Palawan Weekend Day 3: Crocodile Farm, Baker's Hill, And An Unexpected Extra Night

Saturday, February 21, 2015 Alexis Mendoza 0 Comments

And just like that, we're down to our final day on the beautiful island of Palawan. Tired from yesterday's adventure, we decided to wake up a little late and enjoy our last breakfast buffet at Tanglaw an hour before it closes.

Our agenda on our last day was to maximize our time before our 8pm flight back to Manila. We decided to check-out early, left our stuff at the hotel, and head to our final adventure. We talked to a tricycle driver who agreed to bring us to 3 spots for the whole afternoon, you can say that this is a DIY tour since we're the ones who decided where to go.

First stop of the day is pasalubong shopping at Mercado de San Miguel. More after the jump.

Mercado de San Miguel is located along the Puerto Princesa North Road, behind the airport's air strip. There are several shops here as well as restaurants where you can enjoy a hearty lunch after some pasalubong shopping. This pasalubong center is HUGE and you might end up buying a lot considering how cheap the goods are.


After stuffing our bags with little trinkets for our loved ones back in Manila, we headed to our next stop - The Palawan Wildlife and Rescue Center. Located far off the city center, we had to endure a 20-minute or so tricycle ride to reach this place.


There's a fee for the tour but it's actually quite cheap. Tour starts every 30 minutes, with a lunch break from noon to 1pm - so keep this in mind if ever you're visiting. Also be aware of the PA announcements that you'll know when it's time to start the tour.

The tour starts in their main lobby where you need to sign their log, a tour guide will be greeting your group and explains a little backgrounder about the place. The tour approximately lasts for only 15-20 minutes. After the intro, you'll be ushered to the crocodile nursery hall, and finally to the adult crocodile pits.


After the tour, everyone had the chance to have their photos taken with a small crocodile. I didn't pass the opportunity and immediately grabbed the croc to have my photo taken with him (or her? lol). You can even buy your photo at around 180 pesos cheapest, but I recommend you to just have a buddy take a photo of you using your own camera.


There's also a mini zoo at the back of the conservation center where they keep a few other animals aside from crocodiles. This is a nice time to relax and be one with nature, although the zoo really needs some improvement or renovation, some of the animals looks unhappy with their cages.


After the tour, we headed back to our tricycle and went to our last stop, Baker's Hill. True to its name, this place is situated on top of a hill overlooking Puerto Princesa, they are famous for their pastries for pasalubong and their place perfect for selfies! You definitely must grab boxes of their famous hopia, because it is delicious!


We decided to enjoy our late lunch at one of their restaurant, Baker's Kitchen. We grabbed one of the outdoor tables and ordered their Palabok bilao and halo-halo, it was okay but nothing to rave about. The Palabok has lots of squid which made it too fishy while the halo-halo was too sweet. If you're into strong seafood flavor and sweet stuff, then you'll enjoy this.

After that quick meal, we decided to head back to our hotel and wait for our ride to the airport. We arrived at the airport early and went straight to the departure area since we already did an early check-in at NAIA. We had to pay 150 for the terminal fee, so make sure to prepare this when departing from Puerto Princesa Airport.

We're the last flight out of Puerto Princesa that day with an 8pm flight, unfortunately an unexpected news was announced and all flights for the night was cancelled due to 'strong winds', we're left with no choice but to stay at the airport overnight to wait for our 7am flight the following morning. It was a nice experience though, it's the first time we experienced getting stranded and we just took it lightly.


Our weekend in paradise is over, but I'll definitely come back to Palawan soon because there's still a lot of things to do in this beautiful island. For now, just enjoy this post-vacation video I made;