El Nido

Just got back from a 4 Day-3 Night Palawan Escapade with Jackie, Erlyn, Judith and Jake. This vacation was 3 months in the making, for we got our cheap Cebu Pacific tickets back in November when they had their 99 peso-ticket promo. We were so stressed out before due to financial, work-related, personal problems before the trip that we vowed to leave them all in Manila and just enjoy to the fullest. AND WE DID!

The Arrival,Honda Bay and the Viet Village:
Puerto Pension is the number one choice of local and foreign budget-savvy tourists. In fact, we booked with Skylight Apartelle (from the same travel agency where we booked our HK trip) but cancelled the last minute because of the great price difference. Don’t get me wrong,though, the Pension is well-kept despite its dirt cheap rates. The rooms are beautiful – wooden floors and sawali interiors give you that authentic provincial feel. It has a cozy restaurant at the top floor with a great view of the Puerto Princesa bay. The average room rate is 1000 pesos for twin sharing, 350 pesos for an extra bed. It includes breakfast,hotel to airport transfers,and a cute manager.

We spent our first day exploring the Honda Bay. Our plan was to explore the city first then go to the Bay afterwards, since we assumed that it was very near the city (based from stories by people who’ve been there before). So,we were already donned our beach attires, hailed a tricycle, and realized that we looked like tourists who have no idea that the beach is 20 kms away! Yes, the beach was an hour away, but nothing can spoil our plan, we asked Kuya Arnold (yes,the driver) to take us there! The trike rental was 500 pesos round-trip, boat rental was about 1,000 pesos, and the food at the local carinderia, 300 pesos! We explored 3 islands – Pandan, Snake and Luli.

Pandan island has that Boracay appeal due to its powder white sand beach, without the crowd (though Boracay’s sand is definitely more whitier and refined). Tourist count: 10. We went snorkeling – the corals were practically dead, there were tons of oyster shells, and tons of fish species. There was a minimun entrance fee to the island of 25 pesos per person, and we felt that we had a great deal having our ever-accommodating tours accompanying us.

Snake island is appropriately named due to the snake-shaped sand formation you’ll see in our pictures. The snake disappears on high tide; sea life is more vibrant – it felt great seeing a school of talaquitok- an in more than a hundred of them! Our snorkel guides were great as well! They are well-versed with the common names of the fish species that we saw, and we feel that the trip would not be half as fun had we not gotten them as our guides. We also saw Dos Palmas one our way here – notorious for the Abu Sayyaf kidnapping of foreign tourists and the death of Rico Yan. We even shared the “real story” behind Rico Yan’s death to our guides. They,too,were convinced that he didn’t die of bangungot. Haha. Showbiz.

Our last stop was Luli Island. Our guide claimed that our tour wouldn’t be complete if we don’t dive. There is a spring board about 5-10 ft. away from the shore edge but the water is shallow enough for non-swimmer divers. The board was terrifying!!! Judith was the boldest, she dove right away, Erlyn was next. I attempted but backed out and even cursed jokingly at our guide when his brother teased him to push me off the board . We had the most fun time waiting for Jackie to dive. It took her about 5-10 mins before plunging, and the guide waiting for her in the water got so impatient that he commented “Yang sandali na yan kanina pa yan eh!”.

After the Bay tour, we dropped by the Vietnamese Village to try out the authentic famous Beef Stew noodles. The Village was an initiative by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines and the families were war refugees. We learned that there were only 5 families left in the village – most of them were petitioned by their Vietnamese relatives in the US and some are in the city. It was Nguyen galore!!!

Our first hurdle in our trip: Kuya Arnold’s front wheel got flat a few kms away from the city. It wasn’t that big of a deal for us,though. We had our dinner at the hotel and decided to retire early for we had to save our strength for our El NIdo trip the next day.

El Nido

The bus left the terminal at 5am. El Nido was approximately an 8-hour drive and there were only 3 buses leaving Puerto Princesa at 2hr intervals. Kuya Arnold was gracious enough to wake up earlier than usual to take us to the terminal. The bus is not your usual tourist bus – there were loads of goods on the roof top, and even people; it served as a local courier and a service to a local teacher who lives far away from the school on the opposite side of the mountain. There were 3 young Koreans, 2 male Caucasians – a missionary and a husband of a local who were sitting opposite my aisle in the plane. We didn’t know what to expect of the trip. The first 2 hours were uneventful – smooth concrete highway on the mountain side overlooking the sea. It was scenic. Then, the bus turned to a rocky road that seemed infinite. It was off-roading Palawan style. Occasionally, the bus stops to drop off packages or to pick up passengers. I was awed by the fact that a 10km off road ride just cost 5 pesos! There were parts of the ride that were unpleasant, considering that we were seated near the door and the bus got stuffed with locals during the last leg of the trip. Judith and I were doubly impressed with the fact that we saw basketball courts even in the most unimaginable locations. Haha. And guess what? The bus broke down – we got a flat tire.

We stopped by Taytay,where we bus dropped off and picked up a few goods. This also served as our lunch stop. Club Noah Isabelle is located in this town but we didn’t have the chance to check it. By now,we were two hours away from El Nido. It was the longest two hours of the trip. I knew we were near when I saw the mountain formations change from the regular, forest-like ones to those characteristic of El Nido – rocky mountains that looked like vertical rock sheets piled side by side.

Our impression of El Nido is that it’s an expensive place for an enjoyable vacation. True, Lagen Island and Miniloc Island are exclusive islands – for filthy rich foreigners and locals who can pay in dollars through their credit cards – but the town central is full of cheap but decent hotels, good enough restos and cheap buys. We stayed at the Viewdeck hotel, a new cottage-type inn on the mountain side. Before I left Manila, I casually mentioned to our condo security guard that I’ll be going to El Nido. I was glad I did because apparently, his cousins owns this Viewdeck Cottage which recently opened. Would you believe that we got the cottage for just 1000 pesos? Though it was peak season, Kuya Rudy was gracious enough to give us off-peak rates/ We just requested for an extra bed (we were 5 in the room but who’s complaining?) Getting to the cottage though was quite a challenge. We had to go up the hill – about 70 uneven steps. The view was worth the trip up the cottage!!! We found out that there’s a honeymooning couple on their 27th day in El Nido staying on the other side of the cottage – a Thai female and a Caucasian male whom we met that night. Electricity in El Nido is locally generated and limited – it runs from 3pm to 3 am only.

The boat trip was less than 2,000 pesos. The rock formations were magnificent! We were just speechless with only our cameras doing the talking. The waves were somewhat strong but we managed to drop by the Small lagoon, an ideal place for kayaking (though it slipped our minds to rent kayaks!!!), the Big Lagoon, Miniloc Island (yes, the one of the two establishments who accept credit cards) and the 7 Commando Beach. This is the Palawan that we see in postcards. We were simply in awe, it was surreal basking in the El Nido sun. I wouldn’t be caught dead in a swimsuit but I just had to let go of my inhibitions and enjoy and get those tan lines!!! We were quite embarrassed though to be the only tourists paddling our way through the small lagoon with our life vests when everybody is enjoying on their kayaks. I also noticed that we were the only Pinoys in the area, most of them are Korean and Caucasian tourists. Kuya Rudy mentioned later on that most Pinoy tourists flock the area only during the Holy Week.

We tried to wait for the sunset on the Commando Beach. It was also deserted, we literally had the beach to ourselves. Our trip was somehow spoiled by the fact that our guides were not as helpful as the ones we had at Honda Bay, but we didn’t let that ruin our day. We had a candle-lit dinner by the beach that night – we spent about 1,000 pesos for the full, sumptuous seafood meal that’s worth about 3,000 pesos in Manila. We spent an hour afterwards walking around the town central, looking for souvenirs, and immersing ourselves to the local night life – as usual there’s a basketball game in the town plaza.

Kuya Rudy reserved bus seats for us for the first trip the next day – the same bus who took us to El Nido. We had to use our flash light going down the cottage since there’s no electricity. The bus left at 6am, we were ready by 5am so we were able to chat some more with Kuya Rudy. His wife served us coffee and the 1 peso pandesal he bought was still warm from the oven. Though we spent more hours traveling than staying in El Nido, we were happy with the experience, and we were now ready to complete the last leg of our trip.

The Underground River

The bus dropped us at Salvacion, where the road to Sabang starts. We were told that the jeepney trips are regular so we thought we had no problems catching a ride. We arrived past 12 noon and were almost heartbroken upon hearing that the jeepney just passed by, that the next one is scheduled to arrive at 2pm, and that the last trip from Sabang to Puerto is at 2pm. The tricycle drivers laughed at us when we tried asking them to bring us to Sabang, later on we would find out why. They contacted a local driver who brings goods to the city, got the jeep for 3k and started our trip past 1am. Boy, the trip to the Underground river wasn’t a pleasant one! A few times we had to stop since bulldozers are on the works.There were parts that were concrete,but the whole 1.5 hour trip was tiring.

We reached the Sabang wharf where we had to get our permit to enter the cave and pay for it and our boat ride. The first thing that caught our attention was the big billboard of Jollibee welcoming us to the Underground River. Haha. Yes, we were still in the Philippines, we mused. The cave was a half hour boat ride away, by this time all of us showed signs of fatigue, but the scenery was breathtaking that it invigorated us. The entrance to the cave was a hundred meters away from the seashore, we had to walk in a wooden pathway, wore our life vest and helmets and we were ready to go.

I rode in the front of the paddle boat and took care of the car battery-powered light. It was a very amusing ride inside the cave, Kuya Mike had the sense of humor of Daddy Selwyn we loved to hate (and hated to love), and I actually felt claustrophobic by the time we were a kilometer deep inside the cave. Kuya Mike told us there were Italian spelunkers deep into the cave, that you need to get special permit should you wish to go beyond the permitted 1km trip,and that we can’t touch the formations since they were too sensitive and our acidic sweat would cause corrosion.

We had a few side trips going back. We dropped by the Buenavista viewing deck to experience the beautiful Palawan sunset. And guess what again? For the third day in a row, we experienced a flat tire, and the guys concluded that I was the jinx! Haha On the way back,we also saw a young pregnant girl walking up the road and invited her to ride with us. Kuya Isagani, the driver, stopped by their house (they have electricity,take note!) to pick up some sacks of coal for delivery and his son to accompany him to Puerto (it was dark by this time). Our way back to Puerto Princesa was reminiscent of a trip back to Daet from Albay – the moonlight was the only source of light illuminating the highway. It felt so peaceful, and I also felt sadness because we know our trip is on its homestretch.

The last night in Puerto Princesa

No amount of fatigue can stop us from going out and enjoying our last night in town. We called up Kuya Arnold, the trike driver, who took us to Kinabuch’s, a local Gerry’s Grill-type restaurant. Ka Lui’s, the most famous resto in the city, was already closed but Kinabuch’s was a good alternative. The place is full of well-to-do Palawenyos, the parking was full of fancy cars and there was a big projector screen – a Jon Bon Jovi concert was being shown (later on it was Brian Adams). The food was delicious and cheapl – the sisig, sinigang na baboy,hinornong hipon sa gata, grilled squid, and the cocktails are okay (i’m not really a fan of cocktails,really). The girls are complaining for we haven’t spotted decent-looking guys our age. I was consumed with my emotional state that began to bother me again now that our vacation is almost over that I didn’t notice that there were no yuppies that would serve as our eye candies. We just realized that hey, we were in Puerto Princesa, and there are no yuppies here!

The morning after

The stress began to build up again as we tried to buy as many pasalubongs as we can and still make it to our 10AM flight. We barely made it, checked in 5 mins before boarding time. Funny we still had time to pose for last minute pictures!!! Jake was left behind for his return trip was mistakenly scheduled for March 2. It was a great trip, one helluvah trip. But wait, we missed one thing on this trip, we never met Hagedorn!!! With one stroke of luck,however, we saw a prominent figure being escorted by the Police to the plane. Mayor Edward Hagedorn!!! We were so star-struck and overjoyed by the fact that we saw him just before our plane took off!

Last minute pahabol: Mayor Hagedorn

I saw SM Sucat while the plane was landing and realized that yes, we are soo back. Erlyn had the courage to approach Mayor Hagedorn, and Jackie and I had to run as fast as we can to catch up. I was like a fan melting at the sight of her idol. I was able to chat with him, told him that we were so eager meeting him and he even quipped, “Nakakahiya naman sa inyo, sana man lang ang nakapag-dinner tayo!” Uyy,close! Such an irony, that we went to Puerto Princesa hoping to get a glimpse of him but were able to do so here in Manila! That really sealed the Palawan deal for us.

The most important experience that we had during this trip is the hospitality of the local people. We never experienced anybody taking advantage, over-charging or harassing us. This is the main difference between these people and the majority of the urban poor – they have respect for others and dignity not to ask for more than they worked for. Palawan is blessed with natural beauty, and somehow it’s a blessing in disguise that these wonders are not easily accessible. I also noticed that there are more Protestant churches than Catholic ones. The trust system is still practiced here – the bus conductor/helper would pick up a package and would deliver it – no receipts, no shipping and handling fees, something that’s impossible in the city.
Overall, our Palawan trip is one helluva break from our stressful office,love and family life. I couldn’t be happier sharing this trip with Judith, Jackie,Erlyn and Jake. To my fellow cowgirls out there, our next stop: Rediscovering Ilocandia in may and Bora in October, of course courtesy of Cebu Pacific’s 1 Peso Fare Promo!!!

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