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Published: October 7th 2010
Can you read this???
Our flight from HK to ManilaIt was an early morning leaving Chungking Mansions in Kowloon as our flight was at 10:30am from Hong Kong International. After check in we went to Burger King to get some breakfast, I went to the bathroom and came back to Pete talking with 2 teachers from CTLC that returned to Shenzhen to teach. Anna Rae and Roz were flying to Taipei, Taiwan for their National Day break. It was so strange to be in such a large foreign city and run into people we knew (this doesn’t happen often in China)
Our flight was delayed from HK to Manila and again from Manila to Puerto Princesa on Cebu Pacific Air, which is a budget airline based in the Philippines. Oh well 30 or 40 minutes isn’t that bad and it was a quick flight as each segment was less than 90 minutes. This airline has less leg room than Air Asia which I didn’t think was possible.
When we arrived at the airport in Puerto Princesa it reminded us of the small terminal in Hue, Vietnam. It probably would have been faster if they gave us our bag on the runway as we just walked down the stairs
off the plane and walked into the airport. There are only a few flights each day here from Manila. Puerto Pension, our hotel, picked us up from the airport and took us back; they were amazing during our 3 night stay.
The first evening we had dinner at Kinabuch’s Grill & Bar (KGB) it was in the Lonely Planet and the hotel security guard recommended it to us. Yes it is Russian owned and the food was pretty good. On our second evening we ate at Imas a great vegetarian restaurant which we enjoyed a lot. On our third night we ate at Lotus Garden, again wonderful food.
Our 1st day activity we headed out on a Honda Bay Island Hopping tour which we snorkeled and went to Snake & Starfish Island. Snake Island got its name from its formation like a snake and during high tide splits into 2 islands. Starfish Island got its name since there are many starfish there, we took lots of photos. Then our next day we headed to Sabang, small town on the west side of Palawan that has little or no electricity but has one of the candidates for the New
Pete enjoying a FREE massage
Manila airport offers a free 10 min head and shoulder massage near Gates 131-134 we took advantage of course Natural 7 Wonders of the World The Subterranean River, the longest known underground river in the world.
Sabang was a 2 hour van ride from Puerto Princesa and most of the road was paved but a section was not, our tour guide said it came with a “free” massage once we got in the van. Meaning the bumpy road would give us a massage. Just in the last year with more of the road being paved the journey has turned from a 3 hr drive into a 2 hr drive.
Once we arrived in Sabang we were greeted with a beautiful secluded beach where we would have lunch, then get on a outrigger boat for 20 minutes to the entrance of the underground river. We walked for about 5 minutes through the rainforest to the small canoe area where we would be lead into the underground river.
I am not sure what I was expecting but bats and mosquitoes were not on the list. I covered myself in bug spray before entering the cave as they said there were a lot of mosquitoes inside since it was dark and cooler. Then the guide advised us there were 3-5,000
bats inside the cave. I was the lucky person who got to hold the lamp attached to a car battery to supply light for our 45 minute journey inside the cave on the underground river.
The scenery inside was amazing but since I was at the front I felt like I was being dive bombed by bats the WHOLE 45 minutes and let out some screams when they got to close. Since I was also holding the light supply the bugs were swarming around my hand (not so pleasant). In all the guide books it advises travelers of malaria in the rural parts of Palawan and it just kept running through my head. Yes, we have malaria medication but I have always leaned to the side of using bug spray instead of medication in these instances. I am saving it for if/when we go to Laos as it is HIGHLY recommended there.
Near the entrance/exit of the cave there were monkeys and monitor lizards which we were advised we would see. We only saw them on the way out and I got nervous since we were advised some people have fed the monkeys and it has changed their
behavior due to the preservatives in the food and now they like to attack anything plastic thinking it is food. They have even been known to bite people if they don’t give them whatever they are trying to grab.
Well they didn’t attack any of us but came quite close to us for being wild animals. There were 2 little babies and about 12-15 adult monkeys in the group. I didn’t see any monitor lizards but Pete went with a local who helped them find one and he took some photos.
Sabang was great and we wished we would have possibly spent the night there as it had a beautiful beach and was a small remote area. Living in the most populated country in the world has made us appreciate the peace and quiet some of our travel destinations offer.
The mayor of Puerto Princesa is part Filipino and German. He is a strong supporter of green energy and has gotten solar energy street lights installed in Sabang where one year ago there was no electricity. It is very clean also due to the NO LITTERING law; 1st offense 200 pisos=$4.54, 2nd offense 300 pisos=$6.81 and 3rd
offense 2 months in city jail plus 1000 pisos fine=$22.73. This is our first place in SE Asia where we weren't disgusted by the massive amounts of garbage everywhere.
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Mom
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part 2
Glad you are having a good time...beautiful weather there also!!!You were brave in that cave!!! I don't know if I could have done it with the bats! !