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March 10, 2007
Sabang, Palawan
I had been wanting to go to Palawan for a while, so when I had a couple of days of time, this was my first destination when back in the Philippines.I flew to Puerto Princesa, on Cebu Pacific. Puerto Princesa is a much larger and more normal, functioning town than I expected. It does not feel like a frontier town. I had a wonderful lunch at Kalalui, a cute restaurant made entirely of bamboo, with great food. I liked Puerto Princesa, but needed more adventure, so I took off to Sabang to see the famous underground river.
The
last Jeepney was supposed to leave at 2; about halfway to the terminal
the driver informed me that the last Jeepney leaves at 1.30. I got to
the terminal at 1.45, and at 2.30 the Jeepney finally pulled forward to
the gas station and proceeded to wait another half hour, while full of
passengers, to get gas. Fortunately, I was online, thanks to the Globe
Visibility 3G/GPRS service that we finally got to work with my Mac; so
I was able to get a few things done while waiting. It felt a bit
surreal to be online while sitting in this thing, though. We finally
left... stopped in alittle town, where I bought some snacks from people
selling them through the window.
The
drive was pretty, and uneventful until we blew our first tire. It was
promptly changed, though the replacement tire did not look any better.
It had gaping holes...
I finally arrived in Sabang, after one more tire replacement stop.
The scenery was beautiful, reminiscent of Ha long bay and the Cahabon
area in Guatemala: Limestone hills and cliffs in a lush tropical
environment.
The
next day I hiked the monkey trail to the mouth of the underground
river. It was a fun hike; very easy, since the trail is extremely well
maintained, with lots of rails, bridges, and stairs.
At
the ranger station at the river mouth, there were lots of monitor
lizards. Cute.
The
underground river itself wasn't very exciting -- much less interesting
than, for example, the one near San Ignacio, Belice, where you get to
paddle your own canoe into it.
But
the beaches and scenery in the area were fantastic.
Before
going back to Puerto Princesa, I hiked to the "Waterfall". This turned
out to be very enjoyable, with lots of entertaining sights along the
way. I rested for a while in a tree house, enjoying the breeze. It's so
nice that some people take really good care of the place they live in
here...
I
did not investigate if there was an actual "room"
On
the way back, I got down (Filipino English for getting off a vehicle..
I am learning.. :-) in the Vietnamese village. There used to be a large
camp for Vietnamese refugees near Puerto Princesa. It was interesting
to check out, and I had some yummy thit nuong.
Posted by rick at March 10, 2007 01:33 PM