Day 5-6: Bye, El Nido ,Back To Puerto Princesa

We had to wake up early one last time to catch our 7am van to Puerto Princesa. We'll surely miss having breakfast by the beach

It's actually just a short walk from Marina Garden to the terminal but we didn’t know so we took a trike. Since we had already paid in advance at Fort Wally,Puerto Princesa, we already had reserved seats on the spanking new Nissan Urvan which was more spacious and comfortable and had tv monitors at the back of the headrests! . Again, it's not the norm but you can ask the people at Fort Wally if they can bring you to your hotel/ pension in Puerto Princesa for an additonal P200.
Our van had a tv monitor behind the headrests! Our driver Ryan  is a cool,chatty guy. He used to live in Quezon City but moved to El Nido to escape the city life. He can also arrange  tours and accommodations in El Nido for people who want a worry-free vacation. Contact him at 09394667311 or 09165900880.

I originally wanted to stay in El Nido for 5 days, 4 nights but I was afraid that with all the road constuction and stories of how the buses break down and block the road back to Puerto, we might miss our flight back home! So we went back to Audissie  but it was all for the best as we had an extra day to buy to explore and buy pasalubong!

Tip: If you want to buy pearls, go to Tiangge-Tiangge. All trike drivers should know where this is. While you can also buy your stuff at the aircon stalls outside, I recommend Delma's store. Ask about their wholesale price for the small pearl earrings. You will feel like a datu and buy lots and lots of them for your friends and family.

You can also buy Palawan tshirts and cashew brittle or bandi around that area or at the market. There's also lots of dried fish and fresh fruits at the market.

 



For dinner, we went to Kinabuch, which is always looks full with all the cars parked outside but the place has lots of tables, so don't worry. This was voted by my family as the best resto for taste and value. It's like Gerry's grill in Manila. If you want to impress, go to Ka Lui, but if you want to pig out, go to Kinabuch. (Food pics soon)

After dinner, we returned to the baywalk because Twinx and Jon wanted to rent a bike. We were supposed to rent one with a sidecar(P75) but didn’t have enough cash  and were too lazy to go back to the pension house.

For our last day in Puerto Princesa, we had breakfast at Neva’s. We were constantly amazed at how almost all the restos here were into the native/Asian design. It was so refreshing to our urban-weary eyes. The food was good, too!

 




Tip:  Buy fresh seafood at the market. My mom bought some crabs for P180/kilo. They can pack it for you or you can have your hotel/pension house cook it for you for a minimal fee.

After some last minute shopping for more bandi and pearls, we had lunch at newly-opened Heavenly Desserts and while the food was just ok, we welcomed the 20% discount they gave because we were some of their first customers. Yey!

Tip: After checking in at the airport, check out Kamarikutan Café, just a 5-10 minute walk away. It’s also an art gallery and full of picture-taking possibilities while waiting for your food. Not many of our co-passengers knew about the café as they chose to wait for more than 2 hours at the airport and had to settle for overpriced instant noodles sold on the plane for merienda.