Travel: Dos Palmas Day 2, Lunch at Puting Buhangin

Len & I woke up at around 7AM.  The weather was still overcast and gloomy. 

We had a hearty breakfast from the buffet.  I had waffle, sausages, bacon and make your own omelet filled with tomatoes, onions,  mushrooms, and ham, juice and coffee.  

The highlight of our itinerary for the day was a picnic lunch at Puting Buhangin island, the rest of the day was free for snorkeling, swimming and kayaking.

By 11 AM, we boarded a boat for a short ride to Puting Buhangin, which literally means white sand. The weather got worse when we arrived at the island. It rained hard and the wind blew strong, toppling the monoblock chairs set up in the middle of a big hut.  It was high tide too, the sand bars on each side of the island were submerged in sea water.

We shared the island with another group of tourists but it felt like we have the island to ourselves.  After a few minutes, it stopped raining.

Our buffet lunch consisted of grilled fish, squid, pork chops, chicken, coleslaw, green mangoes with bagoong.

 

We had fun taking pictures of this little piece of paradise until it was time to head back to the resort. 

 

The rest of the afternoon was spent taking more pictures, kayaking, swimming in the pool near the spa, and biking.  I was surprised that I still know how to ride a bike after so many years.  From then on, Len & I would ride the bike everywhere we go.

By evening, we had another  heavy buffet dinner  and hanged out in the bar area drinking coffee, watched a movie.  Leine & Elise played billiards.  It was such a laid back evening.  I wish I could stay forever, but I am missing my kids too.

Travel: Puerto Princesa, Palawan Lunch at Ka Lui

 

We have a few hours to spare while waiting for Leine & Len’s flight .  The Dos Palmas staff brought us to Ka Lui for lunch.  They even made a reservation for us to ensure that we are accommodated.

On the way, we passed by the city’s capitol building to take pictures.

Upon arrival at Ka Lui, we were asked to remove our shoes and were led to a low dining table with pillows to sit on.  The floor was made of bamboo slats and covered with woven mats.

Scanning the menu, Elise pointed out the Ka Lui’s meal of the day (P375) which was already good for two hungry people.  It was a four course meal (the dessert was on the house)…. It was so cheap!

For starters, we had clam soup.

Appetizer was a plate of lato, a green seaweed that looks like little grapes. It’s a good source of iron, iodine, calcium, Vitamins A & C. It was refreshing, tasted like the sea, its little bulb parts burst inside the mouth.  I loved it so much!

For entrees, we had tiger prawns, fish escabeche, fish steak, adobong kangkong.

 

Dessert was fresh fruits in an open young coconut topped with muscovado sugar.

 

For drinks, I had the avocado-mango shake, my first time to try this fruit combination and it was good.  I wanted to get a second glass, but I was full already.   

Elise got the mango-papaya shake.

Did I say cheap? Would you believe we had this four course meal for under P700 only?

So whenever you visit Puerto Princesa, Ka Lui is a must try!

Travel: Dos Palmas Day 1, our beach villa

When we arrived at Dos Palmas, it was already 4pm.  We were ushered into the dining area for a late lunch. There was a lot of food served to us, most notable were the seafood Kare Kare and the dense yet tasty palitaw.

 

After that hearty lunch, we were brought to a four room two storey beach villa. Len and I were room mates and stayed in the ground floor adjacent to Leine and elise's room. 

 
This is our room.  With red gumamela flowers everywhere.

The bathroom is a combination of modern and rustic design.  It features a rain type shower head and wooden towel handle bars, which I forgot to take a picture of.

Sliding doors opens to the balcony at the back with a view of coconut trees.

A few distance is the beach  With mangroves growing out of the water. 

A small, winding bamboo bridge goes out to a hut on stilts where one can view the ocean and the stretch of mangrove dotted shore.  

 

The sky was overcast and gloomy. Not color pretty.  The landscape photographs I took, I decided to convert to black & white to evoke a  moody and  somber feel.

After taking our fill of the  landscape, we rested and freshened up and went back to the dining area for, guess what?  DINNER!  (three weeks of running, zumba classes and crash dieting went out of the window). Oh well, we came here after all to enjoy and have fun, didn't we?

Travel: Dos Palmas Day 1

Tuesday, September 27

At 6:30 am, as typhoon Pedring was wrecking havoc in Metro Manila, I met up with PS friends,  Elise and Ferli at NAIA terminal 3. Elise and I, together with Len and Leine were scheduled to board the 8am flight to Puerto Princesa, Palawan for a 3 day getaway to Dos Palmas Island Resort & Spa. Ferli, on the other hand was going to Cebu for business.  Outside, the storm raged its wrath with heavy rains and howling wind.  Len and Leine, due to an unfortunate stroke of luck with a slow bus from Laguna,  arrived too late, they have to rebook for the next scheduled  flight (11AM). I was a bit worried about our flights being cancelled.

This trip has been planned a month ahead. No rain or storm could deter us from having our island getaway.

Finally, after a short stay at the pre-departure area, Elise and I boarded our plane. Since Elise checked in ahead of me, we were not seated together.

The ride was a bit boring, no breathtaking aerial view from the window, just clouds. I slept most of the one hour flight.  The trip took a bit longer than usual because the plane had to fly around for a few minutes before landing to wait for the weather to clear up a bit.

 

When we touched down at Puerto Princesa airport, it was raining. We were met by two Dos Palmas staff. But we had to wait for Len and Leine to arrive. So we decided to have lunch in the meantime. We were so famished. I asked the Dos Palmas staff to bring us to Ka Lui's for lunch (this merits a separate entry)

We stayed at Ka Lui's taking photographs and enjoying the rustic decor while we waited for Len and Leine. 

When they arrived after several hours,  it's off to another hour of boat ride.

Nearing the island, we were greeted  by sounds of gongs. We stepped out into the resort's dock and walked on the bridge, passed the cottages on stilts, to the reception area where we were given bead necklaces and welcome drinks.

 

Finally, we were in paradise, never mind if it's raining and gloomy, I know I would be able to have a much needed time out from work.

Up next... Lunch at ka lui's.