Puerto Pricesa

January 22, 2008 at 9:33 am · Filed under Philippines

Pictures of Puerto Pricesa, capital of the Province of Palawan in the Philippines.

I arrived at Puerto Princesa, Palawan on a gloomy tuesday afternoon that seemed like it’s almost ready for a heavy downpour. I almost got disappointed as I didn’t like rainy days. Photos aren’t as vibrant when it’s too overcast. But as soon as I got out of the plane, I couldn’t help but notice the enigmatic view of the runway. The mountains that almost seemed silhouette-like and the lush greeneries around it served as a backdrop of the airport. It’s one of the best views I’ve seen from all the airports that I’ve been to in this trip.

also found it impressive that the tourism office in the airport is efficient. The people manning the booth are very informative as they try to answer each of your questions patiently. I asked one of the guys if he’d know a cheap hostel that’s close to the city and in a heartbeat I was off to Duchess Inn. Duchess inn is situated a few minutes away from Rizal Boulevard, one of the main streets in the city of Puerto Princesa. The room that I had was fairly simple. It had the things I wanted in a room, a bed and an electric fan. I’ve lived in a dorm before so a shared bathroom isn’t an issue for me. And for 150 pesos a night, how can I complain right? Another good thing about this city is that tricycle drivers are so informative! Apparently, the tricycle drivers are required to attend seminars conducted by the local tourism office of Palawan. This is the only city that I’ve been to that had everything organized. Amazing! Kudos to Mayor Hagedorn!

Puerto Princesa is a relatively cheap city. Usually, getting a tricycle from other airports would cost you a few hundreds, but here they’d only charge you fifty pesos. The distance from the airport to the city is quite long so fifty pesos isn’t that bad. As for me, I learnt my lesson before so I caught one outside the airport and only paid thirty pesos. Food is fairly cheap too, a meal would be somewhere around sixty to eighty pesos.

I didn’t let the bad weather ruin my stay in Puerto Princesa, so I started my tour right on the same day I arrived. My first stop was the Vietnamese Village. It’s quite far from the city but the tricycle driver was willing to take me there for only eighty pesos. The Vietnamese Village had a number of refugees from Vietnam during the Vietnam War. But now, there are only seven families left in the village, most of them have moved to Australia or elsewhere (according to the tourism facts). Apparently, only Vietnamese or Filipinos who have married Vietnamese are allowed to stay in the village. The village wasn’t that maintained unfortunately, although you could still see remnants of the village such as their houses, a small temple, a catholic church, street signage that had written Vietnamese characters on it, a bakery that is still owned by a Vietnamese family. From walking around the village, I realised that Vietnamese people aren’t as different from Filipinos. Their houses looked pretty similar to ours, their way of living are pretty much the same with Filipinos (farming, fishing, etc) and yes, even the way they look.

The next day, I went on an island tour in Honda Bay. Honda bay is one of the most visited tourist spots in Puerto Princesa. It has a thousand plus islands along the bay, but I only visited three, Pandan Island, Snake Island and Starfish Island.

The three Islands that I’ve been to had cream to white sand beaches. The beach was impressively clean, it seemed to be well taken cared of. The Water is crystal clear and perfect for snorkeling as fishes are very visible despite the absence of corals (make sure to bring loaves of bread to feed the fishes). If you were to ask me which one’s my favourite, I’d have to say Snake Island, I’d like how the island is shaped like a snake. I liked how you can cross from one part of the island to the other part by walking along the white sand bar. I also liked the huts that are placed along the shore as I had a good hour or so to just sit and read. It was very relaxing, perfect for those who just wanted to have a quiet time.

The next day, I was told that the underground river tour shouldn’t be missed while in Palawan. So I booked myself to an underground river tour and hopped on the van to get to Sabang, a small port where you’d have to take an outrigger to get to the underground river. It took two and a half hours to get to Sabang. The road to get to Sabang was bad but tolerable. The view compensated with the bad road, as I kept saying wow while on the way. Mountains that are made of limestone covered most of the area. I was told by our tour guide that the underground river is inside the mountain that is now popularly called St. Paul as when you get inside, it seemed like you’re inside St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.

While on the way the underground river, we were welcomed by dolphins swimming right beside our boat. I was ecstatic as it was my first time to see dolphins in their natural habitat. It was a bonus for me as I didn’t have to pay extra for dolphin watching.

Little did I know that I don’t only get to see dolphins but wild monkeys too! While at the façade of the underground river, wild monkeys were running around the area roaming around freely. Freaky looking monkeys! We were told not to show our food as these monkeys are snatchers. They could easily get the food out of your hand and might even bite you if you try to fight with them. I thought it was so cool to see them that close but I was scared as one of the tourists tried running then a number of monkeys ran after him. It’s like a walking Ebola running after you! Hahaha! Yeah, I’m laughing now but I was sh*t scared while it was happening!

The underground river tour only takes half an hour to forty five minutes. It was such a great experience as it’s another first for me. It was amazing to see stalactites and stalagmites that close, I felt like Indiana Jones for a second, but realised that I’m not when I almost had the boat flip over when I tried dodging a bat flying towards my head (I was holding the light so I think they got attracted to it). The stalactites and stalagmites were awesome as some of them were naturally formed like different images of things, people, animals, vegetables and even religious figures. The only source of light we had inside was the battery operated light on the boat that I was tasked to maneuver as I sat in front. The smell inside made me sick and the flying mosquitoes annoyed me to death, but despite all these, the things I have seen inside are definitely worth all the trouble. Despite my being claustrophobic and all, I painstakingly went on the underground river tour as I knew I had to see it. And it was definitely worth it!

Our group then passed by the Plaza Cuartel and the Immaculate Conception Cathedral before proceeding to the Palawan Museum. The exhibits were what one would expect from a provincial government museum. I hope they get rid of these boring ways of presenting important artifacts by investing in world-class exhibits such as that of the National Museum in Manila. From there, we proceeded to the Butterfly Garden, a great place to view butterflies up close.

After a short walk inside, we were off to the Crocodile Farming Institute, now the Palawan Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Center since the place not only conserved crocodile species. Displayed in the main lobby of the center is the skeleton of the longest crocodile ever caught in Palawan, about six meters, although a nine-meter croc had been spotted after it fed on a child but was not caught. When this croc died, they opened up its stomach and found the remains of a person inside confirming what had previously been known. We also walked around tanks of baby crocs which the center breeds for leather production. At the back is a mini-zoo which features some species endemic to Palawan.

Next on the list was the Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm, the only prison in the country without walls, where inmates are rehabilitated through productive and money-making activities such as farming and handicraft-making.

Opened in 1904, this was among the first major projects of the American colonizers in the island of Palawan. They had been looking for a place to exile “unwanted” persons that included prisoners and lepers. And both groups were sent to Palawan, the latter being sent to the Culion Leper Colony.

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El Nido

January 17, 2008 at 4:43 am · Filed under Philippines

Pictures of the El Nido Municipality from the Province of Palawan in the Philippines.

For people who will be visiting El nido soon, here are my top 10 tips for an awesome El Nido experience:

1). Go to Miniloc for that rustic vibrant vibe. Go to Lagen for that sophisticated charm. Miniloc is my favorite of the two because it is near the Big/Small Lagoons plus there are live corals/fishes right in front of Miniloc!
2). Before going to your trip, pre-arrange a private lunch at Entalula Island! This is the best island in Bacuit Bay :)
3). Don’t forget to bring enough sun block lotion, Kodak underwater camera, waterproof bag, and life jacket (if you have your own).
4). Watch the sunset at Pangalusian Island sunset lookout point. The 20 minutes hike was well worth it!
5). Kayaking to the small and big lagoons is a must! I fell in love with this place and ensure that you have enough time to explore this. Bring your camera on the Kayak and this is where the waterproof bag will be helpful.
6). If you are going over a weekend and wouldn’t want to miss the Sunday mass, you can insist on the resort to do either of the two options. Bring the priest into the resort or most likely, they would give you a ride to the El Nido town to attend the 7am mass. Please wake up early.
7). The Mangroves are very nice at dawn but you have to wake up at 4.30am in the morning to be able to catch the birds wake up and leave. Alternatively, you can go to the Mangroves at sunset and turn this into unforgettable bird watching activity for you and your family.
8). Go to Shimizu Island for snorkeling and this is the best photo spot. You can do your FHM fantasy poses here if you like. With its clean white beaches, crystal clear water, black rugged rocks, and clear blue sky as a background you have picture perfect memories.
9). Dive. Dive. Dive. The rich bio diversity in El nido is a must see specially if you are a diver :) And if you are not yet a diver and you plan to get a certification, I suggest you take advantage of the package the resort is offering on this since it is a lot cheaper to take your certification together with your El Nido trip vs. taking it separately.

10). The activity planners are very helpful in executing your planned experience. Although, with the high turn over rate of activity planners, they are not very reliable in designing the best experience for you. So, you have to take it upon yourself to do your own research on the activities and conceptualize your own unique beach experience.

Situated on a good beach El Nido serves as the starting point for exploring the amazing Bacuit Archipelago (dramatic seascape with limestone cliffs, beaches, great coral etc). The town a is small and friendly, the beach is ‘only’ good, but the limestone cliffs surrounding the city makes the overall location stunning!
I need not  say a lot about El Nido, but after an economical but rather comfy 8 hour ride from Port Barton we arrived in the late afternoon. Again searching out the most budget option in town we landed at Marina Garden Beach Cottages (fancy name, worn down, but clean. 300 pesos, 6$). We had a few decent meals, rediscovered the joys of tropical mangoes (they are soooo much more juicy and tasty than the ones at home) and chilled.

The Bacuit Archipelago is best enjoyed by a hired local boat (yeah - i got to ride the Bangka boats, again!). Innumerable steep limestone cliffs rise from the sea, many more than 100 meters. The many islands contain lagoons, caves and some outstanding beaches (and several huge treasures left behind by the escaping Japanese army at the end of WW2).

The first major activity was scuba-diving. I went with Ruben and 2 hugely experienced divers (westerners gone-local, good blokes). Its was easy, enjoyable diving with fairly good visibility,very nice coral and fairly good marine life. The other divers spotted a good sized sea-turtle, we didn’t (we did spot a big one from the harbor earlier though). Ruben was hugely exited about the diving….. I’ll leave the rest to your imagination, aided by a few pictures…

The undisputed highlight my stay in El Nido was however Island Hopping with a kayak. To cross the large stretches (30-40 minutes with a motor boat) of open water we hired a boat as our poor kayak was not very seaworthy in rough seas. Although we visited several secluded lagoons and one great beach the one thing that really sticks to my mind was visiting the so called ‘Secret Beach’ located 40-50 minutes away from the town.
The ‘Secret beach’ is located in a lagoon, the only entrance is through a single hole in a cliff about 1,5 meters wide, and about 10 meters deep. Thus the only way to enter is by swimming in somewhat rough seas using snorkeling gear. Once inside you are surrounded by limestone cliffs and completely isolated. The 25-30 meter visibility in the waters outside made the experience even greater. Palawan is an amazing place for scenery and adventure!

El Nido is simply the best beach place in the Philippines! The beaches are so pristine and the limestone rocks feel like entering Jurassic Park. After 30 years of my existence, this is the first time that I was able to witness the grand beauty of this place. There are two ways to visit El Nido, either you get sent by your company on an official business, or you save up for it. I took the later route, and after saving for almost two years, we were able to visit last May 1 weekend. I was literally flabbergasted by its magnificent beauty and all of you who have been to El Nido can testify to this.

The place is the most photogenic beach I’ve seen !

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Busuanga and Coron

January 16, 2008 at 4:51 am · Filed under Philippines

Pictures of Busuanga and Coron from the Province of Palawan in the Philippines.

Went to Coron via Seair. Wow, what a small plane - a 19 seater one. After a 1-hour flight from Manila, we arrived in Busuanga. Asian Spirit has a jeepney that transports their passengers from the airport to Coron Town (150 php, 40 minutes). Mara, a girl from the island resort that we booked, met us at the airport. She arranged for a van for us to go to Coron Town (still 150 php). My first impression of Busuanga is that it is green, wild and isolated. It is a stark contrast to overpopulated Manila. I found the unpaved road to Coron and the fact that we didn’t see another car on the road for half an hour very refreshing. I was quite thankful for the air conditioned van though as the road was very dusty. Coron Town is a charming, small town. There is not much to see or do in Coron Town, the real prize are the islands around. The pier where we took the boat to go to the island is beside the market. Anyway, in this town, everything is just beside the market.

There is no beach in Coron Town but there are a lot of island resorts not so far away…

I really loved our islands especially in Palawan! The air strip in Busuanga airport was a small one and we hit the dirt road via jeepney going to Coron - 1 hour ride.

Coron Island may be one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen in my life. The place looks so unreal, as if it was taken straight out of a Pirates of the Caribbean movie. The contrast between the towering gray limestone cliffs and the clear aquamarine sea is beyond beautiful. The brackish water lakes with it’s clear waters and strange corals in the middle of limestone mountains is magical. As we entered the island for the first time through Blue Lagoon, we were mesmerized. The only sound coming from our mouths are oohs and ahhs.
I understand why the Tagbanuas consider this land as sacred and I salute their efforts in preserving it. As we swam in Kayangan Lake, I didn’t dare make so much noise lest I disturb the sacred beauty of the place with my shrieks. I didn’t mind at all to pay the entrance fee to the lakes or to pay to go the beach. I respect the Tagbanua and I consider it a privilege to be allowed to admire their island.The snorkeling around the island is very good as well (Siete Pecados is excellent), one can see diverse species of coral in many different colors. Try holding a piece of bread in the water and many different fishes will swarm around you. We saw also sea horses and sea anemones with nemo(clown fish) swimming in and around it. Just please resist the temptation to ask the boatmen to take you in a snorkeling place where you don’t have to pay. The problem in this case is there are no permanent anchors for boats in these areas. Your boat would need to anchor independently and use tikin (bamboo) destroying many corals which would take many many years to recover. Just for this reason one should stick to the “usual” snorkeling sites.There are no accommodations in Coron Island itself, one needs to stay in Coron Town, or any of the nearby island resorts and then do a day-trip to Coron Island (boats cost 1500-2000 php for the whole day, take note this is excluding fees to Coron Island and snorkeling sites which can be from 150-300 pesos per site). In Coron Town, we stayed in Sea Dive which is built on a protruding platform on the sea. It is a popular place for tourists. Rates are on the cheap side but the service is good and the rooms are acceptably clean. I also like their bar and restaurant. One can also rent boats cheaper (1500 php) from Sea Dive.

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