Palawan Escapade: Welcoming Myself

I’m so blessed to get the chance to visit one of the beautiful places in the Philippines, Palawan is an island province in the Philippines located in the Western Visayas Region. Famous tourist location with many beach resorts and seafood restaurants. So many reasons that made me and my best buddy excited to go there. Thanks to Cebu Pacific for such a safe and awesome fly.

 Just as when it was announced that we’re almost arriving at the “City in the Forest”, Puerto Princesa, it made me even more excited and couldn’t wait to see what’s actually in there waiting for us.

 The first thing we did when we arrived there was of course eat our lunch since it was already noon time. Then took a tricycle to look for a place to stay. We chose to stay at the cheapest pension house in the city since we’d only be staying at the room to sleep. Glad we found VIM Pension House. Perfect for backpackers like us. And yes, very cheap!

 After checking in at the pension house, we decided to rent a motorcycle since we don’t need a travel agency to tour us around and we also don’t need someone to control our time. In short, we only had a “DIY’ tour for the entire time we were there. Motorcycle rent is 300/day, not that cheap though but worth it. Next plan was to inquire about the Honday Bay Tour. We asked locals where to go to be able to do the tour. And so we went to Sta. Lourdes, where the Honday Bay port is located, and inquired about everything we need to do to get the tour. At first, I thought it’s impossible for us to get the tour since we’re only two. But happy that it’s very possible. There’s a small boat which is good for a maximum of 6 persons. Actually enough for us so that’s what we took. We also asked about the entrance fees for every island because it’s no longer free, not like before.

When we’re done inquiring about the tour, we decided to go to Iwahig to do the Firefly watching. And wow oh wow! It was such an amazing experience to cruise the Iwahig river for almost an hour. The quietness of the place where you can only hear the sound of the water, the dancing of the trees and the chirping of the birds and even some animals. I was even thinking that it was the most romantic experience ever and would love to do it all over again. And while cruising the river, you will see the fireflies at your side from the mangrove trees. Beautiful as you could ever imagine.

Sorry I wasn’t able to take pictures of the place, it’s impossible to take pictures on fireflies though. But got this shirt with a glow-in-the-dark print on their souvenir store. I suggest that you go there by yourself to save. We only paid 300/person while tour agencies are asking 1,100/person. And do NOT go there when it’s windy because most fireflies will hide at the center of the forest and you can only see very few of them. But it’s always worth a try!