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.
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| Hotel Centro lobby |
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| 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.
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| Crocodile Farm |
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| 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!
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| Butterfly Garden |
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| 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.
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| Tourist vans at Mitra's Ranch |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Badjao Seafront Restaurant |
We went back to the hotel after dinner to rest and prepare for our next adventure!
