October 2019 [by Bill]
This afternoon I left Manila and took a 1 hour 25 minute flight to the city of Puerto Princesa, in a southwestern island of the Philippines. The ticket price was USD $57 for a round trip, which included 2 bags allowed to be checked in, and 2 small carry on bags as well.
As I was going through the baggage check area, I was told I wasn’t allowed to bring an umbrella onto any domestic flights within the Philippines, as they said umbrellas could be used as a weapon – ugh! (it can rain in this part of the world at any time of day, a mini umbrella is a must. I had to buy a new one once I landed).
The domestic airport in Manila is really outdated, very small, and is desperately in need of a major upgrade. The one common area sits maybe 2,000 travelers, 2 small bathrooms, and a couple of eateries. I grabbed a vegetable rice dish, but an hour later, the food came back to haunt me. The air conditioning wasn’t keeping up with the sheer number of passengers waiting for their flights. All told, pretty grim airport setting for such a large city. (The Manila international terminal is much more modern).
The flight was on time and uneventful. While I didn’t see it, there must have been a Krispy Kreme donut shop at the airport, as just about every local had carry on boxes and boxes of donuts (I’m guess they don’t have any in Puerto Princesa).
I’ve booked a 7 day 6 night tour of the Palawan Islands, which I’m told are spectacular, featuring turquoise water, boating through narrow canyons which have steep cliffs, and weather to match the views. The total cost of the tour is just under USD $1,000, which includes hotel, breakfasts, most attraction entry tickets, but doesn’t make nckude the best lane fare).
Looking forward to checking out Palawan.
PS – check out the fire escape outside of my hotel window
It rained in the morning on my first full day in Puerto Princesa (PP for short), so I hung out in my hotel room to do a bit of travel planning for the balance of the year
At 1:30 PM, I took an afternoon PP “city” tour of the area. PP is larger than you might think, with a heavy emphasis on tourism. It’s not a modern place, but everyone seems to make it work. Lots of tin covered small houses and shacks. The local taxis are 3-wheeled motorcycles (kinda like a motorcycle side car, which has a mini cover), and the local buses are squat step up vehicles, which passengers just kinda hop on/off at various street corners.
PP has a cove/small bay very close by, and is surrounded by a dense tropical forest.
Our first stop was at a crocodile farm, which featured both fresh water and salt water crocodiles. They have 7-very large rescued crocodiles, with their pens a bit depressing. We also saw a small selection of snakes, a few bearded pigs, and a small variety of birds as well.
We then briefly stopped at a hilltop viewing point overlooking Honda Bay. It’s called Rancho Mitra, named after a local politician, who still lives in the property, and has also donated some of his land to those in need.
Bakers Hill was right next door, which is a combination of a bakery, and a mini “theme park”.
Stopped at a souvenir market, selling all kinds of chachi items. I don’t buy any gifts or presents, so I wandered around the area for a few minutes.
We took a short walk along the Princesses Bay walk.
The Palawan area is known for their cashew nuts, and supplies much of the country, plus some exports as well.
It was in the mid 80’s, overcast and rainy, with the air heavy with humidity.
Dos Palmos:
This morning I took a full day tour of Dos Palmos. I caught a “tricycle” (which is really a motorcycle that has been outfitted with a metal cage, allowing several passengers to sit), for a 15-minute ride to meet up with the tour company bus. Total cost was about USD $1.
The tour bus took about 30-minutes to get to the Honda harbor area, which is where we hoped on a small outrigger boat, that took us about 1 hour and 15 minutes, ending up on Dos Palmos Island.
Dos Palmos is a private Island resort, where you can choose to lodge, or just make a day trip, which is what I did. They have all kinds of outdoor activities, including tennis courts, basketball courts, swimming pool, bikes, snorkeling, kayaking, … It appears most of these activities are included in your tour costs, with a few exceptions.
A smaller outriggger boat dropped me off on a floating platform, which is where I started off with some snorkeling. The water was warm. Lots of small fish swimming around the coral area, although much of the coral looked to be in bad shape. I swam over to a small island beach for a bit before returning to the platform to get picked up.
After about an hour snorkeling, I ate lunch, and then rode a bike around the small island.
All in all, a very relaxing day
Subterranean River National Park:
I took a tour day trip to check out the Subterranean River National Park, considered one of the “new” 7 wonders of nature.
We started off with a 90-minute drive, with many tight turns, bumps, and then we drove on a dirt road, which was barely passable
While waiting for our subterranean river tour, I took a 45-minutes mangrove tour, which was very nice.
The subterranean river is 8.2 KM long, under a mountain range. Today’s trip was 1.5 KM long.
Side notes: I ended up with a runny nose, so I stopped by a pharmacy. They sell over the counter medicine by the individual pill Vs prepackaged from the pharmaceutical company.
In Palawan, trash and litter is considered a crime here, with the first offense fine of USD $5, 2nd offense is USD $10, plus 1-month in jail. Third offense, 3-months on jail. I’ve seem little to no trash or litter (it’s working)
Island Hopping:
I went on a 3-island hopping tour today. It was overcast, mid 80’s, and the humidity wasn’t bad. Once again, I was on an outriggger type of small boat.
We started off for about an 1-hour at Starfish Island, with some snorkeling.
The second island was called Luli Island. While eating lunch, a heavy rain passed through. Went snorkeling in the rain.
And the 3rd island, Cowrie, has similar types of activities. I just chilled out for the hour we were there.
Small Wide World 