Here today, where tomorrow?

There are chartered boats that plow the route up and down the West coast of Palawan, offering a more relaxing connection between Sabang, El Nido, and the mid-point station of Port Barton than the jeepney-beast.

Wednesday, December 16th
@ the boat 'office', which is housed in a beach-front restaurant, Sabang, Palawan, Philippines

"the boat is running on Friday. The charge is 1200 Pesos for Port Barton and 2000 Pesos for El Nido. We need five passengers to go to El Nido, we currently have two, if you want to go, that'll make three, and we just need two more"

Sounds good - count me in! I'll talk to my friends about coming, but I'll go to Port Barton too, if you don't go to El Nido, and just catch the bus from there

Thursday, December 17th
@Dab-dab hotel, Sabang, Palawan, Philippines

I'm having a few drinks with Till and Hannah (the German couple from the bus-beast-jeepney from the day before) and Marty, a Canadian we met on the way back from the caves this afternoon, when the guys from the boat company show up

"Ok, if you guys are going, the best price is 1800 Pesos! Otherwise we just lose money on the diesel..."

"How much is the diesel?"

"Dunno, captain says 5,600"

Marty's on a budget, so he declares he's out, Till demands 1,500, and says they'd think about when the price doesn't move off of 1,800 Pesos. I quietly observe and sip my 6.9 percent alcohol Red Horse. Once the boat guys leave, Till and Hannah are in, of course, but prefer to make the announcement the next morning, hoping to finagle more of a discount. Marty says he'll stop by in the morning to say good bye, we all got back to our drinks. I promise to buy Till a beer if and when we actually get to El Nido for 1,800 - I reserve skepticism for all unsubstantiated promises made to foreigners.

Friday, December 18th
@ the boat office, again

"Till, Hannah, you should catch the bus before it leaves - our boat is going to Port Barton"

"What!? But, we're now in for El Nido, which is all you needed yesterday to make the trip to El Nido!?"

"captain says no" [I think the captain may not be of legal drinking age in the States]

"but what about yesterday!? You promised..."

"Well, you see, the French couple canceled yesterday, and if Marty's not going, the three of you isn't enough..."

"That's bullshit! That's not what you said yesterday, and we've made plans based on what you said!"

[sounding conciliatory - good thing we are not in Vietnam or Russia...] "Let me ask the captain..."

captain: "2,000 pesos each"

Till: "fine..."

me [silently], so we've gone from 2,000, minimum five passengers to 1,800 "for you guys", to 2,000 for the three of you? Guess diesel prices have dropped, but I think, overall, my situation has only improved... Tally-ho!

And so that's how Till, Hannah, and I ended up on board of the bangka Sweet Reeza May, having waved good bye to Marty and joined by a couple from the Australia's Northern Territory (where noone else is from, as I helpfully pointed out), and a German tourist filling the role of Sketchy Man - local superhero accompanied by a Filipino girl less than half his age... Of legal age though, I'm fairly certain, so maybe those crazy kids are really in love... Till, who exchanged a few words with our superhero in native German, may have been somewhat more skeptical as he referred to him simply as the "German sex tourist."

After all that negotiation, this was our boat for El Nido

The views of the Bacuit Archipelago on the way do not disappoint!

Our captain hanging out on the side of the boat

Reefs and islands of Bacuit Bay dominating the foreground in front of El Nido

Similar view at dusk, from atop a hill at my hotel, run by the most incredibly friendly couple I have yet to meet! In fact, the Makulay Lodge here in El Nido may very well be my favorite place of any of the lodgings I've tried in almost two years of traveling - highly recommended!

And a solitary patrol boat keeping the peace in the middle of the Bay

After exploring the bay, we decided to rent motorcycles and explore inland a little too

Till getting ready for a full day behind the wheel of a motorcycle

First stop was the Nagkalit-kalit Waterfalls

Hannah getting into the relaxation spirit

Hannah, Till, Ria, and I at the waterfalls. I met Ria the day before on our dive trip in Bacuit Bay - more on that in another post

Further along on the island - it's a beautiful beach you've got there, but I think your bridge might be missing?

Getting up in the mountains up North offered breath-taking views of the islands

Arguably the most famous site in the Philippines is the rice paddies in the North of Luzon island - I skipped those, but I'm not sure these ones are all that much worse!

The Fire Breathing Monster of Palawan

We pulled up to the bus terminal at 11:50 and were greeted by a fire-breathing monster who had assumed the form a of rambling 40-year old bus in its present incarnation, the latest of many, I can only assume. Inside was a lively swarm of people, packed well beyond the intended limits of the manufacturer, but quite at ease in spite of it, squeezing together a bit more to make a sliver of space for me on the bench in the front, inviting me be assimilated into the collective. I did.

The collective consisted of the driver, the conductor in charge of the passengers and cargo, some 50 locals varying in age from about six weeks to, well, elderly, and five of us tourists in the middle of it all - me, a German couple, and a couple from Chula Vista, CA - practically my parents' neighbors in nearby San Diego.

Some fifteen [uncomfortably hot and sticky] minutes later, the monster belched to life and rumbled off towards the jungle. Some 45 minutes earlier, I had just come back to my hostel, having learned that I would not be doing the dive trip I had come looking for (typhoon season!), which got me to trying to reach Sabang, which got me to the fire-breathing monster at the bus terminal. It's supposed to depart at noon, but tends to actually go when full - be it earlier or later, and since this was the last Sabanga bus for the day, I was feeling pretty good about being aboard as it pulled away.

Our driver cajoled the screeching beast along the twisty, surprisingly well paved roads for the next three hours until we reached the far side of Palawan island, and the tourist enclave of Sabang, home of Palawan's signature attraction - the underground river, UNESCO recognized. At one point, the asphalt had abruptly ended just as we passed a sister-beast, heading in the opposite direction, with a dozen people riding on the roof exchanging pleasantries with their comrades on our roof. The beasts merely snorted at each other...

There are no actual bus stops on Palawan, so to get off you just knock on the beast's metal roof, the bus stops and the conductor produces your luggage (or your pack of bamboo sticks... or your live chicken) from the smorgasbord of packages occupying the roof. Since there are no actual stops, everyone expects to be dropped off precisely at their front door, even if we had just stopped 30 meters earlier to drop off your neighbor - walking is so twentieth century! I kept a wary eye on the people and packages getting off, hoping to spot the guy who may decide to take off with my backpack - noone did... Noone took off with the ten packs of bamboo sticks we had loaded onto the roof along the way either - I calmly and pragmatically figured that anything which complicated the situation on the roof also served to reduce the odds of my backpack walking away, so I welcomed the addition of the bamboo.

About two hours into the trip, the beast, bright green in color, sputtered around a sharp corner, and a view of the bay greeted us - a yellow ring of sand hugging the coast where the stately bright green palm trees were coming down to dip their toes in the water, while somber green peaks were rising up meet the sky a bit further beyond the shore. Perfect. Picture-perfect, in fact!

So perfect, in fact, that I'd figured I'd come here to spend my birthday - if I can't be up in Seattle with my friends, I might as well be surrounded by beautiful pristine shoreline here on Palawan instead... A full day here on the beach, including a trip to the nearby caves, which host the underground river, on tap for tomorrow, before catching a boat up the coast for El Nido on Friday, to take in some scuba diving in these beautiful waters.

The locals have given the beast a name: jeepney.

The one on the left was my residence for the two nights in Sabang

The ubiquitous Filipino bangka boat. Low tide.

Hannah, Till, and I getting ready to head off for the Underground River

Have I mentioned the beautiful sandy beaches?

Monitor lizards, harmless, but a rather menacing 5 feet in length, patrol the entrance to the caves

While the monkeys stare at the lizards with mild bemusement

Going into the cave

The formations inside are pretty crazy... A little similar to Halong Bay, but unlike Vietnam, only natural lighting is allowed in, making for a much more peaceful and natural view

They name a lot of the individual formations - this is one is named Bacon... Because they are thinking of you, Lott!

All of us back at the Dab-Dab for dinner that evening

So, have I built up enough anticipation about the fire breathing monster of Palawan yet? A couple days from now, I'll be getting on the same bus/monster/jeepney here in El Nido and making the seven to nine hour journey back to Puerto Princessa to catch my flight back to Manila. I'm hoping to get to ride on the roof!