One thing we really enjoyed about the Plaza Astoria Suites was the breakfast buffet included with our suite. We took out time over breakfast and tried many of the international dishes. This day I limited myself to the fruit display and the fresh bread display for toast. I felt I had been eating way too much and we would be having a nice lunch while waiting at the airport. Bad move - take note we have not found a good restaurant at the NAIA 3 terminal. It may be there but we have not found it.
Our flight from Manila to Puerto Princesa was scheduled to be 3:30 PM. All our flights on Cebu Pacific had left early so far so we hung around our hotel room until the noon check out and then headed to the airport. At checkin we discovered the flight was to be delayed 3 hours to 6:20 PM. That was a very long afternoon.
They brought us Jollibee Hamburgers at 5:00 PM but the Lab Tech in me was reluctant to try a hamburger that had been sitting in a very large plastic bag with its buddies enjoying the heat of Manila for an unknown amount of time. I gave my burger and drink to Dan and went looking for the least problematic food I could find. That was easy! Everything had closed! I got a cup of coffee.
We left as per the new schedule at 6:20 PM and arrived in Puerto Princesa about an hour and a half later. It is a small town with no cabs and no short distance jeepneys. Tourist travel is by tricycle. There is very little traffic compared to Negros and organized enough that I might feel comfortable driving. When we landed, the hotel had arranged our pick-up and we were driven by van from the airport to the Hibiscus Garden Inn in less than 10 minutes. We drove in the gate and walked through the lobby to the beautiful walled garden. Our long day was over!
We stored our belongings in our rooms and walked up the street a few meters to the Chicken Inato restaurant. Chicken Inato is a local specialty - a variation on barbequed chicken. Other islands have it as well though the name varies a little from place to place. The food was good, the place noisy and we were glad to get back to “our” garden.
The rooms are built on three sides of a courtyard and the fourth side opens to the garden. It was lovely. Trees for shade and beautiful flowers for colour interspersed with sitting areas, art and carvings. There was a small Sari Sari store for cold drinks and snacks. The lobby had a nice sitting area and locally made goods for sale. The big item was South Sea pearls from Palawan. But there were woven baskets of all sizes, pineapple cloth shawls and the ubiquitous t-shirts.
We just settled in our rooms for the night. For the first night, both rooms had a private garden out the back with chairs and a hammock. We would move in the morning to the “classic room” with no garden. It was not a hardship as we preferred the public garden areas and the international group of people to talk to.
Breakfast was served at tables just outside your room. There were choices on the menu but I liked the continental with a warm French loaf, butter, jam, coffee and a huge bowl of fresh fruit - mango, crisp apple and bananas. What a nice way to start the day! We had the same young lady serving us morning and evening and we certainly enjoyed her sunny disposition.
All of the staff were pleasant and very helpful at all times. The people they recommended from outside the hotel were excellent as well. I highly recommend the Inn, it is a large part of what made Palawan so memorable.
For our first day, we just took a tricycle to the Cathedral and made that a starting point for our own city tour. We learned very quickly that four foreigners are too many for a tricycle that may hold six or more Filipinos! Neither Dan nor Leroy could sit up under the roof so the one on the back of the bike sat sidesaddle with his head sticking out and got sunstroke. From then on we traveled in two tricycles wherever we went.
The Cathedral dominates the town with its lovely white and blue towers. It is very cool and ornate inside with the blue shutters softly colouring the light of the interior. Across for the Cathedral is a square built over the sight of a wartime massacre, Plaza Cuartel. The Japanese forced 154 American prisoners of war to go down into the bomb shelter then poured gasoline on them and into the tunnel setting all afire. The memorial names those killed and those few who survived by swimming across the bay to the current sight of Iwahig prison. One of the survivors created the statue that was erected last year in honour of those who lost their lives. It is haunting.
From there we headed back into the hot sun for a stroll down to the harbour and bayside walk. Palawan is a long narrow island with the Sulu Sea on one side and the South China Sea on the other. Puerto Princesa is about the middle where Honda Bay and Puerto Princesa Bay take a bite out of the east side and Ulugan Bay takes a bite out of the west almost dividing the island in half. The Bayside walk is a lovely walkway along the harbour but as yet there are no facilities there other than shaded picnic shelters. It was much too hot to be wandering about on the pavement so we returned to the hotel to freshen up and then went out to lunch at the Fresh Café. The owners are from Arizona and the menu has both local and American choices. Warning - when they say spicy chicken, they mean set your mouth on fire, two mango shakes, spicy. I actually traded lunches with Dan.
We continued up Rizal Street looking at places of interest and I turned into the Palawan to get a better picture. The rest followed and we explored the building. There was a tourist office so Leroy went in. The ladies gave us some good information and maps. We wandered through the courtyard looking at the fresh fruit and vegetables being sold there. One office had some interesting baskets we did not recognise so we knocked to see if we could get some information about them.
What a good find that was! We met Aimee, a government employee in the Cultural department and a member of the Palawan Dance Theater with a deep interest in the culture of the islands indigenous people. There are between 5 and 9 different groups - depending on who you talk to. Aimee has gone out among the remaining Tagbanua in Southern Palawan with her dance troupe, learning about their life style and heritage. Then bringing their story alive in a mixture of historical and modern dance. They have danced in Palawan, the USA and Europe. Aimee showed us one of the costumes she created and a video of the dance she wore it in.
Both Riza and I tried the headress on. It is very intricate and heavy just standing still!
From there we wandered from souvenir shop to souvenir shop up the main street. Riza found a place to bargain for her baskets. It was still very hot walking so we decided to go to a coffee shop art gallery in the woods. Very pretty setting, nice place, interesting art, big mosquitoes and no service. Don’t bother!
We were glad to get back to the garden at the Hibiscus Garden Inn and relax for a while before dinner.
This evening we decided to walk to the Tom Tom Club. It was a pleasant walk in the cool of the evening. Dinner was OK. The live music was fun. The walk home after dark enjoyable. That said, there are better places in town to eat. Looks like it would be a lively bar though!
We have a car and driver booked for a half day trip tomorrow so we had best turn in.
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