Palawan Day 1: The City Tour

Right after we had our lunch at Mang Inasal we hurried our way back to the hotel afraid that the van was already waiting for us. Luckily, they were still fetching other tourist from other hotels before stopping by at Lola Itang’s to fetch us. So while waiting for the van, we went upstairs to rest and enjoy the complimentary wifi Internet from the hotel.
After fifteen minutes of waiting, the attendant from the hotel knocked at our door and informed us that the van was there. We got up quickly and race our way down to the hall as we were so excited for our first tour in Puerto Princessa, the City Tour.

Our tour guide was really friendly and to told us about Puerto Princessa’s Historical origins. He tells us of what transpired during the early 60’s and so as how the place got its name. He says that the place used to be called Puerto dela Princessa because of the Spaniards who conquered the place but later on it was called Puerto Princessa to make it sound simpler.

The city tour started at Binuatan Creations. These people are known for making bags, wallets, table mats and the like and everything is made of straw. We even had the chance to try how these straws were sewed together to make a perfect and colorful table mat.


Here are some of the products that they sell:

Elva and I bought notepads that really looked cute. Here are some of our pictures during our tour at Binuatan Creations:

The next destination of our city tour took 30 minutes to an hour to get there. Our next stop was at the Iwahig Penal Colony. As what the tour guide says, the Iwahig Penal Colony was the biggest colony there is in the Philippines. Most prisoners here were from Muntinlupa and from other different regions here in the country. The prisoners were categorized to three types: Minimum, Medium and Maximum. They also wear colored shirts according to their category: brown, blue, and orange respectively. Those who were in the Minimum category are prisoners who can just walk the whole area without a chaperone and were believed to be trusted and reliable inmates, those in the Medium category are the newly deployed inmates that needs to be chaperoned. Lastly, those in the Maximum category are the ones that are not to be trusted as they can be very “pasaway” and they are isolated from the rest.


The inmates make and sell handicrafts, food and the like as a source for their budget for food and basic needs. Though they are fed by the government, they still need to earn extra money for their basic needs.
Here are some of our pictures while we were at the Iwahig Penal Colony:

From the Iwahig Penal Colony, our next stop was at the Crocodile Farm. Here, you’ll see an area of crocodiles placed in big boxes of chiller containers where they were segregated according to their age. It was really scary for me to even take a peek at those chiller boxes as a crocodile might jump over me and bite my fingers. I have a weird and exaggerated imagination. But, let’s just say that I am just being very careful.

After 30 minutes of roaming around and taking pictures, our next tour was at the Rancho Sta. Monica. This place was said to be the mini-Tagaytay of Puerto Princessa. I for one could attest that because when were going up the ranch, I really felt like I was in Tagaytay. We stopped over the Pyramid house design that was owned by a politician in the area. The house reminded me of the Transfiguration in Malaybalay. The location to where the house was built was overlooking the mountains. The place looked so peaceful and serene. Too bad it was raining that time; we could have stayed for long to take pictures.

Along the way back, the group stopped over at Baker’s Hill. The place was known to be the best bakers of bread and pastries. We stopped over to buy some snacks and took pictures of their garden. The house of the owner was luxurious and there were statues like the ones we saw at Sagbayan Peak. Too bad we were not able to explore the rest of their mini park; the group was already waiting for us to head back to the bus.

And this ends our city tour. The van drove all of us to our respective hotels while the tour guide continued to speak about the history of Puerto Princessa.


To continue reading, click here: Palawan Day 1: A Romantic Dinner at Badjao Sea Front
Blog Post exported from my other blog: tripsandescapades