Asia Part 3: Palawan, Philippines

We arrived in Manilla, Philippines, which was our connecting flight to Palawan where we would stay for this leg of the trip. The lines and coordination process was relatively non-existent, so it took quite a while for us to get through security and onto or next flight. It was 530 am, which was our take-off, but we hadn’t even boarded yet. Eventually we made it to Palawan and obtained our luggage by 8 am.

We didn’t want to waste time, so we booked a van and ticket for the world’s largest underground river in Puerto Princessa National Park: a UNESCO world heritage site, marked as one of the new 7 world wonders. It really was incredible. We hopped in a canoe of about 10 people, in crystal clear water, and slowly made our way into the same depth of the cave that only had natural light breaking through the first 200 or so meters. There were some bats and birds, spanning over 20 species, flying around like crazy.

As we went in deeper, it got darker, the ceilings got higher, and it got louder. There was a point where the ceiling reached 60 meters covered in 10’s of thousands of bats; it truly was an interesting and only slightly frightening site.

Off to El Nido: the Nest

We hopped in what looked like a furniture shipping van, which turned about to be a clown car. We fit 15 people in this van that probably should have had no more than 13, which was still pushing it. How do I mean? Well there 4 across which would have been comfortable for 3 people in every row. In the second to last row, where there was naturally a walkway to the final row, was a diner seat that would be taken out whenever we stopped to allow for the last people to get out. In addition, to make matters worse, or maybe better, we were expected to be in the sparingly air conditioned van for 4 hours. Fortunately, it only lasted 3 hours because our driver was amazing and never slowed down. It felt like a roller coaster and I’m honestly happy we made it one piece and no one got sick. We arrived pretty late and were so exhausted from the ride, so we just grabbed a quick bite and went to sleep.

The next day after my daily morning run I decided to pass by the post office and saw this sign:

I’d like to say I was surprised, but I wasn’t. We arrived on the 3rd, and were leaving on the 6th. So you better believe early the morning of the 5th I was there promptly at opening, only to find the office locked up as it was the previous day.

We went to Las Cabanas Beach with an agenda of relaxation. It was a beautiful beach and we had some Raddler beers in the water. We also had an amazing meal of Bistec of which we had to share with the smallest little pup that was attacking our sandals.

We tanned and swam, swam and tanned, took some photos, and saw a glimpse of a beautiful sunset. We had dinner and retreated back to the hostel.

I went out later that night to explore. I went to a few bars and made some friends. One of the bars was closing soon, but I had made such good friends with the bartenders, I offered to help them clean up and got free drinks for the night! They even enjoyed my company so much and that I was visiting that they toasted to me, on the house of course!

(Trying) to Find Nemo

I didn’t have time for a run, but I did have time for one thing: try to send The Shelly’s home. I took a trike to LBC at 8 am, with the tour expected to leave at 830–9. I arrived and they were closed. I banged on the door and pleaded they open early and make an exception, but the courier was unable to accommodate me, rightfully so. I wanted to get it boxed up regardless, so the random lady I joined on the trike suggested I go to the market. I arrived and there was a “boxer.” He had hundreds of boxes, but people were dropping off and picking up random things, so I don’t really know the entire extent of his job, or even the minimal capabilities, given his difficulties of assembling the box. I eventually got the box and booked it back to make it for the tour. We got some amazing street rice soup with beef for breakfast and then headed out to the tour.

The tour we went on, called Tour C, which consisted of Helicopter island, Secret Beach, Hidden beach, and Turtle lake. Each stop of the tour had a unique set of characteristics including distinct flora and fauna.

Hidden beach and secret beach were as they sound. Hidden beach was a nice clear-water beach behind some giant rocks we swam around, whereas for Secret Beach we literally had to swim through a cave until the cave mouth opened up into yet another stunning hidden gem (no pun intended). We were playing around with the depth of the ocean and the integrity of the waterproof phone case and B, who had a lot of camp experience, had a great method for doing so. Essentially, he would jump up in the water and throw me down with his warms until I was submerged and below his feet where he would then stand on my shoulders and jump off me, effectively shooting me down in the opposite direction. The force was so great and awakening I temporarily lost partial hearing in one of my ears, in addition to my phone. I looked underwater and saw my phone descending to the darker parts of the ocean, and I suddenly become the Michael Phelps of diving and thankfully retrieved my phone, some 15+ feet deep, and was very much shaken up by the experience.

After 3 of the stops we stopped on a beach for lunch, that had been beautifully prepared during the trip on the small boat itself. There was chicken and pork, and a few different types of fish, accompanied by a bunch of fresh fruits. The best part of this was sitting in the water whilst the plate floated next to us in the calm and clear water. I was now sporting the hat I took from Pablo, our hilarious tour guide.

We continued on to turtle lake in search of the magical turtle that sometimes makes its appearance. We didn’t see him (or her) but still got great views of beautiful fish upon a the edge of an underground cliff. We headed back to the beach, got some street food and eventually called it an early night, despite our efforts to go out, we were passed out by 10.

The next day we packed and returned to Puerto Princessa where we could catch our flight to Hanoi the next afternoon. Prior to the flight B joined me to two different shipping points, one of which was commercial only and wasn’t open an for an hour after we got there, so thankfully we found amazing chipotle-style build your own plate Filipino street food. After eating and waiting, we arrived at the other shipping location…

You’re probably fed up at this point at the shell, and trust me, I was too. This time felt different, I just had a hunch. I walked in to the store and handed them the box, so far so good. They weighed it and marked it down as I filled out the paperwork with the USA address I would be shipping it to. They entered all the info in the computer and calculated the price. Things were looking good, until she asked what the contents were. I was so exhausted and just said “uhh… clothes, a book, and a shell.” She typed the first 2 and then looked up, with the saddest eyes I had ever seen and said, “we don’t ship shells…”

I was determined to never give up, so The Shelly’s and I continued our journey together to Hanoi with the hope that someday they would make it home. We made it this far, I figured the show must go on!

Michelle and B took an early bus back to Puerto Princesa to call it an early night, but I was in no rush and decided to hang out a bit — the first time we truly split up. It felt pretty good being on my own, I felt like a backpacker and wanted some more experiences like it in the future.

I got dinner and made it to bus with 10 minutes to spare, what a shocker for me! We loaded on up in and thankfully it wasn’t as crowded this time. Even better, I sat next 2 lovely American travelers, Chaya and Rivky. They were super cool and very well traveled. They gave me exact names of travel agencies and tour guides in Vietnam I would eventually seek out, stay tuned!

What I learned

• Don’t go diving without proper equipment
• Do go diving with proper equipment
• Ask locals for restaurant favorites
• That I need to get better at holding my breath
• That the Filipino people are some of the nicest in the world

What I liked

• The food
• The people
• The crystal clear water

What I would do next time

• Try more food!
• Do a cooking class
• Take more tours