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Saturday, September 18, 2004
The Princess treatment
By Jojie Alcantara
ISN'T that a cute royal pun for my short fun tour to Puerto Princesa? But it is kind of true. I had a "princess" treatment during my stay. Sick and still recovering from my Kadayawan fever, I snapped up one luggage (with a zipper that gave way at the last minute, oh no) and hauled myself to the airport. Buddy Alex was frantically waving at me at the departure area. Last call for boarding! (I always come in at the last minute).
I was formally introduced to my fellow delegates at the quick stopover in Cebu. Asked to stay put on the plane while being loaded with fuel and passengers boarding for Puerto Princesa, our group had a noisy photo session. Having met Cebu Pacific's Mindanao Area Manager Ms. Dina Garcia, I have learned that this package tour of Cebu-Davao-Puerto Princesa was launched February of this year to promote the Palawan destination via Cebu Pacific. The package cost was very affordable. A round trip rate of 3 days and 2 nights, with stay at a standard room in Barcelo Asturias Hotel will cost you only P7,734! Another nice hotel, Hotel Fleuris, offers P9,384 with a city tour at that. Our familiarization tour, of course, was special, so we had free buffet breakfast and a city tour compressed in all of three days. For a one hour flight from Cebu to Princesa, the scene below was breathtaking as I clicked my cam away at the small dotted islands with the white-sanded fringes surrounding the mainland.
Puerto Princesa is a big city, but still provincial at heart. Being the provincial capital, it is the center of trade and situated at the mid-section of the island. It has been a Hall of Famer as the Cleanest and Greenest City in the country, so I guess our cities have a lot in common. Except that far from becoming a metropolis, Puerto does not have any taxis, mainly tricycles for public transport. I was told it isn't as clean as it used to be, but with a P200 peso fine for every littering? They're even better at it now! And look, they've got the Davao born NCCC supermarket there! (Of course, it's famous Dos Palmas
Resort is just an island hop away. I just haven't got the time to hop!)
We went off straight to a city tour before we could change into fresh new clothes, but the airconditioned van (courtesy of El Mundo Tours Palawan) was comfortable enough under the humid weather of Puerto.
Thank God for the tinted glass, I was almost reprimanded for clicking away inside the Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm, which was prohibited. There was the butterfly garden, the crocodile farm, the Mitra farm, and more. We bought souvenirs. Mine was particularly odd -- Anito wooden and terra cota artworks by out of school youths through A Boar Land, an arts program in Aborlan, Palawan to support the formal education of these artistic kids. I bought a wooden choker of a man embracing his mammoth genitals like a tree. Don't ask me why. It was too morbidly fascinating so I had to have one. Only problem was how to wear the huge in-your-face choker with a straight face. So now it is hidden in my bag.
The three day trip was fun and educational. Of course, being known for my "series", I leave it to another article for the famous underground river tour the next day, thanks to El Mundo Tours Palawan. My last series will be the now popular "Sign Language", of which I took several amusing local signs and funny names that I just have to share. Hello to the guys and girls of Cebu Pacific Office in Victoria Plaza (Ellen Joven and company), two of whom are my childhood friends (Cheryl and Pinky), and a schoolmate (Fleurdeliz). Thanks, Alex and Lizette, for the fun bonding.
***
(More of the writer's articles in www.witerary.com; react to witty@info.com.ph)
(September 18, 2004 issue)
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