Puerto Princesa: Underground River

Your Puerto Princesa trip will not be complete without visiting the Puerto Princesa’s Underground River. This place is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and hailed as one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

You will be amazed by its spectacular limestone formations inside the cave. I encourage you to let your mind wander and come up with different stories to each rock formations. Hehe! Surely, this will enhance your creative thinking.

For DIY Tours, you must first secure a permit at the town office. According to our tour guide, a maximum of 1,200 persons per day can be accommodated on the Underground River.

The travel time from the city proper to the Sabang Beach is roughly around 2 hours and the boat ride from Sabang Beach to Underground River is around 20 to 30 minutes.

TIP: Volunteer to be the one to hold the flashlight. Or much better, bring you own flashlight

Thanks,

Kjoyce

3 Must Try Food in Puerto Princesa

Traveling is not complete without trying the local dishes.

Aside from meeting other people, trying to interact with the locals, I see to it that whenever I go somewhere I have to try their local cuisine.

I have list down 3 dishes that I’ve tried and highly recommended.

1. Tamilok

When I was researching and doing my itinerary, I came across with this and I know that I have to try it. Tamilok or woodworm is a famous delicacy in Palawan. It is actually not a worm but a mollusk found inside rotting mangroves. That is why it taste somehow like an oysters. This is usually done in Kinilaw style.

Tamilok can be found anywhere in Palawan. I saw one while I was at Bakers Hill but I’ve tried it at Kinabuchs around PHP 135.00. Yucky at first glance but it’s delicious.

2. Chaolong

After communists conquered South Vietnam, many Vietnamese fled to Palawan to seek refuge. And that is where they introduce Vietmanese food culture. Chao Long is a Palawan version of “Pho”, a meat stew soup with rice noodles. This is usually serve with sprig of mint and basil, bean sprout and calamansi. This is best paired with French bread.

There are so many chaolong house in Palawan but I’ve tried mine at Bona’s along Manalo Avenue Extension. This cost me around PHP 65.00. But if you want to eat more authentic Vietnamese food, I suggest to go to Viet Ville which is on the way going to Underground River.

Reminder, don’t wear light clothes when trying to eat this as you will get splattered with the savory juice.

3. Crocodile Sisig

My friend suggested this. Initially, we were going to eat this at Crocodile Farm. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance go there. But we did eat this at Ka Inato on our way to San Jose Terminal.

Like any other sisig, Crocodile sisig is serve with sizzling hot plate. We mixed this with soy sauce and calamansi. I have tried this after my friend does. And viola, the meat is so tender. I did not expect this at all. There is no weird taste or smell. If you’re not going to tell me what this is, I would say this is a chicken. Yes, we agreed that crocodile meat tastes somehow like a chicken.

One serving of crocodile sisig at Ka Inato costs us PHP 350.00.

Side note: Ka Inato is a mute and deaf friendly place as some of their staffs are deaf and mute.

Additional (Sorry can't help but to share this too.  :))

Ka Lui’s Tubattaha Salad

This is one one Ka Lui’s best seller dish. Tubattaha Salad is made of fresh tuna strips, cashew nuts, ripe mangoes, melon, papaya, seaweed, pomelo and Palawan dressing. Weird combination but tastes delicious. It has a unique taste of sweet and sour.

There goes my must try food list. Hope this will help on your Palawan trip!

Thanks,

Kjoyce

When in Puerto Princesa, Palawan

Puerto Princesa: The City in a Forest

During my trip, I wasn’t able to maximize all of what Puerto Princesa has to offer because of the bad weather. It’s just too bad that two-day trip wasn’t enough to experience it all.

But, I list down some of the awesome things you can do when in Puerto Princesa.

1. Visit Iwahig Firefly Watching

This is probably the highlight of my trip. When you are up for a serene, relaxing night while looking at the night sky, this place is definitely is for you. Not only that you will get to watch and learn more about fireflies (and planktons), but you will also learn astronomy and history. This was first initiated by ABS-CBN foundation but later became a joint project with the city government.

The boat rental is Php600/boat which can hold a maximum of 4 persons including the tour guide and the tour is about 45 minutes long.

To get there:

I would recommend to hire a trike from the city proper to take you back and forth the Iwahig Firefly station and your hotel. This would probably cost you around Php500-600 depending on you charm and haggling skills and the travel time is 30-45 minutes.

I would also recommend to make a reservation and arrive earlier than the schedule time to avoid waiting. You may contact them on these numbers: 0929 409 6998, 0916 780 9118.

2. Visit Bakers Hill

This place is more like a park with its beautiful landscaping and life-sized statues (Hello, Shrek!) perfect for couples, families and children. This is the best place to buy delicious baked goodies. I must say their hopia is soooo good!

3. Visit Underground River

Your Puerto Princesa trip will not be complete without visiting the Puerto Princesa’s Underground River. This place is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and hailed as one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

You will be amazed by its spectacular limestone formations inside the cave. I encourage you to let your mind wander and come up with different stories to each rock formations. Hehe! Surely, this will enhance your creative thinking.

TIP: Volunteer to be the one to hold the flashlight. Or much better, bring you own flashlight.

4. Spelunking at Ugong Rock Adventures

This is one of the side adventure trips going to Underground River. It is either this or the Sabang X. the zipline from island to island. This place is good destination for caving, spelunking and ziplining. This place is a community based tourism managed by Tagabinet Community Tourism Association, Inc, a community of indigenous people from Palawan.

Ugong Rock is a 75-feet high limestone formation in the middle of rice fields.  “Ugong” stands for the reverberating sound that a hollow limestone produced when hit or tapped.

5. Eating Tamilok

Tamilok or woodwork is a famous delicacy in Palawan. It’s actually not a worm but a mollusk found inside rotting mangroves. That’s why it tastes somehow like an oyster.

6. Eating Chao Long

Chao Long is a Palawan version of “Pho”, a meat stew soup with rice noodles. This is usually serve with sprig of mint and basil, bean sprout and calamansi. This is best paired with French bread.

7. Try Ka Lui Restaurant

One of the must try restaurants in Palawan. The place offers both a good food and ambiance.

One of Ka Lui’s best seller dish is the Tubattaha Salad. It is made of fresh tuna strips, cashew nuts, ripe mangoes, melon, papaya, seaweed, pomelo and Palawan dressing. Weird combination but tastes delicious. It has a unique taste of sweet and sour.

There goes some of the things to do in Puerto Princesa. I know that there are still others things wasn’t included in the list as I wasn’t able to experience it. But I will definitely want to do it on my next visit.

Thanks,

 Kjoyce

2014 Year-ender: Hundred Islands, Pangasinan

Before 2014 ends, my officemates and I decided to go Hundred Islands, Alaminos, Pangasinan.  I’m just so lucky to have officemates who shares the same passion for travelling as you are. 

This trip also helps us to relax and be stress-free. Why not? How can you not be relax and be stress-free when you are surrounded by this? The serenity and peacefulness of the place.  It’s so beautiful.

Here are some pictures from our trip. Please pardon the quality of the photos as these photos were taken from our smartphones and Ipad only. Enjoy!

South Cotabato: The Seven Falls of Lake Sebu

I’m so lucky to have a work that requires me to travel a lot. This time, I went to General Santos City. When you heard the name General Santos City or Gensan for short, of course Manny Pacquiao first comes to your mind. This is his hometown! Gensan is also the “Tuna Capital of the Philippines.” So when you’re at the city, you cannot miss out to eat tuna especially the tuna belly and tuna panga. So Yummy!

But what I was really looking forward was to go to Lake Sebu. It is located in Surallah, South Cotabato. From Gensan, it is approximately 2 and ½ hours travel using a private vehicle. In Surallah, you will be greeted by these nice landscapes.

After 30 mins drive from Surallah proper, we arrived at Lake Sebu. There’s an entrance fee of 20 pesos for adults.

From the entrance, you have to trek down to see the falls.

This is the first falls or the Hikong Alu, which means "Passage" in T'boli. 

The second falls or the Hikong Bente, whicn means "Immeasurable" in T'boli. 

The highlight of our Lake Sebu trip is their zipline. It is dubbed as the  “Asia’s Highest Zipline". At first, I was really scared because of the height. It's too high, like mountain to moutain zipline. What I love about the zipline here is the scenery. You will see the waterfalls from below. It was awesome. I wasn't able to take picture of the waterfalls but it's so beautiful. 

We tried the two ziplines, a 700m zipline and a 400m zipline. They said that we must focus on our right to see the falls. And so I chose the right side. Hehe. For the 700m zipline, you will see the waterfalls two, three, four and five. For the 400m zipline, you will see waterfalls three, four and five. 

Overall, my Lake Sebu trip is so much fun and I will definitely comeback to try the zipline again.