"If we were meant to stay in one place, we'd have roots instead of feet."
Last March, I went to Puerto Princesa, Palawan with my sister, Aissa; her husband, Niño; and our cousin, Betchay. :)
Whenever we travel, it's always planned beforehand for budget purposes. And we always grab those seat sales. Another tip would be, try not to repeat destination, unless needed. There are a lot more places to visit here in the Philippines. :)
I love window seat. I love traveling. I love being on a plane. I love taking off. I love landing. I love leaving. I love returning. I'm a gypsy at heart. :)
When we landed at Puerto Princesa, we went straight for our City tour. Our first stop was Baker's Hill, to have lunch and have a photo op. :p
As you can see, my sister and I have no shame. Haha :p We don't mind baring some skin. :)
It was so hot that day! I don't know how we managed to still smile for the camera. Oh, by the way, all the photos in this post are taken from our phones.
"I go to seek a great perhaps." ♥
Betchay, myself, Aissa, and Niño. :)
Right after Baker's Hill, we stopped by Mitra's Ranch. The view was astounding! A view of the sea, the mountains, and never-ending acres of land.
Next stop was the Crocodile Farm! Okay, honestly, I'm not a big fan of animals. I don't hate them, but I don't love them either.
I was kind of freaking out the whole time we were there because I'm afraid there might be crocodiles out of the cage. But that doesn't stop me from having my photos taken. Haha :)
The night of our first day in Puerto Princesa, we went to Iwahig Firefly watching. This is the only decent photo that night. Camera flash is prohibited because it will disturb the fireflies and it won't light up. I was sooo amazed by it! Fireflies are nature's Christmas lights on real trees. I felt like a child gazing and smiling the whole tour! And I was also awestruck by the boatman's maneuvering in the river with no headlights on. It's an awesome experience I would recommend to everyone! :)
Our second day was intentionally set for the Underground River tour. We were informed that it would take us almost all day because of all the traveling by land and by boat from the City proper.
I braved the Sabang zipline. I'm not a zipline first timer but the one I tried before was over trees, not the sea. And I think this one's higher than the one I tried before. I'm chickening out at first but my sister urged me to do it, so I did. :)
And damn, it's totally worth it! I even thanked my sister for pushing me to go do it. It was scary at first, before you were let go by the operator, but after a few seconds, it was just pure bliss. It was really an adrenaline rush moment! :)
This is the boat going to the entrance of the Underground River. Our tour guide, the man with the hat, was nothing short of amaaazing! The whole UR trip was fun and exciting mostly because of him. Hats off to him! :D
"Once a year, go someplace you've never been before."
-Dalai Lama
The Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park is one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature. It is located 80 kilometers North of Puerto Princesa City proper.
"It's better to see something once than to read or hear about it a thousand times."
Before going back to city proper, we stopped where The Amazing Race Philippines and Ukraine visited. We weren't able to go the the cave but we settled having our photos taken with this memorabilia. :)
The next day's itinerary was Honda Bay Island Hopping tour. Initially, we were supposed to go to 5 islands but due to the weather that time, we just went to 3. Luli Island, the first island we went to, was called Luli because it disappears when it's high tide and it reappears when it's low tide. Luli is shortened term for lulubog(disappear)-lilitaw(reappear).
The second stop was the Pambato Reef which is not an island, but a man-made reef-seeing area in the middle of the sea. I saw a really huge seashell opening and closing a couple of times. It's so cool! And it's kind of a consolation because we really didn't enjoy this particular island hopping. Maybe we expected too much, or maybe the island hopping we experienced before; from Boracay, Puerto Galera, and Bohol, were just amaze-balls. Which is which.
Cowrie Island is the last island we went to. There's nothing special here, really. It's a bummer we didn't go to the Starfish Island and Pandan Island. I heard great things about those two islands, perhaps if we did go there, our Honda Bay experience would have been better.
Gastronomy coming up!☺ Well, sort of. :p
