Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Puerto Princesa Palawan: In and About

Puerto Princesa, Palawan

December 2007

Together with the rest of the corporate slaves, we took a break from gift wrapping Christmas presents and we flew to Puerto Princesa to drink, to update our tan lines and to eat, eat and eat.

70 minute flight from Manila to Puerto Princesa was fast when you’re with friends (and not-so friends). We arrived in the airport and was greeted by our service van from the pension house we're staying, the Puerto Pension (35 Malvar St. Puerto Princesa, Palawan). The place was quite nice and different from the usual hotel and resort type, it was a 3 story house with a restaurant (Tribu) and bar located at the roof deck. Ina and I (as my roommate all the time) were lucky that our room had the most perfect view of all. The rooms are cozy…but I think ours, really…was the most recommendable spot of all (its on the corner of the 2nd floor). After settling our things and changing to our swimsuits we hurriedly went off to tour Honda Bay (as where we will also have lunch). The van took us to the ferry terminal and we boarded a small motorized banca. The ride to our first island was a bit long (about 45 minutes) it was almost 1pm and we were all just tired and starving. Finally we reached Snake Island. The long stretch of white sand greeted us and together with few tourists around, the island looks isolated. Everybody wanted to have lunch as soon as we got off the banca. The food was delicious! (or were we just starving to death?) anyways, there was some issues that the other banca with the rest of packed lunch went to another island…miscommunication about lunch made some really hungry travelers to comment nasty. The food arrived after 20 minutes and we finally ate in peace.
The stroll along the beach helped us get back to ditch our irritated/tired attitude to beach mode. Pictures and fooling around, the corporate slaves began their vacation.

We went off to another island called Star Fish Island…which until now couldn’t figure out why as I didn’t see one. Although I saw starfish shells around but no starfish…the place was quiet and we only stayed for few minutes. Getting back to the port, we saw bats flying around as if they’re coming home with us or if Batman were in one of our bancas. It was almost 5 in the afternoon, the bats were alive!
We showered and hurried off to our dinner at Ka Lui’s. One of Puerto Princesa’s well known restaurant…the Filipino ambiance, the food, the people, the cleanliness of the place (you will need to leave your shoes near the door) and the price. The food was great, I apologized as I cannot remember what we ordered but what I can say is that it was mouth watering!


After dinner, we went around and took pictures and decided to walked back to our pension house to let our tummy settles in after a heavy dinner.
Our second day was the trip to the famous Underground River. Breakfast was set as early as 6:30am as we need to travel for about 2 to 2 ½ hours. The pension house organized the van and tour guides to take us to Sabang port where we will ride a banca for another 15 minutes. The 2 ½ bumpy ride made my kidney swapped places with my uterus. We arrived at Sabang and couldn’t wait to get on to our motorized banca. The 15 minute ride was fast and refreshing. Finally we arrived at the gateway of the Underground River. The beautiful beach right where we’ve been drop off was beautiful. We walked right through the trail and I was at awe when reached the entrance to the cave. The water was apple green, the place was surrounded by trees and hills and it was a picture perfect from a postcard. We waited for the rest of the group to arrive as we strapped into bright orange life jacket that was handed to us one by one (I hated that thing, but they required it). The Underground River is a must-see in Puerto Princesa, the beauty of the stalactites, the rock formation that looked like saint images and the bats…there were lots and lots and lots of bats. The guide who also paddles the banca was hilarious, he made us laugh with all his antics and stories about the caves.
After exploring the underground river, we went to the beach and took pictures. The current was too strong and we were advised that it’s not for swimming. After few more shots we went back to Sabang, where the tour guides from the resort had our packed lunch ready. One hearty buffet lunch (Filipino cuisine; from adobo to grilled fish and pork to sinigang for soup) everyone settled under a nipa hut with tables and chairs. A quick swim after and we went back to resort by late afternoon. Freshly showered, the girls and I went around near the market from our pension house. We got dried fish and squids, local delicacies and more dried fish. For dinner, we went to another local restaurants (apologies I forgot the name) but it doesn’t matter as the 2nd night dinner wasn’t as good as Ka Lui’s (so much for bad reviews).
On our last day, we went for a city tour, my favorite stop was at the Iwahig Penal Colony. The largest correction facility in the Philippines, a very peaceful unique correction as the inmates can walk freely, have their family live with them, do handicrafts and sell them to visitors. They live there like free men, open air, great place, I wish all correctional place are like that.
I also liked the place Baker’s Hill. The name, simply a bakery located on a hill, the owner lives at the back with 3 more houses (a compound for the whole family) cartoon statues surrounded the place, it was nice and interesting especially if kids see the place.

The breads are freshly baked and yes they’re delicious! Another place to visit is the Crocodile farm. From baby crocs to huge scary mommy and daddy crocs around (maybe aunts and uncles and distant relatives too!) you would see different breeds of crocodiles and I got pretty nervous as we crossed the hanging bridge over the crocodile pen while we look at one of the most fascinating creatures eat their lunch. We also stopped at Mitra’s ranch (a privately owned big house) and at the butterfly farm.


By 3 in the afternoon we’re all seated inside Puerto Princesa’s airport expecting to be home and resting in 2 hours in our own home. Unfortunately there had been a flight delayed….for more than 5 hours. Cebu Pacific airline provided us Jollibee dinner and a one way ticket free to any local destination for encountering one traveler’s nightmare. There was even one incident where the lights went off for less than 10 seconds around 7pm…and the people in the airport were really losing it. By 8:30 we were finally on board and on our way back to Manila.
The trip was fun...except for the Jollibee meal (sorry not a fan), the waiting and the miscommunication from day 1. Maybe I'll go back...if it's another free trip, if it's not...I already have my pictures inside the famous Underground river.

for more information where we stayed, please check:
http://www.puertopension.com/

Friday, May 16, 2008

Laiya Batangas: South Chillin'

December 2008



December 2008, Christmas party. We are not the typical company, so it wasn’t the usual office party…we went away for an overnight stay in a resort in San Juan, Batangas. The place was called Balai sa Laiya. Balai means bahay in Tagalog and house in English (and that's your English-Tagalog 101 with Maui!) The place was about 3 hours drive away from Manila and well maybe it was only 2 for others, but it took us 5 hours to get there cause we got lost. Good thing, I was sharing the car with people who are cool enough to get lost or be late (my travel girls Pin, Regie and Jeff the driver)…we kept saying chill...we were lost…still...chill. We got there 7pm just in time for dinner. The place was nice, the rooms were built like Nipa huts and we stayed in seaside rooms. There were also rooms called Sampaloc house, its because the resort was full of Sampaloc trees…(sampaloc is tamarind in English). The rates are cheap, so I think for an overnight getaway, it is recommendable.
The overnight package we got has inclusive buffet meals, dinner, breakfast and lunch the next day. Dinner for that night was spaghetti, vegetable salad in vinaigrette dressing, baked mussels, rice and chicken barbeque and banana pudding for dessert. Sounds yummy but I wasn’t that all happy with what I ate. Maybe because I was so hungry after getting lost around Batangas for 5 hours and the mussels were not baked properly, the salad was lacking for something more…maybe walnuts or cherry tomatoes, the chicken was not marinated properly. I didn’t even fancy the dessert. Wine is always on our list, but the only wine available with them was red from one country only, Spain. I usually like chilled white wine (preferably Chile or Australian wines) unfortunately…that’s all they have.

my night shot at the 2nd floor of the resort



All of us got crazy with my new camera and tripod, we took pictures after pictures. It was fun! I used the no flash setting and it captured the natural light of every angle that night. We went around…took pictures in every corner of the resort. Finally the girls got tired smiling and we all went to our little nipa huts 30 minutes before midnight.




The next day…the boys were up earlier than the girls. As I pull our sliding door curtain to the side, I saw our guys fooling around and taking pictures already. Ina and I (we’re always roomies) went out and took pictures as well.





It was raining the day before so we were all excited to see the sun coming up that morning. We changed to our swimwear and went to join the rest. Few more minutes, coffee was ready…It was like kindergarten school scene where the teachers called for a recess! all of us raced each other on the 2nd second floor to get our first caffeine mix.




kayaking with Pin and Allan...do you see orange?


Breakfast was great, sunnyside up egg, scrambled egg, fried rice, corned beef, bread (with choices of butter, jam and you can toast it too), and fresh fruit platter.Since there was no plan or games or even a program, we enjoyed the resort after breakfast by just swimming, sun bathing, kayaking and taking more pictures. Before lunch time, me and the girls stayed in the cabanas and took more pictures…lay in the shade of the cabana until we were called for lunch. Now that’s life…*sigh*
Lunch was also delicious! They served kare-kare with really good bagoong, tilapia cooked in sweet and sour, pork barbeque and molo soup, we ordered iced cold coke to complete our yummy lunch. Dessert was sago salad which I also dig! All in all, meal buffet (except for dinner) was great!

I love this shot, my officemate Berna took this


We rested at the top of the tower for a couple minutes before deciding to get ready to head back to reality.We left Balai sa Laiya resort around 2:00 in the afternoon, refreshed, sleepy and with tons of pictures.On our way back we got lost….again.


resort info: http://www.balai-resort.com/