It’s hard to believe that Marc, Eric, Nina, Ferdz and I were enjoying the beautiful Palawan forests and waters just yesterday (thanks, SEAIR!). I keep imagining that I’ll see boats parked outside my window, or that I’d hear kids splashing into the water. How I wish I was back in that humble lodge in Busuanga.

Reality check: I need to get back to work 🙁 But before I do that, allow me to share with you our weekend adventure in Palawan!

Our trip had been a real adventure (not the usual “just lounging by the beach and staying at a resort kind of thing”), one post just won’t do it justice. I’ve got so much photos and experiences to share, so I’m separating our adventure in Palawan in three parts. Read along for the first one!

We boarded SEAIR’s 32-seater Dornier 328 as indicated on our tickets. I hate waiting, and I especially hate delayed flights. Good thing we didn’t have to wait long to board the plane.

The bus taking us to the plane in Manila domestic airport

Boarding SEAIR’s Dornier 328

I honestly didn’t expect Palawan to be so beautiful. I wasn’t able to do research on the place before we went there, so I didn’t really know what to expect except for beaches and stuff like that. I was thinking maybe it was just like Boracay. I wasn’t prepared for what I saw as we neared the island.

The Dornier 328 is a small plane, so our altitude was lower than the usual. This gave us an awesome view of the incredibly blue waters and beautiful green forests. The scene that I saw was so breath-taking, words can’t do them justice. See for yourself:

My first glimpse of Palawan from the plane

See? The reef was just so beautiful even from above!

Living in the city far too long, I couldn’t believe that there existed a place like this in the Philippines. You couldn’t help but gape in awe at Mother Nature’s beauty. Even on the air, I knew this place was better than anywhere I’ve been to—even better than Boracay. Man, I felt like I was watching scenic shots from The Lord of the Rings (I thought Frodo would appear any moment). I guess maybe it’s because I’m just a nature lover (some of my friends tell me I’m a “tree-hugger”), but I just couldn’t help but gape and repeat “ang ganda!” over and over again. I was like a little girl bouncing on my seat… Marc, who was sitting on my left, was trying his best to retrain me (he didn’t appreciate the movement I was making hehe).

Reminds me of the mountains in The Lord of the Rings; Remember the scene where fires are being lit up to send a plea for help from Gondor to Rohan in LOTR movie The Return of the King?

Another pretty view from the plane