At last, the day came for me to experience most Filipinos are looking forward to experience too and this is to be at the Philippine’s last frontier for nature reserves – Palawan. I’ve been longing to be in this place and I can’t still believe I was there last weekend. Really a great place and great experience – to sum up this vacation trip. It was a 4-day fast trip and those 4 days were spent in El Nido and Puerto Princesa – a superb experience.

In this trip, I went with my mom and my nephew and niece (whom I stood as their foster father).

The flight was booked way ahead of the scheduled departing dates. I booked my flights 4 months ago so that I can save for the general travel expenses such as food, accommodation and tour fees. I was with my family and with my closest friends the whole time. Amazingly, we spent lesser than the expected cost which is P7000 to P8000 (exclusive of airfare). We only spent P5500 per head, exclusive of the roundtrip airfare of Manila-Puerto Princesa. We spent P4500 for the roundtrip airfare each.

After months of waiting, the big day came. We left Singapore 12 midnight and arrived at Manila International Airport at 4:00am via Cebu Pacific. Some went straight ahead to the Domestic Airport and flew thru Cebu Pacific. While the rest, flew from Centennial Terminal 2 via Air Philippines.

All of us arrived safely at the Puerto Princesa airport with different time of arrival. Cebu Pacific arrived early so my group was the one who contacted the van we hired that will send us to El Nido. He was Kuya Ronald and he’s really a good, fast driver. It was almost noon when the group met again and all together, we took our lunch at the city c/o Jollibee. After the lunch break, we headed to El Nido.

From Puerto Princesa, we took 6 hours (inclusive of stops and toilet breaks) all the way to El Nido. It was a journey of sleep-trips, sound-trips, laughing-trips and bloopers in a variety of rough roads. We arrived at El Nido 5:30pm, just a right time for sunset. We found it easy to locate the place we spent the 2 nights when we were in El Nido. We stayed at the Marina Gardens, right in front of the El Nido beach.

Electricity in El Nido is by schedule. The locality uses electricity provided by NAPOCOR from 1am until 1pm and the rest, thru a generator. Most establishments have their own generators. Residential houses used traditional ‘gasera’ or home-made lamp. Our first night was a nice one, with sumptuous dinner of rice and ‘sinigang na fish belly’, served with ‘buko’ (coconut).

Second day of our trip is the most unforgettable experience. We had the whole day for island hopping and our itinerary was a customized one. Normally, El Nido resorts offer packages with a mix of so-good and not-so-good destinations. Ours? Combination of goods. If I’m correct, our group visited 7 islands and islets compared to the packages that offers only 4. That whole day was a day we always thought of and said ‘God is so amazing’ because we’re really amazed with the place. And with friendly boatmen and with Kuya Bamboo taking the lead, we had customized island fun experiences as well.

But for me and Raia, we had a different story. For our morning tour, we went for diving. You can’t leave this place without discovering the underwater world! Hehe. I booked our diving with Sea Dog Divers, run by a friendly British dive centre owner and divermaster Barrie. We went to Popolcan Forest and West Miniloc. For the first dive, we went 20m (60 feet) and for the second dive, we went 30m (90 feet).  It was my first deep dive but shhh please be quiet, I’m not allowed yet. But you can’t blame me, the divemaster didn’t ask my dive rank. Raia can go deep dive because she got the advance open water diving card. Hehe.

By the way, I told my dive instructor here in Singapore that I went 30 meters and she was surprised. And I told her that our divemaster during the El Nido dive didn’t ask my diver rank. I felt she’s so amazed with that news and encouraged me go for the advance diving ASAP. Haha! I told her, I might take the course this month or next month.

Back to the island hopping, El Nido is comparable to Krabi’s limestone islands and islets. But I can say, El Nido is much better when it comes to the quality of sand, water, what you can see underwater and the serenity of the place. But serenity of the place still depends on the person. Personally, I hate crowdy beaches and it is one factor why I love El Nido. We feel that we are the owner of the island because we’re the only people there – enjoying and relaxing.

After the island hopping, we went back to our place, had another great dinner (ginataang alimango this time) and rested.

Our third day started by waking up 3:30am and leaving El Nido 4am for Puerto Princesa again. ‘Borlogs’ is what can be termed to us that early morning (term gotten from Ice) because it’s too early. We headed to Salvacion to meet our tour guide and our next van driver for our next destination – Underground River.

We met Thea at the meeting place. She’s a good guide, with a lot of sense of humor inside her hood. We started to call her Ate Shena just like the same name from Batibot that we used to watch during our early days. She gave a lot of information about the Underground River and about the places we encountered along the way. Later, we started calling her – ‘Ate Guide’ since she’s our tour guide for that day.

Underground River was a unique experience. Conquering the 1.8 kilometers (as allowed for tour) out of 8 kilometers thru a boat of 10-people capacity and seeing what’s inside the cave is an astounding experience. No I’m not exaggerating. Got to see fascinating formations, including the giant candle, mushrooms, and formations related to famous religious people; with huge ceilings, fascinating cathedrals and hanging bats; bundled with funny boatman – can’t say more except WOW. Before, I get to see this place only thru the books and pictures but now, it’s now an experience of a lifetime.

After the Underground River tour, we headed straight to Kawayanan Resort where we spent our last night in Palawan. It’s a good place for me. Not too fancy, but good place to stay. We washed up, rested and prepared for dinner. For dinner, we went to Ka Lui – a restaurant where people are not allowed to have footwears while inside the place. The place must be entered barefooted. The food is great and the place is a tranquil one – eating dinner with acoustic versions of traditional Filipino songs while eating was a nice experience.

Our last day in Palawan started with a mass at the Immaculate Concepcion Cathedral. After that, we had a good breakfast at Chowking. Some of us, including myself, went straight to the airport after. The rest went to the market for more shopping experience while waiting for their departure.

The group met again in SM Mall of Asia for lunch. We spent the whole time walking inside that big mall and after some time, went for a massage. It was my first time to have a full body massage and it’s a relaxing experience. Because I was so pleased, I even gave a big tip to the lady who gave me the massage.

All in all, Palawan trip is the best trip I had so far and it was a dream-come-true trip. Conquering El Nido’s underwater sufficed the trip, discovering what the islands and islets can offer was a big plus, and venturing the Underground River leveled the whole trip up. Really, an experience to boast to others. I hope I can still visit this place again. But might consider Coron, Palawan next time.

For all the “photographic” shots and photos, you can visit my multiply site @ http://almin.multiply.com. Next trip, Siem Reap, Cambodia and Bangkok, Thailand.

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