#35 Puerto Princessa & Coron (Philippines / Fulop-szigetek)

English version:

Last stop: The Philippines! I departed back from Papua in the morning of 15th May and on the way back I managed to get back to Bali on the same day. Similar method: boat to Waisai, ferry to Sorong then flight from Sorong to Makassar and finally from Makassar to Denpasar in Bali. I arrived in Denpasar in the evening so I straight jumped into bed because the next morning after we reunited with Flori we got back to Denpasar airport to start our journey to Palawan island in the Philippines. It was quite a journey. The philippinos closed one of their big islands – Boracay – which mixed the flights up big time. So this way we had to go up to Manila, wait 4 – 5 hours there and fly back down to Puerto Princessa on Palawan island. Another day trip. I started getting used to it after the trip from Papua to Bali the day before…

The plan was to stay for 6 weeks around Palawan and fly back to Europe but I cut the trip short in this final leg of the roliegoes trail. Originally I wanted to spend a week around Puerto Princessa and then to split the remaining time between El Nido and the Coron islands. We modified our flight thoug to leave after 10 days because of a few strong reasons. 1) I read everywhere that the food in the Philippines is totally inedible for humans. It turned out to be true. When I read these I decided to go for fish and seafood but it didn’t matter what we chose in a restaurant, the food was digusting – 90% of the time. 2) Accomodation prices are 40% higher than in the other parts of South East Asia I visited before the Philippines so it was not worth it. It’s not only the money because I would not care but the value you get with those dirty bathrooms and run down apartments was just a big difference compare to any other countries in the region. 3) It’s a country run by (corrupt) policemen and the army so it’s full of (often stupid) rules and security people. The atmosphere is very weird. So we flew back to London and right now I am in Hungary for another month to enjoy the summer and hometime. But let’s analyse the Philippines a little bit as apart from my 3 personal reasons I listed, the country is very beautiful.

When we arrived in Puerto Princessa we stayed in a cool little homestay which was the one and only we enjoyed. This was the Villa Skanderbeg Guest House where the owner lady was an angel. We loved her a lot. During our stay in Puerto Princessa we visited a crocodile farm, the Palawan Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Center where you can see huge salt and sweet water crocodiles and also other animals. It was a nice day trip.

We also went up north with our bike to see Subterranean River. This was a long trip, around 100 kms ride from our place and the way back we had some issues. When we went back to the car park to depart back in the afternoon we found our rear tyre to be totally flat. We had to stop 3 times on the way back at vulcanizing shops to fix it. The river though was nice, totally packed with tourists but nice. They take you on a small boat and you go in the cave where the multilingual guide tells you all the details and the story of this UNESCO world heritage site.

The third thing we checked out near Princessa was a nice beach, the Nagtabon beach which is more known among locals. Beautiful beach with crystal clear 32 (!!!) celsius hot water. We went to the Philippines in the beginning of the rainy season which meant sometimes a bit of cloud on the sky and sometimes a 30 mins rain so it was not bad at all. Temperaute was super hot.

After 5 days in Princessa one of my very good friends arrived to visit me. Sergey a former colleague from Dynatrace arrived in the Princessa airport where we waited him with a taxi which was ready to drive up to El Nido. The journey took 5 hours and a few beers. It’s important to mention that my favourite beer: San Miguel is a Philippino beer 🙂

You can also fly to El Nido if you are not going to Princessa, they have an airport which now is being updgraded.

El Nido is a very pretty little town which is growing like a mushroom. Thanks to its beauty even in the rainy season they reached the maximum capacity of their hotels so you can see now constructions everywhere. Cranes build hotels, bridges to cope with the demand of the tourists. Our hotel (Columbus Inn) was forgettable. Cold omlette for breakfast, disgusting bathroom and so on. But as the nature and the ocean is very beautiful and we had big fun with Sergey, we enjoyed El Nido a lot.

We spent 2 days on the Las Cabanas beach which is a perfect beach with palm trees, loads of bars, and a zipline what you can use to slide to another small island 🙂

We also went to the Nagpan or Twin beach for a day. This is another nice and very long beach with ocean 2 sides. The best thing we did was a day trip when we hired a private boat and visited some nice islands. The most amazing things were the Secret Lagoon and the Secret Beach. The Secret Beach is a hidden beach you can only enter by swimming through a hole in the rock. It was incredible, just check the video out. That day we also jumped in the blue water from the boat and even drunk beer in the water. That day is unforgettable.

So we spent 6 fantastic days in El Nido, then travelled back to Princessa because our flight to London departed from there. In Princessa we spent 1 night in an expensive and very shitty hotel – the Blue Lagoon – and another night in the Villa Skanderbeg again before our flight. Blue Lagoon is a proper disaster. Food as usual is disgusting and the service is catastrophic. Anything you ask for they serve something different and you have to wait 20 minutes for a tonic water…

And finally, we started our long journey back to London. A taxi came for us by 9am, took us to the Princessa airport from where we flew to Manila. Arrived around 12 and we had to wait 4 hours. The airport was totally packed. From there we flew to Doha, finally ate proper food 🙂 and from Doha we flew to London Heathrow. It took 31 hours for me to get from the Villa Skanderbeg in Princessa to Reading in the UK. Quite a journey.

Magyar verzio:

Utolso megallo: Fulop-szigetek! Majus 15-en reggel indultam vissza Papuabol es a visszautat sikerult egy nap alatt letudni Baliig. Hasonlo utvonalon kezdtem: hajo Waisaig, komp Sorongig, majd Sorongbol ez uttal Makassarba repultem es onnan Denpasarba, Balira. Keso este erkeztem Denpasarba szoval rogton agyba huppantam, mert a kovetkezo reggel Florival ujra egyesitettuk eroinket es denpasari repterrol megkezdtuk utunkat a Fulop-szigetek Palawan szigete fele. Eleg huzos ut volt. A fulopok lezartak az egyik nagy szigetuket – Boracayt – ami rendesen megkavarta a repulojaratokat, igy fel kellett repulnunk Manilaba, varni 4 – 5 orat aztan visszarepulni del fele Puerto Princessaba Palawanon. Egy ujabb egesz napos ut. Mar kezdtem hozzaszokni a Papua Bali repcsiuttal…

Eredeti tervem az volt, hogy 6 hetet maradok Palawan kornyeken mielott visszarepulok Europaba, de vegul roviditettem a roliegoes utolso szakaszan. Eredetileg 1 hetet toltottem volna Puerto Princessa kornyeken es a fennmarado 5 hetet felosztottam volna El Nido es Coron kozott. Modositottuk a repjegyunket azonban, hogy 10 nap utan otthagyjuk a filippinokat, mert 1) ahogy korabban mindenhol olvastam, a kaja teljesen ehetetlen. Ez igaznak bizonyult. Amikor olvastam ezeket a hireszteleseket, elhataroztam hogy nem szamit, majd eszek halat es tengeri allatkakat. Barmit rendeltunk azonban barhol, a kaja ehetetlen es undorito volt, az esetek 90%-ban. 2) A szallas arak kb 40%-kal magasabbak az altalam korabban latogatott tobbi del-kelet azsiai orszageinal, igy ar/ertek aranyban sem erte meg itt maradni. Nem igazan a penz miatt, inkabb az volt a gaz, hogy sokkal dragabban koszos es budos furdoszobat kaptal, gagyi leharcolt haloszobat, hideg rantottat stb ami hatalmas kontrasztban allt minden elozo orszag szolgaltatas szintjevel. 3) A Fulop-szigetek egy igazi rendorallam, (korrupt) rendorok es katonak altal iranyitva ebbol kifolyolag tele vannak mindenfele es gyakran tok hulye szaballyal es biztonsagi orokkel. A legkor ez miatt eleg fura. Ezen okok miatt visszarepultunk Londonba es most mar epp Magyarorszagon vagyok egy honapot, hogy elvezzem a nyarat es az itthoni levegot. De nezzuk csak meg a Fulop-szigeteket kozelebbrol, mert ettol a 3 eros indoktol eltekintve az orszag gyonyoru.

Ahogy Puerto Princessaba erkeztunk bekoltoztunk egy kellemes kicsit homestay-be, ami az egyetlen szallas volt amit a fulopoknel szerettunk. Ez a hely a Villa Skanderbeg nevre hallgat, ahol a tulajdonos holgy egy angyal. Imadtuk. Puerto Princessai szabadidonket szokas szerint robogos kirandulasokkal toltottuk. Ellatogattunk egy krokodil farmrma a Palawan Wildlife Rescube & Conservation Centerbe ahol lattunk hatalmas sos es edesvizi krokodilokat.

Ezen kivul felrobogtunk eszakra a barlangi folyohoz. Ez egy egesz napos tura volt, mivel a hely 100 km-re fekszik Princessatol es a visszauton akadt egy kis bokkeno. Ahogy visszatertunk a parkoloba, hogy hazainduljunk szembesultunk vele hogy a hatso kerekunk teljesen lapos. A visszauton 3x kellett megallnunk gumis muhelyekben, hogy foldozgassak. A barlangi folyo amugy nagyon szep volt, viszont total tele turistakkal. A szervezok kis csonakokon beeveznek veled a barlangba, ahol a tobbnyelvu turavezetesnek koszonhetoen sok erdekes infot megtudsz errol a UNESCO vilagoroksegge avatott turistalatvanyossagrol.

A harmadik hely, ahova elmentunk Princessa kozeleben egy kellemes strand volt, a Nagtabon Beach ami foleg helyiek altal ismert. Ez egy gyonyoru strand kristaly tiszta es 32 (!!!) celsius fokos vizzel. Az esos evszak elejen utaztunk a Fulop-szigetekre, ami azt jelentette, hogy neha egy kicsit felhos volt az eg es neha volt egy fel oras zapor, de osszessegeben semmi gaz nem volt. Az ido dog meleg volt.

5 nap Princessa utan egy nagyon jo baratom latogatott meg, Sergey akivel korabban a Dynatrace-nel dolgoztunk egyutt. Ahogy leszallt a princessai reptern, mar vartunk ra egy taxival hogy felutazzunk El Nidoba. Az ut 5 oran es sok soron at tartott. Fontos szolgalati kozlemeny hogy a kedvenc sorom: a San Miguel fulop-szigeteki sor 🙂

Repulhetsz is El Nidoba, ha nem akarsz Princessaba menni. Van egy repteruk, amit epp bovitenek.

El Nido egy csinos kisvaros, ami gombakent novekszik es fejlodik. Eszmeletlen szepsegenek koszonhetoen meg igy az esos evszakban is elertek kapacitasaik hatarat, eleg nehez volt szabad szobat talalni. Ez miatt mindenhol epitkezeseket latni, daruk es mas gepek epitenek hoteleket, hidakat mindenfele. Hotelunk ahol megszalltunk, a Columbus Inn felejtheto volt. Hideg rantotta, budos undorito furdoszoba stb. Mivel azonban a termeszet es az ocean elkepesztoen gyonyoru es Sergey-jel jokat mulattunk, igy nagyon jol ereztuk magunkat El Nidoban.

2x voltunk a Las Cabanas beach-en, ami egy tokeletes beach gyonyoru palmakkal, rengeteg barral es egy zipline-nal amin at tudsz csuszni egy pici szigetre.

Ezen kivul ellatogattunk a Nagpan vagy Twin beach-re egyszer. Ez egy masik gyonyoru es nagyon hosszu beach 2 oceani oldallal. A legtutibb dolog, amit El Nidoban csinaltunk az volt, amikor egy hajot bereltunk egy egesz napos sziget turara. Itt csodaltuk meg a Titkos Lagunat es a Titkos Strandot. A Titkos Strandra egy nyilason at kell beuszni. Elkepeszto volt, csak csekkold le a videot. Aznap meg jokat ugraltunk a hajorol a gyonyoru kek vizbe es meg sort is ittunk furdes kozben. Ez a nap felejethetlen volt.

6 fantasztikus napot toltottunk tehat El Nidoban, aztan visszautaztunk Princessaba, mert a Londonba tarto jaratunk onnan indult. Puerto Princessaban 1 ejszakat toltottunk egy draga es szar hotelban a – Blie Lagoonban – es meg egy utolso ejszakat a Villa Skanderbegben. A Blue Lagoon egy katasztrofa. A kaja szokas szerint undorito volt es a szerviz is katasztrofalis. Barmit rendelsz tok mast hoznak ki es egy tonicra 20 percet kell varnod.

Es vegul megkezdtuk utunkat vissza Londonba. Egy taxi erkezett ertunk reggel 9-re, amivel elmentunk a princessai repterre ahonnan elrepultunk Manilaba. 12-re ertunk oda es 4 orat kellett varnunk a full tele repteren. Innen Dohaba repultunk, ahol vegre rendes kajat ettunk 🙂 es Dohabol vegul elrepultunk a londoni Heahtrowig. Osszesen 31 oraig tartott, amig a Villa Skanderbegbol eljutottam az angliai Readingig. Hosszu volt 🙂