I arrived at the final frontier of the Philippines, well kind of. I arrived in Puerto Princesa which is the gateway to the final frontier. This area is famous for coral reefs around Honda Bay and the worlds longest underground river in Sabang, both of which are day trips from here.
As far as cities go, I have not been very impressed so far, but Puerto is quite nice. It’s streets are clean, the people are friendly, and nobody has asked me for money yet.
There is a nice church downtown.
Across from it is a memorial for US military personel that died here at the end of World War Two when it was occupied by the Japanese.
This is the only place in the entire province (island) where you can get cash. After this, no more banks, no ATMs, and limited power. I’m told that the phone companies have made a push for reliable phone service though. SMART has just ran an undersea cable between here and Manila to provide 3G and LTE services.
I have a couple nights here to see Honda Bay and the underground river and then will go up to El Nido for 4 nights before returning here to fly to Manila.