Four months ago, Ada, Jenny and I went to Puerto Princesa, Palawan for a 4D/3N vacation. We booked the flight as early as November 2009 because we wanted to take advantage of the promo. Maire booked too, but her work schedule didn’t permit her to go 🙁

So the three of us went there without concrete plans at all. I can say that among my trips, this is the first time ever wherein we only booked for a hotel room hours before our flight, we didn’t have any itinerary (all we know is that the Underground River is located there LOL!) and we simply want it to be spontaneous. No plans, no whatevers.

Our blogger friends recommended that we book a hotel room in Casa Leticia Inn (which btw is owned by actor Matthew Mendoza of the Dyesebel fame). Unfortunately, the place is fully booked. We ended up in a budget hotel called One Rovers Place. There is a common bathroom for those who are staying at the second floor. Thank God there’s free wifi in the place or else we’d end up leaving the place and blaming each other haha 😛

We went to NCC Mall to eat our lunch at the food court. I must admit that we were a bit shocked because of their systematic way of serving… or should i say, self-serving? I hope though that our food courts here in Manila have the same rules LOL.

We didn’t know that the Balayong Festival is ongoing. Ada and Jennywent to the city plaza that afternoon to take pictures. I ended up sleeping haha 😛 I followed them at around 4PM and witnessed the band Aegis perform live. Guess what? I became an instant fan! We sang their songs like Luha, Halik and Nananaginip ng Gising together with the crowd. Jologs ba? Ok lang. I’d rather watch the jologs Aegis than see Paramore perform live hihi. Also scheduled to appear that night are Pia Guanio, Aljur Abrenica and Piolo Pascual. We left the venue early to eat in Kinabuchs, which was recommended by some of our friends. Thank God the location is just infront of our hotel.

I noticed that a lot of tourists are having fun in this place. Saw Germans, Americans, Koreans, Africans and many, many more. If i am not mistaken, they are best known for their seafood servings and of course, the place is a perfect night out venue. We actually drank a couple of drinks but not to the extent of going back to the hotel room wasted 😛

Now here goes Day 2. After eating our complimentary breakfast, the van from Dangkalan Beach Resort arrived on time to pick us up. Just in time for the Underground River tour. Originally, we planned to take the Honday Bay Tour but the van just left so we ended up taking the trip to Sabang Beach then straight to the famous Underground River.

Even if it almost took us two hours in order to get to Sabang Beach, the three of us felt relaxed upon seeing Sabang Beach. For me, it is the most peaceful and most beautiful beach I’ve ever seen (maybe i haven’t explored that much yet LOL but believe me, it’s worth the long ride!). The three of us ended up taking lots of pictures and we even recorded a simple Survivor-like video intended for Project52Weeks. The lunch served to us that day is really delicious. I never enjoyed eating liempo and krispy kangkong the way i enjoyed it that day 😛

A few minute after our fun-filled lunch, we went straight to a certain boat station to go to the Underground River. Always remember to wear your life vest especially if you’re a little baby. Take a look at this cute pic 😀

So finally I saw the outer portion of the Underground River. All the tourists who were there were amazed. I asked myself if am I really in the Philippines? This creation is soooo beautiful!

On our boat ride inside the Underground River, the boatmen assigned surely did undergo a humor workshop. He said that the Underground River has a cathedral, a grocery and a house inside. We were all amazed upon seeing the natural wonders found inside. I can’t really show it here because I didn’t take pictures inside. I have three videos recorded, but I haven’t uploaded them yet. I will one of these days and embed it here. I promise 😛 Also, a more-detailed blog post will be posted at Senyorita.net.

We saw a very big bayawak on our way out. I forgot the real name of the said bayawak, but I would rather call him Tonyong Bayawak. Ada and Shena dared to touch it and I didn’t LOL. Here’s one of the videos I took haha 😛

We went back to Sabang and rode the van on our way to Dangkalan Beach Resort. After a short rest, the admin officer of Dangkalan suggested that we try eating at Badjao Seafront. I read a number of good reviews about the place and I was curious. We have to make prior reservations though because the place is always full.

We arrived there at around 8PM and ordered a lot mostly seafoods. As expected, we finished it all 😛 We are slow but big eaters in real-life despite our sexy physique hahaha 😛 We were already done by 9:30, but the place is already dark 😐 We had to wait for the van to pick us up because there’s no public transpo within the place by that time. Ada kept on sharing scary stories which made the night a bit more… uhm, terrifying LOL.

Before we went to bed, the three of us transfered some photos at the laptops and charged our phones. I should not have checked my email that day LOL but oh well. We were there for a vacation, right? So I slept early and realized I’m about to catch colds 😐

Hello Day 3! It started with a simple breakfast without taking a bath 😛 The van for the Honda Bay Tour was already there. We had a pretty energetic day because Gloria (the tour guide, not the ex-president) is one energetic girl. She answered all of our questions and insisted that we all try snorkeling. I almost cried because I want to go under the sea and appreciate the beautiful corals found there, but my ear infection just won’t allow me to 😐

Our first stop is Pambato Reef, also known as Mini Tubbataha. Though I wasn’t able to dive and snorkel, I did see some of the coral reefs since the water is sooo clear. The german tourists who was also with us were fascinated with the wonderful view. Due to my ear condition that time, I ended up drinking coffee at the ‘store’ found at the middle of the sea LOL.

The bangkero from the other boat kept on asking me why I didn’t dive LOL. He then asked me and some of the tourists from our boat who couldn’t snorkel to go with them and take a short visit at Luli Island. Since Ada and Jenny were busy exploring the wonderful reefs, I ended up joining them teehee.

So now I’m in Luli Island! LULI stands for ‘Lulubog Lilitaw’ 😛 I actually felt like the white sand will eat me alive when I stepped in there LOL. During high tide, the said island disappears. Parang Atlantis lang. Because of that short trip, I gained instant friends who are working in a salon here in Greenhills. How nice! 😀

We went straight to Pandan Island for lunch. We did ate a lot and bonded with other tourists. Ewan, feeling namin parang matagal na namin silang kilala 😛 They’re fun to be with and literally gay 😀 We ate big crabs, drank lots of buko juice and ate a lot. Did i mention eating and drinking a lot? No? K.

As usual, photo galore! The stay comprised of too much jumpshots and the two girls kept on snorkeling much to my envy haha 😛 I ended up eating more 😛

The last stop is the Snake Island. I didn’t enjoy it much. We ended up eating halo-halo only hehe and some of the tourists slept waiting for the ‘we will go home now na’ signal from Gloria.

Now we’re going back to the City!

We did rest for two hours and I felt a bit sick 😐 Ayun, may colds na nga 😐 We uploaded photos right away, took a bath and dressed up. We spent our dinner at the famous and unique Ka Lui.

And the place is really unique and artistic. All the customers must enter with bare feet and for some reason, I felt a bit tipsy there though I only drank one can of Coke Regular. Blame it on my condition and the atmosphere. It’s too relaxing and basta. The food is also exceptionally great and as expected, the place is jam-packed with tourists.

When we arrived back to the resort, we decided to hangout at the swimming pool area where the videoke machine is found. We sang a couple of songs (we need to stop by 10PM because the other tenants might complain pft). So we sang Luha as our tribute to the Aegis Band. Here’s the video 😛

And Day 4 😐 We woke up late and almost missed our breakfast haha 😛 I drank vitamins and felt a bit lazy all throughout the day. We went out for lunch and ate at Lotus Garden. It is a quiet place and there’s a buffet for Php250. Not bad, right? I find the place a bit romantic and… quiet. I left my camera at the hotel room and got lazy to go back.

I learned a hard lesson here: Do not eat too much.

Next stop is the Butterfly Garden. We saw butterflies, flying butterflies, lazy butterflies and more butterflies. The girls enjoyed it much and I also did. I just missed my camera here haha 😀

Then next stop is the Ukay-Ukay place (wah i forgot the name!) I bought a brown Palawan bag (which i am using now as my laptop bag) and two black figures which is believed to bring money luck to its owner 😛

We went back to Dangkalan to pack our things and reflect beside the sea. We even saw a horse there where we can ride for ten pesos. Too bad we lacked time.

When we arrived at the airport for our departure. We all took a deep breath because the vacation is over. Ada had to fix some training-related documents, Shena needs to go straight to her work and I need to decide on something that is related to work. Sigh.

The said trip is a special one for me. As a little kid, I wanted to go to Puerto Princesa because my father stayed there 10 years ago for approximately six months. I’m not sure if i mentioned that my dad was planning to bring us there and start a new life. It didn’t push through though because I got a high school scholarship in Dagupan and he didn’t find a SPED school there for my brother. At least the dream to visit Puerto Princesa came true even if he already passed away.

I have a number of tips for Puerto Princesa visitors:

1. Remember to bring your sun block with you – I got literally dark because of the sun. Keep on applying sunblock because you need to take good care of your skin, right? (LOL wala nang masabi eh haha)

2. Never miss the Honda Bay and Underground River Tour – You will really appreciate the natural wonders of the Philippines upon seeing them and feel amazed that the people in Puerto Princesa was able to preserve them. Good work!

3. Make reservations if you will eat outside – Due to the large number of tourists coming in, it is advisable that you reserve for a table in your restaurant of choice at leats two hours before your arrival time.

4. Only get the food that you can eat especially in buffets – Take it from me. I ended up paying Php100 because I couldn’t finish my meal LOL. I ate a lot and there’s only two bites left, but I just felt like i will puke in public if I force myself to finish the whole thing LOL.

5. Bring Justin Bieber songs – To put you in the mood – really (ok, you can delete this one if you want to LOL)

So that’s it! Wow, pretty long entry, huh? I’m not yet done here, readers! I’m planning to write a much-detailed entry about every restaurant and destination we went to.

Why did i write about this just now? Oh, I was busy. And why did I write it now? Well… I’M GOING BACK TO PUERTO PRINCESA THIS WEEKEND! Expect more stories and videos! Hurray! 😀

Some of the photos were taken by Ada and Jenny. Thanks girls! 😀