TRICYCLE TOUR AT PUERTO PRINCESA CITY
A Puerto Princesa City trip has
been elusive to me for the past years.
It never crossed my mind that I will be packing my bags in an instant
and be boarded on a plane without any defined plans and itinerary. The culprits were good friends Carla and
Christian who made the random invitation, and I was the very much willing
victim.
When I am confident the
statement “I am lost” will never be
used, the lazy and dependent me prevails.
Since Carla has visited the city before, I decided to surprise myself
and quit the research for the usual “what-to-do,
where-to-eat, where-to-stay and whatever”.
The maximum was three (3)
hours to roam around the city for this day.
With that, we need a patient and kind tricycle driver for this shenanigan
of ours. Fortunately, we found Kuya Jayson (contact number: 09183661103)
and chartered his tricycle for this day tour (actually only for 3 hours) at a
fixed rate of PhP300.00.
SANTA MONICA RANCH (MITRA RANCH)
Our first stop is a view deck
on top of a hill, overlooking the Honda Bay and vast grassland surrounds where
lovers and friends lie and enjoy the scenery. The place will surely pass as a lover's lane.
As soon as we stepped on the
entrance of the view deck, which appears like a rest house, a man greeted us to
collect minimal entrance fees. He
explained that the same will be used for maintenance. And so we heeded and left our respective foot
wears on the doorstep.
This is the Mitra Ranch, as
locals call it, and as the name implies, the ranch is owned by the family of
the late House Speaker Ramon “Monching” V. Mitra, Jr.
The wooden chairs, set of
furniture and antique wares on display goes well with the rural landscape, a
perfect retreat house to chill and drink beer.
When a group of tourists
came, we then decided to move on to our next destination.
BAKER’S HILL
“This is a happy place”,
exclaimed by Carla. Judging by the name,
I thought the next destination was a bakeshop situated on top of a hill. A literal interpretation it is.
Armed with no expectations, I was amazed by the well-manicured set of gardens and life-sized statues of on-screen characters displayed. As we move forward, interesting trees and vines make up this wide theme park with aviaries ready to be discovered as well.
It appears like the Disneyland of Palawan for me. Truly, a place for a family gathering and children would definitely enjoy the park as their vast playground.
Restaurants and souvenir
shops are also available. Baker’s Hill
is known for their signature pizza, pasta and hopia. Though we did not dine on any of the said
restaurants that dot the hill, I bought some in the downtown area as a gift for
friends back home and one box of hopia for myself. If given the chance, I would visit any restaurant
the next time around and try their specialty dishes.
BINUATAN (WEAVING) CREATIONS
Loom weaving is one of the
traditional craft industries in the country that requires superior skill. Mostly
young women are the loom weavers in Puerto Princesa, in a place named Binuatan.
Binuatan Creations is our
last stop for this tour. Since it was
getting dark, only a few were in the vicinity and some loom weavers may have
taken their day off.
Adjacent to the loom weaving
section is a souvenir shop where export-quality fabrics and by-products are
displayed and sold to the public at a very reasonable price.
Though we were only able to visit three of the many known landmarks of Puerto Princesa City, it was a good introduction of the city for me. Besides, where can you find a tricycle ride full of fun and discovery?
1 comments
Puerto Princesa City is a beautiful and stunning city to see in Philippines. It is a tropical paradise with a bustling urban center perfect for business with leisure trips. I visited this city after my thousand islands tour. It spread on 253,982 hectares that making it the largest city of the country. Summer is a best time period of the year to visit this paradise. During these months seas are mostly calm.
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