Riding Solo in Puerto Princesa

“To wander is to be alive.” 

― Roman Payne, Europa: Limited Time Edition

One year ago I book this tickets which were on sale in AirAsia Philippines. It is a 4 days trip to Palawan, Philippines. I had this booked a year earlier but the actual itinerary was prepared 2 days before the start of the trip. Hahaha! Such a lazy bum. Anyway! It is my first certified solo trip and I'm glad that at this moment, it was a SUCCESS because I'm still alive and starting this series.

My initial plan was to visit the Longest Beach in the Philippines which is situated in San Vicente Palawan, then include a side trip at El Nido. During my research, I saw beautiful underwater pictures so I decided to skip El Nido and give Port Barton a chance for visit. With those pictures and some trip to waterfalls, I became more excited for Port Barton than San Vicente.

Twin Reef, Port Barton, Palawan

Oh oh excited!! Who wants to see those beautiful corals?

I got pretty excited, but I have to delay it for a day. Due to lack of research, or should I say, there are only a few blogs talking about Port Barton, and mostly not updated - so I thought I won't be able to ride the 9AM trip and one and only trip to Port Barton from Puerto Princesa. It is too late when I knew there are now more trips to Port Barton starting from 730AM, 8AM, 9AM and more. It is being operated by Recarro Vans. The only vans coming from Puerto Princesa to Port Barton and v.v. There are also public buses which usually leaves 9AM but trips are rare. During my visit there was none.

So there, since it's too late when I knew there are other time options for the van trips, I stayed at Puerto Princesa for my first day. I thought it will just be the same since if I chose to go straight to Port Barton I can't do anything since it'll already be evening when I'll arrive.

It's freaking hot when I arrived at Puerto Princesa. I stayed at Duchess Pension house since I'll just need a place to sleep. My private and small, pretty decent room with an electric fan costs only Php 250 per night. The mattress is thin but it is comfortable for sleeping, and no bad smell! I thought this is just right because it'll be scarier to sleep in a big room alone.

I don't have any plans for Puerto Princesa but my persistent friend told me to try the Firefly watching, so I did. Since the pension house already offers the arrangement I availed it for Php 1100. It includes van transfers and dinner. It is scheduled to begin at 6PM. I still have 5 hours before then.

Puerto Princesa City

I will sum up my 5 hours roaming in P.P. in the following:

1.       Upon hotel arrival, I slept for an hour.

2.       I ate lunch at Jollibee.

3.       I walk around the hot afternoon, visit the Chinatown Mall, and nowhere.

4.       I bought groceries and Strepsils.

5.       I went back to my room to sleep again.

Sidecomments and feeling:

• You can stroll unnoticed in the city.
• It's so HOOOOT! You'll need an umbrella.
• Strolling alone was fun, especially if you blend well with the locals.
• It's easy to stroll around, everywhere is accessible through the tricycle.

Roadtrip :P

It is just a quick stroll. I can't go further because it's extremely hot and I only have a cap. My day was obviously spent for sleeping. I just barely recovered from fever before this trip. Anyway, I woke up just right in time. When the service came, all of the guests are foreigners.

They took us to the Baywalk, which was my first time to visit. Here is where the boat service to the Firefly watching site is located. It is a 15 minutes trip to the smaller boat which will take us into the river. So we went there, get transferred and have the moonlight as the only source of light. Fireflies are visible but was far from our boat. We didn't have a close encounter. The experience was just OK for me. After the 30 minutes trip inside the river, we went to a floating restaurant which serves the buffet dinner. I got crabs, adobo and fruits.

Baywalk, Puerto Princesa, Palawan

Sorry for the quality of the photo, but I love the crab!

Buffet Dinner, and there's a live band

I don't have pictures of the actual firefly watching because it's too dark it won’t register much in the camera.

After the dinner, they brought us back to Baywalk then serviced to our hotels. I thought the Firefly watching was not that magical compared to what my friend described me. But then I learned from the service driver that there are two firefly watching sites in P.P. One in where we went to and one in Iwahig. My friend was talking about the Iwahig! Aww. I guest that'll give me reason to go back. REVENGEEEEE!

The next day I woke up early for my travel to Port Barton. I cannot include it in this post because this is already long. :P  Just lemme create that one first. :)

Duchess Pension

107-E Valencia St, Puerto Princesa, Palawan
(048) 433 2873/09175530605

For other hotels in Puerto Princesa, check out TravelBook.ph for discounted bookings and perks!

Until my next post,

Glens