I’ve finally come back to Puerto Princesa from El Nido. The nice British lady showed me the way to the pension house we’re going to be staying in. It is on a quiet street a few blocks away from the main junction of Puerto Princesa. Actually there are a number of pension houses in this area, but it seemed that Payuyo Pension House was the recommended one by the travel guides.
And it didn’t disappoint. It was a simple place, though not as simple as the place I stayed in Sabang. This was the city after all. It was a clean two storey building. It has a nice place on the ground floor for people to gather and relax. The room I got was clean and non-airconditioned, but it came with a fan. The room was actually quite big, but there isn’t really much to do in the room, since there was only a bed there. There was no attached bathroom either. For baths, I would need to go to the common one just down the hall. I didn’t mind that either. At that time the place didnt’ really feel like it was swarming with guests, though I met a few folks walking down the hall.
The bathroom was likewise clean. My only gripe was it didn’t have a place to park my dry clothes other than leaving them outside the bathing area. There was no water heater here either, though, I don’t think anyone would notice.
After going for a quick nap, I took a shower and went down to look for my dinner. I read about this place called Ka Lui’s, which was supposed to be a must visit place in Puerto Princesa. I hired a tricycle and asked the driver to bring me there. It wasn’t really very far, actually it was quite close to the airport. Ka Lui’s had a somewhat traditional local feel, much like how a lot of eating places in Manila like Jerry or Dencio’s are. The place was quite full so it is advisable to make reservations beforehand. Luckily, they managed to find me a seat. Before you enter the place, you’d have to leave your footwear behind, though. The setting of the restaurant is almost like a traditional house with a backyard. All of it was tastefully done.
Not surprisingly, their specialty is seafood, so I ordered one of the their seafood dishes. While waiting, I noticed that there were quite a lot of tourists there. It seems like this place is really well known. The Chinese patrons were noisy enjoying their meal with liquor flowing freely followed by boisterous laughter. Finally, my meal came and it didn’t disappoint. I got a big chunk of fish steak, some vegetables and a stalk of seaweed. This seemed to be the very same seaweed that I didn’t get to taste one my way to Sabang. The fish was as fresh as it could get and was very tasty. So were the vegetables. The seaweed was quite interesting, there were little globules of salt water on the “stem” that would burst like little bubbles in the mouth giving it a very nice texture. It was interesting to put that on the dish. As it turned out, the seaweed turned out to be mainly water since there isn’t really anything much to chew.
After the satisfying meal, I didn’t really feel like wandering around the city after dark. Though it didn’t really feel dangerous. I just headed back to the pension house and prepared for my flight back to Manila. All the while, recalling the wonderful experience I had at Sabang and El Nido. These places surely count as one of the must see places in the Philippines.
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