Roaming Palawan - islands, prison, festival and too much rum

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EL NIDO

Well, as the only apparent option to leave Coron for El Nido was to take a boat, which costs almost a fortune for budget travelers like us, we didn't really have much of a choice. I bought the tickets a day in advance and then kept my fingers crossed that the boat will actually leave Coron the next day, as a couple have already been canceled due to the heavy rain. Murphy's law came to my mind when I woke up on Tuesday morning and it was raining, but we were lucky, the boat was there and we were still “on schedule” to leave. When I say on schedule, I mean we left with an hour and a half of delay, which in Filipino terms is on time 😊. I expected something like a ferry, but the boat that was supposed to take us on a 6 hour journey to El Nido was a slightly bigger fishing boat. Ah, well, when in Rome...As we thought we were well on our way, we came across another boat that was supposed to take divers on their tour for the day, but the boat broke. So we dragged the boat back to the shore, and had to restart our journey. Yay.

It has been raining heavily for days, so we set up into a really rough sea, with high waves, that took their toll immediately – one of the Canadian guys on the boat emptied his stomach soon after leaving Coron. The sea was rough though, I think there wasn't a person on the boat that didn't feel slightly nauseous. And to top that, when it was the worst, we got our lunch served. Awesome timing 😊. At one point in time, as we were all trying our best to ignore the ride, we stumbled into this huge wave, which almost drowned Jan, poor soul, he was soaked through and through. After 8 hours, not 6, we finally arrived to El Nido, and I was about to kiss the land, just relieved I was able to leave the boat.

Arriving to El Nido we were greeted by a stunning, although a bit rainy view. El Nido is a small sea-side town and the majority of the colorful buildings overlooking the sea are guest houses, restaurants, you get the picture. Apparently during the high season it is absolutely packed and you can't take 2 steps without bumping into another tourist. The town itself is surrounded with magnificent cliffs that give El Nido that special something. A short walk outside of town there are several small villages, which have one thing in common: no matter how small the village is, it will have a basketball court, usually the only spot with concrete. There are several beautiful beaches around El Nido, loads of diving and snorkeling spots...there is plenty to do there, if you want to of course. Oh, and one more interesting thing: electricity brown outs as they call them. Electricity is available from 4pm – 6am. To be honest I don't really understand the point, I am not sure they are that ecologically aware. But there you have it 😊.

We decided to take it easy and for a change stay put in one place for a while, we decided we wanted to find a place that was nice, preferably on the beach and with an awesome place to hang out with other people, which meant we ended up going from one hostel to another for ages. But we found it in the end – the Alternative, which ticked all of our boxes, except for the price. We did agree to stay in a room with a bathroom for the first night and then switch for a cheaper room the next day - switch number 1. As we said we would try to get back to our budget, we started to self-cater for breakfast and lunch again, which was easy with fresh fruit and bread on every corner. And I did find a winner – a bakery that had a whole shelf of bread marked with “no sugar added”! Ding, ding, ding! 😊 I don't mind their bread at all, but Jan is not a big fan, as he says it's not even proper bread. The room also had a funny set of doors, they looked like saloon doors which you could find in all the westerns (important info for later on). The first day we just enjoyed the sun, we took time to catch up on our reading, and we made sure we got some sun tan, well Jan misunderstood and he worked on getting sun burned, I guess we had a bit of a misunderstanding there 😊. Red does suit him though, so no harm done.

Taking it easy and hence saving up some money, I thought it was a good time to venture on a new pair of trousers, as mine tore in Coron. And as there were loads of small local shops in El Nido, I thought, what the heck. Aw, man, I wish I didn't. Filipinas are tiny, but I only realized how tiny they actually are was when I was trying to get those darn shorts. I could fit the largest size (XXXL- added by Jan) they were selling on one arm – being a bit depressed and Jan going: “See, I told you you are like a Hulk compared to them.” 😊

It wasn't all a waste of time though. Sitting on the terrace, which was conjoined with a terrace from a neighboring hostel, Jan became a spokesperson for our hostel. That is how me met 3 Americans, who we randomly later met on the street and had dinner with. They were an interesting bunch. One of the girls has been working as a missionary in Palawan for 3 years, her brother and his wife visiting her. They were devoted Christians, and had a prayer before dinner. Nevertheless were refreshingly open minded and that allowed us to have a really interesting debate all evening long about politics, faith...At the hostel itself we met up more people to hang out with, chat with, and share drinks with 😊 A Slovenian couple, Eva and Luka, and Malin (from Sweden) need a big mention here.

And just so you won't think that chatting and hanging out with people was all we did, we actually did some activities as well. We went island hoping. As the tours and prices of the tours offered were the same throughout town, we decided that we would just take a tour offered at the hostel. We were joined by Jori and 3 guys, all studying in Korea and on a short break in Philippines. We started out on a rainy morning, all hoping the weather would hold. As Dadai, who was working at our hostel and was also running tours, knew there were other boats out, she tried to organize our day so that we would avoid the crowds and do the islands the other way around. Which was awesome, as the first lagoon we arrived to was completely deserted. We all jumped into the water and then the boys decided to swim to the other side of the lagoon where they could climb up a ladder and jump into water from the top. I stayed on the raft and enjoyed the silence 😊. Very soon, one of the French guys swam back to the boat and his foot was bleeding – silly boy cut himself on a rock, while jumping into the water without checking what he was getting himself into. I did my “nurse Florence” part, but for the guy the day was over, as his cut was very deep and could not venture to go back to the water, so he pretty much stayed on the boat and enjoyed the sun. For the rest of us there were some more snorkeling spots, an awesome lagoon with a small hidden lagoon inside of a cave, lunch on a beach...Oh, yeah, we actually got lunch,which was prepared by Dadai and Popo (a really nice Filipino, who was in charge of the boat), unlike at Coron. Lovely grilled fish, chicken, rice, potato salad, fruit, coffee, tea...mmmm. I should stop writing about food. We pretty much had an amazing day, whilst the French guy probably couldn't wait to get back to shore and to get himself to the doctor's. We met all 3 of them later in the evening and they said that the doctor wanted to stitch his wound, but the guy, suspicious of the doctor's capabilities, decided to wait another week to get back to Korea and cater to his wound. Silly, silly, silly boy.

The next day was a great excuse for us to not do anything as it was raining heavily all day long. It was also the day of us moving into room number 3. Let me explain, here is where the texas door comes in: as we were self-catering we had some bread left, which we put in 3 different bags – previous experiences, and tucked away. In the middle of the night we could hear something nibbling through the bag, but we both decided it was mice and neither of us wanted to check. The next day however, coming back from the shower, I saw a huge rat running into our room and hiding behind our bed. Not moments later Jan rushed over to me and said he found a huge rat on his backpack. Both of us disgusted, Jan went to report that to the receptionist and also brought her upstairs to our room to show her the rat. Her reaction? “Hmm.” As Jan sat down, I was like: “So, what are they going to do about it?” And Jan said they didn't seem bothered. I wouldn't have none of it, so I went downstairs, and demanded another room. They only had a suite for 800 pesos. I said there is no way we are paying more, as it is not our fault they had rats, and that either they gave us the room for the same price, or we leave. After speaking to the manager, we got the suite, our own bathroom and the doors overlooking the beach. We did however hear the rats for 2 more nights, apparently their nest was just above our room.

On that day, speaking loudly about the rat situation, we were approached by a guy asking “A sta vidva Slovenca?” (Are you guys Slovenian?) You can't miss us, there are so few of us. So we met a Slovenian couple, Eva and Luka, who came to or hostel to get some food from the restaurant. We clicked immediately and I must say it was so incredible to chat in Slovenian to someone else than just Jan. We arranged to continue our debate over dinner, and later on we also met up in Puerto Princesa. Luka and Eva, we are coming to Indonesia start of July, so you better be free for dinner. 😊

So after 6 days in El Nido we thought it was high time to get off our buts and move to the next destination:

PUERTO PRINCESA

The deal was that Hulketa, oops, sorry, Polona blogs about El Nido and I take over Puerto Princesa or as the locals would call it Puerto. It's the biggest town in Palawan and actually the only place that has ATMs on the whole Palawan. We arrived at the bus station located about 5 km out of town so we had to get a tricycle into town. The second the drivers see a tourist at the station their faces light up as they are already planning how much money they can make with you. Well, we have now learned what to do. While I guarded our backpacks Polona went and spoke to one of many people on the station to ask them about the prices and found out that the cost for the two of us would be 60 pesos. The drivers' “bidding” started with 120. I told them (yes I lied) that we had been to Puerto before and it cost us 60 when we came to the same station. He explained to me that the price is higher as they need to pay the terminal fee. I asked how much the fee was and he replied “5 pesos”. Hmmm, 60 + 5 = 120? Well, of course 😉. Then they told us that we will get a special ride, just the two of us (?). Well, we don't mind sharing so we ended up sharing a tricycle with 3 other people. Poor motorbike carrying six people, plus loads of luggage. You should hear the engine suffering.

We got to Banwa guesthouse and art center which is also an art house. The place is lovely and its ran by a great, really friendly team! It's owned by Jane, a Filipina who married an Irish backpacker who visited her guesthouse years ago. She is now living in Belfast with him and their two daughters and spends 2-3 months each year in Puerto. We were lucky enough to meet her. She was loads of fun, as well as her 2 daughters, Maya and Ulang.

It was a great feeling being in a city after a while. Loads of stores, a choice of places to get food from and just a bit more life around the place. Baragatan festival was taking place when we were there which just added to the whole experience.

Before coming to Puerto we contacted Eva and Luka again and met up with them for dinner. It's so nice meeting other Slovenians. Usually when we would travel we wouldn’t really appreciate it that much but since living abroad and traveling for a while it feels great not having to explain anything about where we come from and to speak Slovenian with somebody else as well. I have to admit I do throw some English words in by accident.

We met up and went for a bite to eat at this vegetarian restaurant called Ima's Vegetarian where we met another Slovenian couple. Eva and Luka met them before in El Nido. They are a bit older (in their 40s, 50s) and have been traveling since 2009!!

The restaurant was a bit funny. They take a photo of each guest coming there for the first time and ask them to write something into their guest book. We got away with it as we were in a company of people who were there before. The food was great, but once again the portions. Ahhh! So after our “meal” or let's say a snack we had a bit of a wander around and went for proper dinner to the Puerto's nicest restaurant, Kailui. As we were early enough we got a table without a reservation, but you need to be lucky. It's a really nice place serving seafood. Its really fancy so you would expect the prices to be really high but they are more than reasonable, especially after Coron and El Nido where everything is a bit inflated. So Polona and I got a set menu of sea food for two people for just over 5£. The menus came with soup, sea algae (interesting to say the least) and a dessert! Together with papaya shakes we ended paying less than 8£.

We stayed at the restaurant for a while, bitching about Slovenian politics. We all agreed all our politicians are idiots but that our ex and most likely future PM is a dictator-like lunatic! We said our farewells as they were leaving Palawan the next day for Boracay. Eva: hope you are feeling better and to see you back in Slovenia or in London!

Our only goal for the second day was to extend our visas. We have heard stories about the ladies working at the immigration office and they did not disappoint us. We arrived to the office which is above a tattoo parlor. You need to walk behind the corner of this run down building and go to the second floor. It doesn’t look at all like an office building, let alone a government building. The door was locked so we knocked and a lady opened the door and went “Visa extension?”, we said “yes” and she tapped her fingers on a paper glued to the door and proceeded to slam the doors into our faces. We managed to stop her and tell her that, yes, we read the paper and we have all the things needed to extend our visas. We called them a few weeks prior and were prepared 😉. She looked at us with a mad face, and demanded to see what we have (all you need is a photocopy of the picture page and the stamp page of your passport). When she saw we have it all she allowed us to step in and pointed us towards another lady. While she was processing our visas she was yawning in front of us and both of them were chatting and laughing. Polona mentioned that they were probably talking about us and making fun of us to which I just replied that we can do the same. And we did! We got our visas sorted in less than 10 minutes, paid 3030 pesos each and were on our way.

One of the reasons why we came to Palawan was to visit the underground river in Sabang which is promoted as the 8th natural wonder of the world, by the Palawan authorities. We ended up skipping the river as there was not a single traveler who would recommend it to us. The best feedback we heard about it was "It was alright, but I would not go again.". To visit the river you pretty much need a whole day. It's a three hour drive from Puerto, then add the wait to get your turn and the ride back. The whole tour on the river takes only about 30 minutes. Ohh, we found out that you need to sign a petition for the river to be named the 8th wonder of the world before even entering.

This freed some time for us and when I read that we can visit a prison my mind was made up. Polona needed a few days to decide to join me and on our third day in Puerto we were on our way to visit Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm which is open to the public. It took a good hour for us to arrive to the main gate where you need to register. From there it's about a 30 minute bumpy drive on a dirt road passing fields where the prisoners work. The first destination is rec-hall in the middle of the prison which also doubles as a souvenir shop. All souvenirs are made by prisoners and the money goes straight to them, so we actually bought two small gifts for a friend back home and our host in KL 😊. We were given a bit of a tour from a medium security prisoner who explained that prisoners are divided into three groups which can be identified by the color of their shirts: grey for minimum security prisoners, blue for medium and orange for maximum security prisoners. You can only meet minimum and medium security prisoners who have different jobs, while maximum security prisoners are locked up the whole day. We found out that you can move up or down the ranks if you behave according to the rules. We met prisoners who have been there for years. We also met a prisoner whose daughter was there to visit him for a couple of weeks during her holidays. The families can actually stay with them in the prison. When a few more visitors arrived to the gift shop a group of prison lady boys decided to perform their dance routine for us (see video). We just loved it. The whole dance routine could have been inspired by a similar dance routine from Cebu prison, getting close to 40 million hits on youtube (search "Thrille" (original upload)). After the dance routine we said our goodbyes and headed back to Puerto, but at a junction our driver asked us if we would like to see the pool as well. We weren't sure what he was on about but we said “yes” not to miss something. Once we arrived there we met more prisoners, these bunch a bit more opened for conversation. As I already gave away all the cigarettes (bought especially for this reason) I bought another pack (at 20 pesos they are CHEAP) to give away to the guys. The guys told us their names, how long they have been here and one of the guys (see pic) even told us that he was there because he committed a double murder! The same guy later brought Polona flowers, which she lost on our way back! Hopefully the double murderer doesn't find out and gets mad. After about an hour or so we left. It's a strange feeling being in a prison, chatting with the guys. I can only imagine how much a visit like this means to them, just to break up the routine and to sell some of their work and maybe get some cigarettes.

From the prison we headed up to Baker's hill to see old statues of Disney characters. According to Lonely planet its a deserted village. Boy is that info out of date! It's full of shops, restaurants and tourists. Its was still a nice sight to see and a chance to take some funny pics but we were out of there quickly.

Before dinner we passed the city Colosseum, a covered arena with sports courts where we noticed a training session of Sepak takraw. Its sort of a combination of volleyball and football. There is a net and three players on each side who can hit the ball with any part of their body but their hands. They mostly hit it with their feet. The ball is made out of wood and is hollow. The way they kick the ball is amazing. They lift their legs way above their heads and hit the ball. We also saw guys practicing bicycle kicks. Its seems an amazing sport, but no way I could play it. I can hardly lift my leg above my waist! I would get injured during the first three minutes of the warm up 😉.

But the day was still not over for us. After dinner we were returning back to Banwa where we saw loads of locals on the street next to our hostel playing basketball. It seemed very “organized” as they had huge speakers and a guy commenting on the events. I asked if I can play and was allowed. The DJ asked for my name and from that moment on all I could hear while playing was Jan....Jan....Jan....Jan. I managed to score a few baskets so wasn't all that bad. At one point we had to move away as there was a women's tournament scheduled. Well not just women, but lady boys participated as well . The local crowd really gets behind it, cheering, laughing. It gets loud and I mean loud. You can see the video at the start of this blog; can you spot two lady boys playing? It was amazing seeing so many people out. The whole neighborhood was on the street. From small babies, children to the really old ones. They all had fun. Talking, drinking or just playing around. How many events like this do you see on your local street? Do you even know the names of people living 50 meters away? I don't. Makes you see the difference between our “capitalistic” attitude and Philippino.

After Polona went to bed and I was just heading back a group of locals called after me “Jan, Jan, you want a drink?”. Of course, everybody knew my name by now, thanks to the “DJ”. How could I say no to rum, after I already had a few bottles of Red Horse (500ml, 27 pesos at a local store). I sat down and we started talking and I thought this is a good time to ask about the lady boys I saw playing basketball. The locals told me they are called bakla and they are gays (lesbians are called tom boy) and they just like dressing as girls. When I asked what they think about it, they just said they don't care. It's none of their business and they can do what they want. Mind you, this is a developing country where 80+%!o(MISSING)f people are Christians and they are much more open minded than most people back home in Europe when it comes to this subject. Can you imagine all the gays walking around dressed like girls (sometimes you need to look twice to realize they are boys) and everybody just getting along with it? Maybe in big cities, but not in small places like El Nido where there are loads of baklas as well.

The store in-front of which we were drinking soon closed and it was time to go, but one the boys (I forgot the name, I feel bad) insisted I can come with them to his house and hang out more. I wanted to buy a bottle of rum for us but they had none of it! They allowed me to pay only for my share (30 pesos) and not the whole thing. I ended up at the house where his wife was still up while his two daughters were sleeping. One later woke up and was really scared of me (as kids usually are 😉) and even her mother saying “its Tito Jan” didn't calm her down. When I reached my max level of drunkenness the boys escorted me back to Banwa! Such a great night to end such a great day!

Next day was the last day of the Baragatan festival in Puerto. It was a public holiday and the whole city was on the streets watching representatives of different cities and tribes performing their dances. We had a chance to see loads of costumes, body paints and amazing dancing. You can see one of the dances

As if I haven't been drinking enough the previous day, when I got back to the hostel that evening I started talking to Jane. She let me drink my own rum as long as she served me from behind the bar not to set a bad example. The whole thing ended at 2 am or something like that. Jane is lovely, as is the guesthouse, if you are ever in Puerto you really should stay there. And that was Puerto done! The next day we went to the airport to catch a flight to Manila, where we were supposed to catch a night bus to North Luzon. Well, something came up and that didn't really happen. Why? Well, you will have to wait for the next blog!

Budget travel tips

We picked up a few good tips from other blogs so we decided we will try and share some with other travelers as well.

El Nido:

Even if you decide to stay somewhere else it's worth going to check out the restaurant in Alternative. The food is really, really nice (maybe a bit more expensive, a bit) and the views are phenomenal. Check out the panorama pic.

If you are leaving El Nido by road it's worth walking to the bus station to buy the tickets for the van. All the gueshouses and agencies will add a 20%!c(MISSING)ommission to the price. At the station a ticket to Puerto is 500 pesos, in the city it's 600. It's only a 5 minute walk from Alternative.

Puerto Princesa:

If you decide to go and see any of the sites around the city (Prison, Baker's hill, Crocodile farm etc.) you will most likely have to hire a tricycle. If you do, try and do all the sites you want in one day as the price will be the same. We tried with a few drivers and could not get a lower price than 600 pesos. But that includes a city tour, as many sites as you want to visit and the driver will wait for you.

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Photos

Looking for food
Locals looking for food (crabs I think) on the beaches of El Nido

BIg Lagoon
The first stop on the island hoping tour from El Nido.

My art work
Polona's portrait

Puppy
One of 13 small puppies we saw on the beach stop

El Nido
View of the beach from Alternative

Village
The only part of the village with concrete was the basketball court. Future MJ!

Fisherman
Village next to the main town

Children posing
They ran after us for a while so we just had to take the photo

Dance group
See the attached video

A Prisoner
Medium security prisoner selling mangos

Polona with a double murderer
A self-proclaimed double murderer asked if he can get his pic taken with us.

Baker's hill
Not sure why these figures are here but it was a lot of fun taking pics next to them

How you doin'
Hello Marilyn, do you mind?

Rex
Polona fell in love with him, while I was playing basketball

Mic man at the basketball tournament
Thanks to him, the whole block knew my name

Puerto Princesa
The whole city was on the streets to catch the last act of Baragatan festival

Kids dancing
Everybody joined in

Baragatan festival
Different tribes performing

Baragatan festival
Loved the costumes

Sepak takraw
Check out how high the leg is

Sepak takraw
Boys practicing...hmmm, the over-head kick

Sepak takraw
Bam!

Jolibee
You can find Mc and Wendys in the Philippines but nothing can beat Jolibee, the local fast food chain