On Wednesday, the 19th of OCtober, I felt like a giddy little kid waiting for her present from Santa after almost a year of trying her best at not being naughty. Except that not being naughty equals me not traveling and the present from Santa is 5 blissful days in Coron, Palawan. :)
Day 1: We took the Cebu Pacific flight which was (of course) delayed for about an hour. I luckily got a window seat which was really nice because I never get tired of watching the clouds whenever I'm onboard a plane. :)
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| leaving the hustle and bustle of Manila |
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| a mandatory shot of the clouds from my plane seat |
We landed at the Francisco B. Reyes Airport at around 2:15pm. There was a woman handing out a small piece of paper that we had to fill out - asking if you were there for a visit, how long you'll be there and how you found out about Coron. Me thinks this is a survey acquiring data for their tourism department.
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| touchdown! busuanga airport |
After about 15 minutes, we left the airport via a van that Ralph's Pension Inn (where we will be staying at for the entirety of our Coron adventure) arranged for us. After roughly half an hour, we were dropped off in front of Ralph's, marking the start of our 5-day stint in the town.
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| the long and (not so) winding road to Coron |
We were greeted by Kuya Jun, the owner, given welcome drinks and were lead to our room. We were assigned the Oscar's Suite (our would-be home in Coron) for only 2000php a night.. Btw, all of the rooms at Ralph's were named after Kuya Jun's family members.
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| welcome drink - sana may maliit na umbrella + a slice of fruit para feel na feel ang bakasyon. (demanding?!) :P |
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| beds for the four of us |
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| sorry out of focus. hehe. |
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| suite living room |
At around 3:15pm, we were already settled in and we headed out for a late lunch-slash-early dinner at Lolo Nonoy's which was a very brief walk from Ralph's. There were a few kubo(s) inside and a few tables as well. Meron silang mga inihaw sa menu. We didn't get to try their grilled food, though. Meron din kasi silang ulam na parang sa mga karinderya. We were so hungry by this time that we just ordered whatever was ready to eat - resulting in the exact same order for 3 of us.
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| Lolo Nonoy's was just a few steps away from Ralph's. Just look for this red gate! |
After we filled our tummies, we went to the boat dock - which was right behind the market - to look for a boatman who can take us on tour for 3 days. We knew what we wanted to do: a Coron Loop tour on the 20th, beach bumming at Malcapuya and Banana Island on the 21st, and off to Calumboyan on the 22nd to go snorkeling for some corals and ship wrecks. Sabi ni Kuya Jun, he can arrange boat rentals for us: 1500php for the Coron Loop Tour, 3500php for the Malcapuya-Banana Island Tour and 4000php for the Calumboyan Tour. But a friend of ours who has just been to Coron told us that we could get the boats cheaper if we haggle with the boatmen by the port. Problem was, mahiyain pala ang mga bangkero sa Coron. Me and my friends just stood there by the port for quite a while - checking out the view and discussing our plans for the night. Maya-maya, may lumapit sa amin na bangkero. Si Kuya Raymundo. Out of the whole lot of them just sitting around, he was the only one brave enough to ask us if we needed a boat for touring. So we went off with the negotiation.
We agreed with 1500php for the Coron Loop Tour, 2800php for the Malcapuya-Banana Island Tour and 3000php for the Calumboyan Tour. Bargain struck. Not bad, I think. :) We were to meet Kuya Raymundo on each morning (before we start our tour) at the market to buy the ingredients for our lunch. Sila na bahala magluto sa island.
After we got the boat/boatman/tours crossed off our list, we went back to the inn, checked our Facebook accounts (pagbigyan nyo na ko, walang signal ang SunCell sa Coron so ito lang ang connection ko sa kabihasnan), and headed out to climb Mt. Tapyas.
The base of Mt. Tapyas was about 2-3 blocks away from Ralph's. It was already getting dark - it was almost 6pm when we headed out to start our trek. There were still a lot of people who were finding their way down the steps but it was already too late to start the climb. After standing there watching people who've just come down complain about how tough the climb was, we decided to wake up early and climb it the following day.
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| going home.. we'll do the trek the following day (what the eff was I doing with my hair?!) |
So what else were we to do? It was too early to sleep and we were still full from our late lunch. Being the drunkards that we are, we looked for a place to get some booze. We went around and found this bar:
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| this has gotta be my fave bar in Coron! kaso, kamote at mani lang ang pulutan nila. |
We looked for other bars in the area but all of the bars had only a couple of other people (who weren't drinking) or had no customers at all. There was one airconditioned bar and one of my friends went to check it - kaso amoy spray net daw. Haha. Some locals were recommending a certain bar (forgot the name, though) but we had to take a tricycle to get there. It was a few minutes drive. Eh ayaw na namin lumayo so we ended up at Lolo Nonoy's - their beer was fairly priced and it was close to Ralph's. The downside: beer bottles were rusty and there were mosquitoes despite the presence of mosquito coils under each table/kubo.
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| kalawang ba kamo? mukhang hindi talaga uso ang inuman sa Coron |
After a couple of buckets, umuwi na din kami at natulog. We had an early day ahead and we didn't want hangovers to start our tours with. :P
Contact Ralph's Pension House at 09154432193. :)
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