Same Same But Better

Honda Bay, Palawan

Ah....Palawan...

Honda Bay, Palawan

The atmosphere, the people, the beaches.
The lifestyle, the scenery, the state of mind.
There's no doubt in my mind I'll be going back to the Philippines, if not on this trip then on the next. But one thing is for sure, I'm not done with the country of the perfect beaches. Hell, I barely got started! What choice do I have but to return to do all the fun activities I missed out on because of my stupid stomach bug (which incidentally was cured with the second set of antibiotics I was given after they analysed all my bodily fluids)?

Nagtabon Beach

Gutted as I was about having to cut my stay in El Nido short and return to Puerto Princesa earlier than expected, the feeling was short lived. I had such an amazing time I didn't care in the end! I met some people back at Banwa Art House (where I had stayed before too), and after a failed attempt to rent a boat to go island hopping we each got a motorcycle and drove to a Nagtabon Beach on the west coast of Palawan and spent the day there. Not only was the driving crazy fun but the beach itself was empty and stunning, and swimming in the huge waves was incredibly exhilarating.
 Like being a kid again and discovering a magical place no one else knows about.

Banwa Art House
Banwa deserves to be mentioned separately. It is the best hostel I have stayed at so far - the staff know your name, it's clean, the food is fresh every day, and other guests are fun. It is THE place to stay in Puerto Princesa (for $8 a night). Did I mention the view?

The disappointment of the Underground River
I couldn't possibly write about Puerto Princesa without mentioning the underground river, one of the NEW seven wonders of nature (along with Halong Bay in Vietnam which was, funnily enough, not that special in my eyes either...) as voted by people through a global poll in 2011.

At the Underground River, Palawan

I had to wait four days for my permit, it took an hour and a half to get to Sabang, another hour and a half to get a boat to get to the river itself, a whole of more waiting until we got inside the cave for 45 minutes. Essentially, it is a full day trip for a 45 minute experience.


What was it like? Well, it's a cave. If you like caves, you'll probably like it.

I should maybe add I was very hungover that day - I went out with some of the boys from the hostel the night before so perhaps this detail clouded my opinion a bit. But still - it's a cave.

I have a huge bump on one side of my head from sleeping whilst leaning against the window on the bus coming back from the cave. That's how tired I was, actually capable of falling asleep whilst my head was banging against the glass with a F1 wannabe driver taking on those mountain road curves on a bumpy dirt track at a hundred miles an hour. I only woke up a couple of times when my head banged really really hard.

Posers

I truly enjoyed meeting and talking to the locals. What I noticed was that they love having their picture taken. The kids would run up to me smiling and posing, people on the street would shout "Picture! Picture!" when they saw me with my big camera around my neck. The security guards of a bank insisted I take a picture of the three of them busy at work. Posing. Ha!

Smiles

Everyone was so smiley and friendly, I loved it! What I also enjoyed about Palawan was that no one, not street vendors, tricycle drivers, or massage / beauty parlour workers hassled tourists in any way like they do elsewhere. You could peacefully walk around town without having ten people shout at you shoving tourist crap into your face.




Whilst some things are same same...but different, other things are just better.