Puerto Princesa & Port Barton, Philippines
We decided to fly straight from Manila to Puerto Princessa on the island of Palawan. To make sure we allowed enough time for delays, we had a long wait at the airport for our connecting flight. We tried to sleep but the airport was too loud and busy. Luckily for us, our hotel in Puerto Princesa was only 5 minutes from the airport and transfer was free. As it is high season at the moment in the Philippines, we had to book all of our accommodation in advance and they were quite expensive for what you get. Despite this, our hotel had everything we wanted: pool, restaurant and a comfortable room.
In the afternoon, we headed to the mall. The security in the mall was a bit scary and our bags were checked on the way in. While looking around, I found a pair of sandals that I liked. As mine are grim by now this was ideal. We found some chicken with rice for dinner for £2 which was really tasty.
The following day, we relaxed by the pool and caught up on some sleep. We found a nice buffet restaurant a few minutes away from the hotel in the evening which was pretty good. Similarly, the next day we relaxed by the pool and then wandered into the city centre. We were wanting to go to the underground river but the tour was long and expensive. As it was a Sunday, most of the shops were closed and so there wasn't a lot of things to do. We went to see the Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Plaza Cuartel and a local market.
After this, we headed to an escape room (only the second one in six months). This escape room was quite high tech with Chris being in a harness ready to be in a MI6 scene! It was pretty fun to be fair; I love an escape room! We headed back to the mall for some more delicious cheap chicken and rice.
The next day, we were off to Port Barton. It was only three hours away in the van as our driver was obviously in a hurry. There was a bit of a confussion when we were picked up as the booking was apparently for two other people staying at the hotel. After around 10 minutes they realised it was actually for us and we were on our way. When we arrived in Port Barton, it really was everything I hoped it would be! Everything was so near as it's such a small place and the beach was beautiful with palm trees lining the sand.
When we arrived at our hotel, I noticed that they had a lot of animals including some rabbits which I love. The owner told me one of the rabbits had just had babies and so we saw one week old bunnies! From this moment I knew I was going to like Port Barton.
We relaxed on the beach and found a great bar that did 72p rum and coke/gin and sprite. We spent around 5 hours here, met some great people and listened to some brilliant live music. It was around 10 when we decided we probably should grab something to eat and so headed to a restaurant for some slices of pizza before heading to bed.
The next day, we meet up with some of the people from the bar at White beach. This was a private beach that was around 30 minutes away by car or 15 by boat. As the sea was calm, we opted for the boat. It was a really pleasant journey. We spent the day relaxing by the beach and playing cards. In the evening, we had some dinner and drinks at a restaurant that was owned by one of our new friends from the bar.
On our last day, we relaxed on the main beach after grabbing some lunch and playing chess at a nearby resort. Our time in Port Barton was really relaxing and I would recommend anyone heading to El Nido to visit this place. Everyone we met here was so friendly and it was a great place to relax.
