Palawan...a trip to remember

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I haven't written for quite a while and I'm happy to say it's because I've been having the time of my life. I think the last time I posted on here I was in El Nido town . Immediately after writing we found ourselves in a videoke bar, as you do, sitting centre front singing away happily with a few bottles of Red Horse and San Mig Lite. We spoke to a few of the other patrons, one guy in particular was called 'Bilog' (roughly translated as 'circle' or 'round' in Tagalog), we later found out from his sister that he was stuck with this nickname because he was such a chubby baby. Anyway...we became quite territorial with the videoke as the night drew on, getting annoyed when anyone else put song requests in. We were fairly tipsy by this point though. Once we had our fill of the limelight, we went to the only 'disco' in town called 'New Zone'. It was busy; not so many tourists around, so we stood out like a sore thumb, which made me feel a little uncomfortable. However, a couple of vodka and cokes later, we were true to form, requesting songs from 'DJ Dance' (I swear he had a crush on Cha...hahaha) and cutting up the dance floor. We danced and talked with some of the locals and in the end had a brilliant night. The laughter never stopped and neither did the alcohol.

We had an early start the next morning as we decided to splash out and spend one night on the exclusive El Nido resort on Miniloc island. It was very expensive, but we had heard such good things we couldn't resist but try out it for just the one night. We met our trasnfer at the pier and within 1 hour were being greeted at the resort reception with welcome drinks and a song and dance performed by the staff. It was incredibly cheesy, but sweet. Cha and I were feeling a little out of our depth. Everyone else was incredibly well dressed; obviously rolling in it with their designer luggage, and there we were looking like beach bums with our dirty, ragged back packs. Never the less, we were treated just the same by the staff. Actually, I think some of them were even nicer to us because we were obviously there just to have fun and we weren't rude to them like I saw some of the other guests being. We wanted to get our money's worth on the resort so wasted no time at all exploring the activities available to us. In that one afternoon we played a few games of table tennis, basketball and billiards on the beach until it was time for lunch. Looking around at the lunch buffet I just knew this was where we were going to make our money back. It was the most awesome spread I've ever seen in my life and boy did we enjoy it.

After lunch, we 'intended' on taking a kayak out to explore the small and big lagoons on Miniloc having been told by several people that it's a not to be missed highlight. Now...I say 'intended', because we really didn't make it very far. We were told the lagoons were 'just around the corner', but having reached the 'corner' of the cliffs, the vast open sea was telling me it wasn't going to be as easy as we had hoped. The sun was blazing and the waves relatively rough for a pair of inexperienced kayakers. We took regular breaks from paddling to stretch and voice how scared we were before bursting out into random fits of laughter at the situation. Never the less, we did try to plug on, but after a few more stops and starts we agreed that even if we did make it to the lagoon, there was no way we would make it back. LOL! We briefly toyed with the idea of expending all our energy to get there and then we could call the resort to come and collect us in their speed boat, but honestly, I thought the chances of us even making it one way were slim. Plus, I was starting to feel sea sick. Soon enough we agreed to turn back around and rather than going straight back to the resort beach having accomplished nothing, we decided to make a run for a TINY little stretch of sand by the cliffs which I wouldn't even dare to call a beach, but at least we could rest there and get to do some snorkelling. We paddled toward the beach and as the nose of the kayak hit the sand, the waves caught the back end of the boat (where I was sitting) swinging me sideways and tipping us over. Within a split second we were thrown out of the kayak, our bags and slippers were being washed away and the kayak was being picked up by the waves. All I could do was sit on the sand and laugh my arse off. I eventually managed to pull myself together to help Cha get the kayak on the sand and salvage our belongings, but I still did it giggling to myself the whole time. Thinking about it now I can still replay it back to myself in slow motion. It was the most hilarious sight!!!! I would have given anything for someone to have been filming that.

We spent about an hour snorkelling around our 'small beach' before we got tired and decided to go back. Part of preparing the kayak involved scooping out the litres of water which we had taken on board from our previous 'tipping over'. Again....we just couldn't stop laughing. Soon enough we were back on dry land getting to grips with what else the resort had to offer. Time flew by and before we knew it we were at the dinner buffet eating Crispy Pata, salads, halo-halo, Mongolian BBQ etc... The food was just incredible!!! After dinner, we lay on the loungers on the beach where I fell asleep immediately and apparently proceeded to snore my head off. We turned in relatively early, but it had been such an exhausting day, a good night's sleep was exactly what we needed.

8am the following day we quickly ate some breakfast and joined a free tour to go island hopping. Our guide was Albert...very sweet guy. First stop was Snake island...named so, not because there are snakes, but because it is shaped long and thin and changes shape with the tides. Next stop was the Cadagunan cave accesible on foot off one of the neighbouring islands. That was pretty awesome and was probably my favourite stop of the day. Finally, we went to the 'Cathedral' cave accesible only by boat. Our boat stopped just at the opening and Albert gave the group the option of swimming into the caves to get a better look. Admittedly I was scared, but I didn't want to miss out on the opportunity so I went for it. It was so deep and I couldn't see more than a foot in front of my face so I swam into the cave, had a quick look around and was back to the boat before I could freak myself out too much. I'm not the strongest of swimmers! On the way back to Miniloc, we asked Albert if he could take us out to the Small Lagoon since our feeble attempt the previous day had failed so fantastically. We had to talk to the activity coordinator to okay it with her and then the plan was all set. We had time to have lunch (our last meal in the resort) and then we met up with Albert again and boarded the speed boat. Within a few minutes we approached the opening to the small lagoon. We had to transfer to kayaks, anchored in the sea and then make our way through the opening. I had my fingers firmly crossed that we wouldn't somehow embarass ourselves the way we had the previous day, but I guess a small part of me was also hoping for it. I was just too funny! The lagoon was BEAUTIFUL! It was so peaceful and the water was so incredibly clear...absolute paradise! We explored for about 30 minutes. We really didn't have time since our boat back the mainland was at 3pm. After the lagoon, we kayaked to a beach and snorkelled around the coral until the speedboat came back to collect us. After a short time we were back on the island and again boarding another boat to leave the resort. We were taken to the airport in El Nido where we had to get a tricycle back to the town, where we planned to return for one more night.

There was a brown out in the town, so unfortunately our plans to return for another videoke session were thwarted. Instead we walked around the town seeing what else was on offer; not much, but we were so chilled out, neither of us minded. We still had a good time. Later in the night we bumped into Nene (Bilog's sister who we met at the Videokoe before). We walked around with her and her friend Catherine and ended up in a bar on the beach which had a generator. We played Tongits and listened to the live band. Within 30 minutes of our arrival I was up on stage with the band singing Bakit Ngayon Ka Lang (my favourite Tagalog song). It was fun! I sang another Tagalog song later in the night and that was the swift end of my Tagalog song repetoire. We were back in our beach cottage with no electricity around midnight. It was pretty freaky, but I had my head torch on, which Cha found bloomin' hilarious. Just one look at me and she would burst out laughing.

7am the next morning we were boarding out shuttle bus to San José near Roxas. From there we would make our way by motorbike to Port Barton. Thankfully we slept most of the 4 hour bumpy bus ride and awoke fresh for our journey to Barton. We bartered 500 pesos each instead of 600 for the motorbike trip to Barton which was 22km from San José. We had originally thought we could drive our own bikes, but we had to get motorbike taxis instead. Thank God we did! The roads were bumpy, muddy and water logged. At times, the mud was so deep, Cha and I had to get off and 'walk' it. I took a fall pretty early on and was covered from the waste down in mud. We had to walk the muddy paths several times on the journey and thankfully that was my first and only fall, but just barely. Once again....Cha and I spent pretty much the whole time laughing like a hyenas.

Roughly 2 - 3 hours later we arrived in Port Barton. It was a very small town, incredibly quiet, but we fell in love with it pretty much straight away! Once we checked into a cottage by the beach (El Dorado) for a very reasonable price, we went for a walk to find something to eat and La Bandera. We ended up asking around the small shops where we could have laundry done and randomly some girl just offered to do it for us for 200 pesos if we would by the soap. She was really lovely. Job Done! We then went to Judy's for something to eat. We had a lot since that journey had taken a lot out of us. Between the two of us I think we had 3 mains and 3 starters; a mix of Filipino and Western dishes. My favourite were the crispy chicken strips. They kicked Dominos pizza chicken strips arse!!!! So...you found out here first that the best chicken strips in the world are served at Judy's in Port Barton, Palawan in the Philippines! We spoke to Judy for quite some time finding out what the highlights around Barton were. We were left to decide whether we would want to do more island hopping or trek to the waterfalls. We decided pretty quickly to go for the waterfalls since it would again be something completely different to what we had done already. Judy was going to help us find a guide and we could come back later in day to discuss this with her, but just as were leaving she called us back. A random boy and his friend (Risin and Mikey) agreed to take us for 200 pesos each instead of the regular 300. We arranged to meet them early the next morning and we departed. We spent the rest of the day walking around the beach and went to a coffee shop called Jambalaya run by a lady and her husband from Swizterland. We spoke to the lady for a quite a while. She was really friendly. The whole day people were smiling and saying hello to us. It was such a nice place to be.

The next morning we met Risin and Mikey at Judy's whilst we had breakfast and were on the move by 9am. We were told the trek would be 1.5 hours each way, but I had already resigned myself to it taking double that amount of time since I had relaxed way to much since my trekking in Malaysia. I was pleasantly surprised that the trek wasn't too challenging. There were a couple of moments early on when I had my asthma pump close at hand, but I soon hit my stride. About 2 hours later we were at the waterfalls. No one else was there making for a very tranquill atmosphere. After chilling for a short time taking in the sights we went for a swim in the freezing cold water and jumped a couple of times from the rocks into the waterfall. I think we were there for about an hour. We were knackered and were reluctant to start on the trek back, but once we got going it wasn't so bad. We were determined to make it back in good time. It took just 1 hour. We took Risin and Mikey for lunch at the Bamboo House as an extra thank you and arranged to meet them later in the evening to play Tongits (Filipino card game). I should quickly mention that Risin was 21 and Mikey 18, so we had nothing at all romantic in mind. They were just two cool guys. By 5pm we were heading back to our cottage to take a much needed nap, but we bumped into the boys again and they were ready to play so we quickly rushed back to the room where Cha gave me a quick rundown on the rules of Tongits. I had played before, but never the proper way with gambling, so I needed quick tuition. They arrived pretty quickly and we spent the next 5 - 6 hours gambling the night away. I didn't win, but I really didn't care. It was a laugh and a good experience. Enough for me to be addicted to Tongits anyway.

7am the next morning we were met by the motorbike taxi dudes from the previous day. We had arranged for them to take us to Sabang which would involve taking the same muddy road back to San José and then passing via Salvacion (30 km away) to Sabang. The guys told us it would be only 1.5 hours on top of the previous journey and since we had such a laugh before we were well up for it. The journey back to San José was easy compared to when we arrived and it took us about half the time. At San José we had time to wash the mud off our feet and then made the journey to Salvacion. We stopped for breakfast/lunch on the way. Over 2 hours later we made it to Salvacion feeling defeated and in pain. The strain on our backs from the vibrations on the bike were too much for such a long journey. We thought we would have arrived in Sabang by now, but obviously our motorbike drivers had never made this journey before and had just lied to us. We considered taking a bus from Salvcaion...at least then we could sit properly and rest our backs, but then we had already paid for the bikes so what was the point? In the end we decided to suck it up and just grim and bear it for the next hour and a half which we did. You would not have seen 2 more relieved faces than ours once we finally reached Sabang.

Our reason for visitng Sabang was to see the Underground River. It is the longest navigable subterranean river in the world and is one of the underground 7 wonders of the world. I was pretty excited, but our experiences with the people in the town were awful and we really didn't enjoy ourselves much here. People were trying to rip us off left, right and centre and we were having none of it. We visited the river anyway the next morning and sat through the 45 minute tour. The tunnel was pretty spectacular but I think we were both in a bad enough mood that we didn't enjoy it as much as we could have. We checked out of our cottage around 12pm and had to wait around until 1.30pm for our shuttle bus to Puerto Princesa (back to where we started our Palawan adventure). We spent the time playing tongits with the brother of the lady who owned the cottages where we were staying. He name was Miguel and he was a funny dude. When it came time to leave he carried both our backpacks for us to the bus and we were soon on our way. We shared the bus with a group of Italian dudes who were pretty cute, but since we both fell asleep pretty quickly we didn't get a chance to speak to them.

By 3:30pm we were back in Puerto and checked into the Rover Inn. First port of call after dumping our bags was to get some food. We weren't feeling too adventurous so ended up sharing pizza and chips at Shakey's with bottomless Sarsi. Exactly what we needed! Our next mission was to go on a shopping expedition. We had no more clean clothes so at least needed something to wear for our trip back to Manila the following day. We succeeded in finding some clothes to wear and before we could get too carried away spending our money we forced ourselves to go back to the hotel to get ready for our night out. We managed to find out where the only disco in town was yet again so agreed we would spend our last night in Palawan partying the night away. Before our messy night out we went to the Christmas Market in town (Paskuhan sa Kapitolyo) where we took a few pictures and ate Filipino BBQ (my favourite) and the best Chicharon Bulaklak I've ever had in my life, washed down with some tasty mango shakes. It had a brilliant atmosphere.

By 10:30pm we were in Ms Kookee's. It had questionable decor which made us hesitate before we paid the 100 pesos entrance fee...namely the stripper pole! We decided to go for it anyway since the music wasn't half bad. It was hilarious sitting there watching people dancing. There were mirrors either side of the dance floor so instead of people dancing with each other they were just lined up in front of the mirror watching themelves dancing, most of them making quite suggestive movements. It was a giggle to watch them. I'd never seen anything like it before. Whenever a good tune would come on, we got up and danced...even testing our Filipino line dancing skills to different styles of music...LOL! As the night drew on and the alcohol continued to flow we became increasingly more drunk and right now I can look back and pin point the moment we should have called it a night, but instead I put the idea out there for us to have a shot! We had a shot of Emperador brandy (local brand) chased with coke which pushed us both over the edge! It was an interesting night with Cha trying to keep me under control. I really struggled to walk straight and drink water without pouring all over myself was a difficult task. A brilliant night!

We left Palawan the next day for Manila. I wish it was an uneventful journey home, but we were delayed 3 hours. :o(
Never the less, I have to say that Palawan was the most fun I've had since I've been travelling. A beautiful place and brilliant company. I can't wait to go back some day!

Since then, I went to Cagayan de Oro for my Grandmother's 85th birthday, but I'll write about that next time.

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Photos

Cha, Albert, Me
On the way back to the resort after Island hopping

Miniloc - Small Lagoon
Paradise!

Journey to Port Barton
After having fallen in the mud. I look like a hobit on a journey to Mordor!

Sunset at Port Barton
Isn't is beautiful!?

Sabang
The beach was nice. It's a shame the people weren't