Snapshots of Puerto Princesa

Last week, my old team ran away from BPO stress and headed to Puerto Princesa. None of us had been there, which made the trip more exciting. Tamad as I am, I purposely left my camera in Manila, plus I knew for sure that my companions could easily take a thousand pictures!

And here are some of our photos.

Check in was already closed at 11:45am. I didn't realize that our flight had been moved from 12:30PM to 12:15PM. He let us in anyway. Thanks Mr. Airphil!

Turns out the plane hadn't even landed yet. Our flight was delayed.

Welcome to Puerto Princesa!

First time I'm loving my hair on my face. Haha.

Famished but we still posed by our tricycle before heading to Balinsasayaw for a super late lunch!

Balinsasayaw

Veggies, Calamares, Balinsasayaw Rice, Garlic Shrimp, Lechon Kawali

Croc farm (Palawan Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Park)

Behind us - skin and skeleton of a large croc that ate a local fisherman. Bad croc!

Nothing special here but I love our pose.

Mitra Ranch

Lady tricycle driver

Honda Bay Tour

Pambato Reef

Lunch at Snake Island

Inihaw na liempo, Hilabos na hipon, Itlog na maalat, Inihaw na Isda, Talong, Manggang hilaw and Bagoong, Bananas

Shirley, Jhoey and Carla fooling around with bread for our fishy friends.

Here fishy fishy.

Isla Pandan

After a relaxing massage, I had the best halo-halo. Its the best because milk and ice were refillable. Gotta love that!

White Beach

Dinner at Bilao and Palayok

Candidates of Binibining Underground River

Getting ready to leave the Subterranean National River Park

Sheridan Sabang

Kalui Art

Fish Cordon Bleu

Puerto Princesa must be a great place to live in. The cleanest and greenest and just a couple of hours away from sand, water and reef. Seafood is cheap and people are friendly. Because of Palawan, I'm already thinking about my future retirement.

Another memorable 4 days with my team - people I've grown to love. Can't wait for our next escape from Manila.

All photos swiped from Facebook accounts of Jack, Lyn and Jhoey

Roughing It Out

I spent my weekend in Zambales with the latest of my Team Bebot. Yes, we are no longer Team Afterburn. Its just Team Bebot. It seems that team names are not uso (the fad) in XPS SMB.

I was a bit scared to go because I have not camped out in a very long time, but I'm always game so off I went!

Denver seeing me off here

On Saturday morning, our van driver and guide picked up all thirteen of us at 7-11 Eastwood. We left at around 11am and by 1pm we were already in Subic.

We made a short stop over at a Jollibee (in Zambales I think) before heading to Pundakit where we were to hop on our boats.

The boat ride from Pundakit to Anawangin was very splashy! I think it took us around thirty minutes to get to the cove. I am lucky to have picked "Raymond." He was the fastest boat. All the boys wanted to ride "Raymond" the following day.

As soon as we got to Anawangin, the first thing we noticed were the trees.

Its pretty amazing to see pine trees in sand. This is probably one of the things that make this cove really special.

I think Jack made a great deal for us. The P1600 budget per head included all transportation - van from Manila to Pundakit, boat from Pundakit to Anawangin, boat from Anawangin to Capones to Pundakit, van from Pundakit to Subic to Manila, tents for thirteen people, plus our guides also provided our drinking water, ice and meat for our inihaw.

Our guide Bong and the rest of his entourage were busy setting up everything - our tents, the ihawan, and later on, our bonfire.

I was one of those who did nothing. I just plopped my stuff inside my assigned tent and went straight to the beach. Thank goodness we had an entourage and team members who are natural boy scouts.

Cocktails (Ginebra with Sprite and calamansi) were served by Ron as we (more like they) prepared dinner. Our feast - inihaw na liempo care of our minero Mangski, salted egg with tomatoes and onions (expertly chopped by Ron) and Shirley's binagoongan all the way from Manila.

Bong started the bonfire where the team had more gin and Sprite (I had to avoid alcohol because of the lack of a proper toilet). It was also at the bonfire where we discovered that all we had to roast were Charlie's marshmallows. I guess we were all too excited to think of hotdogs while we were on our way to Anawangin. Bonfire was followed by stargazing. It was my little piece of heaven. If there is one thing I would have loved to capture during the entire trip, it would have been the night sky. I caught myself falling asleep twice as I laid on the beach, so I left the team to check out the planktons.

I purposely waited until late at night before going to the poso to wash the salt water and sand off my hair and skin. I walked barefoot in the dark of night and ended up getting bit by ants. I decided to hit the tent early but I happily listened to everyone else outside - drinking, sharing stories and laughing.

By the way, the effort to prevent sand from entering the tent is futile. Zheena (my roomie for this trip) attempted to make our tent sand free in the afternoon - she proudly used her jeans to get rid of it. At midnight, she was drunk and managed to get more sand inside as she entered.

After breakfast, most of the team went trekking with Bong. I passed off on this opportunity because I was too tired from just walking along the beach in search for 3 in 1 coffee.

Here are pictures from our morning walk (Ska, Charlie, Ron and I).

The sign on the tree says PRIVATE PROPERTY.

Ron commented that this photo looks like an album cover.

I agree.

Here are pictures from their trek.

We left Anawangin after lunch and headed to Capones island. In Capones, I was glad I didn't join the morning trek. The climb up the hill and to the lighthouse was more than I could take. I was so tempted to just wait for everyone else at the foot of the hill. Jhoey gave us a little asthma scare before we reached the lighthouse.

As expected, the scene from above the hill and the lighthouse was breathtaking. I'm proud that Jhoey and I made it. You won't be able to tell from our pictures how difficult our climb was. We were thinking of facebook everytime cameras clicked.

I rode "Raymond" again and of course we were the champs going to Capones and back to Pundakit.

In Pundakit, Bong allowed the team to have a short videoke session. Bong and the driver were nice enough to take us to Royal Subic for a little shopping before heading back to Manila.

My body still hurts from our Anawangin, Capones, Pundakit experience but it was all worth it. Yes, even not having a proper toilet and bath is worth it.

At the end of the day though, its not really the places you go to but the people you spend it with that make the trip worth remembering.

All photos swiped from the facebook accounts of James Michael Mendez, Zheena Razon, Lyn Dequilla, Jack Dionisio and Jhoey Reyes.