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Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Honeymoon at Puerto Princesa Part 1

We booked piso fare trip to Puerto Princesa way back last December, that's why we are so sure that this trip will be a part of our honeymoon. last March 4-8, 2008, we went to spend our 5d/4n trip to Puerto Princesa. We stayed at the best hotel (for me and for our tour guides ha!) in PP, Hotel Fleuris. It is located at the heart of the city, near Rizal Avenue. There are only 3 class AAA hotels in PP Legend hotel, Asturias Hotel and Hotel Fleuris. Legend Hotel is located at the city but it is somewhere at National Road which is a tricycle away from Rizal Ave. Asturias hotel on the other hand was located at the end of the city. Palengke is just a few mins walk from our place, famous resto is just around the corner, supermarkets and department store is just across the street, every place is accessible. The hotel itself is very very nice, they got a pool where you can relax after tiring day of adventures and tours, they have 3 resto where you can choose to dine if you're not up to going out. They have games where you can borrow such as scrabble, boggle, dominos and more. The staff are so friendly, service are very very nice. The room is lovely, spacious and relaxing. The breakfast consist of American and filipino, we always ordered their Lamayo, nicely cook and so delicious, a PP's pride.
We reach PP around 915, checked in at Hotel Fleuris, enough time to rest and have lunch. Our City tour will start at 1pm. After a short rest we ask the front desk on where do they suggest tourist to have lunch or dinner, they suggest Ka Lui, Kinabuch, Badjao Seafront and Balinsasayaw.
We choose Balinsasayaw for our first meal since it is the nearest suggested resto from our place. I had grilled Tuna and My hubby ordered Tanigue ala Pobre, both cost only 65 pesos each, cheap ayt? the serving is not impressive (maliit kasi, pero what could we expect super mura diba?) dibale the foods are good! we had Watermelon and Green Mango Shake for drinks that cost only 35 per glass. Emer also ordered Pineapple rice, 25/cup, which is really really to die for. The service is quite bad, too slow and waiters aren't friendly enough to heed customers need.
Our tours are arranged by Sanctuary tours c/o our hotel, we got the whole package na kasi. The agency got really nice, very informative and friendly guides, plus the van assign from us is really well maintained 1pm. Our tour guide Doc arrived at Hotel Fleuris at exactly 1pm, the tour begins, our first stop was butterfly garden, the place is ok, i'm not really interested since I am afraid of butterflies though I find them lovely creatures. The place is small yet full of colorful butterflies. After few minutes, we went straight to iwahig penal colony, where prisoners are free to rome the premises, they got souvenir shop where they sell stuffs made by the prisoner themselves. Next is the Crocodile farm, at the lobby before going to the hatchlings and the adult crocs, there you can see the carcass of the biggest salt water croc captured alived. We also have photo ops with the crocs but everyone who wanted to have pics taken holding a croc are required to pay 30 pesos each. Next stop was Mitra's Ranch, it is the ancestral home of the Mitras, it is located at the top of a mountain, they open the vicinity for viewing, the wind is very cool up there, the view is very nice, from top you can see the view of Honda Bay. Our Last stop before our run tour was Baker's Hill, near Mitra's Ranch, there is a bakeshop who's hopia and breads are just so delicious. too bad we can only bought few of them because we are just on our first day, no pasalubong guys, sorry baka masira.
We pass by the Cathedral and the plaza (forgot the exact name). The tour ended around 5pm. Emer and I decided to buy chips at the nearest supermarket, on our way to the place we spotted Manong who sells fried Isaw, being an isaw addict, we decided to have few sticks. for 2.50 each we bought 10pesos. It is the best isaw we have ever tasted so.... Emer and I decided to buy 40 pesos to go, ANG TAKAW!
We decided to try out Kinabuch for dinner, we ordered halabos na hipon for 180 and sizzling tuna for 150. We ordered 2 dish yet it can serve up to 3-4 pax, grabe we're so full. Their Halabos na Hipon is the best among all the resto we have tried in PP. Service is Ok, Food is GREAT!!!!
We slept early in preparation for our Underground tour the following day.
We woke up 530am, get ourselves ready for our breakfast before our tour begins. The food is yummy though it is a complimentary bfast!
7am, tour guide Anne arrived at the hotel, everyone are all set to go. there's a 2 hr drive going to Sabang warf and another 30min boat ride to reach the Underground River. Along the way Anne, gave us few trivias about the place. The underground river is previously called St Paul's Subterranean River but was later on changed to Puerto Princesa Subterranean River. The road going to the warf was tiring, rough roads, zigzags and long ride, but everything was worth it. The boat ride was worst, the waves are humongous, scary yet an experience. The view, the limestones, the stalactites, the sea, the wind are spectacular, nice and unique.
The 30min tour at the underground river was awesome, I've never seen anything so beautiful and so well formed stalactites, this is indeed the pride of Puerto Princesa. The underground river is a cave of a big big Karst. We had lunch at sabang warf after our undergound river tour. The food prepared are so-so, but there's one unique dish we have tried and that was the coconut soup. After having lunch, we are all ready to go back to the hotel but before that we went to Vietnamn Ville for side trip. Bought few bread and head home.
We got back at the hotel around 4pm, walk around the city for clothes and shopping hunting (hehe). For our dinner we decided to eat at Bilao't-Palayok, (i read this one at the internet Girltalk forum, thanks for the tip girls). The ambiance is so nice, they have a hammock where a guest can sit and relax while waiting for their table. We ordered butter and garlic shrimp, 150, that is a lil bit overcooked. Steam crab, 150, that is so delicious, and strawberry soda and orange apple soda for our drinks. The service is nice, the ambiance is nice, and the food is good!
We had a room service massage after the whole day of adventure, paid 350/pax for a combination of Hawaiin and Shiatsu Massage. We slept soundly after that.

Part 2

More Pics at Puerto Princesa
and Around Puerto Princesa

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