Seeing photos of Palawan on the internet and on my friends’ social media accounts made me eagerly want to visit Palawan one day. I originally planned to go there this coming December, so I could have enough money and preparation before exploring the place, but my wish has been granted earlier this year and I couldn’t be happier and more excited! My aunt from US went back here in the Philippines with her daughter (my cousin) and her grand-daughter (my niece). My aunt told me that she has a lot of “adult” stuff to do like visiting her amigas or attending a reunion but the two girls kept her from doing those things because they wanted to go on a trip instead of accompanying my aunt to some “boring” events. My tita trusts me so much so the solution to that was to send the two girls to a trip (apparently Palawan is the choice) and I will accompany them. And while we are away, tita will do all the tita stuff she needs to accomplish. This trip was very timely because during this time, I was having a hard time at work, and I am facing a lot of problems. I feel like stress is eating me alive and I think running away from those problems is not really that bad. It helped me to finally breathe, relax my mind for a while, and just enjoy life. Even though this trip was unexpected, I didn’t ask my bosses if they could allow me to have my vacation leave. I just informed them and told them that my flight and hotel accommodation has already been booked so they cannot say no anymore (I’m a wise girl, I know. Thanks). It was very rainy and we were hoping that it will be sunny in Palawan. We checked the weather forecast and it says that there’s a 20% chance of rain. It was raining hard when we drove to the airport and thankfully, when we reached Puerto Princesa Airport, it’s only a little gloomy but it’s not raining. We went straight to our hotel, Marianne Hotel and they provided a van that will drive us from the airport to the hotel. We arrived around 7:00 in the morning and since check-in time is 2:00 PM, we just left our things in the Hotel’s office, brought important things that we need with us, and ate a light breakfast. The hotel offers a buffet worth P 175 but I think it’s not worth it. The foods in the buffet were usually processed food and the only ~unprocessed~ foods prepared were banana, watermelon, rice, and eggs. Since I do not eat processed food, I just don’t think paying P 175 is not worth the price for watermelon and fried eggs. But well, it’s a hotel and business is business. After the breakfast, we already started our first tour. Our Day 1 tour is as follow: DAY 1 TOUR: HONDA BAY TOUR (ISLAND HOPPING) Time of Tour: 7:30 am to 3:30 pm Price: PHP 1,300.00 Inclusions:
Before going to the Islands, we went to this shop where we rented aqua shoes and snorkeling masks. We first went to starfish Island. Starfish Island is just a small Island. It’s like a sandbar. The other side is a beach and the other side is a mangrove. It was crowded by nipa cottages where tourists can stay. The tour guide is the one responsible for watching our valuables while the other tour guide is responsible for looking a great spot at the beach on where we can see starfish and other colorful fishes. It was a little disappointing because we were expecting to see a lot of Starfishes but I only saw two. I wasn’t also able to go far from the snorkeling area because my snorkeling mask kept on messing with me. The water kept on getting in my eyes and salt water was just too painful for me that I had to go back to the shore just to fix the mask. I also got dizzy maybe because I didn’t have enough sleep and food, plus maybe I couldn’t handle the heat any longer. The good thing about my experience in this island was when the tour guide cooked us fresh seafood for lunch. There’s also a small market in the island where you can buy fresher and rare seafood. Also, our boat man is very good and creative at taking pictures. Just look how creative my shots were! After lunch, we went back to the shore to look for cute seashells that we could bring home. This was also my first time to see what they called “sand dollar” or commonly known as “sand biscuit”. After the first island, we went to Luli Island. It was called Luli Island because the Island will “lulubog” (sink) when it’s high tide, and “lilitaw” (appear) when low tide. We went snorkeling again and this time, I was able to go beyond the boundaries and see more colorful fishes and beautiful corals. I also saw baby starfishes and they were the cutest! I was so tempted to keep them as a remembrance because it was so nice and so cute but of course, to contribute on taking care of our nature, the least thing I can do is to leave living creatures alone. I also experienced diving in this island. The water was 15 ft. deep and it was terrifying, but I made it!! There’s also a mini bar in the island that offers cocktails, but we were not able to try it because we didn’t know that we only have to stay in the island for one hour. For the next island, we went to Cowrie Island. This island was named after the small-to-large sea snail, marine gastropod mollusk they call "cowrie". This island offers exciting activities like jet skiing and banana boating. There's also a spa in the island and a bar, but we also have to stay here for only an hour, plus, we are all really tired, so what we tried was only the banana boat. After riding a banana boat, I looked for more sand dollars and cute shells. I kept only 5 shells because it’s not allowed to take home a lot of those. I also found tons of baby star fishes which was exciting. After Island Hopping, we went back to the hotel to rest and take a shower. The showers in the island uses 70% salt water and only 30% fresh water so we have to shower again before we go out for dinner. After taking a few minutes of rest, we decided to discover what Palawan night life has to offer. We went to a place called “TIki Bar”. This place is so IG worthy, and full of aesthetics. I felt like I was in Hawaii. This place was full of wood carvings and neon lights. They also offer pool, beer pong, and VIP videoke rooms. We ordered finger foods and cocktails and waited for the band to start performing. We stayed after few songs and at around 9 in the evening, we already decided to go back to our hotel. Lights off. DAY 2 TOUR: UNDERGROUND RIVER AND UGONG ROCK ADVENTURES Price: PHP 1,900.00 Inclusions:
When we reached the island, we had side tripping in the forest. We saw a big lizard (I can’t recall what it’s called) but it looked amazing. The underground river features a spectacular limestone karst landscape with an underground river. One of the river's distinguishing features is that it emerges directly into the sea, and its lower portion is subject to tidal influences. The area also represents a significant habitat for biodiversity conservation. The site contains a full 'mountain-to-sea' ecosystem and has some of the most important forests in Asia. The underground river is truly a masterpiece and breathtaking. After a one-hour tour inside the river, we went back to the Sabang shore and ate our lunch. After lunch, we went to Ugong Rock Adventures and trekked. There were amazing rock formations that when they get hit by a light, they sparkle. There were also rocks that when you hit it with a small rock or coin, it sounds like a bell. After reaching the top, it’s time for a zipline. The zip line was fun, but I didn’t appreciate the view from the top since what I just saw was a rice field. But it was still exciting. After that, we tried the famous halo-halo that the people of Puerto Princesa are proud of. They kept on mentioning that it is the best and made it sound like it tastes like heaven, which is quite intriguing. When I had a taste, yes, it was delicious, it was creamy, but I don’t think this is the best. After that, we went back to our hotel. I fell asleep that I wasn’t even able to get up and go out for dinner. DAY 3: FLIGHT BACK TO MANILA Hope the itinerary will help you in your next Puerto Princesa escapade! Comment below if you have other questions that are not indicated in this blog. 😊 SHARE THIS:
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They said this is one of the must-see places in Tagaytay. From the name itself, “Puzzle Mansion”, I think I put too much expectations that there were disappointments when we have gotten into this place. The way to Puzzle Mansion was very steep which is also very scary for a girl-driver who loves to drive really slow in a flat road. I don’t think it is THAT safe to go there? Or I think it is just me who thinks that going there is not worth it. The entrance fee to puzzle mansion is P 100.00 per head, regardless if children or adult, which is also unacceptable for me. I thought a “PUZZLE MANSION” will welcome me with so many puzzles, which it actually did, but I guess it just didn’t meet my expectations. Since it is called a mansion, I was expecting to see, a, mansion?! Hello? A mansion, of course. Or a big facility. But it’s just like one huge room full of puzzles, has a narrow path (which made us hard to see all the puzzle creations due to many visitors). I was also expecting that everything in there is a puzzle. Like the house of wax from the movie that even the house itself is made from wax. I just thought there would be an exciting riddle or a maze before you see the puzzles displayed, something like that. Maybe it’s really hard to keep your hopes up and expect something just to avoid disappointments. (Drama? Lol!) On the other hand, the pieces were amazing. Some puzzle designs are from renowned paintings, some are 3D spherical globe puzzle, crystal puzzle, wooden puzzle and a lot more! The most interesting puzzle I saw there was the geographical map. I mean, geographical maps are already intricate itself, how much more if you turned those into puzzles? Another amazing thing I saw there was the architectural puzzle, they looked like real miniature of famous landmarks but if you look closely, they are all made of puzzles! Amazing, right? Since they are all puzzles, whichever design it was, it is still spectacular because we all know how much time it can get for us to finish one puzzle with complicated and huge designs. Puzzle mansion has a second floor and hey, another disappointment for me, because I thought I’ll be discovering more puzzle works but business is business and second floor is their souvenir shop. This is a great place but I do not really recommend this like, recommend, recommend. You get what I mean, right? I’d probably give this only three stars out of five. If you’re having a day trip at Tagaytay, you can just go some other better places than this, but if you have extra extra extra time, you should still visit this and give this place a chance because despite my disappointments, Puzzle Mansion is one of our prides because this hosts a collection of jigsaw puzzle which is recognized as the biggest in the world per Guinness World Book of Records. SHARE THIS BLOG: PUERTO GALERA-- located in Oriental Mindoro, was once labeled as "One of the most beautiful bays in the world" and I couldn't agree more.
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