My first trip to Puerto Princesa, Palawan a week ago was not such a good experience -no thanks to Air Philippines! Although the reason I went there was really not for pleasure but because it was part of my job handling Logistics Operations still I was expecting that it will be a nice one.
My companions and I were booked in Air Philippines going in and going out of said island. Our ETD from the NAIA Terminal 3 was at 9:20am and therefore I decided to be there early at around 7am to avoid the 8am rush hour. However, when I checked in, they said that the flight will be delayed to 1pm (anak ng weteng!) and they said that the option is for me to transfer to a PAL flight leaving at 8:00am. When I asked the reason for the delay they said it was a scheduled thing and that our travel agent should have advised us ahead of time. Heck!!! Obviously, our travel agency did not do their part.
Anyway, I agreed to the transfer but had to make quick calls to my two colleagues who are in the flight with me to hurry up because it is either we leave in less than an hour or take the 1pm flight. Good thing they were both in the area already and thus they hurriedly had their tickets processed to effect the airline transfer.
Eto pa! The PAL plane was in NAIA Terminal 2 pala which is totally a different airport. They gave us money to get a cab for the trip to said terminal and off we went. Barely 20 minutes to spare and short of breath we had our bags checked, and went straight to the supervisor for the PAL chek-in. Fortunately, with remaining 10 minutes before the plane is scheduled to leave we got ourselves seated and enjoyed the only nice part in this "Amazing Race-like" situation which is -they got us booked in the business class! The seats were a lot nicer, more leg room and there was choice of breakfast and drinks. Naks! And so we landed at Palawan with full stomachs and rested legs.
At the island, the air was fresh but quite humid. We took a tricycle (there are no cabs) from the airport going to our warehouse and got down to business right away. After the meeting we checked in at Skylight Hotel which had modest facilities and thank God with clear and wide hallways. (I hate hotels that have dark and dingy rooms). We just left our things and headed out for chow.
Lunch was at Mang Inato's which served local cuisine. Their specialty is barbecued chicken with matching one foot length bamboo sticks as skewer. The chicken was tough to bite and a little salty so I concentrated on eating the kilawing tangigue instead. After lunch it was back to work again until 6pm then we went back to our hotel. Took a bath using the hotel's soap but it was so rough that after my shower I had rashes in my arms. Ugh.
At around 7pm we had dinner with the prospective ditributor at Kinabuch's. The place has both outdoor and indoor dining areas and they have a big big screen that projected the sports channel. What is their top selling menu? Guess what- barbecued chicken skewered in 1 foot long bamboo sticks! Yeah again! But this time, the meat was tender and not salty. (buti na lang). Their squid with sauce was also delicious as well as their tuna sashimi. We had a long dinner as we were joined by their other principals (pharma indutry). We were able to exchange notes regarding logistics and distribution across diverse industries and it was pretty interesting.
The next day was still work and more work. We really had no time to do any sight seeing. Per the locals, in order to appreciate Palawan you need a minimum of one week so that you can check out the nice beach within the main island. To get to the smaller islands though you will need more than a week. If only I had the time and money to spend away I would! But back to reality...
Flight out from Puerto Princesa was originally scheduled lunch time but (as you have guessed by now) it is again delayed (apo ng weteng!na naman!). So we had to wait for 2 hours. This time lady luck was not on our side as the other airlines were already fully booked. Mosquitos hovered around at the lounge and I had to contend with doing some of my e-mails and presentation materials while waiting. The plane arrived the airport as per the "delayed scheduled" and we boarded. The whole trip back was uneventful. Salamat naman!
Lessons learned from this trip:
1. Never fly Air Philippines going to Palawan.
2. It is wise to bring laptop with weroam, PSP, iPod and pocket book so that you will not go crazy while waiting for your delayed flight.
3. Better to bring your own bath soap. It will keep the rashes away.
4. Bring insect repellent always.
My companions and I were booked in Air Philippines going in and going out of said island. Our ETD from the NAIA Terminal 3 was at 9:20am and therefore I decided to be there early at around 7am to avoid the 8am rush hour. However, when I checked in, they said that the flight will be delayed to 1pm (anak ng weteng!) and they said that the option is for me to transfer to a PAL flight leaving at 8:00am. When I asked the reason for the delay they said it was a scheduled thing and that our travel agent should have advised us ahead of time. Heck!!! Obviously, our travel agency did not do their part.
Anyway, I agreed to the transfer but had to make quick calls to my two colleagues who are in the flight with me to hurry up because it is either we leave in less than an hour or take the 1pm flight. Good thing they were both in the area already and thus they hurriedly had their tickets processed to effect the airline transfer.
Eto pa! The PAL plane was in NAIA Terminal 2 pala which is totally a different airport. They gave us money to get a cab for the trip to said terminal and off we went. Barely 20 minutes to spare and short of breath we had our bags checked, and went straight to the supervisor for the PAL chek-in. Fortunately, with remaining 10 minutes before the plane is scheduled to leave we got ourselves seated and enjoyed the only nice part in this "Amazing Race-like" situation which is -they got us booked in the business class! The seats were a lot nicer, more leg room and there was choice of breakfast and drinks. Naks! And so we landed at Palawan with full stomachs and rested legs.
At the island, the air was fresh but quite humid. We took a tricycle (there are no cabs) from the airport going to our warehouse and got down to business right away. After the meeting we checked in at Skylight Hotel which had modest facilities and thank God with clear and wide hallways. (I hate hotels that have dark and dingy rooms). We just left our things and headed out for chow.
Lunch was at Mang Inato's which served local cuisine. Their specialty is barbecued chicken with matching one foot length bamboo sticks as skewer. The chicken was tough to bite and a little salty so I concentrated on eating the kilawing tangigue instead. After lunch it was back to work again until 6pm then we went back to our hotel. Took a bath using the hotel's soap but it was so rough that after my shower I had rashes in my arms. Ugh.
At around 7pm we had dinner with the prospective ditributor at Kinabuch's. The place has both outdoor and indoor dining areas and they have a big big screen that projected the sports channel. What is their top selling menu? Guess what- barbecued chicken skewered in 1 foot long bamboo sticks! Yeah again! But this time, the meat was tender and not salty. (buti na lang). Their squid with sauce was also delicious as well as their tuna sashimi. We had a long dinner as we were joined by their other principals (pharma indutry). We were able to exchange notes regarding logistics and distribution across diverse industries and it was pretty interesting.
The next day was still work and more work. We really had no time to do any sight seeing. Per the locals, in order to appreciate Palawan you need a minimum of one week so that you can check out the nice beach within the main island. To get to the smaller islands though you will need more than a week. If only I had the time and money to spend away I would! But back to reality...
Flight out from Puerto Princesa was originally scheduled lunch time but (as you have guessed by now) it is again delayed (apo ng weteng!na naman!). So we had to wait for 2 hours. This time lady luck was not on our side as the other airlines were already fully booked. Mosquitos hovered around at the lounge and I had to contend with doing some of my e-mails and presentation materials while waiting. The plane arrived the airport as per the "delayed scheduled" and we boarded. The whole trip back was uneventful. Salamat naman!
Lessons learned from this trip:
1. Never fly Air Philippines going to Palawan.
2. It is wise to bring laptop with weroam, PSP, iPod and pocket book so that you will not go crazy while waiting for your delayed flight.
3. Better to bring your own bath soap. It will keep the rashes away.
4. Bring insect repellent always.
