Hello everyone! It’s raining so hard here in California today that it makes me think about going to a trip somewhere. Since it hasn’t even been a month since we’ve gotten back from the Philippines I think our next excursion is going to have to wait a little while. 🙂 In the mean time I can day dream about our most recent trip and all the good food we ate right?!
Charlie and I experience different places through their food, and when we went to the Philippines in January it was no different. We had Chinese food, Spanish food, and tons of Filipino food – YUM! My personal food highlights of the trip was the home cooking at my Lola’s house and the absolute freshest seafood I’ve ever had when we went to Pandan Island.
Here are a few places we decided to try. A big thank you to our family and friends for the wonderful recommendations!!
In the middle of our trip my dad took us to Palawan for 4 days. It was amazing! Humid, but amazing! 😆
It was cloudy and raining most of our time there but we didn’t let that get us down. We stayed at this hotel called Balay Tuko and loved the homey feel of the place. They served us breakfast every morning with a pitcher of calamansi juice and it was delicious!
Main Entrance of Hotel
Walking through gorgeous pathway to front desk
On our first day there we decided to do a city tour and it was great to see different parts of Puerto Princesa. We stopped at many historic sites including a park that was part of World War 2 history, a gorgeous home owned by a governor that overlooked the island, a butterfly sanctuary, and a crocodile farm. The last 2 were really scary for me lol. Make fun of me, go ahead! 😅
Our second day we decided to go on the underground river tour. It was absolute pouring rain that day but luckily the Coast Guard said it was still safe to go. I was blown away! But the bats, not so much. They’re just like birds with all their flapping so we don’t like each other lol. Despite the bats, the caves were a sight to see. God’s hand in our Earth was definitely evident in that place, it reminded me of how wonderous nature can be.
Our last full day we decided to go island hopping in Honda Bay. I was looking forward to this part of our trip because of all the things my relatives were telling me about Pandan Island. We almost didn’t get to go because the Coast Guard said it was too choppy to go out that far, but our captain said it wasn’t bad so he risked it and I’m so glad he did! It was so worth it! The beach was beautiful, the water was crystal clear, and the seafood was so fresh and delicious!
Just in our trip to Palawan I took over 350 pictures and videos! I hope these photos entice you to visit this beautiful place. The Philippines has a lot to offer!
We had so much fun in the Philippines! This trip was to mainly spend time with family so we stayed in Manila for most of the time but there is so much to see there we didn’t mind. We made our way to LAX on New Year’s Eve 2016 and rang in the new year inside the Tom Bradley Terminal.
Waiting to board our plane to Korea
There was a lot of turbulence on the way to Seoul but Charlie and I were KO’d and too tired to really be worried about it. One thing we did always wake up for was FOOD! lol. We were really impressed with the food Asiana Airlines served. Our personal fave: Bibimbap!
We finally arrived at Incheon Airport and made our way to our connecting flight to Manila. Incheon Airport is really nice! But we didn’t have much time to explore, unfortunately.
View from our plane
When we arrived we were just excited to not be sitting down anymore! As much as we liked Asiana Airlines the seats made our butts numb lol! My dad and lola (grandma) picked us up from the airport and it was really smooth sailing with immigration and getting our luggages.
My dad is from Antipolo so we stayed there with my family. It was a home away from home, that’s for sure! Every morning we would wake up to a delicious breakfast, there’s nothing like home cooking in the Philippines! After breakfast we would head out to see the city and eat some more lol!
We spent a week in Manila, went to Palawan for a week, and then finished off our trip with another week in Manila.
We went to different parts of Manila, we were so surprised at how many shopping centers there are! I knew the Philippines had some crazy malls but there are so many more now. Tons of places to shop, tons of good places to eat, tons of things to see. One of the things that was really pretty to see was the falls at Hinulugang Taktak. It was really close to my grandma’s house but have never been. It’s a really nice place to read, have a picnic, etc.
Stay tuned for more pictures from our trip! I can’t believe I took over 500 pictures while we were there! There were so many things to see, not to mention EAT.
