Our Adventures: Coron: Day 1

View from up the air. (L) is the ever busy Manila and (R) is getting a glimpse of paradise-Palawan. 

I booked our flight to Coron last February during a Cebu Pacific Seat Sale- I was able to get our tickets for only P1,800! That's already round trip for the both of us! :) 

I always love taking photos of what I am leaving behind (Manila) and where I am headed (in this case, Palawan).

Well Traveled Book- this book has already been to Cebu and now Coron. 

Book 4 - A Feast of Crows of a Song of Fire and Ice (Game of Thrones) was my companion during times of waiting in the airport or any where else. This was taken on the bus going on the plane at NAIA Terminal 3. You can see the other passengers in the background. 

The planes that traveled to Coron were smaller than the usual domestic airplanes- they only had two rows for seats and smaller propellers. When we got on board the plane I couldn't help but smile since 'Blurry' by Puddle of Mud was playing in the plane --I don't think that would be the appropriate song on any plane-- the song was eventually changed to a Korean all-boy pop song about a lipstick, which probably suited the other Korean passengers on board. 

Just a note that there will be more mention of Koreans in our Coron trip. 

We won! Thanks to Ely Buendia! :p

Aside from the inappropriate music playing on the airplane-it was so hot in the plane for some weird reason the airconditioning only seemed to give out warm air. The crew promised that the temperature would be adjusted once we have already taken off. Apparently that wasn't the case since the temperature inside the airplane reminded Paul and I the term 'peke' which was a term we used to describe FXs that had airconditioning that sucks! 

On the bright side of things-we won the 'guess the singer' game- the mechanics are simple- the Flight Attendant would sing a song and the first person to have their hand up should guess the singer of the song. 

We weren't able to win any prizes during our trip to Cebu so I really wanted to win now- so after missing Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber, Paul's hand shot up first thanks to Ely Buendia- so we got a tote bag :) 

Welcome 'Party' at the airport. 

The Francisco B. Reyes Airport is just a small airport, where in the checked in bags are just placed on a wooden platform, instead of a moving conveyer belt. When you arrive at the airport, people give out sheets of paper which is sort of a survey as to who you are and what is the purpose of your visit. 

RGO Tours, which organized our accommodations and tours was already at the airport and already had a welcome sign waiting for us. I was overwhelmed since it was the first time that I had my name on a welcome sign in an airport- unfortunately that was not the case for Paul, since he was the 'party' -this photo actually got 22 likes on Facebook! :) 

Eden from RGO Tours was in our welcome party when we arrived at the airport. 

We rode on a van with other tourists from the airport. You would notice so much cattle grazing in the fields that Paul even noticed a couple of Cattle Crossing signs along the way. Watch out for the photo of that on Day 5 of Coron Adventures and the back story to the cattle also. 

There were also a couple of bridges that were still under construction. The trip from the airport to our accommodation- Sunz en Coron was about 20-30 minutes. 

When we arrived at Sunz en Coron, Mam Lorraine from RGO Tours was already there to ensure our check in- it felt great that the people from RGO Tours made sure that we had an easy and convenient stay. :) 

We had welcome drinks from the resort- unfortunately we broke the glass! :p 

Our bed in Sunz en Coron - more photos of this beautiful resort :)

This was our bed when we first arrived-everyday when the staff would make up the rooms- they would have the towels in a special shape- watch out for more photos! :) 

After resting for a couple of hours we already set out to our tour. We first went around the town- it is a small simple town that boasts of 0% crime rate. 

We were able to take more photos of the town during our last day- while we were out buying pasalubong -- so watch out for those photos! 

The beginning of our 700+ step hike to Mt. Tapyas.

After going around town we already started the treck up Mt. Tapyas, which is made up of 724 steps! There is actually an additional 10 steps if you go around the Mountain- so that's 734 steps! 

It was a really long trek- I was stopping to catch my breath and my legs ached so much! 

Going up the 700 + steps 

The face says it all. She couldn't believe that we still have a long way to go.

Climbing up the steps- check out the background! 

From Magellan's Cross to the cross of Mt. Tapyas :) 

There is also a tall white cross on the top of Mt. Tapyas. Mt. Tapyas got it's name from the word 'Tapyas' which literally means 'cut off'-this is because a side of the mountain was literally 'cut off' from dog fights between the Japanese and the Americans during WWII. I found this bit of information very interesting since I am a history buff. :) 

View- going up the mountain - we were lucky that there was also a rainbow! :) 

Even if we just treked 700 + steps it was still worth it because of the view that we were able to enjoy! :) 

Taking down notes in my iPhone for the blog :) 

This is me- taking down notes in my iPhone for future blog posts :) 

Paul and me with the beautiful scenery on Mt. Tapyas

-Our amazing tour guide-Dexter.

This is our guide Dexter and he is just amazing! Not only was he featured in a travel-documentary in National Geographic about Coron but this travel documentary was the very same one that my Tita Ginggay worked on. You can ready about Island's Insider's take on Coron here. Dexter was also a guide for a documentary by BBC. He is also a trained scuba diver and certified rescuer- among other things! Dexter was also born on the island-making him a true and authentic local :) He's an amazing guide because you can feel the passion in him and the love for his home; he also had a lot of information to share. 

After our long trek we headed over to Maquinit Hot Springs, which is one of the three salt water hot springs in the world. The route to the springs is a dirt road which can get really muddy so hope that there are no rains when you make your way to the springs. The Springs are privately owned and there are huts and cottages where you can relax and eat with your family. There are also changing rooms and comfort rooms. 

The theory for the formation of the hot springs is that they come from a dormant underwater volcano while another theory is that the hot springs came from tectonic movement. No matter what the origin of the spring, it is definitely a good way to end a long day of walking. :p 

When we arrived at the Hot Springs it was already dark so we could not get really good photos of the place - so I had to get photos from Google to show the beauty of the Hot Springs. 

Photo from Google. 

Photo from Google. 

The water in the hot springs was amazing! It was nice and hot and I really enjoyed my dip in the springs. Paul isn't a fan of hot water so he just stayed on the sides and dipped his legs. 

And even if we treked 700+ steps a dip in the hot springs really took the pain in my legs away! :) I did not feel tired at all and I think it was because of the dip in the springs. 

Taking a dip in the spring- check out the steam!

The photo in the hot spring was taken from the Olympus Tough Waterproof camera we borrowed from our friend Nico. You will see more photos from this camera in the blog posts to come. :) 

After our dip in the springs we went back to our room to get a shower and get a change of clothes. Our resort is a bit away from the town but good thing that there is a tricycle service at the resort which will take you to town for free. 

So we took the service and went to have dinner at Kawayanan Grill. Since we had to work on a budget we just ordered one meal - which was Lapu-Lapu Escabetche. The price range of the meals are around P300-P400. We also tried the Coron Sling which had rum and pineapple juice. 

  

Coron Sling and Lapu-Lapu Escabetche

It was a great first day in Coron and definitely got the ball rolling. More blog posts to come! :)