Beautiful Palawan

This journey gets better and better. I had high expectations for Palawan and it did not let me down. Palawan is a long, thin, pristine island on the western edge of the Philippine archipelago known mostly for the beautiful geography.

Following a short flight and a sweltering half hour walk, I was welcomed warmly at my hostel in Puerto Princesa, who's motto was "no smile, no check in." It's so nice that no one here seems to mind how smelly/sweaty/filthy you appear (or they are just really good at hiding it... "shower is over here, ma'am"). So the friendliness of the Filipino people on top of the sheer beauty of the untouched jungles of Palawan is more than enough to make this girl happy.

When I know the price of a tricimoto ride to town is 10 pesos and they try to charge me 50, I opt to haul on foot the 18 kilos of crap I packed.

The chill out area at Hostel Dallas.

I arranged to go see the underground river for the following day, then joined Melanie, a Canadian girl working in Taiwan, for dinner at one of the many food stalls down by the bay, about 10 minutes walking.

We had to try the urchin. It was... interesting. There isn't much to it, you just scrape the gritty goo off the sides, but it had a nice taste, especially with lime juice.

Off to bed for an early wake up to do the the Subterranean River tour, which turned out to be, like the urchin... interesting. It is a cave that you can enter by boat from the sea, then canoe upstream for about 1.5 km, turn around and come back. It takes about 45 minutes. Considering the site is a National Park, UNESCO World Heritage Site, and one of the "new" 7 Wonders of the World, I was less than enthused by the end of the tour.

Getting there was fairly simple- a 2 hour van ride from Puerto Princesa to Sabang, purchase a ticket for $8, find people to form a group of 6, then take a 20 minute boat ride to the entrance of the river. Boats are going back and forth constantly and there are tons of tourists milling about. At the river entrance we registered our group for a canoe and waited for our number to be called. This took an hour and a half, but at least there were monkeys and lizards to keep you entertained.

Everyone waiting their turn.

Super fasionable helmets and life jackets are required. This is Rafael and Gabriela from Switzerland who were an absolute pleasure to spend time with.

Clear brackish water at the mouth of the river.

There were some really beautiful limestone formations within the cave.

Here's the thing though- I really love caves. They are beautiful in such a unique way. I find them mysterious. Being in a cave can be meditative for me. The darkness and the echoes and the bats and the slow dripping noises are soothing. When I signed up for the Subterranean River tour, I was hoping for an experience like I just described and I ended up kind of disappointed. Another reason to nix expectations, right? Anyway, heres the story-

When our number was finally called, we packed ourselves onto the little canoe, helmets and lifejackets strapped up, and started upstream into the darkness.... along with about 30 other canoes, each one carrying a dozen passengers from all over the world. Each boat had one tour guide who excitedly pointed out every rock formation and told us what it looked like to him for the entire 45 minute trip. "This one here looks like a cucumber! But it's not actually a cucumber, its a part of the cave wall. Now, point the light up there, no, more to the right, yes there! That one looks like a naked lady, so we call it Sharon Stone! Get it? Sharon Stone?! But it's not actually Sharon Stone, it's a limestone formation. Now look at that one over there, it's the shape of a lion, but don't worry, it's not actually a lion..." So yeah, although it was humorous and I did enjoy seeing the site, the whole experience was a bit of a let down.

The friendly Swiss couple and I opted to take the 4 km jungle trail back to town instead of the boat ride. This, I did not regret. The walk was beautiful and we were the only ones on the trail- refreshing.

A sweaty hour and a half later we arrived back in town and grabbed a bite of lunch and some puppy love before we parted ways... only to meet up again in the north of palawan: El Nido, next post!