Paradiso Palawan: Day 6 - City Tour and Iwahig Firefly Watching

Because of the fun dinner the night before, we woke up late the following day. It was past lunch time already and we opted to have lunch at Bona's Chaolong. This place is popular for their affordable Vietnamese food. Although there are a lots of chaolongan in Puerto, this one is the closest to our home.

Beef Stew Noodles (Php 65.00) and Longganisa French Bread (Php 40.00)

I ordered their Special Beef Stew and paired it with Longganisa French Bread. Bona's is pay as you order and self-service; the place is also not air-conditioned so you might feel uncomfortable. This is my first time to eat Vietnamese food so I can't vouch for its authenticity.

Our schedule for the Iwahig Firefly Watching Tour was 7PM that evening, so to kill the time we decided to do a mini city tour. We went to visit the Immaculate Concepcion Cathedral and Plaza Cuartel which are just opposite each other.

Inside Immaculate Concepcion Cathedral.

Plaza Cuartel was a garrison where American prisoners were burned alive by the Japanese soldiers way back around the 1800s. Despite the sad history of the place, the plaza is a popular hang out spot as it has a nice view of the ocean.

Lovers at the plaza hehe..

We got hungry from taking pictures and pagtambay at the plaza so we replenished our energy with some coffee and sweets at Itoy's Coffee Haus.

Coffee!!! Hurray!!!

Going to Iwahig, we hired a tricycle for Php700.00 (for all three of us) to take us there and back to Puerto Princesa. We left Itoy's around 6PM hoping to get there before 7PM. Travel time was supposed to be 40-45 minutes only. However, we didn't make it on time due to traffic (sigh).

The boat ride costs Php 600.00 (good for 3 pax.). Strictly no more than 3 passengers per boat. Children are allowed but there is a height requirement. No diving and no night swimming. 

It was a very interesting tour; our boatman was very knowledgeable, telling us trivia's about the fireflies here and there. And even though I don't see his face, he has a very nice voice (pwedeng singer!). He even told us not to hesitate if we have questions.

So you might be asking if I have pictures of the fireflies or of the tour? Well, sadly I don't. Flash from cameras are highly discouraged. According to our boatman, its because fireflies determine the alpha through the light they omit. And because the flash "outshines" them, there is a tendency that they will leave the area. With that, I just relished the experience of watching and observing the fireflies. Besides, seeing them in IRL is definitely worth it!

 After the nakakabitin 40 minute boat ride tour, we asked Tatay Rey (our tricyle driver) to head us back to the town. He dropped us at Kinabuch where we had our dinner and capped the night with some beer J