Palawan: Puerto Princesa

Palawan…ufff…what tos ay about Palawan ni no niiii no niiiii, ni no niiii no niiii,….sing it according to Jurassik Park’s theme…

But I don’t want to advance any experiences…before telling about me and my stories, I will do as always: Where is Palawan? So I can bring to you people a bit more about Philippines, the antique Spanish colony.

Palawan is located  west of Philippines. It’s a long island, stretched from north to south. Aprox it has 700 Kms from north to south and depending on the latitude, about 60 Km from east to west.

In the east coast, about in the middle of the island, we find Puerto Princesa, capital of Palawan. It takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes from Manila, with Zestair (very cheap flights, ours was 20€). The most developed part of the island is from P.Princesa to the north. To the south you can find less developed towns, that have for sure a very original touristic interest.

The most touristic spots in Palawan are Sabang with its Underground River, 7th Natural Worldwonder, the longest in the world (next post I’ll tell you more about it) and the Bacuit Archipielago (many little islands) surrounding El Nido.

Puerto Princesa itself, is a nice and clean city. It’s the first “big” city of Philippines, where I could smell the original Philippines. 

There is a main road, where you can find most of the hostels, restaurants, karaokes, bars, …

Surrounding the city there are a lot of places to visit, some waterfalls, some beaches, some towns,… and tourism seems to be very well organized, with a few travel agencies, tourism departments that help you for free, etc.

Ah, the inmigration office located in the main road, behind a tattoo shop is a very bad one. If you have to extend your visa, or need some advice or help, do it before you reach Palawan. The people there were very rude and couldn’t help me out, trying to know prices, penalties, etc…

My cousin and me always went to a nice bar, in the corner of the two main roads, where they have a nice live band, try it if you go there!

As usual, in the main beach of the city we saw some old guys, with young ladies…awful!! Something not worth seeing! (You can even see in other cities “old man parties” with their young ladies… :S )

Ah, we had a very good time at White Beach....after a few months in Philippines, I decided to sing some Videokee. I sang a cheesy song, that I heard in Glee =) A philippino young girl did the female voice and of course her eyes gliced triing to make me fall in love (she didn't knew I already felt for someone else =) ) 

Well, after meeting Mark and his wife, a nice philippino woman and real state agent, and having some nice dinner for free (fish in coconutmilk, bukojuice, beef, etc...) we head to the bus terminal to take a big Jeepney to the north, destination Sabang, to visit the underground river! Next post will tell you more about it!!

See you soon friends (the Spanish and even the german ones!)