A side trip to Ugong Rock wasn't originally part of our itinerary. The idea to drop by at this towering limestone pedestal came about after realizing that the Underground River tour wouldn't take that long, ergo we'd be wasting a whole afternoon if we went straight back to our hotel. We talked to our tour guide about it and he was cool with us stopping in for a short visit. It's just beside the road anyway.

So despite the nice ambiance in a nondescript resort in Sabang Beach where we took our hearty lunch, we had to hustle and say goodbye to the white powdery sand. We were kind of running on a tight schedule because the trip back to downtown Puerto Princesa would take two hours. We didn't have any idea how long the Ugong Rock adventure would last for.

We took the same route back, passed through some lush countryside and beautiful karsk mountains beside the road. I didn't take pictures this time, which was nice because I got to enjoy the picturesque panoramas along the way. A few minutes later, the van slowed down in a sleepy village where we glimpsed strands of long ropes cutting across a big rice field.