[oldnemesis]

in Philippines? If you were, did you fly to El Nido or you rode a boat? How's nightlife in Puerto Princesa?

[Lumiere]

Yeah I have been to both. I flew.

Nightlife is pretty quiet in Puerto Princesa but at least there is some.

Met a chick there from online game, went to a place with a live band and got her back to my room but was so sexually exhausted from the craziness of the previous few days I actually had no sexual energy left and did not even bother to try to escalate so I let her sleep on my spare bed.

The one and only time in my life I have ever passed up sex for that reason.

[Kona]

If you want to go to Puerto Princesa there's a big airport there. I think I took a flight there from Narita once. I don't know where you're going from, but all the PI airlines fly into there. El Nido is smaller. Plus it's at least 150 miles away from Puerto. You could wind up on a real shitty prop plane ride, only to take a real shitty bus ride.

There's ferries to Puerto but I doubt they run every day, and I bet the schedule is unreliable.

You can party in PP. Lots of bars, but lots of bargirls. I don't know if barfining is your thing? You may run into quite a lot of Euro/Australia tourists considering all the eco type stuff around. Maybe you know cockfighting, but if you need betting tips let me know. I'll tell you what to look for. The Bataks and Palawenos love cockfighting.

The underground river park is something you gotta see.

El Nido was kind of a let down for me. I went with a girl, we dove around in some somewhat dirty water and saw some lackluster reefs. Then we took this outrageous bus/bike/hike that lasted hours to see the famous El Nido hotspring. It was nasty, and a big waste of time.

You'll see all you need to in Puerto.

But you can keep heading south and hop to Borneo, just to say you've been there.

Aloha!

[Spike]

I've flew in to Puerto Princessa from Cebu. I banged a girl working in a guesthouse there. I was treated like a rockstar in some of the bars. Guys reacted like they had never seen anyone with long hair before. I never had to wait in line for the toilet or bar, guys just let me past saying i look like Kurt cobain or just saying rockstar,rockstar.

I've been to El nido too and went there by bus, it was a memorable ride with a maniac driver who wouldn't slow down for anything. He was driving just as fast on broken bumpy dirtroads in the jungle parts as he was on the main paved roads. I wondered if he even he brakes on the damn thing. It was a cheap local bus and there were chickens on it and girls breastfeeding babies. The bus broke down on the 8 hour trip and the driver repaired it having only a screwdriver and a roll of ducktape. he must have been some sort of Philippine MacGyver/race car driver.

El Nido is a very small place with a couple of beach bars, two small clubs and a whole lot of pro's. i tried to shore one and got really far with her but once in the sack she needed money anyway so i let her out of my room. I later heard back in Puerto princessa that local gangsters run the pimping in El Nido and girls need to get paid no matter what. I remember the ho saying something about her boss but i thought she meant something else.
The snorkeling and island hopping is amazing in El Nido. I paid only 6 dollars for a full day on a small fishing boat, doing island hopping, snorkeling with a free snorkle and even got lunch on the beach. At the end of the day, the guys running the tour asked if we wanted to go fishing before returning and we did. There were only 3 tourists including me on the small boat.

[oldnemesis]

Thank you very much guys! A few more questions:

Nighlife is "pretty quiet" comparing to what? I'm not expecting the Cebu/Davao level, but if it is like Cagayan De Oro, it would be tough. Everything seem to close before midnight there.
How's the flight to El Nido, do you need to book in advance? I heard there are very small planes and they all are fully booked, is that true?

I'll probably fly there from MNL as I'm still working on my schedule. The underground river is definitely in my list, and a shitty flight is better than shitty bus ride. Are there any special req's like getting into a tour?

Overall how much time should I plan to spend there for the scenic island hopping, underground river and some waterfalls? Is three days enough?

Anything you'd suggest to see on Negros and Leyte?

[Spike]

(03-12-2012 11:07 PM)oldnemesis Wrote:  

Thank you very much guys! A few more questions:

Nighlife is "pretty quiet" comparing to what? I'm not expecting the Cebu/Davao level, but if it is like Cagayan De Oro, it would be tough. Everything seem to close before midnight there.
How's the flight to El Nido, do you need to book in advance? I heard there are very small planes and they all are fully booked, is that true?

I'll probably fly there from MNL as I'm still working on my schedule. The underground river is definitely in my list, and a shitty flight is better than shitty bus ride. Are there any special req's like getting into a tour?

Overall how much time should I plan to spend there for the scenic island hopping, underground river and some waterfalls? Is three days enough?

Anything you'd suggest to see on Negros and Leyte?

I had trouble finding decent clubs in PP, so don't expect too much of it. The bus is definitely shitty but i would still advise to take a local bus there just for the experience or so that you can say how much of an hard ass Neil Skywalker is for taking rides like this

I guess 3 days is barely enough for doing all this,including going out but its doable. And only in PP, you wont have the time for El nido with only three days. Remember, it looks easy when making a schedule but traveling is hard work.

[naughtynomad]

I was in Palawan for 8 days with 3 mates.

The island is beautiful - and the ultimate place to rent dirt bikes and do a road trip. Back when I was there the roads were all dirt tracks, but they were paving it at the time.

The nightlife is shit, but you can still pick up as you have considerable exotic capital there.
I bedded chicas in both PP and El Nido. My friends didn't have quite the same luck, but one of them banged a 15 year old in El Nido! Beware, some of the chicks you meet in the bars are very young.

There was a upstairs restaurant in PP centre that transformed into a cool disco on Saturdays (near the local strip bar). Can't remember the name though.. There you can find genuine locals out to have fun and not pros.

In El Nido, try get there for the weekend also, otherwise you'll be hanging out in a two-bit karaoke joint with toothless village pros. Day game is best. Chat to the girls working in the shops and restaurants around town. They're very open to hanging out with tourists.

Have fun! Think of Palawan as an escape, not a party place.
It's a wonderful place.

[Kona]

(03-12-2012 11:07 PM)oldnemesis Wrote:  

Everything seem to close before midnight there.

EL Nido and Pueto are a little more happening than CDO, but not by much. There will be places open till 2.

(03-12-2012 11:07 PM)oldnemesis Wrote:  

How's the flight to El Nido, do you need to book in advance? I heard there are very small planes and they all are fully booked, is that true?

I bet the planes are all DeHavilands or similar. If you're there you can tell better than me how the weather is, of course. In the south, like Leyte you mentioned, rainy season is wrapping up right now. Those small planes are awful in bad weather. That's why I think you should fly from MM right to Puerto. The plane will be big. I can handle, but I can't stand being on those little things when other people get sick or excited. Negros doesn't get the rain though.
[/quote]

(03-12-2012 11:07 PM)oldnemesis Wrote:  

Are there any special req's like getting into a tour?

Overall how much time should I plan to spend there for the scenic island hopping, underground river and some waterfalls? Is three days enough?

You won't have a problem getting a canoe tour. You'll probably get tired of all the people trying to sell them to you.

You'll see all of Palawan in 3 to 5 days.

Just a heads up for hotels: There's one called Royal Oberoi in Puerto that is really cheap compared to the rest of the Oberoi Hotels. Reason is that it is in no way affiliated with the chain of super fancy Oberoi's like they got in Bali and dubai.

(03-12-2012 11:07 PM)oldnemesis Wrote:  

Anything you'd suggest to see on Negros and Leyte?

Leyte, besides more cockfighting, not a lot. Tacloban is actually pretty dirty even by Philippine standards.

Bacolod, though, isn't bad. Negros is two parts called Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental. Bacolod is in Occidental. That island is the where the old sugar plantations were and some still are. That's big money over there. A lot of sugar workers used to come to Hawaii and send money back, injecting more cash.

I think Bacolod has some pretty good nightlife. It's all centered around the major industrial complexes. I bet everything has changed names 5 times since the last time I went there. I bet the LeFisher hotel is still there though.

Besides the industrial complexes (the good one is Goldenrod, or something that sounds like that) I think the main street there is called something like "Tourist Avenue" so it's hard to miss.

Aloha!

[oldnemesis]

(03-14-2012 06:31 AM)Kona Wrote:  

I bet the planes are all DeHavilands or similar. If you're there you can tell better than me how the weather is, of course. In the south, like Leyte you mentioned, rainy season is wrapping up right now. Those small planes are awful in bad weather. That's why I think you should fly from MM right to Puerto. The plane will be big. I can handle, but I can't stand being on those little things when other people get sick or excited. Negros doesn't get the rain though.

Is it Otter or dash? I did like 100+ skydives from Otter so I'd survive it - but not dash. Those planes are definitely not good in a bumpy weather, probably not even certified for instrumental flight (but being Philippines I'm afraid the pilots might just not care).

I'll fly to Puerto from Manila, but what about El Nido? Neil said the bus ride is tough, which means I don't really want it so probably fly there too and hope the weather is fine. How much the taxi from Puerto to El Nido would cost?

Quote:

Just a heads up for hotels: There's one called Royal Oberoi in Puerto that is really cheap compared to the rest of the Oberoi Hotels. Reason is that it is in no way affiliated with the chain of super fancy Oberoi's like they got in Bali and dubai.

This one?

Quote:

Leyte, besides more cockfighting, not a lot. Tacloban is actually pretty dirty even by Philippine standards.

I heard there are some national parks with caves around. Although I'm not sure I'll heal enough to go into the cave so this is still questionable.

Thanks for 411 about Bacolod, I'll check it too!