Wanna get a discounted trip to Palawan?

One of the best local destinations I've visited is Puerto Princesa, Palawan...and I would always keep coming back to this paradise.

It was in 2012 when I last visited this place and I could still remember the kind of adventure I had together with my classmates from graduate school.

Let me share to you a couple of photos taken during the trip and find the special discount coupon code at the bottom of the page. :)

Mitra's Ranch

Ugong Rock Adventure (spelunking)

Underground River Tour

zipline

before the boat ride to the Underground River

Island hopping at Honda Bay

Besides these places, we also visited the Palawan Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Center, Plaza Cuartel, Immaculate Concepcion Cathedral, Baker's Hill, Binuatan Weaving Center, and we also watched fireflies at Iwahig. We've tried really good food places such as the Badjao Seafood Restaurant and Kalui Restaurant. To know more about these places, you can visit my previous blog posts: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3.

You too can visit Palawan...and with a discount! Just check out http://letspalawan.com and use this coupon code: CityGirlDiariesC029

Enjoy your trip! :)

Hardware Zone Magazine Philippines Holiday Gift Guide 2013/2014

This is a super late post. Sorry, it almost slipped my mind. But hey, better late than never.

Last October, I got invited by Hardware Zone Magazine (HWM) Philippines to be a part of the style team of their Holiday Gift Guide 2013/2014. It's like a catalogue of products (not only gadgets but even apparel) that serves as a source of gift ideas. It was actually out in the market from December 2013 to February 2014.

Our models were Angelia Ong, Ladylyn Riva, and Farah Ramos. And I co-styled the wardrobe and the hair of the models together with Shiela Del Rosario. The shoot coordinator was Darlene Sasan of HWM, and hey, they're all my friends. It seemed like a "barkada" project for us.

The themes were: couch potato, adventurous/explorer, and party animal.

Here are the final output:

Lady on the cover wearing Solari Clothing's "Lush" dress

Here's our team:

And we're about to work on the HWM Summer Gift Guide 2014. Stay tuned!:)

xoxo,

city girl

Puerto Princesa Weekend (Day 3)

We have come to the last day of our PPS weekend. But it's the most important  day in our trip because it's the day we visited one of the New Wonders of Nature, the Underground River. I am proud to say that I was one of those who voted for it during the search for the New Wonders of Nature some time last year.

Anyway, after having breakfast at the hotel, the driver and our tour guide picked us up and we all headed to Sabang Port, which was around an hour and a half away from the city. While inside the van, April, our tour guide was briefing us on what to expect at the Underground River. We also chose among us who's supposed to stay in the front-most part of the boat to hold the lamp, which will serve as our light inside the Underground River. I got so scared when April told us about the wild monkeys around the walkway headed to the Underground River. She said, those wild monkeys grab "plastics" from anyone whenever they see one. Good thing we were not carrying anything plastic. haha!

monitor lizard

wild monkey

Since we have already preregistered for the Underground River tour during our first day in PPS, we just confirmed our registration at the Sabang Port then we were assigned to a small boat, which took us to the Underground River and back. When we got to the island, we registered again at the reception. Then we walked going to the main entrance of the Underground River. The path that we walked through was like a mini forest and the tour guide was right, the wild monkeys and monitor lizard were just everywhere. They looked scary but they won't attack you unless you attack them first. But hey, why would you do that?! LOL!

So after putting on our helmets and life jackets, we rode the boat and met our boatman, Kuya Piolo. Yeah, he got his nickname from the famous Filipino actor. haha! There were photographers also by the side of the island who took a photo of us while on the boat, before entering the cave. It's pitch black inside the cave and we were only guided by the light of the lamp being held by our friend who was in front. As the boatman was paddling, he's also pointing us to different rock formations. It's so cool because those rock formations got names. My favorite part was the Cathedral. It's like a big dome inside and there were rock formations of an angel, the nativity, three wise men, and more. After the 45-minute roundtrip tour inside the Underground River, we went back to the main entrance of the island where we claimed our group photos taken by the attraction's official photographers. We paid Php 35 each 'coz we only shared in one photo worth Php 250.

Then we headed back to Sabang Port. There we had buffet lunch, which was included in our Underground River Tour Package. After lunch, we rode the van and headed to the Ugong Rock caves. It took us around 30 minutes or less from Sabang Port to Ugong Rock caves. It was my first time to go caving, spelunking, and ziplining. So how's the experience It's super fun! So what we did first was to pay at the counter; Php 200 for the caving and spelunking on the way up and we had an option to go down through the same way at Php 200, or to go ziplining at Php 250. The zipline ride was the best! I came from  a height of 165 feet and it was so fast that I traveled 350 meters for only 21 seconds! We were surprised to see our photos upon going down. I bought one as a souvenir for Php 100, but they were so nice to have given us soft copies when we handed them our flash drive (USB). Oh, by the way, the cave was called "Ugong" because when you knock on some parts of the cave, they make a sound like a "gong".

So after the caving experience, we traveled for another hour until we got back to the hotel. After freshening up, we had dinner at the Big Flat Bread, the pizza house outside our hotel. They're known for their huge gourmet pizzas. We ordered the biggest sized one that had four flavors in one. Gosh, we were able to finish everything! My friends even said that I really eat like a man, because the whole time we were there in Puerto Princesa, I've been eating as much or even more than they did. LOL! Anyway, we paid around Php 250 each.

Then we finally headed to the airport through the hotel's free van service. It took us a while to check-in because the dried fishes and squids (worth more than Php 1000) bought by my friends were not allowed in their carry on baggage. The problem was, we didn't avail of check-in baggage prior to the trip. So, even if the stuff was wrapped well, and even if the vendor insisted earlier at the market that it's okay to hand-carry them, it was still denied by the ground officers. Buying a check-in baggage would've costed my friends an additional Php 700, so they just gave their a-thousand-worth of dried fish/squid to the security guard. So after check-in, we paid the terminal fee worth Php 200, and waited at the boarding gates.

We had a safe flight back to Manila. We are definitely coming back to Puerto Princesa to experience El Nido. And of course, Coron soon!:)

Total spending for the day (per pax):
1. Breakfast - FREE (included in the accommodation)
2. Underground River Tour - 1200 (supposedly 1500, but we got 20% discount)
3. Ugong Rock Adventures - 450 (200 caving/spelunking + 250 zipline)
4. Ecotourism fee - 40
5. Dinner - 250
TOTAL: 1,940 per pax

Note: Tip for tour guide and driver not included.

Not counting our personal expenses for pasalubong and souvenir photos, here's how much we've spent for our Puerto Princesa trip for 3 days and 2 nights:

A. Airfare & Accommodation Expenses - Php 4,200 

B. Pocket Money - Php 5,350
1. Day 1 - 1,970
2. Day 2 - 1,440
3. Day 3 - 1,940

GRAND TOTAL: Php 9,550

So that's it! I hope you can visit Puerto Princesa too.:)

Puerto Princesa Weekend (Day 2)

On our 2nd day, we woke up at around 5:30 am. After fixing up, we had breakfast at the hotel, then the van picked us up. Then we  finally met our official tour guide, April. She's so cool and funny.:) On our way to the port, April briefed us on our itinerary while showing us photos on her Samsung Galaxy Tab. High-tech right?!? haha! Anyway, here's a rundown of the things we did on our 2nd day in PPS:

Day 2 (Dec. 1) - Honda Bay Island Hopping

Swimming Gear Rental Center - We stopped by a shop where we rented our snorkeling gears at Php 100 each. I only rented a snorkeling mask. However, other items in the shop include rashguard, fins, aqua shoes, and camera/cellphone waterproof cases.

Then we headed to the Honda Bay Port where we rode our boat. After registration, we boarded our boat, which became our ride for the entire duration of our island hopping.

it's so hot out there

all aboard!

Our first stop was at Pandan Island. We were snorkeling with our life vests on. However, since I was so scared of the water and the fishes (LOL at me!), I asked our boatman to assist me. I was able to appreciate what I've seen underwater because the boatman knew the nicest spots out there and that's where he took me, while I was holding on to the floater. While we were snorkeling, our tour guide was preparing our lunch (yeah, she's a multitasker). So after snorkeling, we feasted on seafood, grilled meat, and some veggies. We  also tried the grilled sea urchin. It tasted better than the raw one that's being served in Japanese restaurants. There were lots of other tourists in the island too.

 

salted eggs with tomatoes and onions

 

grilled sea urchin

jump!

our boat :)

After lunch, we headed to Starfish Island. There were less tourists in this island. There we took a lot of "camera trick" photos, because the props were readily available and the tour guide and the boatman were already photography experts haha! Then we snorkeled again for a bit there. The view underwater was pretty nice too.

LOL at me!:))

like a celeb! haha

Sadako in Starfish Island 

 

like we're playing "Paint Me a Picture" haha

 

i love this!:))

Our last stop for the island hopping was Pambato Reef. It's called as such because they said it's their "pambato" or the most that they're bragging about. It's one of the sites being maintained by ABS-CBN Foundation as a part of their environmental advocacy. This one's in the middle of the sea. Floating walkways and reception areas were near the reef. During the time we were there, the center of the reef was being restored so snorkeling on that part wasn't allowed. However, we were not able to see that much creatures underwater. I can say that the previous snorkeling spots we've been to were a lot better.

that's me!:))

after snorkeling

fun gang :)

That ended our island hopping. We went back to the boat, had refreshments, and headed back to the port. We were already done at around 4pm and we got to the hotel at around 5pm. But of course before that, we returned the snorkeling gears at the shop. Then at the hotel, we just took a shower, rested for a bit, and headed our for dinner.

On Day 1, upon arrival at the hotel, we called Kalui Restaurant for dinner reservation on our 2nd night. So come our second night, we took a tricycle from the hotel to Kalui. Then we realized it was so near our place that we should have just walked haha. Anyway, Kalui was a very interesting place for dining. It had really nice decorations, and most of them were native. It had a nice landscape outside and lots of paintings inside. At the reception, we were requested to remove our slippers, which we stored in their cabinets. The floor of the entire restaurant was so smooth and shiny! When it comes to the menu, there were only a few dishes to choose from, and most of the dishes were very unique. So we ended up ordering almost everything. Then after eating, we were served complimentary desserts. And that's the reason why there's no dessert listed on their menu. It's a surprise treat! The best part of all was, we only paid around Php 250 each for everything. It's one of my best dining experiences ever!:)

at the entrance

 

Palawanderer!

one of the boys

Menu

Four Seasons :)

complimentary dessert

there's a stage

ladies' room

paintings up there

so nice :)

So we just walked our way back to the hotel since it's near. Then I stayed in the room while the others proceeded to the pasalubong center nearby. We slept early because we had to wake up early the next day.

Total spending for the day (per pax):
1. Breakfast - FREE (included in the accommodation)
2. Snorkeling Mask Rental - Php 100
3. Honda Bay Island Hopping Tour - Php 1040 (supposedly Php 1300, but we got 20% discount)
4. Ecotourism Fee - Php 40
5. Lunch - FREE (included in the tour package)
6. Transportation - Php 10 (tricycle)
7. Dinner - Php 250
TOTAL: Php 1,440 per pax

*Note: Tips for the boat men not included.

Just a tip: Wear rashguard and a lot of sunscreen! In my case, I didn't get darker (no tan line) even if I was just wearing a two-piece bikini and board shorts because I kept reapplying sunscreen every 2 hours. I used Beach Hut's Max SPF100 and Southshore's Sunscreen Kiwi SPF60 simultaneously for my body, and Loreal's Facial Sunscreen SPF50 for my face. 

That's a wrap of our 2nd day in PPS. See my next post for our adventure on our 3rd (and last) day there.:)