Day 2: Underground River, Ulugan Bay, Vietnamese Village

It was my birthday!

Underground River
Nature tripping would never be completed without visiting Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park or commonly known as The Underground River –longest in the world.

Ulugan Bay Viewpoint

We first stopped in Ulugan Bay Viewpoint on our way to Sabang which took two and half hours. Someone may wanted to sleep as they approached Sabang, but not for me. I never wanted to miss the beauty of the forest. Virgin....is how everyone describe it. It's inspiring how locals preserve their rich forest though there are hundreds of travelers visiting the site each year.

Underground River Entrance

We finally reached Sabang Beach, from there we used a pump boat which transferred us to the shore going to the river's entrance. However, we still walked for 2 minutes going to the main entrance of the park. We spotted approximately 80 people waiting in line for the paddle boat tour. We immediately listed our names in the log sheet for registration. While waiting, we took pictures an enjoyed the wonderful scenery.

The place is cool and calming, it is sorrounded by tall trees which make the atmosphere even more relaxing plus a sight of abundant fishes swimming in the crystalline water awaken our senses.

Underground River Tour

Our names were called together with other four guests. Helmets and life vests are required to wear. Excitement is what we felt when we entered the river. It was dark as expected, we only have a huge flashlight so we can widen our eyes to see stalactite and stalagmite formations similarly looked like the holy family, half face of Jesus, a mushroom, a corn, a sexy body, etc.

It's amazing how this natural wonder created a two way road so that people can easily enter inside.

The boatman served as our guide. He spokes clearly as he tells something about the river. He managed to crack jokes too which was okay yet entertaining. According to him, the river is 8 kilometers long but the tour covers 1.5 kilometers only. We have to ask permission ahead of time if we wish to continue the remaining kms. Why? because the tour takes 4 hours. Well, we do not want to go that far.

The tour took 30 minutes round trip. It was so fulfilling that every Palawan tourists should not miss. The travel distance may be a bit far but once you get to the place, you will be amazed and can tell yourself “it's worthy”.

We went back where the pump boat was situated. Again, we took pictures of the rock formations seen along the shore. After then,we made our way to Sabang beach. There we had our lunch and spent 2 hours relaxing. Buffet lunch is included in the package. They served Binakol soup, grilled liempo, tuna, chicken adobo, ginisang kangkong topped with roasted garlic (love it!), and buko juice as refreshment. We got off at 1:30.

Sabang Beach

Viet Ville
We stopped in Vietnamese Village, it's just 20 more minutes away from the city.

The Village

Here, there are around 8 families living in. They used to be hundreds but most of them migrated to US way back December 2006. The village is quite small. Their shops are also closed that certain Sunday.

We aimed dining in their famous restaurant, ordered tasty beef Chao Long (noodles- P95) and their yummy French Bread stuffed with roasted pork (P38). Myke and I shared on the food because we were still full from the lunch eaten in Sabang. Satisfied, we walked out the village and drove back to the Inn to rest.

Crunchy French Bread and Chao Long

City Walk
We stroll towards NCCC mall passing by Mendoza Park and some Ukay – ukay stores. After 15 minutes, we reached NCCC mall, unfortunately the mall closes at 7pm. We have forgotten for a while that we were in the province, most of the shops close earlier compare to shops in Manila.

We instead took a ride to visit Badjao Inn, we were planning to change our accommodation for the sake of trying their service and to have a different ambience…. sad to say that Badjao Inn was fully booked that time. We returned to the Inn perhaps to sleep and end the day but we decided to go night out and celebrate my birthday. . We ended up hanging out in Kinabuch Bar and Grill which is situated beside Badjao Inn. Kinabuch is a lovely place to drink, have conversation with your friends or to simply kill time. They have big space and pop music is pleasing to the ears. Kinabuch has a truly party atmosphere. Myke ordered beer while I had Kinabuch Float, so called because it has a floating vanilla ice cream in vodka mix (P75), Our pulutan were Chicharon Bulaklak (P115), Grilled Pusit(P85), and (believe it or not) a Blueberry Cheesecake(P85). I was not impressed of their float because it tasted so bitter (my opinion). I liked their Chicharon and Cheesecake, though.

Kinabuch Grill and Bar