Philippine Travel Notes

After an hour and 40 minutes of waiting (but never boring) in and around the Sabang Boat Terminal, it was finally our turn to hop on a boat, going to the Puerto Princesa Underground River in Palawan. Yey! A gloomy noontime. At 11:33AM, the skies looked dark. But it wasn't a show-stopper. Exciting, in fact! Good that our tour guides were able to get a boat big enough to carry the group (we came in two vans, remember?). It was merrier, just like in yesterday's Honda Bay Island Hopping . The banter was louder! As soon as we pushed back from the wharf, and as our "pambot" (pump boat) cruised the waters with a very loud engine noise, both our tour guides started telling us facts, stories and histories of the area - such as: this is/was the West Philippine Sea that our boat was traversing on! Questions were raised! Ears opened wide! ..."about a hundred kilometers to our left are the myriad of shoals, banks, islets and islands of the "Kalayaan Group of Isla...

Let us start this story with a screenshot of the last paragraph (and photo) of my previous post.., That "next story" begins here and now...! Okay, at 75 kilometers away form city center of Puerto Princesa, this place is not near. It is almost like traveling the whole length of Singapore east to west AND back! Via a road of rivers, fields and forests. But that road amid farms, mangroves, karst mountains and endangered specie habitats, is and can be the tour or adventure by itself. Reason why my previous story was so long, I had to omit some topics! Anyway, I also said that reaching Sabang, you are not there yet. The underground river is still far! But.., This big wide photographic "backdrop" is quite convenient for your "posterity shots" - if only for you to have something to show and remember-by - that you have been there (at least 6 or 7kms short) haha! I'm probably not the only one who wonders why such a big "as if you are there...

Which Sabang is this? Ah, good you asked, because there are many places named Sabang all over the Philippines (Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao)! There's even also a Sabang in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Da! The Sabang that's in our topic today, is the one in Puerto Princesa. And don't just say "puerto", as there is also a Sabang in Puerto Galera, Mindoro! This Sabang I am talking about is the jump-off point to the famous "Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park" commonly known as "underground river"! This Sabang, is actually even just a sitio of Barangay Cabayugan, Puerto Princesa City in Palawan. But it is now well-known to travelers, and getting to be a big commercial settlement, owing to its being the only safe and comfortable jump-off point for tours going to the underground river. Its not near though! Sabang is only 75kms from Puerto Princesa's city center. But it takes from 1.5 to 2 hours (or more) on a private vehicle and on a ...