Puerto Princesa You should be here!®
I fly over this amazing part of the world every time I'm rostered to do a Manila flight. The name itself is cool, but the place is like an outskirt of heaven. This is one of those places where you can plan to retire once you have started to earn in your sleep. I have always wanted to be here ever since Captain Alan Bradley introduced me to it. In case you don't know where it is, it is in the middle of an island in the Philippines called Palawan.
Flights into Puerto Princesa Airport
The only way to get there is via Manila. Flying in from Brunei means literally flying over it and then take a U turn. I asked the Royal Brunei airlines' captain, Bob, to make a quick stop to drop us off but then he only agreed to let us skydive into it when we are above it. So naturally, since we're going to be in Manila anyway, might as well enjoy the time there. When we got to Puerto Princesa airport, there was only one conveyor belt, despite two flights came in at almost the same time. So if you don't have checked-in baggage, would be quick. There are multiple flight going to and from the airport. If you go via AirAsia, your terminal in Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila will be in terminal 4, or they call it the domestic terminal, while if you're on Cebu Pacific will be in terminal 3.
Where the VIP treatment starts
Being a DREAMTrips member, ofcourse someone was there waiting to pick us up, and there she was holding the "You Should Be Here!" banner. It was just us in the mini van, and the trip took 2 hours. I'm glad I didn't have to pay for that. It was a long, winding trip. I didn't see any lamp posts around, I can't imagine driving through the dark. We saw alot of interesting things along the way.
Welcome Check-in
As usual they checked-in for us already. We just see them, get our door gifts and keys to our rooms and we're done!
Our home for the next few days
It's a DREAMTrip, what do you expect? Ofcourse it only cost me for like a 3-star vacation to experience this 5-star resort. Heaven!
Welcome dinner
There weren't many of us on this trip. Normally there would only be a host if there are more than 20, but we had one anyway. She's from Singapore, and we call her Sim. She was very helpful. Without her, I would have to get my own taxi.
Normally in a DREAMTrip welcome dinner, we celebrate anyone's birthday during that month. I had a surprise last year when I was on a DREAMTrip in Krabi. This turned out into a food fight initally as the birthday dude was too "blue". Eventually everything went great. Sim arranged a few games for us. I actually won one of them and got a prize.
Waking up to a piece of heaven
The resort was amazingly beautiful. It was paradise. I couldn't believe I was paying so little for such an experience. Was it a dream? No, it was a DREAMTrip 😝
Breakfast by the beach. Paradise.
You Should Be Here!
The Underground River
Puerto Princesa's Subterranean River National Park is one of UNESCO's world heritage sites. Other examples are like the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, Angkor in Cambodia, The Great Wall of China and India's Taj Mahal. The boat terminal was very near to our resort. It was only a 5 minute walk.
The boats are uniquely Pinoy. I've seen Thai boats, Balinese boats, Bruneian boats and then there these awesome Pinoy ones. The ride to the underground river was about 15 minutes.
When we were at the site, they gave us an audio player that would walk us through the river tour. It has multiple languages to choose from. They also gave us a helmet, so don't put too much hair gel on. The helmet is not to protect you from any debris, but the toxic water droplets and bat droppings. Yes, there were lots of bats.
The rocks deform over thousands of years. They take the shapes of many things. There was a section called the cathedral, another called the food market, also the bat cave for a more obvious reason. The rocks take the shapes of Jesus' head (only because most people believed Jesus to have a long face, beard, long hair and moustache). There was also the looks of the Titanic. Cindy Crawford was also there, as what our local tour guide slash rower called it, only because it takes the shape of a sexy woman.
Lunch was provided after we left the site
Everyone gets a coconut
Mangrove Paddle Boat Tour
A short trip to the Sabang river using an awesome looking jeep. I've read before we got there that the ride was going to be horrible bumpy, but luckily we had a pregnant lady with us and she asked to drive better.
The boat ride was quite relaxing, just enjoying the view of nature. I really like their boats. One of the rowers was a 69 year old man.
Sabang X-Zipline
I hate hills, but then I love ziplines. Luckily it wasn't so bad. There we surprises along the way too.
The day ended with a dinner which they also provided for us back at the resort. The rest of the days we just chilled, do a bit of kayking and looking at souvenirs. Enjoy the rest of the photos!
You Should Be Here!
Farewell dinner
Checkin-out
We Dreamtrippers!
With our host, Sim, and local In-destination Support team