My Wordless Monday Picture Blog (Week 42)

Free Airfare, Free Lodging, Free Chow... Lucky Me!!!

I thank Philippine Airlines and Mabuhay Miles for coming up with the Great Miles Getaway promo. I will be visiting again the very beautiful province of Palawan for the weekend. I exchanged my 5,000 reward miles for a free roundtrip ticket in Mabuhay (Business) class. Without the promo you need 10,000 reward miles for the roundtrip ticket. I only paid for the fuel surcharge and government taxes amounting to 2,324 pesos.

Am I blessed or just lucky because I will be staying with my friend who is a resident of Puerto Princesa. No need to fetch me at the airport as her house is just less than 1 km. from the airport. The last time I'm in Palawan my friend even lend her car and toured me and my sister around.

The fun of free stuffs didn't stopped there. She told me that she will prepare a picnic basket and we will go to one of the islands in Honda Bay for the day.

Photograph taken from the Philippine Department of Tourism website.

3 Best(s) in Palawan... and a "negative" score for Boracay

View of Honda Bay in Palawan

Boracay

The beaches of the Philippines are truly pieces of several paradise on earth! There's even a silent rule for travel writers when describing the Philippines... I noticed that it is almost compulsory to indicated that our country has "7,107 islands." No travel write-up is complete when you don't mention it.

Palawan deserves a pat on the back for a job well done. The paradise province earned 3 entries in The Great Asian Beach Finder article of the October 2007 issue of Conde Nast Traveler magazine. Palawan was mentioned in the categories of one of the best beaches in Asia, one of the best beach hotels (Amanpulo) and one of the best beaches for sports (Diving at Bacuit Bay).

But on the negative note, Boracay as the country's most popular beach had a negative review. The author noted that Boracay "once routinely ranked among the world's best beaches, I saw more trash than seashells." She is partly correct, being a frequent visitor of Boracay since 1996, I saw in my last 7 trips to Boracay how the island became a victim and succumbed because of too much commercialization. My most beautiful memory of Boracay was in 1996 when the island still has that secluded charm.