Travel and Leisure | The Digital Metamorphosis of a Shuttered Butterfly!

I love traveling so as much as possible i am saving experiences and adventures by going on places. November 2011, me and my friends planned a visit to Puerto Princesa Subterranean River Park (Puerto Princesa City Palawan Underground River). Currently the river park was declared as one of the seven wonders of Nature.

Shows the facade of the underground river.

Shows inside the underground river.

The Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park is located about 50 kilometres (30 mi) north of the city centre of Puerto Princesa, Palawan, Philippines. The river is also called Puerto Princesa Underground River. The national park is located in the Saint Paul Mountain Range on the northern coast of the island. It is bordered by St. Paul Bay to the north and the Babuyan River to the east. The City Government of Puerto Princesa has managed the National Park since 1992. The park is also known as St. Paul’s Subterranean River National Park, or St. Paul Underground River. The entrance to the Subterranean River is a short hike from the town of Sabang.

In 2010, a group of environmentalists and geologists discovered that the underground river has a second floor, which means that there are small waterfalls inside the cave. They also found a huge cave dome, measuring 300 meters above the underground river, incredible rock formations, large bats, a deep water hole in the river, more river channels, another deep cave, marine creatures, and more. Deeper areas of the underground river are almost impossible to explore due to oxygen deprivation.

On November 11, 2011, Puerto Princesa Underground River was provisionally chosen as one of the New7Wonders of Nature. This selection was officially confirmed on January 28, 2012.^[1]

^January2012, I packed my suitcase and Flew 8500 Miles. The budget as per planned including the tour packages, Plane Transportation and Accommodation(exclusive of food, some transportation not included in the tour, and the souvenirs).

Whoops. Its expensive but we’ve manage to push through. So the day of the trip came. We are about 14 people going on the trip. Divided in 2(two) groups. Group one boarded via AirPhil. As Usual we are delayed and we need to ride a bus from NAIA Terminal 3 to get to the Plane. Well, Am kind of scared because the Plane looks crippling old. Group one came in first, The van from the tour company picked us from the airport and we headed to the hotel Ysabelle Mansion. The tour starts.

Ysabelle Mansion Facade
http://ysabellemansion.com/

Day 1 of Tour: Island Hopping

We went island hopping from 11 am to 5 pm, We drove first to get to Honda Bay where the hopping starts. Listed our names and hop on the boat to start. Well unluckily, the waves were not that friendly during and after the Island Hopping and one boat flipped. The people on that boat eventually survived See some shots.

Honda Bay

Our Boat for the Island Hopping.

Pandan Island

Snake Island

Day 2: City Tour
The Second Batch came in from a delayed flight via Cebu Pacific. Just like before a van picked them up. Headed to Ysabelle mansion and started our City Tour.

Heritage Museum. We were been restricted to go inside because there’s an Educational Field Trip Happening. This kind of things won’t attract visitors. Imagine we traveled that far to see PP, Palawan at its best but been restricted because of some sort of Field trip.

Palawan Special Batalion WW2 Museum. This is a new museum. We went here to replace the failed visit to Heritage Museum.

Mitra Hill: Overlooking the Honda Bay

Crocodile Farm

Baker’s Hill, Palawan. A Majestic place that looks like a mini Disneyland minus the rides. Pretty Plant formation and Flower Arrangement and statues. Beautiful Decorations, stores, Animals.

Plaza Cuartel is the restored ruins of an old garrison where Japanese soldiers burned 143 American prisoners of war inside a tunnel and stands as a grim reminder of World War II atrocities. Only ten prisoners survived to tell the story about what happened inside that tunnel.

Day 3: Puerto Princesa Underground River

Facade of the Puerto Princesa Palawan Underground river

Shows The forest conservation of the subterranean river

Sabang Beach

So basically that’s it. The trip all in all is concise, Tiring and enjoyable. We were just out of time to do all stuffs especially on our main purpose there. The visit to the underground river. The boatmen from the beach and the guide where rushing us from the time we rode to go to the underground river and when we get back to eat lunch. Well, i guess that’s the disadvantage of getting on a tour package, you don’t own your time. I wanted to ride the zipline, swim on Sabang beach, mountain trek. Definitely i will be back sometime to experience other adventures.

Before i forgot, We also tried the best restaurant in PP. Here are some.

Bilao at palayok Restaurant
http://bilaoatpalayok.multiply.com/

Eat Healthy and tranquil while overlooking the sea. Serene environment for people stressed from the city life.

Experience Fine Dining while barefooted over black out.
http://www.kaluirestaurant.com/

Wanna Try Exotic Dishes? Try to eat in Kinabuchs Restaurant. We tried the Crocodile Dish and Tamilok (Wood worm)

Taraw Vista Lodge and Restaurant (A Typical Filipino Dish Buffet Restaurant that’s located just a few feet away from the Sabang Beach)

Unprecedented events comes at the least you expected. All in all our visit to Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden is fun, except for few flaws.
Lets enumerate the flaws.

1. Horrendous parking spots.Numerous number of people come and visit the place but the parking space are few with the addition of not so helpful traffic agents.

2. Not enough seats are provided for visitors who wanted to eat on cafe’s.

3. There’s only one entrance and exit spots. (as i mentioned above the parking is lame so we need to find a spot to park). We found one by the Trail near the lake at the very end. We need to walk back to go on the entrance).

Now for the beauty of the Place i insert some of the majestic photos taken during our visit November of 2012.