The demand of my time in the office has been such a burden when I linger about traveling to the Philippines final frontier-PALAWAN. But that doesn’t stop me from packing my suit case and took the flight with Cebu Pacific's promo fare as they relaunch their 4 times weekly nonstop service between Cebu to Puerto Princesa. In fact the package we’ve got from Cebu Dinero was so awesome. Not a single inconvenience was experience along the journey from start to finish as everything was prearrange and no reconfirmation was needed. We’ll the yummy fresh foods of  Palawan made my buttons pop-is that consider an inconvenience? Hehehe.  

The journey begins on the morning of March 20 as I hurriedly went home around 545am to get my luggages and proceed to the airport.  All of us reported to work the night before we took our vacation. With stress and all of the chaos in my  head it was such a relief knowing that our flight was operating and we’re seated in row  1A to 1D. The flight was almost full and the flight took off from Mactan airport on-time. The air travel was completed in an hour after crossing the Negros island.

The city tour took us 4 hours to complete including the Crocodile farm, the Iwahig Open Prison, the Butterfly sanctuary and Baker's Hill. I bought my souvenir items at the crocodile farm not knowing that I can buy them in Iwahig farm for less as they were handcrafted by the prisoners themselves and their earnings will be used for the for their daily expenses.  We made a hop at the Butterfly garden then to Bakers Hills to view the Honda bay from the mansion of the the late Ramon Mitra  before we head to the NCCC mall to buy some stuffs then eat our dinner at the closest Chowking store. 

The dinner was sweet as I ate a halo-halo topped with my favorite ube ice cream after eating my chicken lauriat. The whole night was spent sleeping as we’re dead tired with no sleep for the last 24 hours.  The metropolitan Puerto Prinsesa is crowded with "pedicab" with no taxi roaming the free city. The atmosphere was humid and  no traffic was on sight. 

We started the  the 2^nd day with a sumptuous breakfast at the roof deck of the pension house. I was wide wake around 4am watching cable channels because of my crazy body clock. I then took a warm body wash before waking the entire group to have their time in the comfort room. We started to travel to Sabang around 730 am and reached the port around 930 am to take the motorized pumpboat going to the national park. The road going to Sabang was bumpy and we passed several forest and farm lands. Some took a nap but I kept a sharp eye to the views around. We stopped in Buenavista and took this nice shot with Dave, ES, Sheryl and me. It was a beautiful day and everyone was excited. I was thristy and a zip of Sprite which the van is selling for a ceiling price of 30 pesos satisfied my thirst. Another 60 minutes and all of the guests, local or foreign were group together. A small pier was available on site filled with parked motorize banca that can accomodate a total of 6 passengers. For safety reason we were advised to put on a life jacket which we happily wore throughout the 20 minutes plight. The noise filled my ears as the small machine started to propelled us to the secret place. The sanctuary was so amazing. No wonder it’s being flocked by vacionistas and foreigners all throughout the year. This is the highlight of our journey was -the World Famous Puerto Princesa Subterrainean River.It’s one of UNESCO’s heritage site and it’s been declared as a protected area. Wildlife abounds this side of Palawan. They even prohibit people from bringing plastic bags as this may choke the monkeys that freely roam in the national park. The entire journey inside the cave runs between 45 minutes to an hour and our tour guide Jun2x was so funny he never bored me the whole time we're inside the cave. What's visible inside are swallow birds and sleeping bats of more or less 7 species. The stalagmites are everywhere hanging down from the top. There were locations named like the ALTAR because it's like a very huge stage and their were some  stone formation that imitates the shape of a  huge candle, the statues of Mother Mary and the 3 kings. Their were images of  a lady which they name Sharon Stone, a facial mark of Jesus and some stone that were shaped like fruits and vegetable. One area inside the cave resembles a huge chamber like the dining area of the School of Wizard in the Harry Potter movie complete with high ceiling and a chandelier. It was scary but again the sights will truly amaze you. It's like getting peace and tranquility through nature bliss. The lush green mangroves and the inflow of warm sea water creates a frothe' of emotions. During this time we we're hungry and a simple feast is awaiting for us back in sabang. But the sight of us going out of the cave was a wonderful experience for me to remember. For me it was rejuvinating experience after the cold air rush through my face and I can see the sky again with the clouds and the sun above me. During this time we were hungry and a grand feast is awaiting for us back in Sabang. Another 20 minutes ride and we're eating our lunch of mixed sea foods, grilled pork and fresh buco that really quench my thirst in TARAW beach. It was a short festivity but it was worth it. I couldn't control myself so me and Dave took a dip at the splashing waves of the sea. It was a quick splash but its pure fun. After this, we went back to the port of Sabang  to my my pasalubong for my niece-kid's t-shirts and I bought a t-shirt too for my mother and a plastic full of dried fish.  On our way back we passed by the limestone cliff which backgrounds the idyllic countrylife of the province. We passed by the Vietnam Village. It a large place that relocates our vietnamese friends with a Temple at the back, a Chrisitian church on the side and an authenthic Vietnamese Restaurant upon entering the gate. The garden here are well taken cared off by the restaurant manager himself whom we're able to chat with. Too bad some of the Vietnamese refugees were already pardoned by the US government and they can join there families who're living in the US. The ride back to our place was cut short as we stopped by the local market to buy cashew nuts. It's price-240pesos a kilo.  The place was crowded but we manage to get our way out of the place and went back Liberty. The plans for the night was simple. Dine and Wine. Sure we did that at the KALUI Restaurant. This restaurant was recommended to me by my travel agent-ANN, who arrange everything amazingly www.cebudinero.com , and we did have a great time. Upon entering you'll be greeted by their friendly waiters and they request that you remove your footwear. That's something new. The place was filled with earth colors and the place has been tediously decorated with handcrafted items from baskets to wood statues. The lighting sets the entire mood of the place. It's cozy and relaxing. There I got the chance to enjoy my platter of dinner complete from ginger soup, seaweed salad, main course composed of tuna, shrimps and a fruitfilled dessert. The price is very reasonable and you need to create a reservation before dining inside the restaurant.  The place is flocked with a lot of foreigners and locals too.  We even met oone of our boat partners dining in Kalui too. It was a unique place and I hope we can have the same place here in Cebu. After dinner we stroll the streets of Puerto Princesa and found it very safe. Since the DINE portion is over we're supposed to proceed to the WINE portion however we can't decide which one are we going to drink. Here are the choices: emperador, tanduay 5 years, red horse and even Baileys. Anyway, we decided not to risk it all and we just strolled the town plaza and the town's city hall. That day was the closest encounter with nature and I'm proud i was there coz not everyone are made to travel to Palawan.