As many of you know I had been planning a trip to Thailand for a few months. The situation in Thailand had been heating up but generally there is always some kind of situation there and it is usually peaceful and it usually doesn't affect travelers. During the week leading up to my departure the situation came to a boil and the PAD took over Suvarnabhumi Airport. At the last minute my plans changed and I was headed to the Philippines. I purchased a Lonely Planet guidebook the day of my departure and we planned our journey on the plane. It turned out to be one of the luckiest twists of fate I have ever encountered. I should have seen it coming. A week earlier I was wandering through the maze that is Dongdaemun Market in Seoul with my friend, Duke, who was looking to a patch of the Japanese flag. Since it was convenient and would save me the trouble of looking for a patch in Thailand I asked the shopkeeper for a Thai flag. I didn't have a clue what the Thai flag looked like so I assumed the flag he sold me was correct. The day that I realized I would not be going to Thailand was the day I realized the shopkeeper had sold me a Philippine flag.
Day 1
We flew into Cebu around 1:30 AM. When I got on the plane at Incheon International it was 32 degrees and dry as a bone. When I got off the plane at Mactan it was close to 90 degrees in the middle of the night and immediately the moisture that I would carry for the next 8 days had attached itself to me. We had arrived in the tropics although the only evidence was the heat and humidity due to the drab airport and neighboring casino. The ticketing office wasn't open so we had time to kill and retreated to the air-con comfort of the casino. Our welcome to the Philippines showed little promise of what was to come although after a short layover in Manila we arrived in Puerto Princessa on Palawan, the so-called last frontier of the Philippines, by 10 AM.
We arrived at Puerto Princessa airport which is basically a hangar and a few scattered buildings. The arrivals terminal was crowded with our first introduction to Philippine tricycle drivers. There aren't a lot of cars on Palawan because of its isolation and the fact that most people can't afford them anyway. So Palawans build custom tricycle attachments for their 125cc motorcycles. They take varying degrees of pride in the appearance of their trikes but it is a proven fact that the tricycles are capable of carrying a family of six and all of their possessions.
Our tricycle driver unwittingly gave us a free tour of Puerto. We had somehow found the only trike driver in the city that didn't know how to find Banwa Pension. Somehow he got us there and we stumbled through a gate that is easy to miss amongst the colorful surrounding neighborhood. We had found Banwa Pension, which was to be our home base for our Philippine adventure.
Banwa Pension is run by a sweet little Filipino woman with a name that is too long to remember so she is simply called Chateau. It is a beautiful teak and bamboo house whose walls are covered in artwork. Its highlight is the open air back deck. Surrounded by bamboo and living vines and decorated with beautiful local artwork. The bar was on the honor system and you simply marked your drink on a sheet of paper. I had my first cold San Miguel in my hand and my head in the hammock before long.
We had a rest and got on with exploring Puerto. It is advertised as the "Greenest City in the Philippines" although you can hardly tell it when you are choking on trike fumes on its main street, Rizal Ave. Named for the Philippine national hero Juan Rizal it is a common name for the main thoroughfare in most Philippine cities. In Puerto Rizal Ave. lacks charm and is mostly a scatter of hole in the wall local restaurants, barber shops, used clothes stores, and other downtown necessities. The real gems of Puerto are its numerous back alleys and side streets where the locals can be seen in their element. It would seem to the untrained eye that all adult men in Puerto are employed as trike drivers however one soon notices that most trikes in these back alleys are marked "not for hire" and are simply family vehicles. The children notice foreigners and rush to the street from their bamboo and teak homes to grab you hand and skip along giggling like crazy. Their dark skin, hair and eyes contrasts with their ever-present gleaming smiles. The streets are filthy and the kids are dirt poor but rich with innocence and are of a truly good nature.
Buncha Kids.
Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Puerto
That night we wandered through part of Puerto's Christmas Fiesta in a park surrounding provincial building in town with two friends we met at Banwa. Karen from Australia was a middle aged woman traveling alone to attend her brother's wedding in Bohol. She was quite an inspiration, proof that the thirst for adventure and travel need not fade with age. Andrea, from Germany via Berlin, had quit a lucrative position with the British government to travel the world for a year. She decided that Australia would be her next place of residence along the way and the Philippines was her last stop before Bangkok and home. Christmas is a big deal in the Philippines, more so than anywhere in Asia, and they do it big. There were food stalls everywhere and the trees were hung with bright lights. Blow up snowmen, Santa Claus and Christmas decorations filled the area. The highlight was the animatronics show. It reminded me of going to Chucky Cheese in Hawaii Kai as a child. The show was remarkably lame but I enjoyed how much the kids enjoyed the show.
Day 2
On the first day we searched for a beach to relieve the heat and get some rest. Our cab driver dumped us on "Pristine Beach" probably the least pristine beach in the Philippines and turned out to be a place where the locals went to barbecue and drink Red Horse beer, an obscene local favorite whose major selling point was its seven percent alcohol content.
This short but unpleasant experience inspired us to choose Honda Bay for our first full day experience. Honda Bay came highly recommended by a friend in the office and we were in desperate need of some white sand and water.
Our guide picked us up early in the morning and we were on the water before 8 AM. It was a beautiful clear morning. We were soon in the water and greeted by a vibrant reef teeming with fish from jacks, triggerfish, sunfish and clownfish to sea stars, squid, urchins and anemones. The coral itself was also beautiful and featured brain coral, fans, vases; yeah I don't know the names of most of what I saw. I particularly enjoyed the fan worms that quickly retract their fan if you put your finger too close. We also ate lunch on the beach. Our guide cooked up a delicious spread including prawns, bbq pork, rice, bamboo shoots and egg salad. We visited a few more islands and enjoyed the snorkeling, views and relaxed vibe at each one. At our last stop we could see rain falling across the bay on the main island from our still clear and sunny viewpoint. The water slowly went from calm to choppy and the sky turned grey, it was a perfect sendoff.
That night we ate dinner at the Lonely Planet recommended Ka Lui restaurant with Karen and Andrea. It is beautifully decorated in teak, bamboo and local art and you take your shoes off at the door. The floors were sparkling clean and even the wait staff were barefoot. The food was the highlight from the soup made from coconut and calamanzi juice to the squid curry, seaweed salad, tiger prawns the size of a small lobster, and tuna steak to the good South African wine Andrea picked out. Desert was a coconut filled with various tropical fruits the highlight of which is obviously the famous Philippine mango and green papaya, delicious.
We tried to head down to the waterfront to see what is supposedly Asia's largest Christmas tree but twenty minutes in a trike jam and an impassible crowd of people suggested otherwise although it was an experience nonetheless. We got a glimpse of the tree and a glimpse of the locals enjoying their night.
Trike jam, notice the locals piled high on a jeepney.
Day 3
We woke early to an overcast day and were off to Sabang and the Underground River. Two hours on a road that was sometimes paved and sometimes mud but always bumpy through jungle, rice patties, and local villages brought us to Sabang. A long white beach fronted by a few shops and beach bungalows pretty much describes Sabang. The locals spend their day in the sea, fishing and ferrying tourists to the mouth of the underground river, accessible only via a 20 minute boat ride or a hike of over an hour. Sabang is on the north coast of Palawan and is exposed to the South China Sea so the ocean was more lively here than anywhere else on our trip. The sea was rolling on our trip out to the Underground River and Vickie didn't take well too it, by the time we turned into what looked like a deserted beach fronted by limestone cliffs she was ready to lose her lunch.
Sabang.
A short trail through the jungle led to the mouth of the river. From the mouth of the cave the river winded about 200 yards to meet the sea. It is a beautiful place surrounded by sheer limestone cliffs on one side and white sand and jungle on the other. While we put on our life vests and helmets monitor lizards and monkeys did their rounds. The monitors searched for our scraps while the monkeys were more industrious. A woman walked up the trail lazily carrying a bottle of juice. Soon enough her juice was gone and a monkey sat tauntingly in a tree above pouring some on the juice in its mouth and most of it all over its face before tossing the empty bottle at the woman.
The cave itself was extraordinary. They describe the trip in Lonely Planet as feeling like the journey to the center of the earth. This description is fitting. The walls are lined in stalactites and other limestone formations. In some places the cave is narrow with many rock formations making it almost claustrophobic. In others the cave opens into giant caverns, one of which was aptly named the cathedral and would rival any in the world. Soon my eyes were struggling to adjust to the daylight, a sign that the trip was over.
The mouth of the cave.
After the cave tour we were taken by boat back to Sabang. We had a good lunch there, not our best, and set about exploring the beach and surrounding trails. After walking for a good ten minutes we were on a beach with no bungalows or buildings leading us to the Monkey Trail which if we followed it long enough would lead back to the underground river. Dense jungle trails winding between beautiful blonde beaches, another part of paradise.
The national animal of the Philippines.
Trikes in the rain.
Day 4
We had found a trike driver near the Pension the night before named Robert and asked him to pick us up at 5:30 to take us to the bus terminal. We had heard nothing but bad things about the ride to El Nido. First off, the trip reportedly took between eight and twelve hours. Second, the road is paved for only the first third of the journey. Third, it had rained every night leading up to our departure and even harder the night before. So suffice it to say when I found myself packed three deep in a seat that made my relatively short legs feel cramped I strongly considered getting off the bus less than 5 minutes into the ride. Equal parts stubbornness, curiosity and manhood convinced me to ride out the journey and soon we were gone from Puerto and among the jungles, rice patties, coconut plantations, and banana plantations of northern Palawan.
Along the way we made a few stops and our seat periodically only was filled by Vickie and me instead of Vickie, a friendly Filipino and I. We passed small villages with children waiting diligently for a relative and older men waiting for nothing at all. Water buffalo crossed the road to rest in another bog, their ever-present white egret riding on their backs. The road was as bumpy as it was scenic and uncomfortable, short bouts of sleep and the extraordinary beauty that surrounded us were the only relief available.
Morning calisthenics.
A nice part of the road.
Luxury.
Just as the ride was turning from unpleasant to altogether unbearable I was greeted with a most magnificent sight. The bus bumped its way over a ridge and made a right turn through a deep rut, jolting me from a light nap, I opened my eyes to my first sight of the Bacuit Archipelago. Limestone islands stretched endlessly into the horizon. I nudged Vickie awake breathless from the lack of space and the uncompromising beauty.
Visual relief.
Not soon enough we were off the bus and in El Nido. Steve and Christine, a Canadian couple we had met at the Pension, joined us walking down the beach that serves as El Nido’s main thoroughfare in search of lodging. We dropped our bags at Tandikan Cottages where you get a queen sized bed, your own bathroom, a front porch and a garden for 400 pesos (about 8 dollars) a night.
El Nido at last.
Our cottage.
We headed down the beach and hired a boat to take us island hopping the next morning we had just enough time to eat a beautifully fresh tuna steak and enjoy a San Miguel before running to the cottage just as the rain began to fall. I was in the cottage long enough to take off my shirt and sprint into the water that was about 5 degrees warmer than the 85 degree air and vowed not to leave the water until it stopped raining.
Paradise?Day 5
I woke early and set about exploring El Nido before our boat left. The town can literally be explored in a day and in my few hours I walked it end to end. It was charming in the morning its narrow streets flooded with schoolchildren off to meet their friends on their way to school in their white uniforms. There were many shops each displaying fruits and vegetables straight from the farm or garden. People in the Philippines, like many other tropical nations, wake early to do their days work before the heat becomes too oppressive and it seemed that most of El Nido, like me, had awoken bright and early. Along the beach the locals joined the foreigners in taking morning swims, some for pleasure, and others to get to their boats.
El Nido in the morning.
I returned to my porch to find a refreshed set of glasses and a thermos of hot water waiting for me and I crossed the narrow street and bought myself some gourmet Filipino freeze dried coffee, Taster’s Choice.
The morning was overcast over El Nido but by the time we got on our boat you could see the patchiness of the clouds and I figured the day would pattern after the others we had spent in the Philippines with an overcast morning before the clouds traveled off to seat for the day and leave us in mostly uninterrupted sunshine before returning in the evening with a bellyful of rain.
Our first stop was Small Lagoon. The guide led us up to a tiny bay and the water soon became very shallow. We pushed on as far as we could go before the guide pointed to the limestone wall ahead of us a instructed us to swim through an as yet undistinguishable hole. I am one to take orders and was in the water with my fins before he could say go. The water became nearly too shallow to swim in right up until the hole in the wall where in dropped off. Once through the hole the water was again shallow for about 20 yard before dropping off into the lagoon. It was unreal. I could not grasp the place, sheer limestone walls dropping to the floor of the lagoon in some places 30 feet below the surface of the water. The remnant of a cave the roof has collapsed millennia ago and created a lagoon about the size of a football field. The water was clear to the bottom and the walls lined with corals, anemones, urchins, starfish and other beautiful creatures nameless to me.
Next was Simisu Island where we spent the majority of our day and had lunch. The snorkeling here was epic. The beach was nestled into a quiet cove leading up to a small point off of which was a narrow channel with a small island just across the way. The current was strong enough to make it a work out but well worth it because the sun was soon shining and the visibility became crystal like. The water was teeming with life. Giant clams with neon colored mouths lined the bottom and coral formations littered in fans of pink, purple, orange, yellow and red hid schools of fish. Clownfish would swim right up to my mask, protecting its anemone home and tiny family hidden among the stinging waves of arms. Jellyfish floated in the current periodically sending jolts of pain through me but also serving as a moving buffet for the schools of fish that waited at the surface for lunch. A sea snake wiggled its way through the shallows which I eagerly dove in after. You wouldn’t have known that I am deathly afraid of snakes seeing me follow this black and white striped beauty struggle up through the wash and into the rocks.
Secret beach a name I will always remember because it was the most beautiful beach we saw. It felt like my own paradise with its short, white beach and sheer limestone and jungle windbreak. We didn’t snorkel here; instead we took a break and floated in the shallows near shore. My break was soon interrupted when I floated onto an anemone that sent me shooting out of the water in pain. I soon realized it felt better to be in the water in pain and jumped back in. I tried to describe the creature that had stung me to my guide and finally he asked “Nemo’s house?”
“Yeah that one,” I replied, “and it hurts!”
“Don’t worry,” He laughed, “it’s not dangerous”
“Alright then I’ll have a beer.”
So I returned to the shallows a safe distance from “Nemo’s house” to drink and relax away the pain.
The next stop was Big Lagoon, which is basically a bigger and more dramatic version of Small Lagoon with the same geological history. Quite the cave it must have been. It was truly massive, probably the size of a NFL stadium. At the mouth of Big Lagoon our guide tied up the boat and jumped in, advising us to follow. We swam along the edge of the island shelf. On my right side there were the deep water coral formations and life, on the left a bottomless abyss. There were larger fish here than anywhere else on our trip, big jacks, trigger fish, squid, guys that resembled small blue fin tuna, and the highlight, a school of barracuda on the hunt.
Lunch.
Our ride.
Secret beach.
The entrance to Big Lagoon.
We hit one more island for a little more snorkeling, a few San Miguels and a rest before heading back. The ride back to El Nido was awe inspiring. The islands were framed by the setting with pink, purple and gold clouds beginning their journey back to land to drop their payload on the mainland that night.
We got back to our cottage to clean up before heading out to eat a nice dinner with Steve and Christine on the beach. We had made a Filipino friend over drinks the night before, Don the celebrity and best guide in El Nido, and he set about serenading us with his guitar that he told us he had been practicing on for less than a month. Some San Miguels led me to bed.
El Nido is a place that I truly recommend none of you ever visit. It is my secret paradise that I plan on someday returning to for months, maybe years of living in peace. If you do go, remember what I said about how hard the trip was. If you still want to go I hope you find it in the happy, quiet, unspoiled, and soulful state that I found it in. El Nido is a place with a pulse; it gives you a feeling that is indescribable.
El Nido, I will return.
Day 6 and 7-
There was nothing wrong with day six. We hired a minivan to take us back to Puerto which made the trip shorter and more comfortable and we arrived around one in the afternoon. It gave us time to realize we weren’t making it off Palawan that day and we were content to mosey around the market, explore the waterfront and relax back at the pension.
Day seven was fine too. We made it to Cebu and realized we were exhausted. We got our fill of Filipino television while resting in our first AC of the trip. We went to a giant mall, puke, and found The Wine Shop. Some great tapas, live music and too many carafes of cheap house wine sent us back to the Pension and ended our last night in the Philippines.
The market in Puerto.
