Badjao Seafront Restaurant: A pleasant & unpleasant experience

Okay, dining at Badjao Seafront Restaurant was not originally part of our itinerary for our first Palawan tour. It’s famous, but not as Ka Lui and Kinabuchs. So since we only got 3Days/2Nights to spent, we had chosen to dine on the top two restaurants; as lunch is free for the Honda Bay and Underground River Tour. And sadly, our contact person for our Puerto Princesa tours, whom we requested to make the reservation for us, forgot to make the reservation at Ka Lui, so we ended up going to Badjao Seafront Restaurant as recommended by Joy, the very accommodating staff, at Tres Pension House.

Location & Setting
The restaurant is quite far from where we stayed, roughly around 20mins of tricycle ride, and it’s not along the main road. Thanks to Joy again who took the liberty to find us a tricyle. Rental rate was Php300 since it was night time and he waited for us.

Entrance

Badjao Seafront is also known as seafood restaurant by the bay but we weren’t able to appreciate the view since it was night time, but I can feel its classy atmosphere from the moment we were at the entrance.

Short trail to the restaurant

It’s somewhat creepy walking in this few meters trail going to the resto as the surrounding was very dark but sights of mangroves can be seen. Nevertheless we enjoyed the photo op, the illusion it creates is photo perfect!

The “Unpleasant Experience”
We have arrived around7:30PM and the place was full house. I wasn’t expecting it since we were told that the place is not usually crowded and that reservation is not necessary. But hey, we didn’t feel bad because the place is full; it only means that there’s something great in here because it’s full-packed! But what we were dismayed of was the way they had welcomed their customer or their customer service in general.

Badjao Seafront Restaurant

Upon entering the restaurant, we were lost as to what to do. There were some crowd standing at the entrance but there were vacant tables too. We decided to approach one of the waiters and he asked us if we had reservation. We replied no and we didn’t get any advice nor answer from him. He just simply walked away leaving us puzzled.  We then asked another waiter and he just replied that we need to wait, but no priority number or something. We just stood there at the entrance along with other groups. I was about to walk away as nobody from the restaurant seems to pay attention to the long queue but my friends said we’ll just wait and be patient cause we were there anyway.

After 30mins or so, we were finally seated. Just as we were excited to order, another waiter placed some table mats and utensils on the table in an unlikely manner. It seems that he was angry or something. We were very disappointed but we just played it cool and make fun of it as not to ruin our night further. *sigh*

The “Pleasant Experience”
So much for the disappointing part and now on the pleasant ones! And of course, what could be more satisfying than a delicious and reasonably-priced food? The restaurant offers a wide range of Filipino dishes and obviously seafood is their specialty. Here’s a glimpse on their seafood menu.

Seafood Menu

 Since we were a group of four, we selected a variant from ‘Comida’ group meal which is good for 4 persons. The group meal has actually 4 options; all seafood viands, a combination of chicken and sea food, an all meat viands and a pork and seafood combination. We opted for an all seafood viands and it was a winner! It tastes good and was enough to satisfy our hungry tummies except the rice. The serving seems not enough for four persons but the viands were more than enough.

Soup of the day

Ensaladang Talong

Crab with Coco Milk

Sizzling Squid

Grilled Fish

Dessert

 With all these sumptuous dishes, we only got to pay Php950 plus a 10% service charge. Not bad right?

The Verdict
It was an unpleasant and pleasant experience to remember. It was a very satisfying evening for our tummies; the food was delicious, fresh and reasonably priced. Too bad we had experienced that unfriendly service. I hope the management of Badjao Seafront Restaurant would take time to orient their waiters on proper customer service. I’m not saying that we require a grand welcome; we just need approachable and friendly waiters.

To avoid that same experience, it’s best to make reservations. I think it would also be nice to visit the restaurant on a day time or just in time for sunset to appreciate the view.

Badjao Seafront Restaurant
Abueg Road, Puerto Princesa City, Philippines
(048) 433-9912

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Posted in: Happy Tummy,Palawan,Puerto Princesa

The Underground River Tour Experience

This is it; we’re going to the World’s famous Underground River! Kuya Danny, our contact for our Puerto Princesa tours, advised us that we’ll be joining other groups for our Underground River Tour since we are only a group of four. Not an issue, it’s an opportunity to make new friends and as they say, the more, the merrier!

Early Birds
Pick up time is 7:30am so we need to wake up early. And excited as we are, we were ready before the van had arrived with full stomach! Thanks to Tres Pension’s free continental breakfast and to Joy, the very accommodating staff, who had prepared our breakfast as early as 6:30am.

Our van has arrived and we were picked up, just right on time. There were a total of 3 groups, with 11 individuals in the van plus our tour guide and a driver.

A Joy Ride
The Underground River is located at Sabang, an approximate two hours ride from Puerto Princesa. It’s a bit long but thanks to our funny tour guide, Doris, and our efficient driver, Kuya Ruben, for making the long drive fun and enjoyable. Doris had shared a lot of information, history, myths and fun facts not only about the Underground River but also about Palawan as a whole.

The long drive gave us a scenic charm of the province and made us realized why Puerto Princesa is considered as a “City in a Forest”.

Since it’s quite a long drive, we made our fist stop to Jazz Souvenir & Coffee Shop. Some had their breakfast while we enjoyed the scenic view of the Ulugan Bay, the Tres Marias and Rita Island.

Can you spot the three little islands? It's the Tres Marias Island!

We also had a short stop, of course for photo op, in this picturesque “lion cave”.

The "Lion" Cave

An Inch Closer
After a few hours of an enjoyable ride, we arrived in Sabang Port. The weather is a bit unpredictable that day; it’s a bit gloomy actually. But nevertheless, there were already a number of tourists in the area, waiting for their turn to ride a boat going to the Underground River.

Since we booked a tour, our tour guide was the one who processed our permits and she had just asked us to give her our ids and she called us when it was our turn. That’s the benefit of getting an Underground River Tour rather than doing DIY tours; all is prepared and taking care of.

After about 15 minutes, our permits we’re ready and it’s our turn for another 20mins of boat ride going to the Underground River. It was a bit rough ride but thanks to our skilled boatman, we never got wet or just splashed by the water unlike what happened on our Half Day Honda Bay tour, wherein we got very wet on our way to the island.

Familiar spot, right? From our elementary textbooks, postcards and now across social sites, this is the most photographed spot in the Underground River area. And of course because we’re “in”, we pose and pose and pose!

Monkeys & Lizards First
From the above spot, we were asked to register and before going directly to the cave, our tour guide directed us first to the Monkey trail area.  She had advised us to keep any plastic bags or food as Monkeys  tend to get and steal things from visitors and that giving food to any animals in this area is illegal as they are firm in preserving not just the natural habitat of the animals but as well as their habit and behavior.

 But sadly, no Monkey showed up during our visit. However, there were Monitor Lizards! There were a number of them in varying sizes. All are freely in the ground, not in a cage or something.

The Trail to the Underground River
After an encounter with the lizards, we proceeded to the trail going to the entrance of the cave. It’s a just a short walk and there were quite a number of visitors already; all waiting to explore one of New 7 Wonders of the Nature, the Underground River.

 

As far as I can remember, our turn to enter the cave was number 39th. Yes, it’s only about 10am and the number of tourists already flocked in. As we need to wait for about an hour before our turn to get in the, we just enjoyed the beautiful scenery and of course, took many pictures as we can.

The Longest Underground River Experience

Cave Entrance

The Underground River Explorer :)

 Alright, this is it! We rode the paddle boat and we were a group of 9 with a boatman/tour guide in one. The once seated in front holds the spotlight and directs it as to where the boatman is referring; usually an interesting formation of stalactites and stalagmites.

Inside the cave

 Upon entering the cave, the boatman started his funny lines by greeting us “Good Evening” as it’s very dark inside. The smell is also unpleasant due to thousands of bats living inside the cave. Known as the World’s longest underground river, the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park is 8.2km long and it flows directly to the South China Sea. However, visitors are only permitted to visit the first 1.5km of the river for safety and health reasons.

Like any other tour, the boatman/tour guide shared a lot of information about the Underground River, its history, how it was discovered, etc. What’s amusing is that they made some story out of the limestone’s formation for millions of years. To name a few, there’s a vegetable garden with interesting vegetable formation like a giant mushroom, there’s a cathedral, a candle, etc.

Last look at the Cave entrance

 For around 45minutes of almost total darkness, I can’t help but realized and be astonished of this amazing natural wonder by our Creator. What even made it more interesting are the entertaining lines of the boatman; I know they are scripted but I recognized their effort to make the tour entertaining as possible. Just be careful when opening your mouth as there are thousands of bat inside the cave, you might taste a “holy shit”.

A Great Way to End the Tour
What a great way to end the tour than by having a buffet lunch at beach front? The foods were delicious and the relaxing ocean breeze was very relaxing. 

Since we finished the tour early, the group had supposedly agreed to proceed to Ugong Cave for spelunking and zipline activity. Unluckily, just as we arrived in the place, the heavy rain started to pour so we decided to go home instead.

On our way to the city, our tour guide also asked us if we would want to be dropped off at the new pasalubong and souvenir center. Granting that we have limited time for our city tour on the next day, we grab the chance and bought some pasalubongs and personalized Palawan souvenir shirt before going back to Tres Pension.

The Verdict
The Puerto Princesa Underground River is truly a wonder! It's one of a kind and we're so blessed to have this in our country. The tour itself was also fun, hassle-free and enriching experience; thanks to our tour guide and driver. And with that, I would say that an Underground River Tour is a must when in Palawan.

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Posted in: Palawan,Puerto Princesa

Half Day Honda Bay Tour: A Desperate Move

We luckily booked a promo flight to Puerto Princesa last November and it was good for a 3days/2Nights vacation. We were greening upon successfully booking the flight – Php700 for a roundtrip Cebu-Palawan flight! Yep, it’s way cheaper than the regular rates. But little did we know that 3days is not really enough to enjoy the beautiful province of Palawan, or even Puerto Princesa at least.

Dilemma Moments
Came January and we were in dilemma. We started looking and planning for things we can do in Palawan. And obviously, the recently world renown new seven wonders of nature, the Underground River(PPUR), was a unanimous choice for us all. So since it’s located in Puerto Princesa, we research on tourist attraction around the area. El Nido and Dos Palmas attractions are out of the question, we would hopefully visit those places on our next Palawan trip or possibly trips?hahahahaha! (promo fares is our hope)

After some research, we narrowed our choices to the most well known tourist spot in Puerto Princesa – the Honda Bay, PPUR and the City tour. We checked our flight schedule and then aaaargh! All are mid day, 12:10nn arrival in Puerto and 12:40nn back to Cebu! There’s no way we can visit these three spots considering our flight schedules. We felt bad but there’s nothing we can do. We can book another one or reschedule it but the fare would cost a lot.

A Sprinkle of Hope
Given the time constraint, we need to choose between Honday Bay Tour or PPUR since both are whole day tours as per travel agencies and hotels. The city tour, which is only good for half a day, is doable. As PPUR is now very popular, we obviously chose it over Honda Bay. We then requested for quotes from several hotels and travel agencies, to at least get the cheapest deal.

Luck as it may seem, we received a quote with a half day or whole day option for Honda Bay tour. With a sprinkle of hope, I automatically even called the hotel who had given that quote but to my dismay, she informed me that they no longer cater that half day Honda Bay tour. But the phrase ‘no longer’ lingers in my mind, meaning it’s still possible to other tour provider, right?

Pandan Island

Kuya Danny is the man
We were desperate. We thoroughly researched online if Half Day Honda Bay Island Tour is possible, and then I came across the name ‘Kuya Danny’. He’s a local from Puerto Princesa who offers tour services. My friend Divi contacted him and thank God he agreed to take care of our Half Day Honda Bay Tour.

with Kuya Danny

This is it!
Thankfully our flight was on schedule and we arrived in Puerto around 12 in the afternoon. Kuya Danny picked us up at the airport to save time and immediately we proceeded to the wharf located at Purok Honda Bay, Barangay Sta. Lourdes. It’s a 20-30mins ride from the airport.

@ Honda Bay Wharf

We registered our names and paid the boat rental then waited for our boatman to call us.

A Taste of Honda Bay
Considering our limited time, Kuya Danny instructed our boatman to immediately proceed to Pandan Island as this is the most beautiful among the islands visited when doing Honda Bay tour. Since we only have few hours to do the tour, he initially planned to tour us to at least two islands, the Pandan and Snake Island. But sadly Snake island is temporarily closed during that time so we only got to visit one island :(

The Pandan Island

Isla Pandan

After about 30-45mins of rough boat ride from the wharf, we finally arrived at Pandan Island. The island is attractive with the colorful flags and a number of beautiful cottages. However, we only rented a table since all cottages were already occupied when we have arrived.

And since it’s already past 1PM, we ate our sumptuous lunch first, which was prepared by Kuya Danny, before enjoying the island.

Swim, Snorkel, Pose
Yes, don’t forget your Snorkeling gears when visiting the island. It’s my first time to do it and I struggled for some time to get used with the device..hahaha!

Getting ready

Really trying..hahahah!

But seeing those beautiful fishes was amazing and it was worth it! I was fascinated by the fact that they feel so secured in their environment. Secure in the sense that they are not afraid of humans; that they flocked in our hands when we did fish feeding. Yep, you can bring some bread or bread crumbs to attract more fishes. The site was really delightful.

And of course, besides snorkeling and swimming, we did a lot of posing for the camera!

The Jump Shot

with the Giant Starfish Shot

The Verdict
Though our Half Day Honda Bay tour did not turned out as expected, we were at least glad to have a taste of Honda Bay Island. I can say that it's a desperate move - we only got to visit one island with the same cost than having it whole day and visiting more islands. But the snorkeling experience made this trip truly memorable and worth it. And not to mention the lessons we have learned in this trip. As to what these lessons are? I guess I just have to save it for another post. :)

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Posted in: Palawan,Puerto Princesa

Tres Pension House in Palawan

We are shoe string travelers; we usually exhaust any means in order to have a cheaper vacation, from awaiting airplane promos to scouting cheap accommodation. After successfully booking our promo air fare, we were so lucky to find Tres Pension House for our cheap Puerto Princesa, Palawan accommodation.

Entrance - Concrete Accommodation

Cheap Accommodation
I admit, the very reason why we booked in Tres Pension house was because of their cheap room rates. Thanks to Trip Advisor, I was able to find this great place. It has a few reviews but all were good and the rate is cheap. As we know, Puerto Princesa is now becoming very popular and as top destination not just here in the Philippines but all over the world. It’s where the Underground River is, one of the wonders of nature. I’m expecting that the prices are relatively high considering the demand but I was relieved and happy to know that there’s cheaper accommodation for budget travelers like us.

Garden and Lounge Area

It’s a steal – Php1, 000 per night for a standard aircon room accommodation which is good for two persons. It has all the basic amenities, fee airport transfers, unlimited wifi access plus complimentary continental breakfast.

Free Breakfast

‘Homey’ Feeling
It’s the coziness of the place that makes it stand out among other hotels in Palawan. We felt were at home during our entire stay. The place is very welcoming, ‘homey’ and not to mention the staff! They were all very accommodating and helpful.

Garden

Lounge Area

The small Japanese inspired garden and this elegant spot also added a relaxing setting in the area. It’s a perfect spot when you just want to sit, play some ‘sungka’ or just want to relax.

‘2 in 1’
The place is also divided, as in literally, into two areas, the concrete and native style accommodation. Reception area, the small garden and the concrete accommodation is located in one area. Each room has a terrace in which guests can relax and eat their breakfast.

Reception

Concrete Style Accommodation

The native accommodation, which is located across the street, is of course of native style and somewhat cute Japanese inspired dining area in which guests would eat their breakfast in a Japanese setup.

Native Style Accommodation

Japanese Style Dining Area

Room Amenities

The room, beddings and towels are clean and fresh. It has two beds; semi double in sized, and just perfect for us four. The bathroom is also clean, it has no bath tub but has hot and cold shower.

Concrete Room Accommodation

My only negative comment is that the layout of the room where we stayed is so awkward. The television is not positioned within your line of sight when in bed. You may suffer from stiff neck from doing so..hahahah! I’m not sure if this is the layout for all of their rooms though. But nevertheless, we had a great and comfortable sleep. We are there to explore Puerto Princesa and not to watch television after all. *wink*

Location
The place is not along the main road and is somewhat in a residential area. But hey, it’s just a few minutes from the main road and actually 10-15mins from the airport. It’s located few meters away from the City Coliseum and there’s also a free shuttle from the place to the main road.

The Verdict
Tres Pension House is home away from home. The cozy feeling of the place and warm accommodation of the staff is superb! This is what makes the place outstanding from any other accommodation plus the cheap rate they have.

Tres Pension House
Purok Molave, Peneyra Road, Bgy.San Pedro
Puerto Princesa City, Palawan
(048) 723 1541/0919 991 0786 

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Posted in: Palawan,Puerto Princesa

Cebu International Golf and Resort

Cebu International Golf and Resort is where we had our last team building for 2011. The place is not that well known compared to other resorts and to the locals as its main attraction is the golf course and as we know, golf is only a famous among the upper class. And thanks to this team building activity, we had the chance to visit the place and experience something new.

The Resort & Golf Course
The place is really huge, as I’ve read that it’s about 8 hectares; the golf course is very well maintained with lots of greens and beautifully manicured grasses.

We were so amazed with the area and the view that we even rented their golf cart and strolled around the course.

For the resort, as the place is elevated, it offers a beautiful view of the sea.

It has also access to the beach area. But don’t’ expect much and that it’s comparable with the known beaches here in Cebu. It’s white but the shoreline is very small and there are grasses under the water.  You also need to walk through the long stairways before you can reach the beach. But nevertheless, the sight of rock formation and the relaxing ocean breeze justify the long stairways.

It has two medium sized swimming pools. Pool rate is Php100 for kids and Php200 for adults.

Accommodation & Food

Cebu International Golf and Resort offers room accommodation and villas for those who want to stay for a night or for a period of time. We had occupied their “King Suite Room” and it had basically provided us with an ample space. It has one room, a king and queen bed with two bathrooms, a living and kitchen area. Extra beds were also provided upon request. The only downside is there comfort/bath rooms. It’s somewhat outdated and not well maintained.

As for the food, they had a restaurant and you can also bring some food and request them to cook it for you but with a service charge of course. Grilling areas are also available.

The Verdict

All in all we had a great stay. We had tried something different and enjoyed it as well. The place is an ideal venue for team building as the area is huge and not crowded and of course for those who want to play golf away from the hustle and bustle in the city. The Filipino staffs were also accommodating and did I mention that this place is managed by Koreans and Japanese? Oh well, it is! :)

Cebu International Gold & Resort is located at Barangay Lambug, Badian, Cebu. You can contact them through tel no. (63) (032) 345-3339

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Posted in: Badian,Cebu