Palawan Island

This past winter vacation was spent with my wonderful South African friend, Liezel, on the stunning island of Palawan. It plays host to the beautiful towns of Coron, El Nido, and Puerto Princesa. We were really wanting to 1) relax as much as possible, 2) find warm weather, 3) ...just get out of Korea. Our flight was at 9:30 in the evening, but leave it to Cebu Air to delay it. We had a layover in Manila... which was seriously not fun because we had to go to a completely different terminal (just to get overcharged by a taxi driver since we missed the last airport shuttle... it was like 3 o'clock in the morning). We didn't get into Puerto Princesa until 5:30 a.m. and we couldn't check in till 2:00 p.m., so we decided to check out the town by taking a little city tour. We were hesitant of the idea at first, but it actually turned out to be one of my favorite parts of the trip. 

I'm glad to have met you in S.K. ^^

We're ready! 

Our first glimpse of Puerto Princesa... and our driver, Jerry. 

First stop, crocodile farm!

Giant crocodile skeleton. 

All the babies...

And those not so little...

Bleh.

The photographer told me to do it :D

They also had native animals to look at once you were done with the crocodiles.

Bearkat! 

Those eyes.

Mynah. 

Palawan eagle. 

Another eagle...

Parrots.

I don't remember what this adorable little thing was called.

Bearded pig. 

Check out that beak!

Next stop, some lookout. Really the location wasn't that amazing, but the view was. 

Then, there was a delicious bakery at Baker's Hill. There was much more to see than just the bakery. 

Trees made from recycled Sprite bottles. 

Pork filled roll. Ahhh, it was phenomenal... and ridiculously cheap. 

Chicken filled. 

We then went to a butterfly garden. 

Here we met,

disgusting scorpions.

Bleh, Liezel was brave. 

Connected to the butterfly garden was this very... unique... tribal village. 

They showed us a variety of traditional activities and instruments.

And then brought out this terror. 

Of course, we had to try it on. 

Weaving.

Liezel buying some new notebooks. 

Puerto Princesa Cathedral. 

Inside. 

Our first ride on a tricycle!

We went down to the Baywalk to check out the food tents. 

Massive tree. 

Appetizer: fried quail egg. 

It was delicious! 

First drink of the trip: Red Horse! My favorite beer in the Philippines and beyond. :D

Left to right: Spider crab, pork, crocodile skillet, and rice. I was in heaven. I'm about to cry I want this again so badly! 

On our way home. 

Next morning's breakfast at our hotel. 

Sadly our tour got cancelled that day, so we headed down to a local beach near our hotel. 

The tide had come in that night. 

Perfect!

Ready for El Nido. 

At the rest stop in between the 5 hour trip from Puerto Princesa to El Nido. This trip was seriously terrible. If you want to do it quickly, you have to be ready to be flailing around in van, with strangers, nonstop for hours. 

The view from our first hotel in El Nido: Desert Rose. 

First dinner in town. The weather was perfect. 

Curry crab and rice for dinner. With a margarita and some Red Horse!

The next morning, we went into town again in hopes that our island tour was possible. Well... it was cancelled. So, we had breakfast at a joint called Art Cafe. 

Potato and onion hash, with eggs and ham. 

We went to Las Cabanas beach... where it rained the whole time, but we still relaxed and played around in the water. 

Mango smoothie. 

Rain yet another morning! 

We had crepes for breakfast :)

She's so cute!

Nutella crepe with vanilla and chocolate ice cream. Ahhhh... so great. 

We hit up the local market and caught them in the middle of butchering a pig. 

Our tricycle driver doubled as our tour guide to see a popular waterfall near town. 

Weeee! Refreshing. 

The hike back. 

Cow friend.

Pig friend. 

Our first tricycle selfie. 

After Desert Rose Hotel, we moved to this fun little place called Islandfront II. We loved the staff, but hated the noise! Stupid roosters!

We had a nice little porch and hammock. However, the mosquitoes were pretty bad. 

New Years Eve at a Rasta Bar. We were glowing under the blacklight. 

Lots of interesting food!

And live reggae music. 

People sending off New Years lanterns over the bay. 

I have no decent picture of the insane fireworks going off everywhere! I definitely thought we were going to get hit. 

We came home to a New Year's spider in our toilet. 

The next morning, there was better weather, but still no island hopping tour. 

So, we rented motor scooters. I took the liberty of naming them "Purple Thunder" and "Red Lightning". 

Liezel was a beast. 

We had a seriously awful time getting to Nacpan Beach. The dirt road was so muddy and slippery. We left Red Lightning and double teamed it on Purple Thunder. This was a good idea because it really took both of us to get there.  

It was rainy when we first arrived, 

but then the sun came out! Yay!

We had lunch and made friends with the "lifeguard" there. 

Ready to go back!

We were lucky to experience such a beautiful evening. 

Not. Fun. 

Taking a break by a rice field. 

El Nido Airport. 

We returned our scooters and made it back in time for a breathtaking sunset at our hotel. 

My last morning was beautiful! For some insane reason, they still cancelled the island hopping tours. 

Instead, we lied around the beach all morning and afternoon. We also got massages. 

View from Liezel's hotel. 

Fish tacos with mango salsa for lunch. Wonderful. 

I left Liezel that evening because I had to get back to Korea for work. My last hotel was called Empire Suites Hotel back in Puerto Princesa. It was the nicest place I stayed the whole trip.

Adios Palawan! I really enjoyed my time here!