Puerto Princesa Day 1

In 1994, the judges of the Miss Universe competition in Manila asked this of Miss Philippines in the final round: How many islands are there in your country?

Charlene Gonzales had replied: 7107 islands during high tide, 7108 during low tide

A budding Mother Teresa won the contest that year....

Philippine Airlines flight PR 591 flew us over several islands that looked like island #7,108 to Puerto Princesa Airport on the island of Palawan.

This island is the only segment of the Philippines which is part of the Chinese tectonic plate and it is believed to have been connected to Borneo and Malaysia by ancient overland routes. This is also the only island in the country without a single volcano!

Around 11am we reached our first hotel, the D'Lucky Garden Inn And Apartelle but we didnt find the view too good so we decided to move to the Hotel Fleuris which was more centrally located and had a view of the mountains and the sea from the room.

The primary mode of private transport here is the tricycle which consists of a tri seater canopy attached to a standard motorcycle. Mayor Edward Hagedorn's face is plastered on all the business licenses of Puerto Princesa and he is credited to have driven the effort to make Puerto Princesa the "Cleanest City in the Philippines". We were already beginning to believe the reason for this accolade.

A very eager tricycle driver called "Jun" took us to a mangrove area to the BadJao Seafood Restaurant. This is a large bamboo hut built on stilts right in the middle of a mangrove and a view of the open ocean sweeps across three sides of the restaurant.

We feasted on Calamares, Blue Marlin Steak and Lemon Chicken and headed back to our hotel for the customary afternoon nap.

In the evening, we headed to the Seawalk..the name for the local boardwalk by the bay. Seems like the whole city gathers there in the evenings and theres lots of food and drink stalls apart from the bi-cycle rentals.

Closer to sunset the sun dissappears behind the mountain range flanking the bay and the bright lights come on. 2009 is the official year of Astronomy on the island of Palawan and we saw Mayor Hagedorn inaugurate the event with a little reception and a video of the wonders of universe.