Our
visit to Dos Palmas
The organizers of the Philippine Travel Mart included
a post famtrip to selected destinations such as Cebu, Davao,
Boracay and Palawan.
Luckily four of the Los Angeles participants were sent
to Dos Palmas. The four are Rick Enrique and Jane Stark
of Travel International, Manny Paez of Travelph.com
and myself.
Our flight is at 9:15am. My roomrate still from Traders
Hotel Manila in Manila, Jane Stark and I were a little anxious
for our trip to Dos Palmas. Our air transportation hosted
by Air Philippines was an hour from Manila to Puerto Princesa.
Upon our arrival, we were met by reps of Dos Palmas and
took a 15 minute car ride to the port at Honda Bay. We took
an hour's boat ride to the resort.
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Not far from the resort we could already here gongs playing
to welcome our group.Ms. Lybanor Godio, the resident manager
and almost all of their staff were there to greet us. We
were treated then to a gourmet meal starting off with French
Onion Soup followed by green salad with avocado dressing
and a side of potato croquettes. The entrees were as delicious
composing of sweet and sour lapu-lapu, chicken barbeque
and sauteed vegetables. We could not have ended the meal
without this fried bananas crusted with cornflakes and topped
with vanilla ice cream. You can just imagine, we could hardly
move after this meal.
We took the afternoon at leisure, taking pictures ot the
lush landscaping. We took a dip at the pool and relaxed
at the jacuzzi.
It was quite hard to resist the buffet dinner served but
after that heavy lunch it was quite hqueard to take a plateful.
The next day, Rick and Manny went on an intro dive while
Jane and I opted to stroll around and take more picutres.
During lunch we were taken to a small island for a picnic
lunch. When we arrived lunch was already laid on the table.
Menu - Lobster salad, kilawing tanigue, Barbeque chicken
and prawns, paella negra and salted egg with onions. For
desert, halo-halo served on a coconut shell.
Amazed at who was preparing all these gastronomical treats,
we inquired on who the chef was. VOILA, he is there with
us a 28 year old guy named Isagani Fortunado. Curious as
we are inquired on how he learned to make all these delicious
treats. We later on found out that he did go to any formal
training but just learns through seminars and his own taste.
The rest of the afternoon, we decided to go to the SPA.
The ambiance there was very serene. We decided to get the
works, facial, foot spa and swedish massage. We were there
from 3:30 to 9:30 pm. Realizing that it was already time
for dinner, the staff prepared dinner for us right there
at the spa. Where in the world could this happen?
it is not as if we were not so relaxed that we still opted
to go to the Wreck Bar and do a little karoake singing.
We were joined by our guest services staff like Yohan, Mike
and Jung.
The next day, it was time to leave. It was a sad moment
to depart this island paradise.
Another trip to Dos Palmas? In a hearbeat...Annie Cuevas
From left to right: Rick Enrique(AFTA President), Annie
Cuevas(Director of Dot Los Angeles)
Jan Stark(Travel International Manager) & Manny Paez(Travelph.com)
