Blogs from Sabang, Palawan, Philippines, Asia - page 2

It seems that travelling in the Philippines first involves learning to wake up early. By 7am we found ourselves still dazed and pre-coffee on the early jeepney riding the notoriously bad "abortion road" to Sabang. The island of Palawan is often touted as "The last Fronteir" of the Philippines for its rugged undeveloped-ness. The jeepney was absolutely packed, loaded with goods, produce, and people on the roof. It actually turns out that the road is not all that bad. Most of it is on concrete, and they are busy sealing the rest. I guess as with all things, "bad" roads are relative, but after travelling around Southern Africa, most recently with a crazy trip on the wrong road to Hole-in-the-wall and our honeymoon in Mozambique, we were pleasantly surprised. The dirt parts are still pretty bumpy ... read more

Pictures: Sabang & The Underground River 1 Sabang & The Underground River 2 Last weekend, as previously hoped, me and two others from the base went to the Underground River in Sabang. When we hopped off our tricycle to Brgy, we faced the option of riding the top of a jeepney or taking an air conditioned bus. Without a moment’s hesitation, I chose the natural A/C atop the jeepney. The others wanted the adventure too, so we climbed the ladder and found a spot atop the metal racking. The ride was a wild one, even though it made our butts sore from all the bumps and potholes we drove over. Of course there was a bunch of other cargo and people on top, which made it all the more interesting. The guy I was sitting beside ... read more

Our next stop was Palawan, an island province in the far Western waters of the Philippines. The island is 800km in length, and has been called "The Final Frontier" of the Philippines. Most of Palawan is an untouched wilderness and it did not disappoint! The only downside is that Palawan is the "cockerel capital" of the world. The little menaces are everywhere. Cockerels are supposed to crow at daybreak, but someone obviously forgot to give these ones a wristwatch. 1am... "cock-a-doodle-doo!" 2am... "cock-a-doodle-doo!" 3am... "cock-a-doodle-doo!" Every place we visited over the next two weeks was infested with the damn cockerels. I was tempted to buy some gaffer tape and seal their little beaks shut. Then I thought using elastic bands over the beaks would be more humane, because the cockerels could then stretch their beaks open ... read more

One of the beautiful places in the Philippines i have visited so far! So virgin and remote but everyone will surely enjoy the beautiful beaches and the underground river.... read more

My goodness I needed a holiday. The working lark is tough going on the body and soul, I seriously needed some R and R. After toying with the idea of China and Japan I decided to return to SE Asia again, but this time to the Philippines. Rather than take the bus like a normal person to the airport in Seoul (Incheon) I decided to take the metro as close as I could get then take a taxi. What a nightmare that turned out to be, I needed to flag down a taxi on the freeway, which then charged me almost $50 to the airport. In order to get back into Korea I needed a re-entry stamp from airport immigration, a process that I had read could take hours. I’m delighted to report that I was ... read more