Casitas de Az Pension - A Great Place to Stay in Palawan

Our vacation in Puerto Princesa, Palawan last July 27-19, 2012 won't be complete without a great place to stay. And we made a good choice for choosing Casitas de Az Pension.

Aside from being accessible to the heart of Puerto Princesa City Proper, Casitas de Az Pension is just within reach of major establishments such as the Badjao Seafront Resto, the Immaculate Concepcion Catheral, NCCC Palawan (the first mall in the Province), ABS CBN Palawan among others.

One of the two buildings of Casitas

Their room accommodations are comparably affordable to other hotels or pension houses in Palawan, besides their facilities are just new and with modern designs. An additional building is being constructed nearby the existing pension house.

As of our vacation last July 27-29, 2012, their rates are as follows:

Standard Room / Single Occupancy - Php900.00/night
Family Room / Good for 4 pax - Php1,800.00/night
Standard Room / Twin Sharing - Php1,100.00/night

Evening shot of Casitas de Az Pension

We stayed at the Casitas de Az Pension for 3 days and 2 nights, and we love the hospitality of the staff especially that we were not charged of penalty even though we only able to check out after 2PM during our last day in Palawan (we were stranded at Badjao Seafront due to heavy rains and strong winds).

Thank you to Casitas de Az Pension for the great accommodation!

For more info about Casitas de Az, please click the link above.

More photos in our Facebook account, or click HERE..

Puerto Princesa Underground River Tour

Friday, July 27, 2012 - After waiting for more than 30 minutes at the loading bay near the mouth of the Puerto Princesa Underground River, it was our turn to tour the river. As we have been informed, the tour of the allowable 1km plus part (regular tour permit) of the river takes at least 45 minutes.

Picture after going out the underground river

As our boatman, Coco slowly tour as inside the underground river. He cheerfully gave us information about the different stalagmites and stalactites found inside the river. These natural formations create different forms and with a broad human imagination, you can think different animals and plants to correlate with the formations.

One of the huge stalactite formation

The underground river was the home of thousands of bats and the very well known balinsasayaw, the bird that make their nest from their saliva, which the locals collect which is the main ingredient of the bird's nest soup.

My lucky shot of the balinsasayaw bird!

Along our way back to the mouth of the underground river, while taking photos of the stalactites, I luckily got a good photo of a flying balinsasayaw bird (at the above photo).

Numerous bat droppings at the upper part of the cave

The PPUR was at least 8 kilometers long but regular visitors are only allowed to tour up to 1.5 kilometers. While those who have special permits can go as far as 4 kilometers deep inside the underground river.

Another big stalactite

Recently, the Puerto Princesa Underground River (PPUR) was named as one of the new 7 Wonders of Nature. This has made the spot attract more tourists, local and foreign alike.

It was indeed a breath taking tour. Our first time to visit PPUR and it was very memorable journey through million of years, how nature do it works at its best!

For more photos, please click HERE.

Journey to the Puerto Princesa Underground River

Last July 27-29, 2012, wifey and I had our yearly vacation and this time with my mother-in-law, brother-in-law and his girlfriend. Our destination is Puerto Princesa, Palawan.

As I am not allowed to be absent from work a long time, we had our vacation itinerary fully loaded. Our flight from Manila was scheduled last July 27 at 5:40 AM.

Just landed at Puerto Princesa Airport!

Upon arrival at the airport at around 7AM, we were fetched by the free airport transfer service offered by the Pension where we planned to stay. Immediately after getting our room, we hurriedly boarded our waiting rented van to Sabang Port, where we will board motorized "bangka" to the underground river.

Due to being in a hurry, we forgot to change clothes and dress up for island and water adventure. With this, I guess we are the time first time tourist at the Underground River wearing jeans and rubber shoes :-)

From Puerto Princesa City proper, the land travel to Sabang Port was around 2 hours. The road was a mix of concrete and asphalt in some areas, with also parts with a lot of pot holes due to the previous rains. The journey to Sabang was a long winding road along the mountains and a typical countryside scenery with a few houses and establishments.

At around past 9AM, we arrived at the Sabang Port, where we paid Environmental Fee of 40 pesos each and rented a motorized bangka for 700 pesos (max of 6 passengers).

At the Sabang Port. Loading area to the Underground River.

The bangka trip to the Underground River  landing bay was around 30 minutes. Along the way, we were fascinated by the beautiful rocks formations and green mountains along the coastal area.

Just landed at the Underground River landing bay

Before entering the Puerto Princesa Underground River Park, we were again required to register and to present our tour permit. Then we proceeded to the second loading bay going inside the river.

The boats going inside the underground river was not motorized, so we have to wait for our turn. While waiting we had time to took pictures at the tour loading bay.

At the far right background is the mouth of the river

We have waited at least 30 minutes and at long last it was our turn to have our Underground River tour. I will be discussing more of our inside the Puerto Princesa Underground River tour in a separate blog post.

Far shot of the mouth of PPUR.

Til next blog post everyone!

For more photos, please click HERE.