Puerto Princesa, Palawan

If you are looking for a tropical bliss adventure, you may consider going to Puerto Princesa , Palawan. Experience a real paradise in Palawan ,Philippines. 

Our flight schedule is 6:00am in the morning, we don't want to be late so we arrived at the airport around 4:00am.

as usual picture...picture

it seems that were too early...(excited???)

this is our first time to travel via plane together...

We do not have much budget for that trip because the reason why we will go there is to attend a conference, where allowance, transportation and accommodation is usually shouldered by the company. We booked the flight a month before the conference because we've seen a promo from Air Philippines. Unfortunately, our application for the event has been denied, on the other hand, we rather push through with the trip, not to attend the conference but just to enjoy our 5 day stay in Puerto Princesa, Palawan. Pursuing this trip with minimal budget is really a challenge for us.

DAY 1 : We just wait for other friends who will arrive later in the afternoon because we decided to share a room with them. We do not have any idea where to stay though there's a lot of fliers at the airport  giving tourist an idea where they could stay. And there's a lot of locals who offer help.
We met Mang Victor  (0921-5704872) a tricycle driver, who helped us find a budget place to stay without extra charge. We just pay P50.00. 

Mang Victor

Of all the hotels and pensions, the one that fit our budget is at Payuyo Pension, where some of the attendees of the conference also stay there.

visit  www.facebook.com/payuyopension for details

We had our lunch at Balinsasayaw just near the pension together with some of our friends.

Sir John Ruero treat our lunch...(sabit lang kmi nakalibre pa...hehehe)

Yum yum yum...

DAY 2: Ugong Rock Adventure and Underground River: We rented a Van for our Day 2 adventure, the Famous Underground River that cost about 1,200/head...an air conditioned van inclusive of Licensed tour guide, Boat transfer, Entrance fee, Buffet lunch and travel insurance. On our way there, our tour guide said that we're a little early, so he suggested if we want to go at the Ugong Rock which is also along the way (sounds cool side trip). Of course! We decided to stop over at Bgy.Tagabinet, Puerto Princesa. It's almost 2-hour drive from the city proper.

Ugong Rock is a 75ft limestone formation. According to our guide, it was called Ugong ( means  hum or hollow sound) because the cave produces sounds when you tap the rock. It's gonna be my first spelunking (exploring cave) experience!. There is a small hut that serves as the receiving area which is allocated for brief orientation, registration and signing of the waiver. It cost P200 and P250.00 if you want to try zip lining in your way down from top of the cave. The money goes to the Tagabinet Community and other livelihood projects.

We'll it is not included in our plan and my hubby underwent leg surgery few months ago, so i asked him if we'll go for it. Surprisingly, he said "Yes! and why do we have to miss this once in a lifetime adventure!" ( that's my man!)...though I'm quite hesitant coz Im a little worried if he could do it, due to his surgery.
For safety precautions, we were given helmet and gloves and ttour guide carry a flash light with her. There is assigned tour guide per group that gives us facts and trivia about the cave. 

Picture picture with manang 
who managed to find me a PINK helmet...hehehe

ready to go!!!

crossing small bridge on our way to the cave...

What exciting about this spelunking is that it is not just a typical climbing up a cave as I expected…There are part of the trail that we climb the cave, get through small opening between the rocks, climb stairs, crawl and the most challenging is climbing using rope.  Good thing they provided built in ropes and stairs for easy climbing...

oppss...really need to squeeze a bit in a small passages to get through... 
Good thing I'm petit so that's not a problem for me...effortless...hehehe

rock climbing through rope

on our way up via wooden stairs

 It took us about an hour to reach the top. There is a view deck on top where you can buy some refreshments...and this is it...we made it to the top!...the question is how can we go down???? You have two options...you may go back passing the same way you did....or via zip line. Some decided to go down manually but we decided to try zip lining, aside from this is my first time to do it, my hubby can't manage to go down cause his foot is already aching.

whooahhh!!! it took only few seconds to go down
...with the rice fields overview

Underground River: After that exhilarating experience, we headed our way to the Underground river. The van reached Sabang just on time to have our Buffet Lunch then at around 1:30pm we need to ride a boat to transfer us to the underground river. It's quite windy that day, causes our boat to wave a bit that added thrill on our way to Sabang.

with friends...

jump shot!!!

_

we met some of our friends who attended the conference...
(which we did not attend...)

gear up with helmet..(yeay!!! got pink helmet again..) and life vest..

reflector of my vest..and have you seen the monkey ???

You may encounter a lot of monkey in the area that's why it is suggested by the tour guide not to bring any plastic bags with you since they fond of snatching those things...and we you happen to see those monkeys up-close make sure not to show your teeth for they might think that your fighting with them. We have to wear vest and helmet for protection. I was so excited as I jump on the boat...the rivers seems so peaceful, I asked the tour guide how deep it is...and he said it's around 30ft...whooahh! Im quite scared at that point...but I forgot about it when we are inside the cave..it's really amazing to see different rock formation....the tour guide is very entertaining and informative as well. It's indeed a great experience seeing those astonishing rock formations that were formed for millions of years.

DAY 3: City Tour

We contacted Mang Victor for our City Tour instead of renting a van. It only cost us P500.00 for the whole day city tour. 

City Tour includes: 

1. Crocodile Farm
2. Butterfly Garden
3. Baker’s Hill
4. Mitra Ranch
5. Plaza Cuartel
6. Cathedral
7. Baywalk

Baker's Hill

Butterfly Garden

Crocodile Farm

Crocodile Sisig for lunch

Mitra Ranch

Plaza Cuartel

at the Baywalk

At night we decided to transfer pension since our room mate planned to go back to Manila as  chance passengers since they ran out of budget. In our case, we would like to maximize our stay there. At that time, most of the affordable pension are fully booked because it's weekend...Almost losing hope, we found one in a nearby inn that catches my attention..."House of Big Brother" sounds familiar, it is just a small inn but looks cozy, we had an ocular visit on the place and asked for available room. Good thing that there's still two available room. I haggled on the rate (P1,000) since we'll be staying there for one night and we'll be leaving early in the morning. The room includes desk, extra matress, wifi access, small ref, cable TV, rice cooker and induction cooker and even utensils and a safety deposit box. It is very small that you have a feeling that you're staying in a studio type condo.    

The place is recommended if you'll be staying at night and just need a rest after a whole day tour in a fascinating island of Puerto Princesa at affordable price.

DAY 4: Honda Bay Island Hopping 

We'll.... your trip in Palawan won't be complete if you will not experience Honda Bay Island Hopping. We really don't have much budget since originally, the main purpose of going to Palawan is to attend the convention but since our request has been disapproved it turns out to be a full blown vacation trip. Mang Victor suggested a nice travel and tours that gave us a discounted price for only P1200 which normally about P1400/head inclusive of transportation, tour guide, island hopping and lunch.

We arrived at Sta. Lourdes,Tagbanua Puerto Princesa which is around 12kms east of the town proper, this is where the pump boat can be hired for the island hopping. In our case, it is already included in our package. At this point, you have to change your swimming attire for the next stop is snorkeling. There is comfort room for you to change clothes and a lot of stores where you can buy food and bread. Bread can be used for feeding the fish later ( huh?? I am really excited at that time). You may also rent an underwater camera there for about P600 or just the underwater protector for just P200. 

First stop: Honda Bay port where you  will ride a boat for the island hopping.

Snorkeling: upclose with the Coral reefs and fish

Another first in my Palawan Adventure is snorkeling. I don't know how to swim, I am nervous for I might drown...hahaha even I already wearing the vest. But when we are in middle and got to see a lot of fish and corals...Wow!!! 

Snake island is a long stretch of a fine white sand shape like a snake, really amazing!. There are line of small nipahut cottages nearby the beach for shelter which is usually included in the package. While our tour guide is preparing our lunch...we plunged into the water right away..If the view above the water is already fascinating, it is more when you are underwater. I can't believe my eyes....seeing lots of fish coming over eating bread in my hands...and seeing different underwater creatures that I've never seen before.

Snake Island

Here is one of the video shot underwater.

I almost don't want to go out of the water...I'm like a kid really fascinated with fish around. Actually, we didn't observe the time that it's already lunch time and the tour said that we have to finish lunch because we need to hop to another island. I really enjoyed our lunch here, compared to the buffet at Sabang. After eating, while others are resting, my hubby and I rather took our last look underwater...hahaha..

Yum yum yum

Pandan Island is our next stop. Another island with a fine white sand. We can also swim and of course snorkeling again..It is so amazing that even near the shore, lots of fish can already be seen and swim with you. And as usual, we are the last one to get out of the water in our group. This is our last day, so we want to make sure that we make the most out of it.

Palawan Adventure is indeed, an unforgotten experience that you shouldn't miss.

I love Philippines!

-cutesmile

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