Julia's Travels: November 2007

Sunday, November 25, 2007

The hell bus to Puerto Princesa

We were sufficiently warned about the bus ride from El Nido to Puerto Princesa. Even the locals said that it was a awful trip. The other option (at 20 times the cost) would be to fly, but really, I'm getting tougher these days, so I figured I could handle handle whatever the Philippine public transportation system could dish out.

The over packed (read people riding on the roof), bus departed at 6:20 am, blasting the song "Beautiful Girls" on repeat as we rolled down the road towards El Nido. From 6:20 am until about 11:00 am, things were going really well: we all had seats inside the bus, we made a nice little rest stop in a village along the way, the road seemed ok, so why was everyone so worked out about this being a rough trip?

Then, stuff got a little hairy. The road started to get muddy, so the driver pulled off the road, into the riverbed and proceeded to drive up the river. My first ever amphibious bus ride! The water-level was only about 1 or 2 feet in most places, so at first this idea seemed ok. The driver must have assumed that the road conditions had improved since started in the river, because after several minutes, he steered the bus out of the river and back onto the road. Bad move, since the road was still a big, frothy, mud-pit. We plowed and jostled through the mud for another 10 minutes until we could see the beginning of a concrete road before us. It looked like the worst was behind us, when there was a loud crash and the bus lurched to a stop. The transmission was broken and we were stuck in the middle of the jungle, our hopes of making it Puerto Princesa anytime soon completely dashed.

We piled off the bus and dispersed. James wandered off to sit on the side of a hill with some local guys, Bastian found shade under another bus which was up on blocks, and proceeded to fall sound asleep (I think he would get along well with Anna in this regard), and I just sat down on the road. My first thoughts were that we needed a reasonable plan B for getting to Puerto Princesa, and 2) how were we going to secure some more water. Sometimes I wish that I could just fall asleep under the bus.

#2 was pretty easy to deal with. There were some American-Filipinos who had made friends with the road construction workers. The workers had a cooler full of water, and by virtue of striking up a conversation with them, I was immediately considered a friend of the construction workers new friends and was invited to enjoy their water.

#1 proved more difficult. Based on the bus-on-blocks situation, one could safely judge that this had happened before. I checked with one of the 15 guys crouched beneath the bus, who reassured me that the 8 am bus would be coming our way any moment, with the necessary parts, and we would be on our way soon. Riiiiiiiiiiight.

I was beginning to wonder if I would survive a night in the jungle, when the 8 am bus came barreling around the corner (sans parts, of course). the driver pulled over and asked me "you going to Puerto Princesa?". Yep, me and two others. I claimed the seats, Bastian and James grabbed the bags, and we were on our way.

At 4 pm, we finally rolled into Puerto Princesa. So it's not about the destination, but the journey, right?

-Julia

Bastian, James and me at the beginning of the bus saga

The interior of our sturdy vehicle

James and the bus during the morning rest stop

Rural Palawan

The road looks a little dicey....

...so we leave the road behind and head for the river, of course

Back on the road, the situation deteriorated

Attaching the broken bus to a truck so it can be pulled out of the mud

Abandoning ship

Back on the road in bus #2

Friday, November 23, 2007

El Nido...so this is paradise

Traveling in Palawan is not as straightforward as one might think. The locals don't seem to move much within the region, the roads (where existent) are horrible, and flights are the fatal combination of expensive and and scarce. That left me with nautical transportation as the one option for getting out of El Nido. A boat trip meant dealing with the local boat mafia, which, as I learned, has bribed the cargo ship companies into not allowing tourists as passengers on their vessels. Thus forcing tourists to pay $50 US for a 7 hour boat ride (to put things in perspective, that's about 1/2 the monthly salary of the average Palawanian). I'm not for supporting boat mafias, but I didn't have a whole lot of other options to work with, so James and I went for the boat ride (our friend Bastian got the last seat on the flight to El Nido, Mark returned to Manila and Jesus stayed in Coron). For all of the hassle surrounding the organization of our transfer to El Nido, it actually turned out to be a very scenic and relaxing journey. I suppose that every cloud has its silver lining.

El Nido is one of the most beautiful places I've ever visited, definitely one of the highlights of my trip. It's a picturesque fishing village, tucked into a limestone karst surrounded bay. The town only has electricity at night, but what it lacks in modern amenities, it makes up for in charm and personality.

James, Bastian and I made several "island hopping" snorkel excursions (each one found us on a number of secluded beaches surrounded by pretty reefs). We also rented kayaks and found our own secret beach (not that those are a rare commodity around El Nido). James and I took on the challenge of hiking one of the cliffs right outside of town. What we thought would be a 30-minute hike, turned out to be a 3-hour climbing expedition. A bit of an unexpected surprise, but we had a fantastic time, just the same.

El Nido had surprisingly good food. Maybe not what you would expect from a sleepy little village, but perhaps the relative isolation of the town means that the area's population has to rely on locally harvested supplies (which would mean lots of fresh fish and fruit). Courtesy of one, slightly loopy, local Swedish ex-pat, we found a fantastic little food stall owned and operated by a woman known as "mami". I don't know what her secret is, but her pork adobo was superb. This was also an important find because James has the metabolism of a small horse, and the food was not only tasty, but cheap too.

El Nido is truly a hidden gem. To date, it is one of my favorite destinations on this trip. A place I shall definitely visit again.

Julia

En route to El Nido

Could live here, please?

Relaxing on the way to El Nido

Dolphin-spotting on the way to El Nido

Snorkel lagoon

Jungle-covered lagoon walls

James, standing beside the fire which the boatmen used to cook lunch

So it wasn't totally perfect...we did have a few hours of rain

Bastian and Julia, hiding from the rain

Art cafe, perfect for putting your feet up with a good book and a cup of coffee

Mami

Kayaking to the our own little beach

Self-portrait on the secluded beach

Ahhhhhh....

Snorkeling in 7 commando's beach (Bastian wanted to ask that boat pull our kayaks back to El Nido, but James and I were too tough for that)

El Nido village kids

Yes, I climbed that

Not the best picture, but you get the idea that this wasn't just a "hike"

Look ma, no hands

El Nido

Why did the turkey cross the road?

Tricycles

Snorkel trip #2

More perfection

Coron

When James and I arrived in Coron, I knew that I had made the right choice in going to Palawan. The place was truly breathtaking: blue sky, crystal-clear water, hundreds of uninhabited islands, friendly locals...the Philippines was beginning to feel like a well-kept travel secret.

James and I made a b-line for the dive shop/guesthouse, got settled and started arranging some activities. We connected with several other travelers: Jesus (from Spain), Bastian (from Germany) and Mark(from Australia/England). Together, with our new found partners in crime, we did a little snorkeling, some hiking and scuba diving.

The diving was especially cool. The Busuanga archipelago, surrounding Coron, was the site of several American/Japanese WWII battles and there are some amazingly preserved sunken Japanese warships in the area. Needless to say, wreck diving is a big draw here. Normally, you need a special PADI certification to go inside of a sunken wreck but hey, we're in the Philippines, and things are a little "different" here. So, I got to swim around inside and explore two sunken ships, which was simultaneously scary and cool (in the words of Bastian, I was just "happy not to get entangled inside the ship and die").

The snorkeling in Coron was also quite nice. The coral wasn't perfect (the area has had some trouble with dynamite fishing in the recent past), but the turquoise water was amazingly clear, the limestone karst islands were breathtaking, and there were some freshwater springs which created thermoclines in the lagoons.

In addition to Bastian, Jesus and Mark, I also met a group of fun-loving Canadian firefighters and a nice Dutch couple. James and his fellow Canuks jumped on the chance to inform me that the Canadian loonie is currently stronger than the US dollar. I responded that such a thing defies he laws of reality, but alas, it seems as though they were right. Naturally, they were pretty excited about this and took every available opportunity to remind me of their currency's superior status. I have one response to this, guys: enjoy it while it lasts. I swear, somewhere, pigs must be flying.

-Julia