Day 1, Coron (Inland town tour)

After having lunch at Dive Link Resort, we went back to the port to start our tour of the town. Coron's main town was not as large as I thought. It seemed that, from the pictures from the other blogs that I have read, that Coron is a big town.

Coron is a place where you can never get lost even if you do not have a map. It's small streets are busy though with the people of Coron and tourists that come and go. You can add to that the tricycles that go around as it's main public transport to go around town.

As agreed, we met with two tricycle operators that Ate Cherry contracted for our group of seven. One tricycle fits three to four persons. It costs P300 for one tricycle for the whole trip.

Photo by Tina Calanog

Our first stop was the Municipal Town Hall of Coron. It was a small building with a small garden. We just took pictures with the CORON sign in front of it.

Photo by Tina Calanog

We next dropped by the souvenir shops to buy pasalubong. The souvenirs they sell are just the usual things that are also being sold in other tourist spots. There were assorted ref magnets, colorful keychains, wood carvings, pencil holders, paper weights, t-shirts, etc. As compared to souvenirs being sold in other places, though they were just ordinary, their price in Coron were a bit expensive. Keychains were sold at P20 each where you can buy them for only P15 in other places. T-shirts cost P230 where in other tourist spots they were being sold for only P120. I got to buy a t-shirt though for P100 for my younger sister in another shop. You just need to ask the tricycle drivers to take you to other stores.

Then we went to the most challenging part of the tour: Mt. Tapyas. You need to climb up more than 700 steps to reach the top. You can see old people also climbing the mountain. I could not imagine how can they climb that height at their age! I almost wanted to give up when I was just half-way. We climbed up Mt. Tapyas despite of the heat. You really need to have a bottle of water when you hike up.

Even just on the 400th step, you can see the beautiful islands of Coron. I was able to take the view from this point only since when I was able to reach the top, I did not have the energy to stand up and take pictures. My friends though were able to take some pictures of themselves with the Mt. Tapyas' famous iron cross.

Photo by Tina Calanog

Going down Mt. Tapyas was a lot easier. We were so tired when we were able to get back at the foot of the mountain.

We next went to Coron Harvest, a store for different types of cashew nuts. I bought roasted cashew nuts and cashew nut brittle. They were a bit expensive which was a disappointment. I thought that since Coron boasts of its cashew farms that they would be selling it a a cheaper price, but they were selling it as if you were in Manila.

We were supposed to go to Maquinit Hot Springs but we did not have enough time since it was already getting dark and the free boat service of Dive Link was only up to 7:00 p.m. We would have to pay P100 each if we went beyond that time to get us back to the hotel.

Dive Link Resort, Coron

After months of waiting, finally, the day of our trip to Coron, Palawan came! Me and my officemates booked a 3D/2N trip with J2 Travel via cleverbuy.com.ph last year. The vouchers we bought include roundtrip airfare to Busuanga via Cebupacific, accommodation at Dive Link Resort with daily buffet breakfast, and Coron island hopping tour with lunch, all for less than P5,000/pax.

Flight to Busuanga was on time but it was oven hot inside the plane. I heard one passenger say "It is really more 'fan' in the Philippines" with everyone aboard fanning themselves. It was just a short trip for less than 45 minutes.

At midday, we touched down on top of the mountains of Busuanga and we were warmly welcomed by a staff from Dive Link Resort ans ushered us to the van that would take us to the port. It was a 30 minutes drive to downtown and you can see nothing but farmlands and greens along the way.

We were greeted by Ms. Cherry of J2 Travel at the port and explained the details of our voucher before helping us board the boat that would bring us to Dive Link Resort. We asked her to arrange a town tour for us after we check in and have lunch at the resort.

Unlike most inns and hotels in Coron which are located within the Coron mainland, Dive Link Resort stands on its own island apart from the others which allows for a more peaceful and quiet stay. A wonderful concrete pathway to the resort greeted us when we arrived. Whichever way you look, all you would see are beautiful.

We were welcomed warmly by the Dive Link staff with cold drinks and shell necklaces. All of them were very accommodating and attentive to your needs. The resort manager also briefed us about the resort and all the services they provide plus the facilities that we could freely use during our stay.

We were a group of seven and they provided us with four rooms for the four vouchers that we purchased. The rooms were setup in small cottages. They are all clean and cozy, complete with large pillows and blankets. They clean the room on a daily basis even if you do not ask them to, so you just need to inform them if you do not need your room cleaned for the day.

Our cottage was located just beside the water and you could feel the sea breeze when you sit by the veranda and hear the soft waves at night. The cottages have large windows that you can open during the day when there is no electricity in the whole of Coron. Power is only up from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 a.m. You would not have to worry about warm nights as the rooms are air conditioned by then.

We decided to have lunch at the resort since we were not decided yet as to where we would eat. We were all glad that we had lunch at Dive Link. The food was very delicious and in large servings too! We ordered their specialty lechon kawali and kare-kare which costed around P1,800 including the rice for all of us.

After lunch, we rested for a while before starting our inland town tour of Coron.

2012 Thomson Reuters Volunteer for the Community Day

It is the time of the year again for the Thomson Reuters Volunteer for the Community Day. This has been happening annually since 2009 and today is its 4th year celebration.

Employees across all the business units of Thomson Reuters sign-up for the event and choose their beneficiary activity they would join in. The choices were Childhaus, Virlanie, Isang Litrong Liwanag, UP-PAUW, and Kythe Foundation among others.

This is the third time that I have joined the event. Ever since I have become part of the Thomson Reuters family, I immediately grabbed the very first opportunity for me in 2010 to join this celebration. Since then, I have committed myself to engage in the activity every year. In 2010, I joined the Quezon City Circle clean-up of its grounds. In 2011, I helped with the repainting of the school buildings by the UP-PAUW located within the UP Campus.

This year, I chose to be part of the Gawad Kalinga Enchanted Farm house-building and landscaping activities in Angat, Bulacan. As usual, me and my office friends always are together in the same activity.

Named after the place of its origin, Bulacan’s Barangay Encanto—which connotes images of the supernatural and magical in Filipino—the Enchanted Farm is the canvas for Gawad Kalinga’s second phase of the 2024 road map to end poverty in the Philippines. Once idle and unproductive, the area is being transformed into a landscape of vast potential that will sustain communities for generations to come. The first of 24 CSI sites around the Philippines, The Enchanted Farm in Bulacan follows a template that fuses three different concepts. (GK Enchanted Farm website)

The schedule of our voluntary work involved house building, compost pit digging, football field leveling, and garden landscaping. Just with words, we already knew that it wold not be easy tasks especially in the middle of summer with the country burning and scorching in heat.

We left the meeting place in Makati at 6:00 a.m. and we arrived in the farm at 8:00 a.m. We were first oriented and briefed about the GK Enchanted Farm. It was not only the group of Thomson Reuters employees who came there. There were also a lot of other volunteers and support groups scheduled to be in the farm that day.

Our first stop was house building. This was not new to me since I have already volunteered for Habitat for Humanity some years ago to build houses. I helped with the shoveling of sand and gravel to be used for the house's flooring. My other friends helped too with the shoveling while the others helped in leveling the soil to where the cement mix would be poured.

The other members of the group at the same time as us helped with the flattening of the grounds that would be converted to a small football field while the others went to the compost pit site.

The next activity I joined in was the landscaping of the land around GK Enchanted Farm's "palace" which would be a place and reception for future weddings and other functions. We scraped and pulled of the grass around. It was fun even though the heat of the sun burned us and we were soaked in sweat.

The activities ended in midday and we went back to Quezon City to have our culminating activity and recognize all the volunteers who participated. It was another successful day for Thomson Reuters.

Day 2, DIY Puerto Princesa tour (Underground River)

It was a beautiful morning when I woke up on our second day at Puerto Princesa. We all needed to get up at 6:00 a.m. to have breakfast since our guide for the world-famous Underground River tour would pick us up at 7:00 a.m. Hotel Centro serves breakfast at 7:00 but they happily began serving food early because of our request.

True to their offer in their Metrodeal voucher, they served buffet breakfast. They always do every day. There were Filipino, American, Korean, French, etc. food. Fresh fruits were also available, even kimchi. This was maybe because there are always so many Koreans checking in the hotel.

My plate -- fried rice, omelette, smoked longganisa, chicken adobo, fish teriyaki, and mixed vegetables

Fresh fruits, bread, and butterscotch

That was the breakfast we exactly wanted and we needed to fill our stomachs in preparation for the long travel to the Underground River. I was able to get live updates and scores on the 2012 Australian Open. Thanks to their free wifi.

Soon enough, our tour guide arrived in a van. We were a group of twelve people. The Underground River tour costs P1,300/pax which includes the roundtrip van ride, lunch, boat fare, and entrance fees to the park. The guide told us that it was going to be a two-hour drive to get to Sabang Beach port where we will ride a motor boat to get to the side of the Underground River under St. Paul Mountain.

After one hour of driving and passing by a lot of mangroves and some forestry, we stopped over the Buenavista Viewing Deck to take a good look of the seas from above. It was so serene.

From the Buenavista Viewdeck

We continued our journey to Sabang Beach and we passed by beautiful rock formations and landscapes. There were mountains of solid marble and some caves too.

Side of the Lion's Roar

Rock mountains

It was almost 11:00 a.m. when we arrived at Sabang Beach to register for the Underground River tour. Our guide arranged for everything. We decided to have lunch after the tour thinking that it won't be long. We were very much wrong.

Underground River registration area

Sabang Beach

It took us at least 30 minutes to get to a boat that would take us to the edge of the Underground River. There were a lot of tourists even in the month of January and the staff told us that they were taking in more than their average number of guests for the tour. No wonder the long wait.

It was a twenty-minute boat ride to the river. The shores of the that edge of St. Paul mountain was really breathtaking, made us think that we were on paradise. The mountain by the way was named after St. Paul since it was shaped like St. Paul sleeping on his back. The curves of the mountain top really resemble human features.

St. Paul Mountain shores

The place was crowded. It was a mistake that we did not eat lunch first. We just amused ourselves with the exotic animals scattered and freely wandering around the park. They were harmless but beware of the monkeys. It was not allowed to feed them nor show them a plastic bag since they would think that it has food in it and would grab it from you.

A celebrity monkey

A very large bayawak

After more than an hour of waiting, to change scenery, we were brought to the entrance of the cave. It was marvelous! The river was a crystal clear aqua blue and was so clean. Being from Manila, you could really admire the river's unspoiled quality.

River edge

Entrance to the cave

With so long a queue, it was already 3:00 p.m. when we were able to get in the cave. We were on a large boat which could seat ten people. Other boats could only seat eight.

It was so dark inside and a bit cold. Only soft spot lights held by people seated at the front end of the boat lights the cave so you would be able to see the stalactite and stalagmites. The Underground River extends to 4 km but only a very small portion of this was being traveled in the tour. The guide told us that to access the other areas, special permits are required. Most of the people who navigate those areas are usually scientists who study the lime stones and the cave.

Spotlight

The formations inside the cave were formed for hundreds of years. The stones were in different shapes and textures. And the guide had stories and jokes while we cruised the river. It took us 45 minutes to get in and out of the cave. Though it was just a short tour, I could say that it was well worth it. Just imagine that you would be able to touch stones hundreds of years old! Also, it would be a pride to say that you were able to see one of the world's best seven wonders of nature.

Cross etched by Spanish priests during Spanish regime

A lime stone formation which looked like the face of Christ

Cave entrance/exit

We had our lunch back at Sabang Beach at 4:00 p.m. and was able to return to the city at 6:00 p.m. We had dinner at Shakey's (yes, there was one there) and had our one-hour aromatic hilot-massage at Hotel Centro which was also included in the Metrodeal voucher. It was very relaxing and soothed our tired body.

Day 1, DIY Puerto Princesa tour (Puerto Princesa City tour)

Finally, my most awaited trip to kick off 2012! The long wait is over and we have arrived at Puerto Princesa, Palawan!

This trip has been booked since the middle of last year. As usual, we took advantage of the Piso Fare promo only this time by AirPhilippines. It only costed P350/pax for a roundtrip airfare for Manila-Puerto Princesa-Manila route. Are we not lucky? Regular roundtrip fare would have costed P8,000 if it was not booked early.

Our flight to Puerto Princesa was scheduled to arrive at around noon. We decided to grab an early lunch at NAIA 3 before our flight since the city tour we booked would immediately start upon our arrival with check-in to the hotel included.

It was a hot hot day when we arrived at the Puerto Princesa Airport. I looked for the shuttle service that would bring us to the hotel that we booked. We were welcomed by a uniformed driver of the hotel and ushered us to a van. We had the van all to ourselves since there were no other guests checking in to the hotel at the same time as us.

Hotel Centro shuttle

Again, our accommodation was courtesy of a deal bought from Metrodeal. I bought the vouchers months back for a 3D/2N stay at Hotel Centro for P6,600 for 2 pax. When I saw this deal on the net, I immediately grabbed it since the validity dates jibed with our flight schedules.

Let me tell you first about the deal and Hotel Centro.

There are many scams nowadays in groupon sites, so just to make sure that I will not be scammed, I sent a mail to Hotel Centro. Before I purchased the vouchers, I inquired first from Hotel Centro if they indeed accept vouchers from Metrodeal. I was glad that their representative promptly answered my inquiry and confirmed that they do have a deal ongoing. After reading their response, I then purchased two vouchers.

Metrodeal voucher

The details of the deal are shown in the voucher above. Hotel Centro is a bit pricey compared with the other hotels/inns in Puerto Princesa if you consider their regular rates. This is just right since the hotel is recognized as a four-star hotel and glamorous events such as Miss Earth are held there.

I made our reservations as early as July last year and requested for room arrangements for four pax. Yes, I was able to request for a room with a queen sized bed and another room with two twin beds. I was glad that when we checked in, the rooms were already set up. We were also welcomed  by friendly staffs with cold refreshments at the lobby. Hotel Centro was indeed a classy hotel. There were a lot of foreigners checked in, majority are Koreans. I was not able to take photos of the rooms but I can say that what are shown in their website are true each with safe deposit boxes and the toiletries are complete too from toothbrushes to sewing kits! I love the hotel!

Hotel Centro lobby

Hotel Centro poolside

After checking in, we were fetched by our guide for a tour of the city. We had this tour booked from outside the hotel since it was a lot cheaper. The hotel charges P600/pax for the city tour on a van. We opted for a tour via tricycle which only costed P600 for all the four of us. Entrance and other fees however were not included. But hey, it was still a lot cheaper.

Some parts of the city are still under developed and the roads to some tourist spots were rough and dusty.

Our first stop was the Crocodile Farm and Nature Park. This is where you can have a photo holding a small croc and learn things about crocodiles. There was an entrance fee of P50/pax and P30 for each photo op. There are also other wild animals in the park.

Crocodile Farm

My sister's photo op with the star croc

Next, we went to the Butterfly Garden. Entrance fee is also P50/pax. My sister took the opportunity to take pictures of the colorful butterflies in the farm and the little creatures knew how to strike a pose! They were not shy at all!

Butterfly Garden

The butterfly pose

Then we went to the famous Mitra's Ranch. We just took pictures of the view here since there was nothing for us to do here but relax and enjoy the fresh air. There was a zipline activity though, but we did not try it.

Tourist vans at Mitra's Ranch

Zipline adventure

Near Mitra's Ranch is the Baker's Hill where you can buy freshly baked goods like chocolate crinkles, hopia and ther pastries and breads. There were also a lot of colorful statues around the vicinity of the bakery and other snack posts. We enjoyed taking pictures here.

Baker's Hill

Our last stop was the Tiangge, Tiangge were we bought some of our pasalubongs for friends and family.

Finally, we had dinner at the Badjao Seafront Restaurant. It is too bad that we were not able to watch the sunset there since it was already dark when we got there. Just a note, the place is always crowded and it was strict that you make a prior reservation when you want to dine there. Thanks to the staff of Hotel Centro who made the reservations earlier for us.

The restaurant stands by the edge of the sea. The sea is literally under it. It has a very classy ambiance and an old man plays the piano for the guests. The food we ordered were all delicious and were not expensive. We really enjoyed our dinner at Badjao Seafront.

Badjao Seafront Restaurant

We went back to the hotel after dinner to rest and prepare for our next adventure!