Ymon Goes To Palawan
Palawan is located in the Western Visayas Region of the Philippines.
Departure.
Thursday, October 10.
Muntik pa ako ma-late nun kasi lintek na cellphone yan, hindi nag-alarm. Buti na lang tinawagan ako ni Marvin mga bandang 5:45AM. Usapan kasi namin hintayan sa may Rotonda mga bandang 5:30AM. Pero hindi nga nag-alarm ung phone kaya ayun. Naalimpungatan pa nga ako. Kala ko walang lakad, ordinary day lang. 8:00AM yung flight namin. Ayoko naman maging cause ng delay ng flight ng grupo. Dyahe yun!
Panic-stricken, I got up immediately and hit the shower. Within 5 minutes I was done, prepped up (ligong-pato hehehe!) and hailed a taxi. I left home 6:10AM. It was a 30-minute trip from Makati Homes to Manila Domestic Airport. I was expecting ts going to be traffic as that usually happens when you're in hurry. Luckily, the taxi took a detour somewhere along McKinley Road and I began to see signs pointing to the airport.
Got there about 6:30AM. It's busy as usual. Dami naglalakad papunta entrance, dala-dala yung mga maleta nila. Dala ko lang isang medium-sized na backpack. Andun na lahat. Medyo tumambay pa kami dahil naghintayan pa. Sunod na dumating yung isa pa naming kasama sa Boracay Adventure nung February, Laurice and Marc. Another hintayan for 15 minutes. Then dumating na sila Dale, Mark, Lara, and Alfie. Tapos yung mga 4 friends ni Lara na foreigners (3 Chinese and 1 Korean). Iba talaga tong si Lara, international ang coverage neto.
We got in and had the bags checked. We spent about 30 minutes for processing. After going through the final scanning, we sat down in the waiting area where I had coffee at Mister Donut which I find strange because I seldom drink anything hot especially in the morning. We boarded the plane about 7:35AM and took off in 10 minutes. Maybe all the passengers for that trip had already boarded the plane so Cebu Pacific never hesitated leaving early anyways.
Hindi ko nakuha yung upuan near the window. It's ok, i dont have a cam yet. May palaro pa sila. "Show me" wherein they give out Head n' Shoulders Shampoo kung saan kinarir nina Mark and Vin. Each got 12 sachets of shampoo. Buti na lang nanalo sila... may hihingan na ko ng shampoo ngayon... nyahahaha!
Puerto Prinsesa Airport
Touched-down @ 8:45AM. A lot of vegetation, less buildings. As we walked to the receiving area, I noticed there was this wet footrag (treated) to disinfect our footwear with. It's how they control pathogens to protect the local animals. We waited for about 30 minutes or so because Lara has to accompany her friends to have their flight schedule changed as the ticket indicated an October 14 return trip to Manila. They preferred an earlier departure.
Nakita ni Alfie yung pinsan nya na taga munisipyo dun at nakapag-reserve ng rooms. We got two vans. Daan muna chowking para kumain.
Color Mansion
Mura lang yung place saka tahimik. Meron pang stage. Nyahahaha! Naalala ko yung stage namin sa school... ganung ganun yung itsura nya. We got 3 rooms. Boys room, Girls room, saka Mag-Jowa room (jer jer na!) kasi ung dalawang kaibigan ni Lara mag-on and they prefer to have some privacy.
We planned our itinerary here which were:
Day 1 - Puerto Prinsesa City Tour
- Crocodile Farm
- Butterfly Farm
- Mitra Farm
- Baker's Hill
- Public Market
- KaLui's
- Vietnamese Village
- Kinabuch's
After planning, we took a rest for about an hour and then began the tour. Nakita namin yung ni-refer na resto nung officemate ko, KaLui. The ambience is similar to Mumba's in Quezon City.
Crocodile Farm
Our first stop was at Crocodile Farm. It is a joint venture between the Philippine and Japanese governments. They breed the animals in captivity and eventually harvest them for the meat, skin, and whatever a crocodile has that is valuable. I even saw recipes for preparing croc meat.
Upon entering the building, I saw the skeleton of the largest saltwater crocodile ever caught. Its about the length of a Hi-Ace Van. It's hide was also preserved and hanged on the wall just right above its skeleton which was encased in a wooden framed glass. When it was still alive, it ate a human (a human pelvis was retrieved inside its stomach), a deer, and other reptiles which forced the local people to have the croc captured. But the task of capturing was so stressful that it slowly killed the poor croc in just a few days.
Moving inside, I saw pictures of you know what. Egg shells of different sizes. Even pictures of celebrities holding a live crocodile which is about a few months old (its snout is tied shut with a rubber band), the same size of a full-grown cat.
Moving farther we got to the pens where they kept the beasts. Instead of the usual cages you see when you go zoos, the crocs are housed behind concrete walls and they built metal planks above the cage so you'll get a top view. We even get to feed the crocs with a large fish which costs about 20 pesos. Sinulit ni Marvin ang bayad sa feeding dahil hindi nya agad binibigay sa mga buwaya nyahahaha! Poor thing.
After feeding, we went to the man-made jungle where we found a pair of bearcats, native horned-bill, macaques, even native chickens nyahahaha. Not to mention local insects feasting on our blood... andami ko kaya pantal saka mga kagat ng insekto. Buti na lang hindi naman ako nagka-dengue or malaria.
Entrance in @ P40.
Butterfly Farm
The place looks like a very small paradise because of the flowers. They grow flowering plants to sustain the butterflies and provide foliage for the caterpillars, which I find strange because I didn't get to see a single caterpillar. The plants produced more flowers because the butterflies help in pollination. Hence, the cycle goes on. Entrance fee is P25.
Mitra Farm
It didn't look like a farm to me. Perhaps more of a ranch as the fence gave a close resemblance to that of typical ranches. The late Congressman, Ramon Mitra, built his house at the center of it using a long and enormous log which served as the only foundation. Galing no? The place is well kept and could be used as a picnic area. Do not lie on the grass, however. Makati sya. No entrance fee.
Baker's Hill
The place is still under development. It looks like a small version of Enchanted Kingdom in Laguna minus the rides. They also have a mini zoo in their backyard. We found a pair of ostriches, an unknown bird which has colorful feathers. It even had tiger prints on its back.
We headed back to the entrance to have snacks. They also serve full meals. I liked their pizza. Too bad, i have to eat only small portions of it or I'll easily gain more weight. No entrance fee.
Public Market
After snacks, we headed to the public market to buy our lunch for tomorrow's island hopping. Got separated from the other van as they are going back to the mansion to freshen up. On the way, we've heard about a resort which has a beach front so we took a detour. The place is called Dangkalan Beach Inn. It's dark already when we got there so we couldn't tell how deep the water was. We made arrangements and agreed to move in tomorrow morning.
We went to the market and found seafoods like shrimps, prawns, clams, crabs, squids, fish and not to mention seaweeds. All cheap. They are selling shrimps for as low as 120 pesos a kilo. We bought seaweeds, slices of tambakol, and 2 kilos of shrimp. This is the place to be if you want seafoods. :-)
Ka Lui's
After doing the market, we headed back to the "mansion" and took a shower. We rested for a few minutes and went outside again to have dinner at Ka Lui's. Nice interiors. You have to take off your shoes once you get inside. You have the option to either eat sitting on a chair or eat slumped down, indian-style. We chose the latter. Too bad I forgot what we ordered but the food was great at a very fair price. Drinks range from 35 - 45 pesos. Food is at 300 to 400 pesos which serves 2 -3 people which is fair enough.
Lara was celebrating her birthday that day. We got her a coco-salad cake which was cute. What a way to celebrate! After blowing the candles, we chatted for a while then went home.
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Day 2 - Island Hopping / Snorkeling
Thursday, October 11
Woke up about 6:30AM. Hit the shower. Fixed my bags as we are moving into the resort, Dangkalan Beach Inn. When we got there, it was low tide and the water wasnt deep. In fact, you could still see people walking miles away with the water still below their knees. The beach front is clean, though it has a lot of holes. It could be burrows where the small crabs live. Haven't seen one in action.
After leaving our things in the room, we headed off to the local port and rented snorkeling gears. Our first stop was cowry island. Our guide just pointed that this is the island where they have loads of cowry shells, we never landed there. He also pointed to the direction going to Dos Palmas Resort and El Nido. If we tried to land there, we will be charged 500pesos per head. Duh!
We landed at Snake Island, got ourselves two cottages and went snorkeling. At first I got worried I might drown as I don't know how to swim. Tanga ka? E naka suot ka ng life jacket, malulunod ka?! Nyahahaha!
Our guide taught us how to properly feed the fish. You just simply hold out the piece of bread to them and let them feed. Oo nga naman. Hehe! It was a sight to behold. Different species of fish came to feed. All greedy. They ate the whole piece in a few minutes. We then went to the spot where the jackfishes swim. They were swimming in circles, but I never got to see what they were circling.
We went a bit farther and managed to get two starfishes, resting on a big rock. It's skin was hard and rough as that of a coral's We took pictures (which reminds me to get a digicam asap) of it, holding it in different angles.
We headed back to shore for lunch. It was the best Hinalabos na Hipon I have tasted. I guess they added Sprite to the shrimp as the sweetness was giving it added flavor. We also had roasted tambakol slices which was marinated in soy sauce and kalamansi, our native lemon. Seaweed salad (a mixture of onions and tomatoes) acted as a side dish and fresh coco water for drinks, no ice.
After lunch, we went island hopping again and went to do some more snorkeling for corals. We docked at this small floating cottage, about a few miles from snake island. Its floating because it's resting on big plastic barrels. They even had a dog there which they call Marimar. Very friendly, it never barked at anyone. At hinahagis pa nila sa dagat! Boy, the dog knows how to swim. After taking some more pictures, we went back to the port and went home.
We had dinner at the Inn where we had what was left for lunch earlier. After dinner, videoke time! Costs about 5 pesos. The videoke machine is similar to that of a small bar in Manila I hangout with my teammates. usually after work (near Providence Inn). We slept about past 10PM.
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Day 3 - Underground River Adventure / Market Day
Friday, October 12
Woke up very early as the vans would be dropping by for pick up about 5:30AM. The guides would always remind us that we must get there early. I didn't realize the logic behind it until we got there.
We left about 6:30AM as we would have to wait for the others. The trip took about two hours. It seemed like an hour on good road and then another hour on rough road. The view of the countryside was a sight. I wish i had a camera that time. The trail was similar to that of Baguio's zigzag road.
At Sabang, we paid the entrance fee and got on the boat. Ride is about 20 minutes from shore. We got to this island and walked towards the river. It is an open jungle and I saw a monitor lizard pass by.
(to be continued)
I'll try to finish the whole adventure asap. Do check back for updates.
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