Troy Jacob

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|Travel|

Here’s the next part of my Travel Diary entry for when I was in Palawan. Maybe this will be my last entry for my trip to Palawan but if ever I’ll get the chance to recover some memories of my trip there and also some more photos, I might do another or other entries for when I was there.

For this post, I am here to share to you what my experiences were for when I was in Puerto Princesa. I’ve already posted my trip to El Nido prior to this entry, if you wanna take a look at that 1st then click here - El Nido. So we went first to El Nido, before having our stay at Puerto Princesa even though we landed at Puerto Princesa International Airport and not at the airport near El Nido.

Pertaining to what I said, we were already at El Nido so in order for us to get to Puerto on time we left our hotel at El Nido at around 5 am due to the travel time to El Nido to Puerto is approximately 5 hours. I actually slept the whole trip because truthfully there was nothing to see along the road but trees and more trees because it is a province anyway.

Technically, we didn’t head off first to the place where we’ll be staying in at Puerto. In the middle of the journey, we were dropped at an intersection along the road and the reason for this was we were already scheduled to take a tour first at one of the Seven Wonders of Nature — Puerto Princesa Underground River. My mom already rented a private vehicle for us via a travel agency, so the driver picked us up at the junction and luckily we were the only ones in the vehicle so more space for us. I don’t know if you would call it luck, but the weather that day was a gloomy one. Once at port we rode a boat to the main entrance of the underground river where the perpetrators and handlers of the place are located. Here we were welcomed by a ton of people and once you’re ready to head out to your own bangka, we were given special devices with a sole purpose of being out virtual tour guide inside the underground river. The cool thing about this is the virtual tour guide comes in different languages from french, spanish, chinese, korean, and etc. and we were also given safety vests.

I can assure with this one — the exterior of the underground river was breathtaking, I mean yes we’ve already seen this view from postcards, television, and pictures, but the mere fact that you’re in front of the real thing is quite different I tell you. I can’t really describe to you the feeling and experience of what it's like to be inside the underground river but it gave me chills and it still does now even just by remembering it, because the fact that I was witnessing and seeing one of the Seven Wonders of Nature is no joke. Imagine the years of its existence and the vitality of its value for our nature is really beyond. I tell you, head out to Puerto Princesa, Palawan and experience the Underground River for yourself. What’s good about the tour package was that it comes with its own accommodation for your lunch, and mind you it was a lunch buffet so yeah I am guilty that I went all out on that lunch because of exhaustion and severe hunger after witnessing the Puerto Princesa Underground River. Then after that we head on off to our hotel.

Actually we didn’t do a lot of exciting things at Puerto Princesa, although the next day we went to a butterfly farm and also a crocodile farm where Lolong (conceived as the world’s largest crocodile) while he was still alive but nonetheless that’s it.

The main highlight of my stay at Puerto Princesa was really my experience while I was inside the Underground River. The aim of the tour was actually not about you mesmerizing and gazing upon this Nature Wonder, but making you realize that we need to preserve our environment because once we did this right, a beauty like the underground river can be achieved. People nowadays tend to steer off from anything nature related because they deem this as dirty or inappropriate for someone who has money, and that’s the downside of this generation’s people.

The tour made me realized, that my gahd! This is what we are missing?! This beauty of what Mother Nature can give and provide for us?! It made me realize that we need to start changing our antics and be a better version of ourselves for our environment because this will not just benefit us but also benefit future generations to come.

While I was writing this content, chills were continuously running up and down my body due to the content and purpose that I am sharing out to you who is reading this post. And I hope it shall make a difference on you and for everyone else.

All photos were taken using my Fujifilm X-T10

|Travel| Here’s the next part of my Travel Diary entry for when I was in Palawan. Maybe this will be my last entry for my trip to ...

at 05:51

|Travel|

So a throwback to our week in Palawan, most of our time was spent at El Nido. A location that belongs to Northern Palawan, El Nido is actually a province of Palawan and not a city. The only city in Palawan is Puerto Princesa – that’s for another entry.

Traveling to El Nido is a bit expensive rather than traveling to Puerto Princesa, that’s why we decided to fly out 1^st to Puerto Princesa then once we land we headed straight off to El Nido. The travel time was 4 to 6 hours via rental van.

Our 1^st day in Palawan was already a planned day all on its own. We accommodated ourselves with El Nido’s famous Package A for the island hopping experience. This was the package that takes you to El Nido’s well-known sceneries, from the famous Big Lagoon to their Small Lagoon where you will need to go via kayak just to get into the place.

It was the middle of September and here in the Philippines, it is within the country’s wet season. Fortunately during that day, the sun was up and lively, but not too much because there were plenty of clouds here and there.

The 2^nd day was not so much of a happy weather, the day started off with huge rain droplets and strong winds but nonetheless we still went through it. The day was scheduled for the Package C which is the second well known package in El Nido. The Package B was mostly consisted going into secret beaches and small lagoons that were really hard to get into but were still beauties.

If you were to ask me, I liked Package A. I truly recommend the Package A especially if you’re in a tight schedule and you only have limited time in El Nido.

So unfortunately after our 3^rd day in El Nido (which was the day for Package B). 5 am in the morning we were already scheduled to head off to Puerto Princesa this time, again via van.

Actually I told my mom that I was gonna come back to Palawan in the near future, specifically El Nido. I truly enjoyed the place, and I really want you guys reading this to experience it on your own. It will be worth every peso that you’ll spend on it. And also the Puerto Princesa entry will be up soon so watch out for that.

#ItsMoreFunInThePhilippines #ElNidoPalawan

Hotel accommodation: Sea Cocoon (look them up on the internet, they really have good
facilities for a hotel in the province)

|Travel| So a throwback to our week in Palawan, most of our time was spent at El Nido. A location that belongs to Nort...

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|Travel|

By trivia, this place is considered the Most Visited Place in the Philippines. The trivia alone can provoke you in booking a plane right away, taking a leave from work, absences from school, then start packing your things then you are off. A place that is filled, healthy, and purified with the beauty and capabilities of nature. The Most Visited Place is Palawan.

Palawan is considered as one of the most stunning locations not only in the Philippines but also across the globe. Housing of course one of the Seven Wonders of Nature – the Puerto Princesa Underground River. It is located at the western most part of the Philippines.

So this trip was actually a spontaneous one, because this trip of ours was officially funded by my Aunt and her husband, as a way of saying thank you specifically to my Mom and Dad. So all in all, we’ve let her decide and schedule what we were gonna do while we were there, and also where will we be staying, and also what activities we will be doing throughout the trip. Our trip lasted for 5 days.

The 1^st day was mostly spent on traveling from Manila to Palawan, then from Puerto Princesa Airport Terminal, we were guided immediately to a van which we would ride for 5 hours heading to the northern part of Palawan which is El Nido. We spent almost 3 full days in El Nido. If you wanna get a full glimpse of myself being in El Nido, watch out for my new contents here on my blog, soon.

On our 4^th day in Palawan, we were up very early in the morning so that we could catch our van heading back to Puerto Princesa where we will be spending the rest of our time there until our flight back to Manila on the afternoon of the next day. On the same day actually we went to visit the crowning glory of Mother Nature in Palawan – the Puerto Princesa Underground River. The Underground River was very thrilling, the experience of witnessing a spectacular piece which only nature can create is truly breathtaking.

On our last day, luckily our flight isn’t due until 5 pm in the afternoon and being with Cebu Pacific Airlines plus the heavy rain falls, surely the delay is amidst. So we spent the rest of the day touring around Puerto Princesa City which is the Capital of Palawan. A full blog entry about seeing Puerto Princesa will be posted soon here on my blog so watch out for that.

With these 5 consecutive days, I truly saw, experienced, and felt as to why would Palawan be called the Most Visited Place in the Philippines. If you’re a backpacker looking for a new place to discover, or just like a Travel Blogger yearning for travel and making the most out of the places he visits, Palawan is truly a recommendation. I told my parents that I will soon be back in Palawan, especially El Nido because El Nido was actually my favorite, hopefully with some other people especially my friends. It is More Fun in the Philippines.