One of
the most amazing experience and tour we had last year 2012 was when we luckily visited
the clean and beautiful province of Puerto Princesa, Palawan. It was a 4 days vacation
which we really enjoyed and we made sure that every minute was well spent. For
the City tour, Underground River tour and Honda Bay Island hopping, we availed
La Tiara’s tour package since it’s what I believe has the cheapest offer among other
hotel packages. We decided to take tour packages so we can enjoy every moment
without being hassled for just arranging transportation, food and all the
permits needed to the tour.
We spent our first day in Palawan
by a City tour which turned out great as we were fed by rich culture and ample biodiversity
of the province. For our second day, we’re scheduled to explore the very famous
and Philippines’ pride Underground River and we’re all very excited. Our
service van from La Tiara fetches us at Corazon Tourist Inn at exactly 7:30 am and
it took us an hour and half to two hours from the City proper to Sabang port where
several boats dock that will bring you to the jump off point to Underground
River. Apropos, the local government of
Palawan is limiting the visitors of the Underground River to 1000 tourists only
and time of cave exploration depends on the schedule given when processing the
permit. And since we were a bit early for
our 1 pm scheduled boat ride, our tour guide Ate Malou offered us to do a short
stopover at Ugong Rock Adventure.
These are the stunning views that we passed by on our way to Ugong Rock.
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| lush greenery Puerto Princesa Palawan |
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| Rich biodiversity of Palawan |
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| Huge trees |
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| Picturesque landscape of Palawan's lush greenery |
The word
"Ugong" means the echoing sound a column (figure produced when
stalagmite & stalactite meets) produce once you tap it. The Ugong rock
adventure puerto princesa was a wonderful, unique experience; combination of
trekking, climbing and cave spelunking. Imagine we survived passing by confined
spaces and rocks; climbing/rappelling just to go up one spot on the cave. Our
tour made easy because we were guided by the locals and they're all friendly,
knowledgeable, and accommodating. They make sure that we are all safe while
doing the activity. When we reached the peak where you need to do Zipline, we
are welcomed by the impressive view of natural rock formations. All our sweat
subsided when we saw the breathtaking views and felt the freshness of the air.
A wonderful once in a lifetime experience!
After the
adrenalin rush we experienced at Ugong Rock Adventures, we had a sumptuous
buffet lunch by the beach which is included in the package tour costs P 1340. Some
of the foods offered in buffet are tempura squash which is so delicious,
adobong kangkong, grilled pork/fish, tinola and adobo.
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| Buffet by the beach Sabang jump off point to Underground river Palawan |
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| Yummy meal Palawan |
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| Enjoying our buffet lunch by the beach - Palawan |
After a bit
of exploring Sabang beach, our journey continued by a 30 minutes boat ride to
the jump off point. Everyone perked out knowing that Palawan Underground River
is now within our hand’s reach. And here are my shots of the beautiful view while on board a 20 minute boat ride to Puerto Princesa Underground River.
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| On our way to Puerto Princesa Underground river |
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| "No man is an island" - view on our way to Puerto Princesa Underground River |
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| Did you notice the side view of a man's face? - Boat ride to Puerto Princesa Underground River jump off point |
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| Picturesque view of mountains on our way to Puerto Princesa Underground River |
Underground
River tour in Palawan was so organized
by just allowing 1000 visitors per day to preserve its beauty. The whole
tour took about 45 minutes but so enjoyable because of our boatman Kuya Jhun who
delivers bunches of trivia and humorous segway. PPUR's only explorable
area counts 1 km long only with the total of 8.2 km long that flows directly to
the sea. The remaining stretch is only explorable by researchers and
professional geographer that still conduct studies and amazing discoveries from
this wonderful nature.
We
were welcomed by different limestone formations; adjoining stalactites and
stalagmites. The feeling inside is so unexplainable. We were so mesmerized
while staring at the formations. Some images that we saw include the
bahay-kubo group composed of different fruits and vegetables, and the
mesmerizing cathedral with formations of the holy family, Virgin Mary, San
Roque and his dog, Jesus Christ's face, and guard. We're so delighted with the
highest ceiling of the cave which stands more than 100 feet.
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| Puerto Princesa Underground River limestone |
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| Puerto Princesa Underground River |
The cave was so enchanting and enthralling,
feeling you wouldn't know how to describe at the end of the tour. You will
then realized how magnificent God and Nature to mold these thousand year old
rock formation into a majestic artworks. Nothing compares to the natural
beauty of our country and Filipinos should preserve every bit of it. We are so
blessed with a lot of different paradise waiting to be discovered and it’s up
to us how we will show our care to nature, our care to our motherland. Puerto Princesa Subterranean River is truly an amazing
creation of nature and God, one thing that we should be proud of, treasure of
the world, wonder of Nature.
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| Puerto Princesa Underground River - our tour guide/boatman kuya Jhun |
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| Puerto Princesa Underground River - One of the world's wonder of Nature |
