Puerto Princesa at Prinsipe

We bought the promo airfare tickets way back in February, and admittedly, we didn't feel like packing and leaving Manila again barely a week after Dumaguete. But hop on the plane we did to find ourselves in Puerto Princesa in Palawan.



The highlight of the trip was not, sad to say, the Underground River Tour, which was underwhelming. I'd taken this tour almost a decade ago--it didn't excite me then, and it didn't excite me now. Probably because getting there was tiring enough (2 hours on all surfaces of smooth and rough, peppered with zigzags), and the whole tour itself lasted for only 30-40 minutes. I think you would have to be a geologist or at least have some knowledge of geology to appreciate the place--how the cave formations had been shaped by thousands of years of dripping mineralized water, how unique it was to have a such a lengthy river flowing inside the cave, etc. But all the guides did was point out to the stalactites/stalagmites and tell us what shapes they took--the face of Jesus, a variety of vegetables, a melting candle.

And it didn't help that the day we took the tour was the only day it rained in Puerto Princesa.





So I guess the highlight of the trip was the food--the real star of the show being Kalui Resto, which had a limited menu, but had us looking at, and tasting seafood in a different light. The choice cut of fish was delivered fresh from the grill to our plates, and tasted like fillet mignon. There was fried eggplant coated in the most delish batter, and fish served in black bean sauce.





The other notable food find is Thamh-Tam--a carinderia-style eatery that served authentic Vietnamese food. Where else could you get a steaming bowl of beef stew rice noodles with all the complex and delightful flavors of Vietnamese cuisine for only 45 pesos? And the french bread--ooh lala! We took some to Manila, and found that the bread, when toasted, still tasted freshly baked.


We stayed in one of the rustic, resort-style cottages at Casa Linda (P1,100), only 3 minutes from the airport. And because it's featured on Lonely Planet, there were a lot foreign backpackers there, including a couple that stayed next-door to us. The walls were so thin; we could hear them engage in a grunt-filled fest of an afternoon delight.