our second day in puerto princesa was devoted to the subterranean river park. we got up at 6am so we could have breakfast at the asturias hotel's restaurant. they served pretty average breakfast food--longganisa, omelette, fried rice, cereal, arroz caldo.a little before 730am, we were worrying about the status of our underground river trip. everything was done verbally, and we didn't have any contact information of the tour operator. i asked around for the driver that booked us the trip, and he was on leave for that day. thankfully, he remembered to leave word with the driver on duty, and he told us that the van will be coming along any minute.about ten minutes past 730, a white van drove up to the hotel driveway. we were ushered into the van by len, our tour guide. inside were a couple, and the van proceeded to pick up two more couples before heading off to the underground river.we stopped a little bit at the ulugan bay viewdeck. i didn't quite know why there was a viewdeck, because the view wasn't so special. maybe that's just me, though. we got to the dock where we were to ride boats to go to where the underground river was located. i was amazed at the gigantic rock formations found on the sea. we couldn't take pictures when we docked, though, as len was telling us to hurry.we had to wait about fifteen minutes before we could get on our boat. there were a lot of tour groups with us that day. all visitors of the subterranean river park are required to wear a hard hat and a lifejacket, as the water inside the cave is about 27 feet deep. all of the boatmen are also trained to be your tour guides in the cave, and claustrophobics will be happy to know that these boatmen's hilarious commentary will take your mind off the dark, narrow cave.one of the first things the boatman will tell you is, "look up at the seeleng (ceiling). do you see the brown things?" after you reply with a "yes," he will then say, "do you know what those are? those are the bat shyets (shit)! so keep your mouth closed when you look up." we were laughing so hard the whole time, it was kind of hard to take photos.the whole trip takes about 15 to 20 minutes. even with the two-hour drive and the 15-minute boat ride, i think it's worth seeing. there are interesting stalactite and stalagmite formations, not to mention legions of bats that stare at you the whole time. it's pretty surreal.after that, we were taken back to the dock, where we were given a blah lunch. len, our tour guide, said we could enjoy some time on the beach. we just took photos and sat on the sand until it was time to back to the city.
more photos of the puerto princesa subterranean river park.
our adventures in puerto princesa wouldn't have been complete without our trusty trike driver, raymond, giving us some tips. he was waiting outside the asturias hotel, and we asked him for a good place to have lunch in.he took us to badjao seafront restaurant, probably a good 15 minutes away from the hotel. there was a wooden bridge leading to the door of the restaurant, with mangroves flanking the side of the bridge. we ordered shrimp cooked with butter and garlic, blue marlin steak, and chicken adobo with gata. it was a great feast, and the start of our eating escapade in puerto princesa.after our heavy meal, raymond then drove us over to the sta. lourdes port, where one can rent out boats to tour honda bay. if you recall, the hotel was charging us P4,500.00 for the honda bay tour. when we got to the port, boats are rented out at a mere P1,200.00 for the entire day. add P300 for raymond's fee, and that's P1,500.00 divided by 2 persons. such a far cry from P4,500, right?we were surprised to find that every island charges an entrance fee per person, except for snake island, which is government property. so every time you choose to explore an island, you have to pay a certain amount. the fees are as follows:
we were only able to explore starfish and snake islands, as we had come pretty late in the afternoon. what struck me most about these islands is that they all have huts on them already, complete with a sari-sari store hut where you can buy your refreshments. i wasn't too happy with that idea, as i have become so used to "landing" in uninhabited islands. susie, on the other hand, was tickled pink at the idea.we returned to sta. lourdes after 3 hours or so, and raymond drove us back to our hotel to freshen up before our dinner at ka lui's. i was so amused to see our trike drive up to the hotel's driveway. that has to be one of the best things about puerto princesa. cabs are non-existent, and tricycles are king.unfortunately, ka lui's was packed that night, even with raymond's connections. he gave us the name of the maitre'd, chris, and we asked to have a table reserved for us for the next evening. raymond then drove us to kinabuchs instead, and urged me to try their tamilok, or woodworms. i was pretty excited to do that, but the waiter told us they ran out of tamilok for the week.to make up for the lack of tamilok, susie and i ordered a feast. we didn't know that kinabuchs served large portions of their dishes, so we just kept ordering! for starters, we asked for tuna sashimi and crispy shrimps. i think there were about 12 slices in the tuna sashimi, and the crispy shrimps formed a small mound in the platter they were served in.we ordered their fried rice, grilled tahong, and a plate of red eggs for me. there were 3 whole red eggs, about 20 grilled tahongs, and a lot of rice. being the pigs that we are, we were able to finish almost everything. probably left only half a red egg and half a cup of rice. and the entire feast only cost a little over P800!with bulging bellies, we boarded a tricycle (not raymond's. he had to go home already) and collapsed on the bed at 10pm. needless to say, our meals at badjao and kinabuchs really made our first day in puerto princesa.
a couple of months back, susie and i decided to book tickets to somewhere for his birthday. we took advantage of the piso fares of cebu pacific, and after some discussion, we opted to go to puerto princesa, a place that we've both never been to.as mentioned previously in this blog, cebu pacific cancelled our 4pm flight from puerto princesa to manila, and rebooked us to their 1015am flight instead. because of this, susie and i made sure that we were at the airport early for our 815am flight. we arrived at around 630am, in case cebu pacific pulls another surprise and we end up flightless for the day.thankfully, no such thing happened, so we ended up entertaining ourselves for an hour and a half. we even bought a postcard of puerto princesa to send to a friend who collects stamps. we kept walking around the airport and playing silly games until our boarding call.the flight went smoothly, but the landing was one of the roughest ones i've had. the puerto princesa airport sure could use a facelift, and a new conveyor belt. the one it has now doesn't work, and takes up the entire floor space of the airport. because of this, it's every man for himself when the bags arrive. i had to climb up on the conveyor belt to fight for my luggage, because no one was giving proper assistance to the passengers. you have to pay to get assistance. good thing susie and i only had one bag each. when we got out of the airport, we were greeted by the staff of hotel asturias. we were the first ones on the asturias van, and the driver didn't waste any time. he offered us an underground river tour the next day for P1,200.00, P100 less than what the hotel will offer us. it seemed a good enough rate, so we agreed to it. after herding all the passengers, the driver drove off to asturias, which was just 10 minutes away from the airport. we were given welcome drinks of buko pandan, and checked in to our rooms, to our delight. we were expecting to get our room keys after lunch, when some of the guests have already checked out, so that was a pleasant surprise. the room in the asturias, however, was not. for one thing, it was too dark, there wasn't enough light. the paint beside the full-length mirror was flaking off, and there was a hole in the ceiling. the towels they provided looked really filthy. the tv wasn't working, and the bed they gave us were two twin beds pushed together.rather than dwelling on the bad stuff, we decided to just enjoy the rest of the day. we didn't have much time in the city, after all. we asked the front desk about their tours to honda bay. they only had trips good for 5, and if we were to book that tour, we have to pay P4,500.00 for it. horrific, eh?so we exited the hotel and approached a tricycle driver. as it turns out, this driver, called raymond, knows a lot about puerto princesa, and gave us a lot of great advice during our stay. read the next entry to find out about our adventures in puerto princesa, thanks to raymond.
as i've written in a previous post, it's really going to be hard to ignore cebu pacific and their seat sales despite the bad quality of their service.so here i am, letting you know of their latest seat sale: P888 seats for international destinations. i booked for a flight to bangkok for november, and it came out to about P6,400 for a roundtrip ticket. singapore f1 weekend is out of P888 tickets, but a roundtrip ticket costs P7,500. still not bad, eh?just log on to the cebu pacific website if you want to book tickets even with the horror stories.
susie and i have very little requirements for the hotels or resorts that we stay in. for me, all i ask is a clean bathroom, and i'll be fine.which explains why we were pretty okay with our night in seorabeol hotel, also known as grand leisure hotel. had we been nitpickers, we would have complained about the fact that only one bedside lamp was working, and that the air-conditioner was dripping. but we were more than happy to have a bed to sleep in after our tiring day in pinatubo. seorabeol hotel gave us a big enough bed, air-conditioning, cable TV, and a clean bathroom with hot water and a hair dryer. but what we were extremely happy about in seorabeol hotel was breakfast. for P2,800.00, we got a room that's good enough, and buffet breakfast that served great morning food--corned beef, longganisa, french toast, scrambled eggs, garlic fried rice, and best of all, POTATOES!more photos of seorabeol hotel here.contact detailsseorabeol hotel (grand leisure hotel)address: Lot MC-9 Waterfront Road Subic Bay, Freeport Zonewebsite: http://www.grandleisurehotel.net/tel. nos.: (047) 252-2765; (047) 252-2766mobile no.: 09178361955; 09285022253fax no.: (047)252-2764email: reservations@grandleisurehotel.net
aside from the pinatubo trek, i was really looking forward to getting a good kneading at the pinatubo spa town. everything i've read about it suggested that the treatments were great, and what better way to end a tiring trek than with spa treatments at the foot of the mountain?let's start with the pinatubo spa facilities. the locker and shower areas were definitely below average. locker doors wouldn't close properly, the shower area looked filthy, and even the locks on the doors to the toilets wouldn't work. the clothes provided for guests to wear during pinatubo spa treatments were lousy--a huge white shirt and baggy khaki pants that reached three inches past my knee. ton ton massage outfits were definitely better. the food was so-so. i expected to be served really healthy food, it being a spa after all. but everything we ate was greasy--chicken adobo, oily pancit, and fried vegetables. the only thing i enjoyed was the banana. if they weren't going to serve healthy food, they should have at least prepared it well. it was definitely not a meal fit for trekkers who just conquered pinatubo.the only thing worth trying in this pinatubo spa is the volcanic ash spa treatment. here, you're buried in volcanic ash for i don't know how long (i fell asleep), with a furnace heating you from below. i didn't feel much heat, but being buried in ash was sure relaxing.i had been looking forward to the mud bath, but had to beg off as the mud was freezing cold. after covering you in mud, you will have to sit in the mud tub, in the open, while the cold breeze was blowing you to a freezing death. if only they had a room where you could go and hide while the mud dried on you.the pina-thai-tsu massage was only so-so. in some areas, it even hurt, and i am one who likes a good, hard massage. susie actually told me, after the whole sordid affair, that he was trying to keep from screaming. poor guy.but what grated me so much was all the chattering that went on during our massage. we were massaged in an open pavilion, quite close to the road. i didn't mind the videoke-ing neighbors, nor the loud sounds of cars and trucks rumbling past, but i did mind that other therapists would just walk around the pavilion and even talked loudly while we were getting our rub-downs. i wasn't able to relax at all.so, unless they change their quality of service, i am not recommending you go to this place. just get a massage from one of the places here in the city. i'll still be providing their contact info, should you want to book a direct pinatubo tour with them. just please, don't book spa treatments anymore.
more photos of the pinatubo spa here.
contact information
pinatubo development corporation
mobile no.: 09186611415 (mr. jhun); 09287813556 (ms. jovi); 09203410402
fax no.: (045) 6150454
like i said earlier, i still find it hard to believe that i was up in mt. pinatubo a week ago. it has always been in my list of places to see, and as is usual in the lists that i make, they usually don't come true.
thank god this one did, though. and it didn't even give me much trouble! booking the tour was a breeze, and the only thing that was hard about this whole pinatubo trip was the actual trek.we arrived at the pinatubo development corporation (PDC) at 930am, just as our seahorse itinerary indicated. when we got off the seahorse van, there were already a number of 4x4s parked on the side of the road. bernardine and elvie led us into the PDC spa, and let us rest for a bit. i changed into something more "climb-worthy," and then we were off to the mt. pinatubo skyway.
from PDC, the ride took an hour. it was a rocky drive, and it was so hard to take decent pictures while on the 4x4. so i asked our driver to pull over at one site so i can have some photos to take home. what i didn't know was that the 40-minute trek would give me more sites to take photos of.after an hour of bouncing on the dusty road, the 4x4 parked at a clearing. from this point, we were to walk the rest of the way. there was a sign that said, "walking distance, 40 mins." i thought it was going to be pretty easy, because i was told it was an easy climb, but boy, was i ill-advised!the first pinatubo challenge was the trek down a steep incline--both hard to climb up and hike down from. when hiking down from it, you risk slipping if you don't have the right footwear (or the right FOOT).
after hurdling this challenge, we were greeted by a group of aetas washing their clothes by a narrow stream. i took my time and took photos of the surroundings, which had various rock sizes scattered among it. i decided to check out the road ahead: yep, it was also full of rocks. thank god i wore my tribus.our hike to the pinatubo crater took more than 40 minutes. we completed the trek in about an hour. we had to maneuver our way through streams, and figure out our paths through a maze of rocks, and i found it pretty exciting. i haven't embarked on a real adventure in a long time, and this was a definite shock to my unexercised body. still, i was pretty proud that i didn't stop in the middle of the trek to wheeze and plead for a break.
there was one point in that pinatubo hike where you will know that you're really close to the crater. you can feel the change in temperature from your last step to the next--one was incredibly warm, the other soothingly cool. i was getting weary at this point, but feeling that cool air really got me excited, giving me just enough adrenaline to finish the rest of the climb.
and what you see after that hard climb is worth all the sweat. i know that's been said a number of times, but it being an overused phrase doesn't make it less true. it's just that people will have no other way to say it, pinatubo really is a worthwhile climb.
you see the water in the crater, which is a beautiful shade of blue (my knowledge of colors only run the gamut of primary colors, so you just decide what particular shade it is), and it's bordered by mountains covered in a carpet of green. the mist adds a little mystery to the photos you take, making everything even more mysterious to people who've never been there.
after taking x number of photos of the pinatubo crater, our aeta guide told us that the way to the crater is through some man-made stairs. i was relieved to hear that, for i couldn't take any more climbing, but as it turned out, the descent was even more grueling than the hike. the stairs they made had gaps that are about three to four times bigger than stairs that i'm used to.
but after that, i was happy to be by the lake. we took out our purefoods corned beef pan de sals, and had a mini picnic by the crater. i tested the waters and found it to be freezing cold. but i wasn't going to pass up the chance to swim in a volcano crater!
we hung around the crater for about an hour or two, taking photos and just marveling at the fact that we were in the crater of pinatubo, who just recently exploded and made a huge impact on the world.
so back we went, this time really feeling the challenge of the stairs going up to the viewing deck. but the hike back from the pinatubo crater was much easier, and we even overtook a group that left 30 minutes ahead of us. i guess that's what corned beef pan de sal and some sulfur can do to you. :D
more photos of my pinatubo adventure here.
our second day in puerto princesa was devoted to the subterranean river park. we got up at 6am so we could have breakfast at the asturias hotel's restaurant. they served pretty average breakfast food--longganisa, omelette, fried rice, cereal, arroz caldo.
