundreds, thousands. Compared to Puerto galera or boracay snorkeling, here in snake island, one will really say WWWOOOOWWWW!!!! I never imagined in my life that some kind of fish exist. Really really awesome… words are not enough to say how nice to experience snorkeling here.

Starfish Island - as the name goes, lots of starfish can be found here. I thought starfish island is boring island but when I went snorkeling , I saw this blue starfish, really one of a kind. I was so amazed that I have learned to appreciate this island.

Pambato reef - our bangkero suggested pambato reef instead of pandan island coz they say theres nothing to see in pandan island. As they knew the place well, we went to the reef. Before I knew it, they brought us in the middle of the sea where there is only a small floating cottage with only one man and a dog. I asked the bangkero if it’s the place, and he said it is. Oh weird. That is literally a place in the middle of nowhere. I asked the bangkero again, is it shallow there? How can we swim there? Its really weird. Anyway, there’s even an entrance fee of 50 pesos there. Anyway, our boatman got the salbabida ala Baywatch style and told us to hold into it and he will bring us to the area where there are nice corals. With our snorkeling gear we do what he told us. And yeah, there are really nice big colorful corals there. Really wonderful. There’s even a coral as big as a round table. I saw orange, blue, violet, red corals there. Really awesome. Our guide also swam deeper and got big oyster for us to see. That’s really wonderful experience. I carried the oyster in the floating cottage and it blowed water on me. Hahaha. The oyster doesn’t like me. I had fun here.

At around 5:30 pm, we already asked our boatman to bring us to the shore. There, wilner was already waiting for us. The day was so fun, my color became more tanned kissed by the sun and the water. But its okay, I definitely enjoyed the day.

On the way, we felt hungry that I asked Wilner to bring us to Vietville. I ordered seafood noodle. Also great. Wow.

Day 4 - Going back to Manila

Time to go back to manila. I promised myself I will be back to this place. Palawan see you again!

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Photos

Sabang Beach
Where we had our lunch after our underground river tour. Infront of Taraw Beach resort

Monitor Lizard
the monitor lizard are freely moving around the park. they dont harm the people

Comments

[shillo]

can you tell me what was the name of the hotel where you were in?... thankx