Puerto Princesa - Paradise? - Day 2

Day 2 - Underground River 

Breakfast was care of Raq's. They served us danggit.

Our shuttle picked us up at 8 a.m. and our tour guide was Joan. We made several stops to pick up some tour-mates. Just as an aside, tour groups are okay because you don't need to take care of making arrangements for transpo, meals, tickets for the places you're visiting, etc. It's also a nice way of meeting new friends. But it's not advisable for anti-social and whiny people like me and Rhuel. It was so difficult to restrain ourselves from making mean comments. Hihi.

Anyway, Day 2's tour group was composed of the following:

1. Aussie guy and Pinay girl 
2. old American guy and Pinay girl 
3. 2 lolas
4. a Pinoy couple.

We were surprised to learn that even if we were leaving at such an early time, our schedule to enter the Underground River was at 3:30 p.m. Everyone was saying, "Seriously?". We knew that the trip to the site would take 2 hours, but 3:30 was just so late. To make up for the early call time, we made several stopovers. I think we stopped at every eatery and store along the way.

At around 10:30 a.m., we arrived at Sabang Beach. We were thrilled to finally see a beach. Mmm, the sand was kinda white but it was not as fine as Boracay's. There were a number of restaurants on the beach and Sheridan Beach Resort was there too. 

 Lunch was buffet-style catered by one of the restaurants there. Food was so-so. I don't think you can really enjoy when you have to line up with a lot of people and there are flies all over.

Perhaps our tour guide sensed our impatience, hehe. She made arrangements for us to have an earlier schedule because we had 2 senior citizens with us. We rode a motorized banca to the Underground River site. The ride took around 15 to 20 minutes. 

 Since there were 11 of us (including the tour guide) and a maximum of 8 people can ride each boat, we were divided into 2 groups. Rhuel and I joined the Aussie boy and old American guy. Mukha rin daw kasing foreigner si Rhuel at ako exotic beauty. Harhar.

We got to the Underground River at around 1 p.m. After accomplishing some paperworks, we walked for about 2 minutes to the loading station. 

We had to wait for almost an hour before we finally hopped on the paddle boat that took us inside the Underground River.While waiting, we were entertained by some monkeys who had fun grabbing mineral water bottles and a wallet from other tourists.

The Underground River ride took around 30 to 45 minutes. Our boatman was a local who made super corny and scripted jokes. We could not understand him. It must have been worse for the foreigners. His stories were so scripted that we could hear the other boat's boatman delivering the same spiels. Our boatman was even rude. He was complaining about the weight of one of our heavyset tour-mate.

The River was, well, a river. It was so dark inside. There were stalactites and stalagmites. The boatman was saying stuff that one formation resembled this and that. But there were times when we didn't get it. Or slow lang ba kami? 

I almost dozed off because things became a bit boring towards the end. Rhuel and I felt that it was not worth the long trip we had to take to get there. Magaling lang daw siguro mag-market si Hagedorn kaya naging Wonder of Nature. Hehe.

The boat ride back to Sabang Beach was scary. It rained so hard and the waves were so huge. The lolas had a hard time getting on their boat because it was slippery. Tsk.

Dinner was at Kinabuchs. It's owned by Butch Chase. He's some popular big biker guy. 

The restaurant was also highly-recommended by the locals. It's popular for its crocodile sisig and tamilok (woodworm). Of course we ordered them. We also ordered some fried chicken and bagoong rice. And tuna sashimi. Hehe. Rhuel had mango shake (again) and I had buko shake.

Tamilok

 After dinner, it was time to meet our friend, Patrick, who was in the city for a business trip. We met at Itoy's Coffee, Puerto Princesa's Starbucks. The coffee was so-so but their singer was great. We had a nice time listening to Patrick's funny stories. =)

Puerto Princesa - Paradise? - Day 1

Rhuel and I visited Puerto Princesa, Palawan from February 7 to 10. Thanks to Airphil's version of the piso sale, we were able to get round trip tickets for Php350.00 per person. =)

Planning our itinerary and picking our accommodations were not difficult because we knew we were going to avail of a tour package. My friend, Rosanne, went to Puerto Princesa last year and she came up with a very helpful trip guide. She recommended getting a tour package.

Initially, we wanted to use Rosanne's travel agent too. However, we checked Trip Advisor and Rhuel decided to inquire with the pension house that was on top of the list. I sent an e-mail inquiry to Raq Pension and they offered lower rates (well, around Php300.00 cheaper than Rosanne's agent, hehe). We decided to book with them since we were impressed with the good reviews they got.Raq (and its travel agency partner, SMY Travel and Tours) charges Php4,875.00 per person for the airport transfers, tours, accommodations for 4 days and 3 nights, 3 breakfasts, 2 lunches and 3 snacks. They asked us to deposit a 50% downpayment to their BDO bank account.

Day 1 - City Tour

 We left Manila at 7:30 a.m. on February 7. We arrived in Puerto Princesa at around 8:40 a.m. The airport was quite small but it was orderly. We had to wait for a few minutes because our shuttle was not yet there. When our driver arrived, he immediately gave us necklaces as souvenirs. Feeling namin artista kami sa That's Entertainment.

When we arrived at Raq Pension, we were served welcome drinks. Don't expect shakes or cocktails though. We only got iced teas. Hihi. But we got some more souvenirs from the friendly staff. =)The room was okay. The entire building was kinda old but the room and comfort room were big and clean. Our room even had a veranda where we ate breakfast.

After resting for a few minutes, we decided to go out for lunch. The staff recommended Ka Inato. The kuya driver brought us to the restaurant. It was still closed when we got there so we decided to check out some souvenir shops across the street. I was able to buy super cheap pearl earrings and bracelet. Looking back though, I should have bought them at Tiangge Tiangge.

Lunch at Ka Inato was okay. We ordered grilled chicken that tasted like inasal. We had mango shakes too. Yum yum. Drinking mango shake is one sure sign that you're on vacation. =) 

After lunch, we went back to Raq in preparation for our City Tour.

At around 1 p.m., our tour guide Anne Thea picked us up from Raq's. Next stop was at the Badjao Seafood Restaurant (which we were not able to try, hmpf!) to pick up 3 tour-mates. They were balikbayans from the US, I think, but they're staying in Marikina. 

Then we went back to Ka Inato to pick up 6 more tour-mates. 2 were Manila-based Pinoys (mother and daughter tandem) and 4 were balikbayan relatives (3 from Australia and 1 from the US ).


First stop was at the Puerto Princesa Palawan Museum. Honestly, there was nothing to see there. Rhuel and I felt that we wasted a lot of time in that place. 

Oh well, at least I had a picture taken with my sister. Tee-hee.

 

Next stop was Plaza Cuartel. It's the site where several American soldiers were burned to death by Japanese soldiers.   

 

We proceeded to the Immaculate Concepcion Cathedral afterwards. It reminded me so much of the San Sebastian Basilica. Pati color, pareho.

 

Next destination was the Crocodile Farm. I did not enjoy the place. I'm scared of animals in general and I'm even more scared of crocodiles. It was a scary experience because the crocodiles were placed in sinks and I felt that they could jump out of the sink anytime. It didn't help that there was a kid who was banging on the sinks, thereby agitating the crocs. The tour group at the farm was so big so we could hardly hear the tour guide's spiel. 

 After walking around the farm, Team Anne Thea tried some crocodile sisig. I was hesitant to try it at first. But Rhuel told me we ought to try it. It was okay. Parang giniling.

Because we were running out of time, we had no time to really explore Mitra's Ranch. Sayang, it looked nice, overlooking Puerto Princesa. Rhuel was so disappointed because we only had a running tour of the place. Boo.

Baker's Hill was our next stop. It's a confused place - bakery, playground, restaurant, Disneyland, Hollywood and park. But their hopia was super yummy. We bought our Hopia Mongo and Hopia Ube on a Tuesday and we ate them from Friday til Sunday pero fresh pa rin. But the Hopia Baboy was out of stock. Boo!!!

Our next destination was the Binuatan Weaving Center. We tried weaving some stuff (unsuccessfully!). We also visited their shop where several woven merchandise were sold. The balikbayans enjoyed buying pasalubongs like placemats, coasters, etc.

Final stop was the Tiangge Tiangge. It's one big tiangge where you can buy pearls, shirts, kasoys, etc. The pearls there looked better than the ones I got from the souvenir shops. Sayang. We bought some kasoys which didn't taste good. Sayang. (Tip I got from Mama: You can heat the kasoy in a frying pan (no oil) or in the oven toaster. It tasted a bit better.)

Dinner was at KaLui Restaurant. It's allegedly one of the best restaurants in the city. You need to place a reservation though. Raq's staff took care of the reservations for us. The food was superb. I must say it was the best restaurant we tried in Puerto Princesa. We ordered their Catch of the Day. It's a set meal with vegetables and seaweeds. Rhuel had the tuna steak, while I had shrimps. Grabe, vegetables palang busog ka na. It was so yummy. We also ordered some sisig (bangus yata, I can't recall). And the best deal we got...tuna sashimi. Grabe, for Php195.00, we got around 15 slices of sashimi. And the tuna was so fresh. Heaven! I had buko and Rhuel had mango shake again, hihi. =)