Puerto Princesa, Palawan

We decided to celebrate my birthday with an out of town trip and we couldn't think of anywhere else to go until I saw a thread in the Girltalk Forums about Puerto Princesa, Palawan. You see, this is why forums are considered one of the most informative avenues online where you can get all the information you need about a certain place, restaurant, travel itineraries, gadgets and a whole lot of other stuff. After reading about the place, I knew it was the one we're meant to go to. With the help of the sissies out there, I made our own itinerary and didn't avail of packaged tours from travel agencies. Exploring is an adventure!

Woke up at 4 in the morning even if our flight was scheduled at 8:30AM. The boss was very excited because it's his first time to ride a plane. In fact, this is our very first plane ride together. While boarding I was very surprised to see Nats, which was one of my closest classmates during my freshmen year in college way back 1999. We were both hesitant at first but once we recognized each other, we couldn't help but laugh and exchange hugs and hellos.

fellow passenger

The sunny weather and clear skies all throughout our flight made the boss a happy passenger. Upon arriving, we already saw our driver for the day, Mang Victor smiling at us. We left our things at Duchess Pension House where they had us wait for 30 minutes. Ugh! I know I must not complain but the fact that you have the place reserved is for you to be able to immediately go to your room after checking- in. They said that the guests are still not finished packing and they needed to clean the room first. I didn't argue anymore because I was already starving and I just wanted to go out of there and proceed with our day. Lunch was at Sky Garden Restaurant which is just a few blocks from our pension house. We agreed with our driver to fetch us there after an hour.

We started our city tour around 1PM and proceeded to Mitra's Ranch. The lush greens with the spectacular view made me sleepy but we can't stay long because there a lot of other places to go to.  Next was the Crocodile Farm which was packed with a lot of tourists - foreigner and Filipinos alike. You will need to pay and entrance fee of P25 per person which includes a guided tour around the place. The museum holds the largest crocodile skeleton (I just don't know if its the largest in the Philippines or in the world) I ever seen. Hundreds of baby crocodiles are kept in square containers which are then transferred to more conducive and bigger pool- like areas when they mature in size. The mini zoo has a lot of animals too. Too many things to explain so I will just post tons of photos for you. :)

 

at the Butterfly Farm

Baywalk

 

 

 

 

Sabang Beach

dinner at Ka Lui's (a must try!)

day 3 - island hopping day!

very calm waters

Pandan Island

lunch at Snake Island

very adorable Labrador at Luli Island

first time to see a live horse shoe crab

dinner at Kinabuchs - they are famous for their Bulalo

danggit for pasalubong

back to the city :(

It was a very tiring but happy trip. Puerto Princesa is the cleanest city in the Philippines I ever been to next to Marikina City. They have two big trash cans in every block so you won't have an excuse to just dump your candy wrappers anywhere. People are disciplined enough to follow simple rules and motorcycles are just parked freely outisde. No wonder it is one of the top tourist destinations in our country! Proud to be Pinoy, yes I am!

Hasta luego!