Review: Duchess Pension, Puerto Princesa

Duchess Pension is a budget-friendly accommodation located in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan. A week prior to our Palawan trip, I already reserved a budget room with common toilet and bath so we won't bother finding a place to stay when we get there.

After our Palawan city tour, our tricycle driver dropped us off at Duchess Pension and asked the receptionist about our reservation. She answered, "Ay, hindi pa po ready, nililinis pa po." I was disappointed because I thought our room was already prepared since I reserved it a week before our trip. 

So we decided to spend some time in Puerto Princesa Baywalk (10 minutes walk from Duchess) before going back to the pension.

It will only cost 20 PHP tricycle ride (for two) from the airport to the pension. It's also a tricycle ride from the Cathedral and other establishments in Puerto Princesa. Remember, the tricycle fare is twice the regular fare from 10:00PM to 5:00 AM. The budget room (with double bed & common toilet & batch) costs 350 PHP.

Duchess Pension

Lobby (wi-fi is not free)

Dining area

Hallway (where you can find other rooms, too)

The room is very simple-- one double bed.

Fan and table, small table.

The room was actually, clean and simple. However, I do not recommend that you put your "pasalubong" on the floor, because ants will surely eat them. Hahahahaha! (Based on experience!)

Anyway, I still recommend this place if you are looking for a simple, cheap and clean place to stay in Puerto Princesa, Palawan.

For more information, please visit:

http://www.duchesspensionpalawan.com/

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22nd: Puerto Princesa, Palawan

I celebrated my 22nd birthday in Palawan with my honey. Since we were on a budget, we tried to do the cheapest way possible to have a city tour in Puerto Princesa, the capital of Palawan.

In Puerto Princesa, we met Kuya Dhong, a tricycle driver who offered to tour us around the city for PHP 700 (2 pax).  It is much cheaper compared to the city tour package of the travel agencies.

Viet Ville (or Vietnamese Village) is a small village in Sta. Lourdes, Puerto Princesa. It was a refugee village for Vietnamese when the Vietnam War ended. We had our lunch at Viet Ville Restaurant. Spent a total of PHP 545 for two.

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Vietnamese delicacy (Kakanin yan, hindi gelatin!)

Vietnamese noodles with Thai basil and sprouted mongo (It tastes weird, actually.)

Vietnamese rice toppings (Pork)

Palawan Wildlife and Rescue Conservation Center (formerly Crocodile Farm) Entrance is PHP 40 per head. Tour starts every after 30 minutes. Nothing much spectacular here, only the officials... I mean, the crocodiles, and other animals. 

Picture with the baby croc costs PHP 30 per person.

Bear-cat.

Rancho Sta. Monica, is also known as Mitra's Ranch. According to Kuya Dhong, the place is owned by Ramon Mitra.

If you wanna take a picture with the horse, you must give a tip or "donation" to the horse keeper.

The view is simply romantic.

Baker's Hill is just a few minutes drive away from Mitra's Ranch. 

They have a bake shop that sells cookies, brownies, hopia and other delicacies. We spent around PHP 860 pesos for the "pasalubong."

Parrot? Bird? Rooster? I don't know.

The spectacular view.

Meet Sadako.

You can take a lot of pictures here.

Puerto Princesa Cathedral

Puerto Princesa Baywalk

There's actually a festival-thingy going on when we went there, and there were food stalls everywhere! We had our dinner there and spent around PHP 300 for two already.

Rice meal costs PHP 90 each.

Breakdown of expenses (for two):

Viet Ville Restaurant (lunch) - PHP 545
Crocodile Farm (PWRCC) entrance - PHP 80
Picture taking with baby croc - PHP 60

Picture taking with horse @ Mitra's Farm (donation) - PHP 20

Souvenir shopping @ Baker's Hill - PHP 860

Dinner @ Puerto Princesa Baywalk - PHP 300

Kuya Dhong's City Tour - PHP 700

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PHP 2565

*Tricycle to Puerto Princesa Airport costs PHP 40 only. PP terminal Fee costs PHP 40/head.

*Our airfare to Palawan costs PHP 2500 (sale, the terminal fee is already included as of August 2012) via Tiger Airways, and the fare back to Manila costs PHP 3800 via Zest Airways. I DO NOT recommend Zest Airways because we (and my co-workers) have experienced 1 hour delay in our flight.

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