Many of us have goals this year. I guess I already mentioned that one of my goals would be to be in good health along with the rest of the family (Hubby and Alex). And thinking about it now, having a good posture should also be part of my goals since this is also covered in having a good shape. My posture is not good anymore. That's what I get for sitting in front of the computer for the whole day! Although there is a posture corrector that I can buy which is something that I can wear for the day. This corrector actually would help me stand up straight, and ease shoulder and back pain, which I'm having for years!
What is your description of a perfect night?
Well, for me this...
A surprise dinner date at our place by Hubby!
Steak prepared by Hubby himself! Woweeee!
MYMP's Crazy for You at the background while having dinner...
Alex surprised by Hubby with balloons...
And Barney too!
Surprised by the unexpected yet all-I-ever want gift - portable hardisk
And finishing up the night with a good movie...
Nothing can get any better than this! Thanks for the wonderful night, Sweetie! You're the best!
*Movie Poster Pic from Movieweb.com
Hubby just confirmed that the flowers that I ordered for him arrived a couple of hours ago in his office. Yes, you read it right, for HIM. I know, not the typical gift for men or guys. But honestly I'm at a loss for gifts to give already. LOL! Last Christmas I gave him PSP, on our anniversary this year I gave him a facial scrub and the trip. Now, I couldn't think of something that is not too expensive but sweet.
So there.
I ordered a bouquet of red roses for my ever loving and supportive Hubby! You deserve it Hon. You really do!
We also ordered one for my Mom and guess what time she got it? She got it at 5:30 in the morning! Talk about good service ha!
My sister and I were talking earlier and I was asking her, what's with red roses? And I answered my own question. I guess because red is LOVE.
Happy Hearts Day, everybody! Share some LOVE today!
After dinner on our second night in Puerto Princesa we realized that it was a Saturday! And if it's a Saturday there must be a night out right? Asturias Hotel has it's own bar there but we opted to go out and explore the city.
We went to Kinabuch. According to my sister Kinabuch, is the best known hang-out spot of Puerto Princesa. It offers grilled food, beer, and billiards. When we got there the place was so similar to Jerry's Grill, but this one is bigger it has an open space if you'd like to feel the fresh air of Puerto Princesa. I loved this place. :)
Hubby had his usual drink of Cerveza Negra mixed with Pale Pilsen. If you haven't tried this mix, you should one of these days! I had a drink (which I now forgot what it's called) with vodka, sprite, and vanilla ice cream. It was too strong for me though (I'm not really a drinker). But it was good when I mixed it with lots and lots of ice. LOL!
Anyway, I think we were too tired that we got drunk easily so at around 12 midnight we called it a night and went back to the hotel.
Now for our third day in Palawan, our whole day was spent island hopping in Honda bay. Again we started early, the van was supposed to picked us up at 7:30AM but they were able to pick us at around 8AM already. Good thing the port on the way to Honda Bay was just near, around 15 minutes travel time.
We were able to get a bangka as soon as we got to the port. We rented some snorkeling shoes and gears just to make the trip worthwhile and also I heard that Palawan has the most wonderful corals!
First island stop is called the Pandan Island. It was called Pandan because of the trees that grew there. We snorkeled for a couple of minutes here and then our tour guide prepared our lunch. We purchased a big fish for lunch too! Mind you, Hubby and I were able to finish almost a kilo of fish for that meal. LOL! It was sooo fresh, I wanted to live there forever! We also met a couple of guys there who were also part of the tour.
Can you see a Pandan tree?
After a very sumptuous lunch we went back to the bangka and headed to the next island which is called Snake Island. Nope snakes weren't present here but it was called a snake island because it shaped like a snake. We tried to do snorkeling again in this island and fishes here were wonderful! Although most of the fishes were small but they look amazing when they swam together.
There were not much trees in this island and that's why it's too hot I guess! After a couple of minutes of snorkeling and photo ops we then went to the third island stop which is called the Starfish Island. This is my favorite island I can say! The boatmen were able to get a looot of starfishes for us (but he immediately returned it afterwards) to take some pictures.
We also got some cute stones and shells from the shore for souvenir. It was around 3Pm that we went back to the bangka. Good thing the waves were not too huge. I was sooo tired that day that I fell asleep while we were in the bangka! I can't even believe it!
Anyway, we were back at the hotel and we thought of having snacks. After we took a nap and then prepared for dinner. Yes, if you noticed we were eating all the time when we were there! I gained a lot of weight after this vacation and I swear that I'm losing those pounds hopefully before the summer begins.
After dinner, since it was our last night, we decided to have coffee at Itoy's. This is their own version of their Starbucks.
Tired and Sleepy...Look at my Sunburned Arms!!!
It was good, a little cheaper than Starbucks of course. I got my drink at around p95 which is already the grande of Starbucks. I didn't like my drink much but since Hubby liked it and I liked his drink more, we exchanged drinks. I realized that we always do this, I would like his drink or food more than what I ordered. I don't know why though. LOL!
Well after the coffee and some reading in the cafe we went back to the hotel and again called it a night.
Coming up next...our last day at Puerto Princesa.
Alex's 2nd birthday party invite that is...
Check it out here!
Hubby used to be in Marketing and Sales. But now (I guess after my influence?) he is now happily a techy guy in his department. You see, he is really the technical know how. He talks about patch panel, cables, and stuff. He loves networking while me, on the other hand knows nothing about it! I've been with IT for 8 long years already but all I know is that I do web programming and that's it! I guess if you are really a techy guy you have to be so curious on what's happening around the IT world just to keep yourself updated from time to time.
Our second day in Palawan was unforgettable. It was allotted for a tour to the Underground River. I've heard about good raves about this place and they said that if you don't visit the Underground River, it's like you haven't visited Palawan at all!
And also, this is the reason why we didn't bring Alex with us. Hubby and I just thought that it would not be safe for her and we will never know her moods. We even thought that she might jump out of the boat because she just wants too. LOL! So Peachy and other Moms who want to bring their little ones to Palawan, think twice if you really want but if your kids are well-behaved, you won't have a problem at all. Or another option is not to join the Underground River tour.
The van arrived at around 730 in the morning. It was on time, we were just early so we took a couple of photos in front of the hotel while waiting for it.
The trip to the underground river was 2 and 1/2 hours! Yeap, that long and I'm telling you, it was REALLY bumpy. Almost half of the trip we had to passed the rough roads. I was actually tired because of the trip. We had one stop over, bought a few stuff for pasalubong and then took some photos.
Overlooking Honday Bay...
Shopping time!
Hehe!
After a short stop and some shopping, we again headed back to the van and started the trip. After an hour or so, we finally arrived to the Sabang River which is the way to the Underground River. We took another bangka which was another 30 - 45 minutes to the main destination.
The waves were huuuuge! So it was another bumpy ride for us! But the view was spectacular so we didn't notice the bumpy ride at all. :)
After the boat ride we went straight to the registration area. What I love about Palawan is that they really take care of the tourists. We had to take down our names before entering the cave just in case something happens, blah, blah, blah. And then finally a boat arrived, we were then off to the cave!
The entrance to the cave...
We weren't able to take nice photos inside the cave because it was sooo dark! All in all our trip for 1.2 KM was around 45 minutes. Boy, I was scared when I was inside. It was really dark and bats were all over! But it was a nice and different experience for us.
After the boat ride to the cave we took a few photos of the very nice view along the beach and then we had lunch literally with the lizards and the monkeys. :) It was another unforgettable experience. The animals were just roaming around the place while we eat. It was scary at first but realizing that they were safe, we felt more at ease (but still cautius! LOL!) of them.
Check these out...
Yes, this is real!
I was pretending to be brave...LOL!
It was a lunch that we will never ever forget! :D After taking some more photos, we rode again the boat on the way back. It was another 2 and 1/2 hours at the van. We had one stop over and then one thing we knew (because I slept during the trip) we were at the hotel.
Since we realized that it was still early, we decided to check out Baker's Hill. One of the places that my Sister said, should not be missed! It was far though. We had to pay p150 for the tricyle and then asked the driver to wait for us.
The place was actually a bakery with full of goodies. They were known for their hopia. They also had a restaurant there were we decided to have our snacks. We had pansit which was very good and cheap too! I guess the people come to this place because it's nice for picture taking and kids would love it here. They even have a playground and mini zoo inside the area.
I bought again some goodies for my in-laws and Mom and then we headed back to the hotel. We took a dip to the pool for awhile then we had dinner and then decided again to go out and check out what has Palawan in store for us at night. :)
Coming up next...our Saturday night in Palawan and our third day -- Island Hopping!
Have you ever heard of a website where you can win big, big cash prizes? Sounds impossible but yes, there is one called CashTomato.com! It's like in the sweepstakes where weekly winners are drawn. It is actually a video sharing site meaning people can share videos here. But the best thing is that they sponsor contests weekly and they give out cash and prizes to the users of the site.
What I also like here is that the videos that you share can be categorized (if it has became popular) to most voted, most viewed, and most commented. This way you will know that your video has been appreciated by the other users of the website. Isn't it cool? Now I'm planning to join CashTomato.com and already thinking of what videos to share. You see, I have lots of video of Alex. There are videos that she was dancing, watching TV, playing, and many others.
It's been years since I wanted to go to Palawan. People would usually tell me that Palawan is waaay better than Boracay. Well, after staying there for 4 days and 3 nights, I can say that both offer wonderful and yet different experiences. Boracay is more of beach, food & dining, and night outs. Palawan is more on the relaxing part, tours, island hopping, and a lot of seafoods!
I just love Palawan. I'm not saying that I love it more now than Boracay, I would still go back to Boracay because I wanted to bring Alex there. But being in Palawan makes you appreciate the beauty of our country. It made me realized how much we are actually blessed to have such wonderful "treasures" and I would say that Palawan is doing great in preserving it! Kudos to Palawan for being so clean and I think almost everyone there loves their town and takes care of it very much. I would want to go back there again hopefully when Alex is old enough to be able to join us in the tours. :)
Anyway, we left Manila at 7 AM thru Cebu Pacific (thanks again to PISO fare!). We arrived at Puerto Princesa around 8:15 AM and they said that our flight was early. Yes, it was a good start! :)
Welcome to Puerto Princesa!
We got the Asturias Hotel package where it includes round trip airport transfer. The van was so late I think we waited for more than 30minutes before it arrived. But it was ok since the weather was cool and we were only having the half day city tour for this day so weren't really in a hurry.
We liked the lobby of the Asturias Hotel. It was refreshing. Although not the typical 5-star hotel lobby of course but it was more than what we had expected. Breakfast was not yet included in our package so we just tried to ignore our hunger and tried to go to sleep (LOL! Kidding...). We actually took our breakfast in the airport so we were still full and decided to wait for lunch.
Asturias' Front Desk
Lunch was Yummy!
Overlooking the Pool...
Our half day city tour started around 1:30PM. The hotel booked us at Ellen's Travel and Tours and we liked it so much because they were on time that day.
First stop is Butterfly Garden. It was small and not too much butterflies but the place was nice and refreshing (how many times did I mention this word already?). We took a couple of photos here and we were so happy with the results. (Well, actually Hubby took most of our photos of the entire trip so you will be seeing a lot of ME on the photos. LOL!)
Second stop is the Crocodile Farm & Nature Park which is very interesting. There were a lot of crocodiles there, ostriches, and guess what? Hubby get to hold a baby "bayawak"! It was scary so I didn't dare hold it! LOL! There were also some souvenir shops here.
Scary Baby Crocodile!
Third stop is the Ihawig Penal Farm which was not really a farm but a prison. There's not much to see in this place though but there is a shop where you can buy some stuff made by the inmates. Really interesting. The place is huuuuge! And what I like here is that inmates get to be rehabilitated as well. They do farming and a lot of stuff. We only bought some stuff in the shop because we wanted to support the inmates. It was a nice idea really and it would be good if they implement something similar here in Manila. :)
Fourth stop is the Mitra Ranch owned by of course the Mitra's. It was just a view deck of the Honda bay and they opened it for public. It was nice for picture taking. We didn't stay here for long though because there's really not much to see.
Fifth stop is the Weaving Shop (which I completely forgot the name). It was pretty interesting and their stuff were nice too. We were able to buy some place mats and table runner for the house. The tour guide (named Jasper) said that they export their products and one of their clients is Calvin Klein.
So, there, our half day city tour was over. Hubby and I had fun! We got hungry after the tour, good thing we bought some chips. It's really good to bring some snacks especially if you have a husband like mine who is always hungry! hehe! Kidding Hon...Anyway, after some snacks, we took a nap, then had dinner afterwards at the hotel then took a dip at the pool.
Coming up next...Our Second Day - A trip to the Underground River!
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