A week in Palawan (Puerto Princesa)

Day 5

We stayed in Princess Armicha Pension House which was just a walk away from the Provincial Capitol. They offer great deals and they also offer city tours. They best thing is that the inn is just a walk away from different restaurants and “karenderia”. Also, beside the inn is the humble Ima’s Vegetarian Restaurant.

Right after we had our breakfast, we looked for a motorcycle or jeepney or whatever that we can charter to get us to the attractions within the city. Luckily, the owner of the inn was there and offered us a city tour on a private van for a very low price since it was off-peak season. We then started our city tour around 10AM and got back 4PM. After that, we went to their baywalk to spend the rest of the afternoon.

Here are the places we went to:

Palawan Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Center (formerly known as Crocodile Farm)
Rancho Sta. Monica / Mitra’s Ranch
Baker’s Hill
City Baywalk

no human/ croc was harmed

tried crocodile sisig

Mitra’s Ranch

Baker’s Hill

Baywalk

taken at the baywalk

When we got back to the inn, we decided to get into the city’s lively park, where there are live bands, street vendors, and basically party on every corner. It was actually a week of their annual Baragatan festival where Palaweños, from all corners of Palawan, converge into their capital city, which is Puerto Princesa. We were able to witness their fireworks display.

Day 6

Geting ready by 6AM, we headed to the main roads where we can ride jeepney to their famous “Honda Bay” port for another island hopping experience. Upon arrival, we saw a board where all their island hopping rates are posted. We got ourselves a 3-island package tour. The tour was quite expensive.

The weather did not cooperate with us. It was gloomy and drizzles from time to time. Nevertheless, we continued with our tour and hopped on to our designated motor boat.

There are separate entrance fees on each islands ranging from 50php to 100php, which is unappealing to tourists. Anyway, we decided to end the tour by noon, since there was nothing else left to do on the islands, and the weather was another down-dragging factor.

So here are the islands we went to:

Starfish island
Cowrie island
Pandan island

Pandan island

Starfish island

Cowrie island

When we got back to the inn, we burned our remaining time by strolling on the city roads and chilling in Itoy’s Coffee Haus. The city gets livelier by night, we went on to every street shops to look for souvenirs. We saw this shop selling Civet Coffee for a specially low “festival” price. We got ours for 450php / 250 grams.

As the night continues we went on to have our taste buds experience “Chaolong”, which is a hand-made Vietnamese rice noodles. Finding it in Puerto Princesa is not hard since there are plenty of restaurants and food shops offering and claiming the authentic preparation of the food. By midnight, we went back to the inn and prepared our backpacks for our return to Cebu before we turned the lights off to sleep.

Day 7

Though reluctant to leave the wonderful Palawan, but all journey must come to an end, and our budget can’t hold it anymore. All bags packed and ready to go, we checked out from the inn near noon and went to their famous Kalui restaurant to have our early lunch and as our celebration for a wonderful week together. The place has the native Filipino “kubo” ambiance and so cozy. The foods are great for typical restaurant pricing.

With our bellies filled, we proceed to the airport which can be walked from the restaurant.

There we waited for our flight back. We arrived in Cebu around 5PM. It was really a blast. Spending a week on a beautiful place has got me hanging for few weeks. If I were to be asked of what highlights my year, I would definitely choose this experience.