Category: Travel

My first trip to Puerto Princesa, Palawan was great!  I had such a great time!  I would like to thank AirPhil Express for this opportunity.  I hope I was able to finish all of my posts earlier but here I am, finally completing my long list of Puerta Princesa posts.

I lost my Huawei Wireless Modem E585 in this trip but I decided to just let it go.  The awesome experience just doesn’t compare to a single gadget.  I must say that I’m truly enjoying exploring the Philippines.  Our country is really beautiful!  There are so many places to go to.

If you are planning on a Puerto Princesa trip, allow me to share with you our whole itinerary.  This might help you 🙂  Enjoy Puerto Princesa!

AirPhil Express Puerto Princesa Adventours

Marianne Home Inn

Food at Marianne Home Inn

Honda Bay Island Hopping

Buffet Lunch at Honda Bay

Iwahig Firefly Watching

Viet Ville

Buenavista Viewdeck

Underground River

Taraw Vista Lodge & Restaurant

Thanh-Tam Chaolong Haus

Puerto Princesa Baywalk

Plaza Cuartel

Immaculate Concepcion Cathedral

Tiangge Tiangge Pasalubong and Souvenir Center

Mitra’s Ranch

Baker’s Hill

Binuatan Creations

The last place we went to in Puerto Princesa, Palawan before going back to Manila is Binuatan Creations.  Binuatan Creations is a well-known handicraft shop that manufactures handloom woven products utilizing Palawan’s indigenous fibers.

The goal of the company is to transform field grasses and fibers that can be found in Palawan into useful and functional products.

Seeing the people in action makes me really appreciate what they are doing.  As expected, Binuatan Creations is very successful that they get their products exported to other countries like the U.S.A.

Weaving Area

Visitors of Binuatan Creations can observe and even experience how the products were made.  The personnel were more than kind to answer all our questions.  They shared with us the process and showed us what the raw materials were.

The grasses and fibers that are being used in creating the beautiful hand loom woven products are the ff.: field grasses, amumuting, buri (palm tree), buntal fibers, buri sticks, coconut ginit, tikog grass, vetiver grass, arena grass, banana, daninel grass, florida grass and isay grass.

The process in making the products:

1. grasses being dyed into desired color.
2. drying.
3. dyed buntal fibers.
4. warping of threads to be used for weaving.
5. harvesting of threads from warping frame.
6. setting in of threads into the looms.
7. drawing of threads through heddle wires and reeds.
8. weaving.
9. finishing and cutting of woven materials.
10. packaging.

Judging from the list of tasks to be done.  It seems that each product are made at least 2-3 days.    I came out of Binuatan Creations so appreciative of the products that are being manufactured there.

The Shop

Then, we went inside the shop where the products are being sold.  There are so many products on display.  Every item is so nice to look at.  The prices might be on the expensive side but how it was created and the long process explained why it is so.  The hand loom woven products are surely made of high quality too.  We saw how it was made ourselves.

Every item you buy in this shop is truly world-class.  You get your money’s worth.

Binuatan Creations Handloom Weaving products include: placemats, table runners, wall finishing & window blinds, key chains, bags, handy bags, notepads, wallets, coin purse, hats, curtains, split curtain, arranged grass flowers and slippers.

What a nice way to end my trip to Puerto Princesa, Palawan.  It surely leaves me with so much good memories.

——————–
Binuatan Creations Handloom Weaving
Pajara, Sta. Monica, Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, Philippines
(048) 433-7630

I initially thought that Baker’s Hill is just a popular place in Puerto Princesa City that sells baked goods.  I was pleasantly surprised when we arrived at Baker’s Hill Palawan and discovered how much more the place has to offer.

Baker’s Hill Palawan as the name implies is a place on top of a hill where bakers cook delicious baked products for visitors.  It’s a theme park that reminds me of Disneyland.  As I walk through the area, I felt like a kid again!  I had to take pictures with bugs bunny, donald duck, marilyn monroe and other tons of statues all over Baker’s Hill.  Kids and adults-alike would love this beautiful park!

As I continued to stroll around, I saw the beautiful themed houses.  I remember Disneyland has those kinds of stuff too so it really brought back a lot of memories.

Look at this house (picture below), there was a pirate hanging around!  Aha!  Shall we run now?  😛

Baker’s Hill Palawan sells delicious home-made breads and baked goodies.  The most popular item on sale is the hopia.  A lot of tourists go all the way to Baker’s Hill just to buy a box or two of Baker’s Hill Hopia.

There are different flavors of hopia on sale.  There’s hopiang mongo, hopiang ube, hopiang pineapple, hopiang hapon and original flavored hopia.  Yes, people don’t buy Baker’s Hill hopia by piece, they buy by box.

Look at the number of boxes my travel companions bought!

I love their counter!  See the voluptuous sexy woman manning the cashiers.  Sooooo cute!

Other food items that are pretty popular among visitors are mamon, crinkles, brownies, choco slice, choco droplets, tostadong mammon and pianono.  The food are so inexpensive and to think they are so yummy!  Buying baked goodies is a must!  You can’t leave Baker’s Hill Palawan without doing so.

Aside from the bakery, there were food stalls that sells stuff like specialty drinks and souvenir items.

If you want a full meal, Baker’s Hill has restaurants inside.  I’m sure guests will still drop by the bakery before they leave the park to buy some hopia.

Baker’s Hill Palawan is huge!  While my friends were busy buying stuff at the bakery, I took the time to finish touring the theme park.  There’s just so much to see and so much to appreciate.

I especially love the awesome landscaping of plants and flowers.  You can even buy some as they have an area full of plants you can purchase and bring home.

A playground is made for kids to play around while they await for their parents to buy baked goodies.  Of course, the disney characters are there to keep the kids company.

For animal-lovers out there, Baker’s Hill do have some animals under their care.  I saw peacocks and birds.

Baker’s Hill Palawan is very near Mitra’s Ranch.  It’s on the way to a lot of Puerto Princesa’s tourist spots so this has always been part of everyone’s itinerary when touring the city.

Admission is free, by the way 🙂

——————–
Baker’s Hill Palawan
Baker’s Hill Mitra Road Sta. Monica, Puerto Princesa City, Philippines
(048)433-3414

Rancho Sta. Monica, popularly known as Mitra’s Ranch is one of the popular tourist spots in Puerto Princesa, Palawan.  This was one of the destinations in our Puerto Princesa City tour.

The big ranch is owned by the family of late house speaker Ramon Mitra & son, Baham Mitra.  I feel it’s a bit generous of the Mitra family to open their personal property to the public.  Entrance fee is free!  We are free to hang out and roam around the place but the house is off-limits.

Mitra’s Ranch is open daily from 6am to 6pm.  Once you see this signage (picture below), you would already know that you’re entering the beautiful ranch.

There are tons of activity you can do in Mitra’s Ranch.  You can do hiking, horseback riding, zip lining and sight-seeing.

There are tables and chairs available for you to have picnic at the garden.  We were there for a few minutes so we toured around and took some pictures.

On March 2011, Mitra’s Ranch started its Palawan Rancho Zipline Adventure.  For only Php500 per person, you can enjoy not just one zipline but three!  Rancho Sta. Monica’s Zipline is composed of 3 zip lines where you can transfer from one zipline to another on tree tops.  First zip line is 300 meters long while the 2nd and 3rd zip lines are 150 meters long each.  After riding the 3 zip lines, you will then do a short hike to go back to the jump-off area.

The triangular-shaped mansion is built on a hill thus providing such a great view of Palawan.  While we enjoy the beauty of Mitra’s Ranch, we took pictures as well.  We had pictures at the picnic grounds and even at the walkway.

I really love the view that we can see from Mitra’s Ranch particularly the Honda Bay Islands.  The beauty of nature indeed!  Ganda ng Pilipinas (Philippines is so beautiful!)!! 🙂

——————–
Mitra’s Ranch
Mitra Road, Santa Monica Heights, Puerto Princesa, Palawan, Philippines

A trip to any place won’t be complete without shopping for some gifts for friends and family.  In Puerto Princesa, Palawan, every tourist spot has its own souvenir section.  However, I believe a visit to Tiangge Tiangge Pasalubong and Souvenir Center is a must!

It’s a pure pasalubong haven, literally!

I never thought that I actually spent more than 30 minutes in there!  Tiangge Tiangge is a public market where you can buy pasalubong goodies.  You can find everything in this place!  It’s like a mini-mall for Puerto Princesa souvenirs.

I immediately entered the air-conditioned souvenir center.  Oh my gosh!  The place is really huge!  I got myself a basket because I was sure I’d be getting so much stuff to bring back home to Manila.

There were clothes on display.  T-shirts, sandos, skirts, shorts and even dresses!  They are affordable too!  Don’t forget to haggle especially if you’re getting a number of items.  Also, you can’t try on white shirts 😛

Palawan is known to sell pretty cheap pearls.  You don’t have to worry as they are real pearls.  It’s just a cheaper version of it as they are freshwater pearls (saltwater pearls are the expensive ones).  So go ahead and get some earrings, bracelets and necklaces there.  I surely did!

Aside from pearls, they also sell other kinds of accessories.  I spent the most time trying to figure out which style of accessory I should get.  I ended up buying several necklaces and bracelets.  One color for each design.  I love to accessorize so I was really happy considering I got all of them at a very low price!

A common souvenir item in Palawan are wood carving creations and handicrafts.  The most popular one being the rainmaker which is a musical instrument that produces sound when you turn the item upside and down.

My last stop in the air-conditioned area is the food section.  I was sure that if I get some food to give to officemates, they will like it.  We sure love to eat, don’t we? 🙂

The popular commodity in Palawan is cashew nuts.  I was ecstatic when I saw that Tiangge Tiangge sell them.  I got myself several big packs of ‘kasoy’ as the delicacy is pretty expensive in Manila.

Tiangge Tiangge Pasalubong and Souvenir Center is a popular place in Puerto Princesa, Palawan.  I wasn’t surprised when I saw the line in the counter.  I mean with the number of items being sold in the place, no one could ever resist not buying anything!  I was pretty impressed with how fast the people at the counter works, they are so used to the long lines!  By the way, haggling happens in the counter so get ready with your pitch when it’s your turn to pay.

I was pretty satisfied with my 3 shopping bags full of souvenirs.  Then….. I saw that there’s actually a non-airconditioned section!  Aha!  I couldn’t stop myself so I shopped again (part 2, yeah!).

This time around, I concentrated on looking for accessories.  There might be styles that I like.  And yes, I got to buy several rings!  You know what?  I got each of them for less than Php100.  I believe I got a very good deal! 🙂

There wasn’t much difference with the items that are being sold in the non-airconditioned area and the air-conditioned area.  I guess we just need to exert more effort in finding souvenirs in the non-airconditioned area as they are not as organized as the air-conditioned one.

Whew!  I super enjoyed my souvenir shopping at Tiangge Tiangge.  Before you wrap up your trip to Puerto Princesa, Palawan, make sure you drop by Tiangge Tiangge Pasalubong and Souvenir Center.  Believe me, it will complete your vacation.  It’s the best place to get your Palawan memorabilia and gifts for your loved ones.

——————–
Tiangge Tiangge Pasalubong and Souvenir Center
Lacao corner Carandang St., Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, Philippines
(048) 434-6041