lotus garden

one of the things we really enjoyed in puerto princesa was the dining. while the food was really good, the restaurants themselves were actually quite an experience already. most of the places we ate in showcased architectural and visual artistry that complemented the meals we had wonderfully.

our original intent was to go to ka lui only to discover that it was closed on sundays. since we were hungry already, we decided to proceed next door at the lotus garden restaurant. it was a japanese restaurant. customers are asked to go barefoot (like in banwa pension house) upon entering the main restuarant. one can choose to sit on the floor or take a regular table. we chose the one the table over a tiled hole in the ground so we could still stretch our legs.

when we got the menu, the prices were on the expensive side. each meal started at P250.00 on the average. we decided to get the set menu of P450 for 2 people instead. it consisted of 2 rice, clam soup, 2pcs. of prawns, adobong puso ng saging and pork yaku plus palawan princess (which was just actually graham crackers and condensed milk). not bad for it's price though when we got to taste it, the pork was on the tough side. the rice and adobong puso ng saging were just okay. not good, not bad.

what i really enjoyed about lotus garden was the landscaping and interior design. there were detached cottages that had hammocks and provided more privacy. there were also ponds with fish and had water lilies (and not lotuses, as ina pointed out).

our meal was far from great, but it wasn't bad. they do have an all-you=can-eat sushi for P370.00, which seems to be their speciality since they are a japanese restaurant after all. so if you are craving for raw seafood, lotus garden may just be the resto for you. :)

postsecret says you're important

once in a while, it's great to see random strangers appreciate other random strangers. more secrets over at postsecret.

puerto princesa baywalk

we arrived in puerto princesa mid-afternoon, so there wasn't much we can do in the city anymore. the banwa pension house staff suggested that we visit the baywalk which was just walking distance. so jan and i decided to go to the baywalk then proceed to the provincial capitol where the major happenings of the festival was taking place.

i have always been bad with directions so we ended up taking the longer route to the baywalk. we even passed by this place that looked like a place where refrigerators go to die.

thanks to jan's excellent direction skills, we found our way to the baywalk. it was still a work in progress, but we were already impressed by how beautiful and clean it was. the wave-y roofing of the sheds gave the baywalk personality.

at the right side was a statue which they named "prinsesa ng baybay.

several philippine flags fluttered in the air. i was wondering whether that was a permanent fixture or was really just in celebration of the recent independence day. but then, with the flag poles as permanent fixtures, most likely it was part of the design. it was actually a captivating sight for me.

many families were having quality time on that father's day. children were running around or playing or riding their bikes.

visitors could enjoy barbeque, isaw, hotdog, egg, yakult and other snorts of snacks sold by the vendors.

the sun was about to set too. so it was a great time to play around with my camera, dixie. baywalks anywhere in the philippines always present a great subject for photography. the one in puerto princesa did not disappoint. :)

jan and i found ourselves enjoying our walk and observing people. there were also dogs who knew how to look cute and beg for food. unfortunately, jan and i were too hungry to spare any of our late lunch except for a small piece of fat.

as we made our way from the baywalk, our visit there gave jan and i good spirits. we felt that palawan was really the perfect choice for our first solo travel together, that we would be having a great time during our stay. ;P

banwa pension house

when jan and i decided to go to puerto princesa for our honeymoon, i immediately went to work looking for lodging. our initial list had asturias, the legend and hotel fleuris because they were the ones on the PALakbayan list of partner hotels. hotel fleuris had good reviews from ganns, so it was on top of the list. things got a little confusing, however, when people started suggesting asturias and legend. legend located nearer downtown and had good accomodations, asturias was father away and was supposed to be better for honeymooners.

i did further research on puerto princesa hotels until i stumbled along the banwa pension house website. i immediately fell in love with the place. it felt like the kind of thing jan and i would appreciate without having to dent our budget much. for a private room with its own bath, we would only need to shell out P650! it had that artistic, enviromental feel of the place that we both enjoyed in camiguin's enigmata.

however, i did not immediately book it because i was still thinking of the asturias package that we stumbled upon. they had a P6000/person package for 3D/2N which included tours to the underground river or the honda bay island hopping and a city tour, 2 breakfasts, 1 lunch and 1 dinner plus airport transfers. it was not a bad package and quite tempting.

as compromise, we thought of staying at banwa for our first night before proceeding to sabang. which was what we did.

we were met by the owner, jane orcullo-campbell with her little girl, ulan (naunahan ako sa pagpangalan ng magiging anak ko ng ganun!) and her mother, celie. jan and i were immediately bowled over by the beautiful tapestries made of coconut beads, as well as the shell curtains that decorated our wooden home for the night. the dog, minerva, was standing guard by the stairs curiously staring.

our room for the night was a queen-sized bamboo bed, with a painting in one corner and beaded tapestry on the other. it was immediately recognizable as the mother and child, but when i read the name, i had to do a do-over. it said magina, without a hyphen, so i thought, "huh, is this a body part?" then thought... oh! mag-ina. hehe.

a quick peek at the corridor would show an open veranda with a wooden sofa adorned with pillows with patchwork cases. i was loving the place more and more.

the veranda was probably the best part of banwa. since most of the lodgers there stay at the dorm rooms, it is where the guests converge and somewhat "forced" to interact with each other. most of our companions were caucasians. the only filipinos around were the owner, the staff and the wife of one american guest. staying at veranda made one feel like one was in the middle of the woods, rather than in the middle of the city. more artwork and tapestry festooned the common room. it was jane's mother who did the tapestries pala. galeng!

one cool thing about the place was the level of trust the staff has with their guests. there was no one to constantly stay at the bar, so we were just advised to take what we need from the fridge and list down whatever we got. the same goes for the use of the internet (P30/hr). at the end of your stay, it will just be included with the lodging fee. astig!

they would also gladly contact tour companies for their guests to ease them from the trouble of looking around for themselves. banwa already knows which ones would give the best service to their guests. it was actually jan who helped jan and i find a van to bring us to sabang.

jane was very friendly and made us feel comfortable by reveling us with recommendations for our stay. she offered a lot of advice regarding our travel itinerary. it was through her that we found out about the new dolphin watching tours being offered. one that i really wanted to do for the longest time.

jan and i discussed our plans and decided to come back to banwa first before going to asturias. good thing we were not able to pay for the asturias package yet because we were suddenly opened to a whole lot of options.

by the way, it was the baragatan festival in puerto princesa the week we were there. more on that later.

thanks to banwa, our honeymoon was starting out a whole lot of fun. :)

the (figurative) path to puerto princesa

This was my list of top 5 places in the Philippines that I wanted to visit around five years back:
1. Batanes
2. Palawan
3. Siquijor
4. Siargao
5. Tawi-Tawi

In the last five years, I have only been able to scratch off Tawi-Tawi and Siquijor. Nonetheless, my travel buds and I have visited other interesting provinces and cities of our beautiful country. To name a few, we hit Camiguin, Bantayan and Malapascua Island in Cebu, Carabao Island of Romblon, Surigao City, Bulalacao of Mindoro and a few more others.

Back to the time when Jan and I were not engaged yet but were informally discussing things should we get wed, I told him I'd rather splurge on the honeymoon than on the wedding. The good girl that I am, I think we deserve it. Besides, I enjoy travel more than parties any day.

I thought the honeymoon was a good opportunity for me (because Jan has given me freehand with decisions related to this) to finally go back to my list. Siargao was scratched off given that we will be setting up a community school in Surigao City, so it will be more accessible for regular trips. So it was a toss-up between Palawan and Batanes.

Batanes was actually winning my heart but Jan, being a guy, had a very practical point. June is the start of the rainy season. Good point. And a wisdom that benefitted us with an actual storm actually coinciding with our honeyhoon. Hehe.

So it was decided. Palawan it was going to be. But Palawan itself has so much to offer. We could go to Coron-Busuanga, El Nido or Puerto Princesa City. My inclination was going to Coron, but then I figured, I want to find out if the Underground River was worth being nominated for the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. So Puerto Princesa it was.

With all the stress for the wedding preparations, I was not able to pay full attention to it as much as I wanted to. Even getting tickets became stressful given the gas increase. In a span of three weeks while I was doing research, tickets rose from P8000++ round trip to P11000++ round trip (both of us)! I had to ask help from Ninin and Jerry (who in turn asked help from Tatit and Crissy) with the itinerary.

My initial idea was to spend the night at Puerto Princesa, then proceed to Sabang for two days, then spend another two days in Port Barton, then go back to Puerto Princesa to do the tours. I also did research on places to stay in each place. Based on that, Jerry and Ninin were able to come up with a superb itinerary, inclusive of contact numbers, transportation schedules and fare costs. Asteeeeeg! Galing, guys! :)

What was more beautiful about the honeymoon was, our ticket to Puerto Princesa was a gift from our travel buddies. It was so apt and so symbolic to have them do this for us, being our constant companions in trans-regional kalokohan. I was so deeply touched by the gesture.

So to our dearest Mike and Ina, Jerry, Ninin, Sherwin and Myra, Mon and Dinah, Shiva, Rhia, Kang, Meh-Anne, Camille and Tatit, thank you for bringing Jan and I to Palawan and for blessing us with a very interesting beginning to our life together. ;P

yes. i do.

some side kuwento first.

while jan and i were checking our e-mail in puerto princesa, i decided to drop by facebook. since we had some extra time left, i thought of updating my profile. i thought to myself, how many people would actually come over to my page and view it? and then, agh! it registered as a notification! whaaaduh? i didn't know facebook did that. and i didn't think people read their notifications either, because i don't. eng. they do pala.

so i had some friends call or text or send me messages of congratulations and best wishes, which i really did not mind, except i was a little embarrassed for advertising myself that way. that was such a boo-boo! LOL.

anyway.... yes, i did get hitched. we even have a blog for our friends and relatives far away, so they can keep track of the activities going on. we might be keeping it for a while. jan seems to have a lot to say after bombing his speech. :p and it would be interesting to keep track the early stages of our marriage.

back when i was younger, i hardly imagined getting married. i mean, the only thing i can really picture was being in front of the altar with someone. so it was a little bit of a stress for me and jan to do a major production number like a wedding. i mean, if it were helping out for a friend, we were probably able to do more.

i was also pretty busy during the last six months that i was only really able to pay attention to the wedding three weeks leading to the wedding. jan was more hands-on than i was. he got the caterer, gave instructions on what the set-up would look like, what food will be served and all that. most of the stuff i did was my dress, my make-up, the flowers and asking help from friends (mimo to officiate, earthen vessel to sing, etc.).

the stress was really building up for both of us. plus i had other things to deal with other than the wedding, like family matters and work. so i vowed that the day before the wedding, i will try to do things but not push it. and by the day of the wedding, i will just make sure that the priest, jan, me, God and a couple of witnesses are there and that is what should matter.

on the wedding eve, i wrote my speech. it was the only time i can thank the many people who have made the wedding possible through their generosity and kindness and support. the wedding may not have been perfect, but it sure made me realized how loved we were. that i need not wait for my funeral to feel the love of my friends and family. ang galeng talaga.

if just to make our lives a whole lot easier, i would have just dragged jan and our family to a small secret wedding. then go, ta-daaa! we're married na. not much fuss, more practical and no less lovely.

but then, jan and i would discuss that idea every so often, i would end up going... sayang ang kasiyahan na maibabahagi natin sa iba at nila sa atin. walang tutol sa atin. everybody is excited to see us together. why deny them the joy? why deny ourselves that happiness?

the wedding may not have gone the way jan or i wanted it. but it so full of blessings that we can't ask for anything more. of course, we do replay a lot of things on our minds. stuff that we should've done. stuff we needn't do. how it would have been better. but then, our friends enjoyed it. they felt warm and fuzzy and tingly... and that was what i wanted. and so, in it's imperfection, our wedding was perfect. :)

and here is my message to the well-wishers of that day. i added some ad lib on the day, but this is the main gist.

Thank you very, very much for coming to the celebration of our togetherness. With all sincerity, it is an honor to have all of you here today.

This is a wedding about love and friendship. But not just between Jan and I, but those of our friends and family as well. This wedding celebration became possible through the contribution of time, talent, resources and ideas of many, many people. The kindness and generosity we have received has been overwhelming. Our love for each other has been fortified by the love of others for us and our love for others. We have been blessed by wonderful friendships. It truly is a beautiful way to send us off to our new life together. Thank you for the good vibes and the good wishes. If we can’t be able to return it to you, we hope to pay it forward. May God bless you tenfold.

I have with here with me right now, a man who has never faltered in showing his love for me. I do have to coax him to give me flowers or take me to a date. But he has shown his devotion in more constant, more moving ways. Braving the traffic to pick me up from the airport, since he knows how much I hate the struggle for taxi. Driving me home at night as I sleep at the passenger seat. And most of all, leaving his comfort zone for many months to see how my world in Davao is like. Constant things that can sometimes be taken for granted and major things that would be hard to ignore. That is how he has shown his love. Not to mention, he has been given good character references way back to grade school. :P

Today, I said yes to this man. He, who is both my sanity and insanity. Yes. I do. Such simple words, yet such big ones too. This yes, said today, but lived everyday. Yes to the good things, and yes to the not so good things. I do. I do to everyday little things. I do to the nice and not so nice realities. And it’s not like choosing a school or a course that you can shift from if you don’t like it. It’s not like getting a job or working as volunteer, that if the time comes you get tired or you feel it’s not for you, you can quit. This is a yes to a lifetime commitment. Yes to the highs and lows, to the successes and failures, to the trivial and to the essential. So I trust this commitment to God to help us live our life together by and by. And work towards the point that Amb. Dee and Mrs. Dee has achieved, both our parents have achieved, 30-40-50 years of togetherness… to that point that we are old and gray, still holding hands and hearts. Forgetting where we are supposed to go, but going on anyway because we are with each other. Still loving the other as we do to this day.

To everyone, again, thank you. Your well-wishes shall sustain us for the years to come. As you go home, I hope more than the flowers or the dress or the food, you remember that it is a day when love triumphs. It is a day when two people who found each other entrust their love to God. That despite the many evil things happening in the world, there are also the beautiful things to be celebrated.

The Epic Journey out of Puerto Princesa

a.k.a Kasalanan ni Bagyong "Frank"

I should really learn how to drive so Jan and I can qualify to audition for the next season of the Amazing Race. We should be a shoo-in.

Chapter 1.

We woke up the morning of Sunday not thinking there would be anything wrong with our flight back given that the weather was a little better than the day before. That was not to be when we got to the airport. While the Philippine Airlines and Air Philippines check-in counters seem to be moving smoothly, we saw that the Cebu Pacific lines were taking quite a while. I was sensing something was wrong when I keep hearing the word re-booking and refund from the teller as she speaks with every passenger. I thought the flight would just be delayed. But noooooo! It was friggin’ cancelled! Whaduh-ef? The 4PM flight would push through but ours was cancelled. Ano yun?!

My temper was rising since I had a connecting flight to Davao at 720 that same day. It rose some more when we were told that we had two options: a refund or a rebooking. But guess, when the next available flight for rebooking was… last flight on Tuesday! Whaduh-ef?!

Cebu Pacific insisted that they can not take responsibility for other expenses incurred because the delay was caused by terminal weather. Which I do understand, but the shitload of inconvenience that their cancellation caused is still terribly irritating since they were the ONLY airline who cancelled flights. It seems more logical to just add another flight for the entire batch of passengers but then they had all these sorts of excuses like their planes were too small, that other areas had cancellations as well so it would be difficult to add new flights. I was just too darn pissed that I couldn’t accept any excuse. Plus the fact that the lady attending to us was not exactly charming us with her graciousness. It was clear that she was irritated with our questions and she was losing her temper as well. But excuse me, lady, you can not expect easy understanding for the nuisance that you are causing us. Hmph. Kakagigil!

At the same time, Cebu Pacific could have fielded more staff to attend to the needs of their passengers so the process would be much quicker for everyone including themselves. But noooo! They only had four people to attend to something like a hundred fifty passengers. Jeez! This is the time when you realize you really just get what you pay for. Crappy service for cheaper fares.

Cebu Pacific, excuse me lang noh, mura man o mahal ang bayad… maayos dapat ang serbisyo! Inyo na ang ka-cheapang P50 mineral water niyo at snacks at diyaryo. Okay na yan na wala, pero naman-naman-naman… give good service pa rin! Maliit o malaki bayad, it is still your client’s hard-earned money they are paying you!

Chapter 2

Anyhoo… because of that, Jan and I were in a terrible fix. There were available flights in Philippine Airlines at 4,954 per passenger. Our cash on hand was around 3,500 only. Our refund was 5,900+. We were still short. Neither of us had a credit card.

We asked if there was an ATM, but the guard said there wasn’t any. Aaaaagh.

Jan was able to arrange that Cebu Pacific deal with PAL for us to convert our refund to a ticket. A TICKET meaning one ticket. Just me. Not including him. He let me have the ticket first since I had to fly to Davao in the evening. We had to do what we had to do.

At the ticketing office, I was asking for an economy ticket but the dude at the counter was saying that only the business class seats were available. Whaduh-ef?! I felt like I was left with no choice so I agreed. So I had to add P75.

While Cebu Pac was arranging with PAL, I figured it might be cheaper to just rebook my flight for Davao, then book a next day trip to Manila. I was still formulating the plan and calculations in my head when the Cebu Pac dude presented me with my business class ticket already.

Agh. The thought of flying home to Manila alone leaving Jan behind… It doesn’t sound like a good way to end a honeymoon. I was fervently hoping and willing that fate to let us take a flight home together.

Chapter 3.

When I entered the departure area again, Jan was by the door. I asked him how things are going with his family booking a flight for him online. Of course, Murphy’s Law had to run the show. It was brownout in Manila. Ack!

He was thinking of taking Air Philippines, but I told him I asked already and their flights cost P6800. We double checked our cash on hand. It was really just a little over P3,000.00. He thought of asking if he could just pay via BPI Express Payment System. Though the amount was not enough for a ticket as well, unless we would be allowed to combine cash and debit card. The dude at the check-in counter recommended we try asking the ticketing office.

So Jan rushed to there (with his wounded feet – another story) to ask. Then ten minutes after, he was told to run to the check in counter to approve the combined used of card and cash. So the nice gentleman at the counter said it was no problem. My poor husband had to rush to the ticketing office again.

I was getting nervous because he was taking longer than expected. I head a plane landing which I figured was our supposed flight out to Manila. Excruciating moments after, Jan was running with cash in his hand and no ticket. They do not have a system for debit cards, only credit cards! Agh. But the little ray of sunshine was there was actually a Landbank ATM within the airport. So the reason why he took long was he had to withdraw. But even as he maxed out his card, we still did not have enough. We were P800 short of an economy ticket, and as I was previously informed, all that was available were business class seats. Agh!

I shoved my wallet to Jan and told him to use my ATM. I had three, but I was not sure whether they would work in a Landbank machine. Already sweaty and visibly tired, he rushed to the ATM again. I was just waiting by the window keeping track of the boarding. My own stuff were already checked-in and I already paid for my terminal fee.

The nice guy at the counter (sorry for not getting your name, Kuya!) told me to just stay where I was since he was going to board the plane first. Oh no. But he assured me he will come back to take care of Jan’s ticket.

So there I was by the window, with P4,100.00 on hand, nervous and fervently hoping, when another PAL crew came to the check-in and was surprised to see me just waiting by the window.

“Ano yan?”

“Hinihintay ko kasama ko, nagwiwithdraw kasi kulang pa cash naming para sa ticket.”

Another one of the crew members heard us and said, “Sa bayan pa! Naku di na kakayanin yan.”

“Di po, Landbank lang. Dito lang sa airport.”

They didn’t reply to that anymore.

Chapter 4.

Jan was finally back with additional cash. Landbank would only take my payroll ATM which had the least amount of money, but thankfully was enough for the cost of a business class ticket.

We were trying to pay at the check in counter when the new dude said they don’t take
payments. We insisted that the ticketing office told Jan that he pay there. And the dude insisted back that that had to be done at the ticketing office. Whaduh-ef?!

So my unfortunate Jan had to run back to the ticketing office to try getting a ticket for himself. Again. The PAL person got Jan’s name so he can issue a boarding pass already. He asked me which ticket was he getting, business or economy. I asked, “may available pa na economy?! Sabi sa akin, business class na lang. “

“Madami pang available na economy.”

Whaduh-ef?!

“Di ko po alam ano kukunin niya.”

From my vantage point, I could see the PAL passengers boarding. It’s getting more exciting and scary by the minute!

He went to the ticketing office to ask. Jan was able to get an economy class.

Whew. Good. Cheaper. But dang, they made me get business class. Hmph.

Anyway, they issued a boarding pass for Jan. I paid for his terminal fee as well.

I stood by the door to wait for him to come. At the same time, I can see the people
from the pre-departure area trickling out one by one. At the very least, they can’t leave him behind anymore. But I could not breathe a sigh of relief until we go in together. Apart from the fact that his ticket is with me and he wouldn’t be able to go in without me anyway.

And finally, Jan arrived. His new Palawan shirt soaked with sweat and he breathless from the running around. We were going to go home together. Yehey!

Epilogue 1

My brand new dear sweaty, wounded husband and I walked together to the airplane. I was relieved that I need not abandon him. And inside, I was laughing at how our honeymoon ended and how our new life together begun.

Epilogue 2

I was able to take my flight to Davao. But what was supposed to be a 720PM flight ended up 10PM. And when I got there, taxis were charging P600! Isusumbong ko kayo kay Duterte. But God loves me. I was able to find someone to help me. :)

alive

and blessed.
with good friends.
with great family.
with a now extended family na rin.
with wonderful nature.

just letting on that i am still alive.