Peurto Princessa, Days 1, 2 in The Philippines

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Flew in to Peurto Princessa in Palawan Island from Manila stopover late afternoon. Picked up at airport and taken to our little home in the burbs. Helpful and kind people. Everyone calls you "sir' and Ma'am" with every comment. I guess an American influence.

Walked the 15mins to town and so witnessed PP as the sun went down:

Chaotic, bustling, madly busy with motorbikes, motorbike taxis (motorbikes with a carriage seat attached on the side for passengers) kids playing basketball in the court right on the main street; lots of banks; fast food joints like Jollibees and McDonalds (high up above the other stores on the street); and dogs, dogs, dogs...and cats. Saw some pretty horrible sights which aren't worth mentioning but nothing compared to what I have seen in other SEAsian countries concerning dogs. Generally, Filipinos seem to love their dogs around...they don't seem to pet them or talk to them, they are mostly just part of the furniture. Always there, mostly well fed looking and lots of different breeds. They seem to be guard dogs for the nights. Helovalota strays but.

Ate some 5 pesos calamari on a stick which was delicious and ate at a little side street diner for 130 pesos for both of us ($4 AUD). Rice, fish and chicken adobo (the staple soya sauce and vinegar stew).

We found just two big supermarkets that serviced the entire island. One was filled with lunch snacks for school children (little packs of biscuits and rice puff sweets etc. The other sold everything but the interesting part was that everything was packaged in small little serves. For example you couldn't buy a jar of coffee but you could buy 20 sachets of "3 in 1" Nestle coffee (coffee, whitener and sugar); you couldn't buy any milk (no fresh milk at all in the whole of Philippines) but you could buy little UHT 300ml cartons at an exorbitant (relative) price. Everything was sold in small portions from biscuits to medicines and toiletries. This was an indication of what you could buy around the whole island as all the little shops sourced their supples here in Peurto Princessa. It makes sense: the humidity would affect all foods fairly quickly so small portions keeps everything fresh.

Very little fresh fruit. Aside from bananas and young coconuts and to a lesser extent small (imported from China) oranges, which are plentiful, cheap and delicious, there is precious little fruit. You can buy pineapple, watermelon and bigger oranges and apples but they are expensive, luxury items. You can easily buy little tomatoes and cucumber and eggplant and green beans/ veg but there is not a lot of variety.

Checked out the night market area on last night and trolled along the waterfront looking at the ships, the clear night sky after a delicious feast of fish, crab, veggies and of course rice (no meal served without rice) served on a large banana leaf. Huge Christmas tree and nativity scene for this very Catholic country. The newspapers are full of religious stories or stories that compliment Rodrigo Duterte the president.

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