Palawan : Day 1
Coincidentally, we both ended up on the same flight out.
The only difference was, I paid extra for my front row seats, and Rickey got the white man treatment.
Probably the funniest part of that was the fact that Claudia was shoved in the back row on the flight from Manila to Palawan, whilst Rickey kept his front row seat. White Man Treatment indeed.
For the first time, we actually took a flight at a decent hour to Manila, no more midnight-landing-at-4am flights with a 6 hour layover. We took the morning flight, landed in Manila at 2, with 2 hours to spare for the transfer to the next flight.
I figured that I would have to use my madskills to get us through if we got delayed.
We got delayed.
There was actually a traffic jam at the Manila airport. Our plane was told to go into a holding pattern. Die Hard flashbacks started going off in my head.
We eventually landed, and after an even longer wait for our luggage (what happened to the days when I traveled on a single backpack?), we got to the domestic gate to catch our next flight.
We arrived in Peurto Princesa just as the sun was setting, so my first mission was to get the lay of the land.
Rickey picked the hotel (Puerto Pension), and it was an excellent location. It was right above the boardwalk (where all the food is), 5mins from the market, but far enough away from both that we were not disturbed by noise.
The service was very good, the rooms were clean and comfortable, and the showers had excellent water pressure. Probably my favourite part was the table/chairs they set up outside the rooms. We could hang out, play cards, eat, drink...etc. If I had one complaint, it was that the room was a little small...and the furniture was a little wooden (they creaked).
After a preliminary exploration, I recommended heading down to the bayfront for dinner. I had seen huts with people starting fires and grilling food.
Unfortunately, we made our first mistake of the trip. We turned right instead of turning left.
Why was it a mistake, all the awesome food was on the left (which we found out next day).
There was fairly decent food on the right, and it tasted quite good, till we discovered the places on the left.
Palawan : Day 2
Day 2 started early.
I had arranged a 6am pickup to go to the Underground River.
Its a 2+ hour drive, so the earlier the better.
The hotel actually only serves breakfast from 6am onwards, but they made a special provision for us to eat at 5.30am. Now that's good service....obviously all good things must come to an end...
So the van shows up to pick us up, and there are 9 burly oil rig workers inside. What? Oh, the tourguide says the van takes 12, not including the driver (so 13). I call shotgun out of desperation. Rickey and Claudia get stuffed in the back (thats what she said) with the 9 burly oil riggers and the tourguide. Anyone keeping count of the number of bodies in the van? (At this point, I think her name was cheryl)
A cramped, uncomfortable, bumpy, winding 2 hours later, we get to the town that feeds the Underground River. We pile out, stretch our legs, stretch our back, stretch our necks, stretch our legs again, only to be told that there is some festivities at the dock, and we can't go to the Underground River...YET. Its a blessing, because we get to stretch our legs again.
About an hour later (did I mention it was hot as hell with no shade?), we finally get to our boats that will take us to the island.
The island of the corny tourguides. Every boat that goes down the Underground River is accompanied by a local tour-guide. Every tour-guide has the same script memorised. Every script has jokes from 20 years ago. Every 20 year old joke is as corny as a cup of steamed corn, sitting in the corner of a corn field.
The Underground River itself is meh. Nothing spectacular, and we only got to travel about 1km in. The rest are for 'special' permits only.
So picture this. The boat is less than 1m wide, powered by the same tourguide farting into the water. One would think that Rickey and I would not sit side by side on said boat. Well, we had to. So there goes any photography. So after a hot, stuffy, gapless, hour-long cruise down a underground river, we got back out.
I also lost my helmet.
Back to the town for lunch, and I was amped up to try the 'Wood Worm'. There was a vendor selling it.
Its one of those 'I dare you to try it' tourist things. It looks gross, but did not taste horrible. I've eaten grosser.
2 hours back. Don't need to talk about it.
Since we started early and finished early, we got back to Peurto Princesa about 3. That left me time to explore the market. And look for lechon manok (I didn't find it). I did find some nice lechon kawali, so that was tea.
On the way back from the market, I decided to explore the bayfront some more. And that's where I found the fabulous food (on the left). There was a row of about 4-5 storefronts serving fresh seafood. You pick it, they grill it for you.
That was dinner.
I had arranged a 6am pickup to go to the Underground River.
Its a 2+ hour drive, so the earlier the better.
The hotel actually only serves breakfast from 6am onwards, but they made a special provision for us to eat at 5.30am. Now that's good service....obviously all good things must come to an end...
So the van shows up to pick us up, and there are 9 burly oil rig workers inside. What? Oh, the tourguide says the van takes 12, not including the driver (so 13). I call shotgun out of desperation. Rickey and Claudia get stuffed in the back (thats what she said) with the 9 burly oil riggers and the tourguide. Anyone keeping count of the number of bodies in the van? (At this point, I think her name was cheryl)
A cramped, uncomfortable, bumpy, winding 2 hours later, we get to the town that feeds the Underground River. We pile out, stretch our legs, stretch our back, stretch our necks, stretch our legs again, only to be told that there is some festivities at the dock, and we can't go to the Underground River...YET. Its a blessing, because we get to stretch our legs again.
About an hour later (did I mention it was hot as hell with no shade?), we finally get to our boats that will take us to the island.
The island of the corny tourguides. Every boat that goes down the Underground River is accompanied by a local tour-guide. Every tour-guide has the same script memorised. Every script has jokes from 20 years ago. Every 20 year old joke is as corny as a cup of steamed corn, sitting in the corner of a corn field.
The Underground River itself is meh. Nothing spectacular, and we only got to travel about 1km in. The rest are for 'special' permits only.
So picture this. The boat is less than 1m wide, powered by the same tourguide farting into the water. One would think that Rickey and I would not sit side by side on said boat. Well, we had to. So there goes any photography. So after a hot, stuffy, gapless, hour-long cruise down a underground river, we got back out.
I also lost my helmet.
Back to the town for lunch, and I was amped up to try the 'Wood Worm'. There was a vendor selling it.
Its one of those 'I dare you to try it' tourist things. It looks gross, but did not taste horrible. I've eaten grosser.
2 hours back. Don't need to talk about it.
Since we started early and finished early, we got back to Peurto Princesa about 3. That left me time to explore the market. And look for lechon manok (I didn't find it). I did find some nice lechon kawali, so that was tea.
On the way back from the market, I decided to explore the bayfront some more. And that's where I found the fabulous food (on the left). There was a row of about 4-5 storefronts serving fresh seafood. You pick it, they grill it for you.
That was dinner.
Palawan : Day 3
After the nightmare that was yesterday, we told the hotel concierge that we did not want to take another 'tour' with the same agency. We had actually asked if we could just book ourselves a private tour instead. Our own van, our own boat...etc. Flor (thats her name, don't wear it out), recommended that we should try our hand at a free and easy trip. All we needed to do was rent a van and driver, get him to take us to the dock, then we find our own boat, and the captain would take us to the islands for our own island hopping adventure. And the van would pick us when we were done.
We were a little concerned about language, and boat availability, but it definitely cost a lot less than taking the tour. We went for it, which turned out great.
Having our own boat meant the luxury of taking our time at each island. We had no set itinerary to follow, and we could weigh anchor and move on whenever we felt like it. That made the whole trip completely enjoyable. I cannot imagine how pissed off I would've been if we had to share the boat and van with another bunch of strangers (and having to watch the clock while snorkeling)
Definitely a recommend.
Language was a non-factor. Unlike some other parts of the Philippines we'd been to, this place was geared towards tourists, so pretty much everyone spoke English.
The van was expensive, in fact it cost more than the boat. It would have probably been cheaper if we just got on a taxi or tuk tuk.
Another plus was that we were done a lot earlier than the actual tour. The tour was 8-5, so if we had taken it, it would have been a lot of waiting around. We finished by 2, and was back to the hotel by 3.
I volunteered to buy more lechon kawali for lunch while the rest went back to wash up.
We turned left again for dinner.
We were a little concerned about language, and boat availability, but it definitely cost a lot less than taking the tour. We went for it, which turned out great.
Having our own boat meant the luxury of taking our time at each island. We had no set itinerary to follow, and we could weigh anchor and move on whenever we felt like it. That made the whole trip completely enjoyable. I cannot imagine how pissed off I would've been if we had to share the boat and van with another bunch of strangers (and having to watch the clock while snorkeling)
Definitely a recommend.
Language was a non-factor. Unlike some other parts of the Philippines we'd been to, this place was geared towards tourists, so pretty much everyone spoke English.
The van was expensive, in fact it cost more than the boat. It would have probably been cheaper if we just got on a taxi or tuk tuk.
Another plus was that we were done a lot earlier than the actual tour. The tour was 8-5, so if we had taken it, it would have been a lot of waiting around. We finished by 2, and was back to the hotel by 3.
I volunteered to buy more lechon kawali for lunch while the rest went back to wash up.
We turned left again for dinner.
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