Puerto Princesa, Discovering the New 7 Wonders of Nature

Sorry folks, it's been almost a month since I last blogged. Life was too hectic for the past one month as multiple tenders came in, not giving me some time to spare, and also I spent a week in China visiting my relatives. The upcoming tender submission will be tomorrow (in fact, few hours later), but still I feel the need to write something here at this moment.

Continued from my last expedition revisiting Intramuros, this time I flew out from the island of Luzon. My next destination after exploring Luzon island would be Puerto Princesa. This is the main city on the island of Palawan, which is just about less than 200 km North from the tip of Sabah, the Land Below the Wind. What attracted me to fly into this island? The candidates of the New 7 Wonders of Nature (during that time), the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River!

Similar to AirAsia, there is a flagship budget carrier in Philippines as well, which is the Cebu Pacific Air. 

The return flight ticket just cost me less than 4000 Pesos (which equivalent to ~85 US Dollar) despite my last minute booking. The flight took about an hour and a half to reach Puerto Princesa airport from Manila NAIA. Upon reaching, my friends and I rented motorcycles from a vendor nearby the airport, and began our biking journey in Palawan island.

First stop, we went to the tourist center, located just 10 km away from the airport along the main road. We had to quickly pre-book our seats to go into the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park as the park only allows up to 600 visitors daily in order to preserve the natural treasure. We were lucky that we got our spots at 8:30 a.m. the next day. After securing our spots into the national park, we wandered around the city of Puerto Princesa and the Immaculate Conception Cathedral first came to our sight.

The Cathedral was painted in light blue theme, and the color made the Cathedral stands out from the surrounding buildings. The Cathedral was established in 1910 and later promoted as Apostolic Vicariate of Palawan in 1955. On the interior, the main altar was rather small compared to the Cathedrals I have been to in Manila, and it was also on the same color scheme of light blue.

Next to the Cathedral was the Plaza Cuartel, one of the bastions in Puerto Princesa during the World War II. The place should be full of historical events of WWII but we did not visit the place as we have to get to Sabang, the small village next to the national park by the evening.

Another small tourist attraction nearby the Cathedral was the Baywalk. If you have been to Gurney Drive in Penang island, this is similar to it. There were food vendors along the street, jogging/cycling track along the shore, as well as the platform for visitors to watch the sunset. 

The journey from Puerto Princesa to Sabang was about 75 km and it took us one whole afternoon to stroll around and stop at any sighting point as suggested by the handbook we got it from tourist information center. One of the sighting point is the Salvacion View Deck. The view deck was on a cliff, overlooking the islet. Nothing much about this view deck, except there was a vendor selling snacks and drinks for the passerby but this was a good resting point after we rode about 35 km from the city center. 

Next stopping point suggested by the handbook was the Maoyon River Cruise Rafting. The cruise would require pre-booking and the visitors would be able to have lunch on the bamboo raft, while cruising along the river. As the time we reached the place was about 3 p.m and the bamboo raft was already being rested.

After the Maoyon River Cruise Rafting, we came to another view deck at Buenavista. This view deck has much better facilities than the earlier one at Salvacion, where there were washrooms, souvenirs, hammock, chairs for the visitors. The view deck overlooks the Ulugan Bay and also the Rita island. This view deck was much crowded than Salvacion, due to washroom break as well as better scenery on the view deck for photography purposes.

Final pit stop before reaching Sabang, was the Ugong Rock Adventures. This place offers some rocky activities, including spelunking within the limestone rock formation and also the zip-lining from the top of the rock. It would be a good choice for visitors who seek for rocky thrill before or after the tour to Sabang.   

Finally, after hours of riding on wheels, we have reached the small village of Sabang. The village has a lot of budget accommodation to offer, but those cheap accommodation came with a drawback. The electricity supply would be cut off after 7 p.m. (not sure if this still happens now). As we were tired of riding under the hot sun, we chose the more pricey accommodation instead, the Daluyon Beach and Mountain Resort. I can assure you that you will never regret paying for the stay! We even watched Manchester United vs. Bolton Wanderers that night after having our warm nice shower. 

More details of the resort after this!

It's awesome to live a simple life. The locals here were highly addicted to basketball and they were already playing as we arrived the village. As night falls, the only basketball court in the village turned into another atmosphere. The locals love clubbing too! With a simple PA system and chilled beer from the ice box (not even a fridge!) the villagers could dance happily on the basketball court, swaying their bodies along with the beats of the song!

Early morning on the next day, we walked to the Sabang boat terminal and waited for our boat to go to the national park. The water was crystal clear that we could see so many fish swimming!

The view of the national park during the boat ride.

The boat ride would take about 20 - 30 minutes to reach the entrance of the national park, and it required small jungle trekking for another boat ride into the subterranean river. Along the trekking route, monkeys could be sighted and sometimes, monitor lizards (especially nearby the water).

And this was how we got into the subterranean river! With such a small boat with 7 people on board, any big movements would probably make the boat sink.  

Reputed as the world's longest subterranean river before the new discovery in Mexico, this place offered more than just a boat ride. The river is more than 24 km long and our boat was just able to navigate till less than 5 km of it. There were some spots where we would need to bend down our bodies in order to let the boat pass through, and inside there it was almost pitch dark.

During my visit, there was a petition asking the visitors to vote the place as one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature. In the same year of my visit, the place was successfully listed as one of the seven. Congratulations!

There were multiple limestone formations inside the subterranean river and I was only able to take some clear pictures as my camera could not focus well under a pitch black surrounding.

Coral formation

Family formation

Mushroom formation

Jellyfish formation

The end of the boat ride, which we finally saw the sunlight again!

And this was the resort we stayed in, the Daluyon Beach and Mountain Resort. The hotel was so beautiful, which was totally bang for the bucks. The superior room that we had for 2+1 persons, costed us about 7000 Pesos (~150 USD) with water heater (this was rare in Sabang back then!) and good breakfast. The price tag might sound expensive to somebody but again, you will definitely enjoy it to the maximum!

The hotel consists of 27 cabanas, each of them having 2 floors and we occupied the top floor. The cabanas came in different sizes to cater for different types of room, from superior room (good for 2+2) up to 3-BR suite (good for 6+6). Every cabana was surrounded by coconut trees and each cabana was far from each other to ensure privacy.

The magnificent view outside the window of my view. How wish I could wake up for this view every day. Too bad, after this short break I have to go back to the reality of my working life.

The lobby decorations were nicely done. The turtle-looking chair was made of rattan, and the overall ambiance was calm and the lobby was surrounded by the sound of bird chirping. 

Even the ashtray was nicely done.

After the subterranean river boat tour, we wandered around the resort area, walking along the beach and enjoy the last moment in Sabang before leaving. The sand particle was so fine that I really enjoyed walking on it! 

White sand beach and the blue sky, best combination for vacation. I'm glad I spent my vacation there in Sabang!

Tried out the rattan hammock as we wandered the area. Lying on it made me feel like sleeping directly.

After the walk around the resort, finally we had to say goodbye to this beautiful small village. Leaving Sabang village, we came across these street lamps, powered by solar and also wind. Quite an environmental friendly solution!

Lastly before we flew back to Manila, we stop by Honda Bay which was famous for dugong sighting. As the dugong sighting trip would require another boat trip, we chose not to go but just to park our three Honda's at the Honda Bay for photo shooting. 

The trip was so unforgettable, and I wish I could be there again just to stay in Daluyon Beach and Mountain Resort and leave all the worries behind while relaxing at the resort.