Philippines : Milepost #3

Today, our island hopping tour began. While eating dinner at The Alternative, last night, we made reservation for the voyage and headed down to the restaurant early to eat breakfast before the trip. Having a great vegetarian menu made this our favorite restaurant in town. Many establishments offered a multiplicity of services: a pawn shop offering tours, pawned goods, and other banking services, restaurants offered food and tour agencies, tour agencies offer tours and information services; it is a competitive market. Besides these tours, people have the ability to charter private boats for a day's outing. The government regulates tour prices, and a tour is "x" amount of dollars with any company. Much like how benefits came about during the times of stagnating wages in the early 1900's, as a means to entice employees, different companies offer extras. The Alternative offered free snorkeling equipment, to use of the day, while other companies offered free fruit, or drinks, or a more expansive food selection, or whatever they could do to separate themselves from the competition.

I'll admit this even before I begin this post. Most of the coral in these areas outside of El Nido were damaged or dead, still beautiful, but it was very sad. We visited fields of coral on Coron though and my horrible documenting skills captured next to none of it. Sure I have excuses in my head, but upon returning to land I haven't stopped kicking myself. I cannot be angry with anyone but myself which is probably even more frustrating because there isn't a way to externalize such feelings. It was the first time I've swam among such living wonder and I missed photo documenting it. But such is life's learning experiences I guess. Anyway.... back to today.

An eating pod hanging out over the water at The Alternative

 For those who know me, I am not one for ambiance. In fact, it is something I actively seek to avoid. Stuffy, intimate settings that require one to dress up and act a certain way... yuck! Yet, I make use of my existential quantifier and say that this restaurant offered a really cool option. Four intimate seating arrangements, two overhanging the ocean below, and two tucked close by, offered ambiance that some people might really enjoy. Sitting over the ocean, eating breakfast, I can say that this unique ambiance fit my style just fine. These pods consisted of a table in the center, raised about eight inches, and cushioned seating with about a foot and a half spacing between the table edge and the guard rails.

In the center of the image, various banca's can be seen. The one directly in front of us, I believe, is the banca we took out island hopping.

Island hopping is a very popular attraction in the Philippines and consists of taking a banca boat on to various islands for a few purposes: snorkeling, scuba diving, relaxing on the beach, and exploring the island. These tours usually offer lunch and can either be taken exclusively (for rich assholes) or joined up by smaller parties.

After a slight delay we headed out to the boat. Quiet at first, the ice was quickly broken and a day of conversation, relaxation, snorkeling, food, and laughter ensued. Although I have pictures of these folks, I will not post them because I did not remember to ask their permission. Am I the only one to think posting pictures of other people online is not polite unless permission is granted?

An older Korean couple were the only people we didn't converse with for a decent duration of time. They were quiet and much older than the remaining five people (besides us and the four crew members). The other five people will be spoken of for a few posts because this ride served as a basis for a few additional meetings.

A couple from Sweden, Victor and Ana, were awesome and funny. They laughed at my jokes ... so you know how nice they must have been. Without them showing us the snorkeling ropes, our time in the Philippines wouldn't have been as fun. They also answered all my questions about life in Sweden. Everything from politics, religion, social structure, political party divides, etc. was discussed and I am indebted to them for the information.

Three friends from mainland China also joined the trip. Mini, Michelle, and Abbey. They will also come up again. Dacota surprised them with his command of the language which set into motion a whole slew of future events.

Because Chinese New Year was in full effect, Dacota spent his time in the Philippines practicing Chinese with every person he could. With his loquacious lead, we met more people than can remember, literally hundreds of people. We probably obtained thirty new contacts from our time in the Philippines and, if we had so desired, could have obtain significantly more. For whatever reason, tourists in Taiwan have generally been assholes, why these folks, here in the Philippines, were so nice suggests that perhaps people visit Taiwan expecting to be the unique foreigners whereas nobody expects to visit El Nido without meeting tourists. We did notice that people put off colder edges than they intended to, looking surly while in paradise, which was still confusing. I wanted to express to them that,although they couldn't smoke a joint to chill out, paradise is paradise, relax and enjoy yourselves with a smile on your face, who knows whom you'll meet. (foreshadowing?)

Beautiful islands were passed on during one of six main stops

This picture is pretty reflective of the beauty of the islands

Does anybody feel like snorkeling?

Selfies in the Water?

More mushroom looking things

Awesome mushroom looking structure under the water

Its hard to distinguish, but the little critter with big lips shrunk down when our shadows passed over it

Fishes

 At this point, I once again have to expound upon my poor documenting of the voyage. Fish about, colorful and wonderful, and yet I failed to photograph them. Perhaps when I am more skilled at snorkeling, I will be more focused on pictures and not experiencing the moment.

More rock formations

 I couldn't take enough photographs of these formations. They are too beautiful to describe.

Goofing off in the "Secret" Lagoon

This name is rather deceptive. Perhaps at one point, this hidden lagoon, accessed by a 3'x3' opening in the rock face, is indeed rather hard to see from where the bancas set anchor, was secret; however, hundreds of tourists discovered the secret that day. Did they all read the same book? Ha. Not funny.

Dacota, speaking with the girls from China, and me, speaking with the Swedes, each made plans for that evening. We were to get dinner, at 6 pm, with the ladies and later go for food with the Swedes at the same restaurant. Even for two identical twins, miscommunication is the name of the game.  I can eat two dinners no problem, so I didn't foresee a problem. We rushed back to our cottage, showered, put back on the same dirty clothes, and returned to the Alternative where the three ladies from China were seated in a pod that was not overlooking the water. Dinner was ordered, I obviously ordered the banana heart curry again because it was too delicious to risk trying something different, and Dacota ordered a curry eggplant dish. The girls ordered their meat dishes and we ate and talked. Or rather, I attempted to understand the gist of the conversation or, when Mini spoke in English, I joined in.  Two hours came and went and the Swedes showed up to meet us for dinner. They saw we were in conversation and, after apologizing to them, they went to eat dinner by themselves. I felt really bad but was happy to see them happily eating in a Nordic reunion some ten minutes later. Apparently a half dozen or so Swedes, unknowingly, arrived at the same restaurant, at the same time. They did not know one another but soon were in deep conversation. At least, the harsh Swedish language makes an untrained overseer assume that intense dialog, perhaps on topics such as the existential implications of our time or the ontological quandaries that plague humanity, was taking place.

Back at our table, one of the ship hands came over and asked to sit down for a second. Of course we said "yes" but should have emphatically exclaimed "No!". Slightly intoxicated, and become exponentially inebriated with every sip of beer, he stayed around for the next two hours making lewd comments (which fortunately the girls didn't understand) and attempting to convince us to, not only take these girls home, but to somehow hook him up one of them. He attempted to tell us which "one he wanted" and other such undesired conversation topics. It was very uncomfortable. We attempted to change the subject, talking about his kids, with multiple women, and about how shitty he gets paid for an entire days worth of work, but he persisted in his futile efforts. This, hooking him up, wasn't on our agenda and after an incredulous amount of time and scheming to excommunicate him from our meal, Dacota took him aside, after speaking some fast Chinese to the girls who responded in kind, told him that he asked Abbey if she wanted to go home with him of which she declined. He said that, "She's just too shy." Finally this guy left, thank god! What a stressful weird time. You'd think people would get the hint, (Literally I told him he should go home and get some sleep) but alcohol is an interesting drug (and somehow legal?!?!). This was the first time that I've had any sort of negative experience with drunks in Asia. Generally people are just really funny or silly and don't harm anything. Afterwards, Dacota explained the situation to the girls and they thanked him for protecting them. I'm a pretty passive-aggressive guy (understatement?) but made it pretty clear to this guy that didn't stand a chance and that he should get lost. Without "getting in his face", perhaps further social maturation will give me the tools needed to navigate these tumultuous water.

Victor came over to say "Good-bye" and we made plans to visit with him and Ana at Marimegmeg beach the following day. I still feel back about ditching them but fortunately were able to hook up the following day.

We drank until late into the evening, far later than the restaurant was to remain open. Why they let us stay is a mystery but perhaps we weren't a bother since the workers sat around drinking and chatting amongst themselves until we left. During that evening, we all made plans to make a hot pot together, the following evening, as a way to usher in the Chinese New Year. (a tradition that some people follow)

Perhaps the reader wonders if we returned to our cottage alone, or with the company of these beautiful girls; chickens pecking around the yard, puppies whimpering, roosters kakadodoodledoodleing at all hours of the night. Perhaps we returned to their fancy hotel. I'll let the inner fictional narrative within the minds-eye create some tale of debauchery, excitement, love, disappointment, passion, boredom, etc. that s/he wishes. With luck, hopefully I'll be entertained by some of the suggested possibilities that occurring during that evening/early morning.

Philippines : Rustic Cottage - El Nido

So, first off, these pictures are not in perfect chronological order; however, they should work as a guide for this post.

Although the Cliffside Cottages is located about a five minute walk away from the beach, this house is located a least a mile out of town within a small little community off the main drag. Small farms/homes, each with dozens of chickens, surrounded this small piece of property and, besides the power plant making noise at night and chickens and roosters calling throughout the night and early morning, one could always tell when power began flowing again because the neighbor began blasting Pop music at around 5 p.m.

Some might be appalled, yet Dacota and I have never been to a more majestic home within a town. It is hard to describe the wonderment found at this place; however, I must admit, since we encountered no mosquitos, I repeat no mosquitos, our time here offered no downsides. Where these normally troublesome insects vacationed is none of my concern because we thoroughly enjoyed their absence! What a wonderfully unique experience in the tropics.

Something about the place was special; it can be likened to a synthesis of camping, exploring, cultural immersion, relaxation, and humble (desirable) living into unique material form.

The alley leading to the cottage

 A small dirt path, between houses and farms, leads to house.

A rooster showing off

Although dozens of chickens ran about, this guy deserves a special "shout out".

Arrived at the cottage

A bamboo fence separates this land from the neighbors property, although plenty of animal life made it into our gated commune.

The cottage

Another Angle 

Unlike other cottages in the area, a metal roof, instead of a thatched roof, makes this a cottage, bungalow, cabin, shack, house, etc. possess a feeling of longevity. Although it did not rain, no evidence of water damage existed and I'm fairly certain this place would be fine during typhoon season. As stated before, this house belongs to the daughter of the woman who owned Cliffside Cottages and she and her husband are slowly building a hotel of sorts (possibly a B&B, pension, guesthouse, resort) on the same land as the cottage. She was so nice, helpful, and professional I cannot foresee anything but success in her future. She mentioned her name several times but the Filipino language is impossibly difficult to remember. Possibly due to this construction and property transformation, her and her family moved out of the cottage and are living elsewhere. So this is truly a native Filipino home that we stayed in.

The hotel under construction

Work on this hotel started at eight thirty in the morning, although we were gone before the workers showed up every day. The lady and her husband's surplus funds went into this project and slowly, but surely, the house moves towards completion. We had the chance to sneak a peak inside and it looked as though the completed hotel would be an absolutely lovely place.

The water pump

 During our stay, we needed to pump water for shower, sink, and toilet flushing water. We would transport the water where it was needed for a specific application using the buckets provided. Drinking water, in a reusable container, was brought in for us by the proprietress. A seal of purity (like the sealed plastic ring around a packaged condiment container) from the refill station ensured that we were drinking safe water. On the label is read, "If seal is broken, do not drink". A rather cool system and a really nice surprise. We didn't expect to have access to fresh water so it really helped save our budget and save time transporting water to and fro.

Kitchen and back stairs leading to a bathroom

 Although we did not take advantage of the kitchen, we certainly could have.

Interior accommodations

After stepping up two stairs, from the marble-tiled patio, one enters into a one room dwelling. A queen size bed, dresser, table, fan, and television were the sole decorations of the room. Bamboo slat flooring composed the floor running perpendicular to the twelve inch, on center, floor joists. You can obviously see the light coming through the flooring but no insects could be found within our the modest room. Perhaps my rose-colored glasses would have re-tinted to a more acumen gaze if I'd spent my entire life in a place like this, but it seemed like a wonderful get-a-way.

A friendly neighborhood dog

This happy black dog ran around the yard and always wanted attention. This tile-patio would have made a great place for drinks, cards, and friends.

Biaka and her puppies

During our first night at the cottage, we heard many noises: whimpering puppies, chickens, roosters, power plant, frogs, voices, and ... other things. The next morning, we awoke to find that four puppies lived under our house and were too cute. As we exited our cottage, we saw a little girl playing with the Biaka and her puppies. Introducing herself as Lisa, she introduced us to the dogs and helped secure a good relationship between us and Biaka. Protective of her puppies, Biaka growled at us as we approached, yet, with Lisa's help, she quickly realized that we would be a source of loving attention. Besides Biaka, the puppies, and the black dog, chickens ran about the yard; more would soon come after discovering that we accidentally left a few pastries outside (in a paper bag) one evening. These were gone by morning with only a destroyed paper bag as evidence of the crime. Increased chicken sighting gave us insight who perpetrated the crime.

A puppy!

On the right side of the photo, after the pump, the enclosed area is our shower area. Showering consisted of navy shower, combat shower, camp shower, etc. rather than a Hollywood shower. This system uses a bucket of cold water (or possibly stream of water for very short duration) where one 1: wets himself, 2: soaps up, 3: rinses off.  It was in the mid eighties (Fahrenheit) and the well water was pretty warm. I could see this being less enjoyable during typhoon season, but as it was, it was refreshing. I am one for cold water dousing anyway, so this might soon become my preferred method of bathing.

Lisa, her sister, and me

Do you remember the extra coconut from our motorcycle trip? Well, Thursday morning came around (the day we left to Coron) and we hadn't eaten it. So, during Lisa's short visit, we presented her with the gigantic coconut to thank her for her kindness. I really hope she grows up to find her dreams within this crazy world!

Philippines : Mile Post #2

Waking up early, we headed downtown to find breakfast. As it turns out, traditional Filipino food offers no vegetarian option but we were able to purchase pastries / sweet bread from a local shop and some bananas from another. The pastries were awesome and were comparable to what is available in the the states, although slightly different. It was the best bread I'd eaten in three months. Writing about these pastries makes me wish I'd purchased hundreds of them and consumed every last bite.

(Post-publication Addition)
Everybody calls me "Sir" here. My god! I wanted to say, "My name is Dylan. My father is Sir or Mr. X, etc." but refrained. Somehow the "Sir" sounded like "Boss", from Cool-hand Luke, and I tried to ignore, for the entire trip, being referred as such.  

We decided to rent a motorbike from our cottage hotel and explore the northern part of the island, as well as hike to the popular waterfall, to the hot-spring, and check out the other baranguays (villages). The Cliffside was fully booked that for the next few weeks (it turns our we were lucky to get a room the previous evening) and the daughter of the owner mentioned she had a place we could stay. On her property, in the non-tourested part of town, she was in the middle of building a small pension house but her traditional filipino house was empty and we could stay there if we wished. I will dedicate a small, solo, post to this house because it was so awesome that it deserves special recognition.  The house definitely made for a rustic and positive experience. Long story short, after she took us over to check out the place, we packed up our stuff, stored it in the managers apartment, and left for a day of exploration.

The bottom left hand corner is El Nido, our plan was to travel to San Fernando

At this time I should mention the quality of the roads. Outside of Puerto Princesa by two hours, the roads changed from rough, broken, pavement into dirt roads; not gravel but dirt. A mile surrounding El Nido, (both in to town and out of) was paved but soon turned into dirt roads. So, as you can see from the map, the hot-springs and waterfall are north of town, and we decided to try to make it up to San Fernando, of which we did all of these. Hindsight, it would have been cool to check out the rest of the road but after twelve hours on the back of a motorbike on shitty dirt roads, perhaps it was better decision to return the way we did because we ran out of time and my ass was killing me.

Although the following pictures will describe the adventure, our schedule is as follows:

Waterfalls
Hot-spring
Baranguay San Fernando
Baranguay Teneguiban
Baranguay Bucano
Return to El Nido proper
Back out to Waterfalls at night
Nacpan Beach (featured between Buri Is. and Bucano on the map)

Our motorbike

This motorcycle was like nothing I've seen before, having no clutch to switch between the gears. Instead, one simple hard shifts the bike using a left side shifter (like any motorcycle). The right, front, break and back, foot, break functioned the same. It is like the manual "sport" shifting offered in some newer cars. Weird! Anyway, a scooter would have been impossible on these roads and, although, the engine on our motorcycle was only 150cc it handled the roads, our bags and bodies, quite well. So we rumbled along, passing cars and people that stood in our way.

Country-side with a fairly standard building 

There were a lot of pictures taken during the ride and I hope this gives a good example of the landscape. There are a lot of fields, which are used to grow rice, and "mountains" that are around a eight-hundred to a thousand feet above sea level outside these luscious valleys.

Path to Nagkalit-kalit Waterfall

We parked our motorcycle at one of the trail-heads (it turns our there are many which run through people's yard) and a women came out to greet us. She asked us about if we wanted a guide and we declined. "Point us the way," was our request and she did. As you've read, we hike often and we don't need someone to walk with us along an easy path. So we started off. It turns out that this isn't a "trail" but rather a meandering path that also sports livestock, farms, and hundreds of diverging paths left this main road. We continued and our way was indeed difficult to decipher, perhaps a guide was needed simply to avoid ending up in farmer fields, turning around, and trying again. As it turns out, we passed the unmarked path to the waterfall and continued hiking for a while. Far past anything that resembled normal travel we decided to turn around. After some time, we came across some lost french travelers and informed them they also missed the waterfall. Joining up with us, we set off, back down the trail, and soon saw a guided group split down a side trail, and followed after them.

Nagkalit-kalit Waterfall

Coming up on the waterfall was rather disappointing. Taiwan, as has been only minimally documented on my part, sports more waterfalls that one could ever wish to see and most are very large. This trickle of Nagkalit-kalit was worth going to explore, but was definitely not impressive. We ended up talking with Arnil, a local guide, about returning that evening for a night hike. We were unsure whether we could get the motorbike over night and thus, our poor planning cost us (as will be told later on).

A Bovine on the path

A local transporting goods via bovine. 

Transporting goods via bovine is common, which is nut coming from the U.S. or Taiwan. Besides the "traditional" rustic house we were to be living in for the remainder of our stay in El Nido, the rustic and "third worldness" of the Philippines is truly different. Brown outs (unavailable power for the majority of the day), shacks (which the majority of the population lived in), dirt roads, and arduous work hours definitely make a visitor feel humbled by even the most modest living the West.

A lazy laborer taking a break to cool off

We headed back, returned to the motorcycle, and drove towards the hot-spring. Since we did not have a map, the photo featured above was our only reference to our destinations. During one stop, to verify our heading, a couple from Isreal stopped to ask us if they'd missed Nacpan Beach. They most definitely did, and after a couple minutes of chatting, we went our separate ways.

Rice fields being plowed by techniques at least 10000 years old

Do you remember my last post about visiting the rice fields of southern Taiwan; where they used an mechanical plows of sorts to turn the muck, which is back breaking work? That insane amount of work now seems like nothing as compared to the major effort seen in the fields of Palawan.

Heading to the hot-springs

We paid a man twenty piso's to be allowed to park and head towards the hot-spring. He, like the lady, insisted he guide us, but we, once again, just asked to be pointed the way. I recognize that this is how people make a living but a guide would emasculate the endeavor. So we headed off.

Unfortunately, over-saturation caused this photo to lose a significant amount of mystique of the view 

The house you see on the left is used by coconut farmers to dry the coconut's white flesh to be used to make coconut oil. The men working inside directed us to another path and we continued on.

Dacota walking across a log

Arnil had warned us of the dangers regarding the hot-spring. The area is known for over-saturated wet ground, with the ground appearing solid but actually being a deep pool of suspended particles, aka quicksand. With this in mind, we were very careful, and rightfully so, because there was indeed quicksand. The first time I've encountered it outside of lakes with suspend heavy particulates boots giving the illusion of a something solid which is not. So after some cautious hiking (walking. This is all flat so the term hiking is rather misleading), we made it to the hot-spring.

Makinit Hot-Spring on Palawan

This is truly a hot-spring for no cold water inlet exists and instead, a boiling pool of water is found. It is literally boiling. The edges of the pool are suspended particles and, even if one could possible hand the temperature, there is no way the human body could go to the main pool. Furthermore, long sticks dipped in from the side (testing the solidity of the edge) didn't come close to touching a bottom. We put our feet in the run off steam and talked for a bit. This is officially the first hot-spring I've been to and been unable to physically enjoy, although it was still a worthwhile destination.

Petting a goat

We headed back and this goat needed a friend. Dacota first petted this little guy, who seemed to love the attention, and so we both began pet this cute little thing for a while. He was really nice!

Passing by the shack that was drying coconut flesh, we thanked the gentlemen and started heading back. A moment of insight caused me to turn around and ask the gentlemen about the price of a coconut. Twenty piso's ($.5) for one and we ordered two.

One of the men collecting our coconuts

I anticipated a backlog of coconuts existed and we would be handed one from the shed. But no, they set out searching the coconut field trying to find a suitably ripe specimen. Before we knew it, before I could protest, one of the men began climbing the tree using small notches cut into the trunk as the ladder, looking as spry as a monkey and equally as strong. Up the thirty feet he went, pulled one off and dropped it down. His friend, cut open the coconut for us to inspect. I've never eaten fresh coconut like this and we took their word this would be good. After seeing the effort, we requested three be dropped. One, two, three, and he descended the tree. This man was so strong and cut it sets a new bar of fitness in my book. The man on the ground began cutting our coconut, allowing us to drink the liquid inside (which is what we really wanted) and cut open the rest of it after the liquid was drank. He manufactured a spoon out of the husk and left us gorge ourselves. These two guys were really cool and we talked for a bit before letting them return to whatever they were doing before we bothered them. Only two of the coconuts were open -- thank god -- because eating an entire coconut in one sitting is beyond filling.

The delicious coconut

It was entirely too much food and, fortunately, a few hungry dogs came over and happily ate what we could not. Two travelers from Korea, a South African teacher and her colleague, passed us and we warned them of the lurking danger. They returned after some time, we were still eating the coconuts, and thanked us for our insight, ate a small amount, chatted with us for a bit, and were off again. We cleaned up our mess and headed off with a wave to the men.

One of many photo opportunities on our trip to San Fernando

Bumping along the road to San Fernando was actually quite fun and after an hour or so we finally arrived. Three beautiful women waved at us on our way and I regret not questioning them about where to buy produce, a question we later tried to ask a few locals in town to no success, inability to communication and the like.

San Fernando Beach

What more could one want? A beautiful empty beach with warm clear water to swim in. We swam around for a bit, playing water boxing in the ocean, and headed off to check out the other towns. Two local kids came up and watched us and their expressions were of bewilderment. This is the first time I've ever been in a tropical ocean and, my god, is it different and wonderful.

Baranguay Teneguiban

The sparsely traveled road to Teneguiban was not only in poor shape but much longer than anticipated. Because of this, the town seemed to detour tourists because we received more attention that in previous towns.  As we rolled in to town, we stopped in front of a church because a hundred or so locals were storming the road before us. In fact, the majority of the town was standing around watching a basketball game and we joined in for a few minutes before heading to the beach. Filipinos on a whole love basketball and it was easy to tell them where in America we were from; simply stating The Trail Blazers circumvented the arduous task of explaining its geographic location.

Baranguay Bucano

The sun was beginning its slow decline when we arrived in Bucano. We didn't take the time to go to the beach, instead we sat on a retaining wall near the harbor and ate a snack. As we left town, the school let out and hundreds of school children lined the sides of the street we drove along. They put out their hands for "High Fives" of which I extended arms on either side and gave more High Fives then I've probably given in my life. It made me feel like a movie star.

Its a hard life

People using animals as laborers is something not commonly seen in the states or in Taiwan. Somehow these farmers always have a ready smile and a wave in queue to respond to our presence. That these folks, living a very hard life, keep positive is pretty inspiring. In fact, most every Filipino we met was extremely nice, humble, joyful, and ever willing to converse. That the majority of people are devote Christians is contradictory to my experiences with Christians in the states and was extremely refreshing. Perhaps this positive example of actions and energy that these religious followers showed will allow for my greater patience with them when I return. Edit: Having just watched the Bill Nye and Ken Ham debate, this moment of tolerance has been swooped aside and I am aghast, once again, at the "Christians" back in the states. At least, for one moment of my life, the absurd claims that this particular faith expounds was set aside. Now ... I guess, back to the real world.

Late night herping

We headed back to El Nido to eat dinner and try to extend our motorbike rental. A delicious dinner at a restaurant called "The Alternative" consisted of banana heart curry, a dish I spent hours attempting to prepare in Portland which turned out like shit, and a papaya dish of sorts. Both were extremely well prepared. While there, we also set reservations to take an island hopping tour with their company the following day. (Obviously another post will describe that adventure). We rented the bike for the evening and headed out to meet Arnil and do some herping. Arriving at the location he mentioned yielded a shack with blast T.V. inside and loud voices of conversation. After calling out and honking the motorcycle horn, we eventually knocked on the door. Much to our surprise an unknown gentleman opened the door and it took a while to explain why we were blowing up their residence so late at night. Slightly intoxicated and obviously in the middle of spending time with a friend and his wife, he volunteered to take us to Arnil's home. So we followed pursuit for a few miles. The gentleman left his bike running in front of a house and walked into the dark while we turned off our bike and waited around. It turns out more than one dwelling existed on this property and people came out looking at us like assholes for waking them up. This isn't like leaving a car running outside of a house in the states, this is a hut built out of bamboo and palm leaves and it was obvious that the exhaust, noise, and late hour was not appreciated. Obviously we were the faces they glared at (but in a confused way and not of dire hatred which is what my face would have reflected if the situations were reversed) and we felt awful. After almost ten minutes, the gentleman who brought us here informed us that Arnil was in another town that evening and we were on our own. We thanked him and left to check out Nacpan Beach at night. Ever vigilant, waiting for a snake sighting, we drove through the dark hoping to glimpse a slithering friend. But with no such luck, we arrived at the the beach, hung out for an hour, and headed back to El Nido. In hindsight, we probably should have tried the waterfall by ourselves, but without a compass and with hundreds of splitting trails, the likelihood of becoming lost seemed high. On our way back, we took the road towards Baranguay New Ibajay and stopped four times looking for herps. We found some frogs and geckos but no snakes. In one field, we watched this cool spider (featured above) build a web before our eyes and, after that fascinating entertainment, decided to return to our new accommodations and get some sleep. It was a little after two a.m. when we went to bed.

Philippines : Mile Post #1

I am at a loss for how to begin dictating the adventure that was my first visit to the Philippines. So I guess I will simply stick to a chronological progression of the voyage. A half dozen or so posts will describe our adventure and I hope readers will remain interested in the tale.

Only having seven days to explore this country, composing over 7000 islands, demanded a significant amount of research since so many options exist. Since our flight was from Taipei to Manila, we originally contemplated staying on Luzon (the largest island) and explore a few northern areas. After more research than I care to admit to, we decided to scrap all that planning, blow our budget, and fly to Palawan instead to check out this rumored beauty of an island. Such is the framework I will be writing from.

One major stipulation about the landing visa that enables me to stay in Taiwan is that I must leave the country every ninety days. Hoping to couple these “visa runs” with some southeast Asia exploration, our trip to the Philippines came about in a mad rush late one night about a month before I arrived in Taiwan. Because we needed to fit our trip around Twin's work schedule, Chinese New Year was his only time off and so we searched the internet for tickets to various places we wish to visit: Bali, Thailand, Cambodia, India, Nepal, Indonesia, etc. This is when we noticed a problem, all the flights were fully booked. For people familiar with traveling during Christmas, imagine the craziness of air travel during that time but instead of competing with a few million people, imagine doing so with a billion. Thus, because of budget reasons, Manila was the cheapest available flight and we took it without thinking. The Philippines must be a cool place to explore, we thought, and were happy enough with our decision until the planning stage actually began. After days spent trying to figure out a possible Luzon tour schedule, it became apparent that such a voyage would be a bust. So, Lonely Planet and hiking websites set our gaze onto Palawan, and hence set our trip into motion.

Not only am I a novice when it comes to international trip planning but finding up-to-date information about hostels, buses, vans, boats, etc. on Palawan is next to impossible. Perhaps the thing I learned most from this trip is that I need to improve at normal life stuff: ie. booking reservations, keeping track of my stuff, planning, being prepared, thinking things over, etc, because, at this point in my life, I fail miserably. Although dozens of blogs attempt to describe the logistics of the island and the voyage to the town of El Nido, most are a few years old and contradict one another. I emailed a boat-load of people who'd written these blogs to little avail. So it appeared we would wing the majority of the trip.

Here is what we knew: we could fly into Puerto Princesa, the largest town on Palawan, and take a bus to El Nido (destination spot) where hiking, hot-springs, and snorkeling could take place. From there, we could take an eight hour “banca” ride across the ocean to the town of Coron (destination spot), on the island of Busuanga, and visit one of three salt water hot-springs located in SE Asia. A guesthouse (hostel) on Coron actually responded to my emails and we obtained reservations for the few nights we would be in that town. Nobody in El Nido would respond to my emails and we set off without having lodging reserved. From this point, everything else that transpired would be luck, misfortune, ill-planning, ill-communication, indecision, and fortune. Furthermore, the research I'd done regarding our trip was forgotten, by me, and left on a sheet of paper at home. Probable transportation methods was about all I could remember besides the name of the two vegetarian friendly restaurants in El Nido.

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So after printing out the boarding passes on Saturday morning and boarding "Her Highness", we left on the three + hour train ride up to Taipei. Our tickets to the Philippines had us leaving Taiwan at 1 am on Sunday and arriving in Manila at 3 am. From there we would have a flight at 7 am to Palawan. The international airport in Taoyuan does not have a train leading to it and one must procure a taxi or bus to get there, and so comes the battle of finding ones way around Taipei, a bustling city of three million. Instead of being able to spend our time visiting a museum in Taipei, we spent the next few hours looking for a vegetarian restaurant and finding a bus station / bus that would actually get us to the airport.  Neither should have been that difficult but the part of town we found ourselves in seemed devoid of both. Big cities are also not my thing and am easily lost. But finally, both tasks were accomplished and we arrived at the airport and went through security with a small hiccup that should have been an indicator but, being from the US, didn't cause me to think twice. I'd printed out our boarding pass and checked in online, yet the security guard seemed to question the ticket. After explaining what these sheets of paper were, she let us through and we hung out at our gate, trying to sleep in the frigid airport (seriously, even with sweatshirts and hats it was cold), until we the boarding process began. About half of the passengers had boarded when we presented our boarding passes and the employees looked at them like, "What the fuck are these." We told them we checked in online and these were the passes given by their airline and the staff seemed incredulous, these would not work to get us on the plane. So, I pulled out all of my information about the tickets purchased only to realize that the one key sheet of paper was not with us (instead it was sitting next to all my notes at the house) but, fortunately, could be found online. But wait, Dacota's ipod touch would not jive with the slow internet connection at the airport and the queue line was fully exhausted without us being able to board. Although the boarding passes were sorted out, we need the confirmation numbers so that we would not be immediately rejected when we arrived in the Philippines and the airline company demanded we present this information. So we waited for the internet to load my email account with the stress and knowledge that if we didn't present them with the information soon, we would not be allowed to board. One of the nice girls working for the company had even gone so-far-as to broadcast a signal to us so that we might connect better. But nope, it didn't work, and time was running out fast. I finally convinced her to pull up the information on her phone which was finally accomplished. I took a photo of the information which would hopefully suffice once in the Philippines and allow us to enter the country. Without remembering, or having time, to log out of my account on her phone, we grabbed our stuff and managed to make it on the plane just in time. No negative consequences, to my knowledge, came from the week long "compromised" email account and it only makes me appreciate the honestly of some people. So with that ordeal over, we made it to the Manila airport without a hiccup minus the inability to sleep. We waited around the, also, frigid airport for a few hours with the eastern horizon slowly growing lighter. Seriously! What is up with the fifty degrees airport terminals blowing conditioned air as if it was going out-of-style? Does it really need to be that cold? Why isn't sixty five acceptable? We did see the sunrise from the airport, which was quite beautiful, so I guess it wasn't all bad. Anyway, after a last minute gate change, we boarded the plane and flew to Palawan.

Our plane to Palawan

Islands far below us stood out against the shining reflection of the sea, as if Robinson Crusoe could be the inhabitant of these minor islands. Actually, hundreds of these could be seen at variable sizes. Yet, at the rate we encountered these land masses, the 7000 island of the Philippines would've been easily exceeded. So what exactly classified an island in the Philippines is unknown to me because, although local maps charted these land masses, only a few were considered part of the Philippine 7000. Anyway, it was beautiful and like nothing I've seen before.

We arrived!

Once in Puerto Princesa, we needed to find out way to the San Jose Bus Terminal located about nine kilometers away. Plenty of tricycles (pictures will be featured later in these synopses) waited as well as a flood of people attempting to convince arriving tourists to hire their private van to drive them to El Nido. We shuffled past the crowd and began walking from the small airport into town. Before leaving this larger town, it was recommended to purchase sun screen, alcohol, and various other goods at the only "mall" on the island. It wasn't a mall, per say, but more reminiscent of a standard store instead of a shop (sari-sari) smaller than a 7-11, with significantly less selection. After finally ridding ourselves of the hagglers trying to convince us to take their private transport, we made it to the mall which, as rumored, featured a morning dance show after the christian sermon. It is pretty funny to watch the dancing employees and made the mile hike / detour worth it. We bought some stuff and took a tricycle to the bus terminal for the 10 am bus to El Nido. If we'd had the foresight, we would have purchased fruit in Puerto Princesa because, shockingly, the further more we went north, the harder it was to purchase fruit. But hindsight .... you know. Anyway, we began the seven hour trip.

A picture of the bus taken during one of the stops

A creepy Santa looked over us during a brief stop

There is a few reasons we took this slower method of travel as compared to a private van. The positive aspects of the bus is that it was about seven dollars cheaper a person, it held to a fairly rigid schedule (unlike the vans which sometimes presented problems and delays), and offered a few stops to check out a few smaller towns. The downside is that the bus offers rides to locals and school kids which could slow down the already slow trip with frequent stops. But since there isn't any school on Sunday, our trip was only slightly hindered and so we watched as the country side flew by and struck up conversation with a few tourist couples on the bus.

A farm worker transporting goods

Palawan country-side

One couple, a french man living in Taiwan and his Taiwanese girlfriend, and the other, an american man teaching in Japan and his Filipina girlfriend, provided a few hours of conversation and we made it to the El Nido stop with minimal delay. They were in the same boat as us, no ability to make reservations in town and, thus, were also on the prowl for lodging. From the bus stop, we parted ways and walked the mile into town by ourselves, searching for accommodations. Neither of us new what to expect from the town and, as we moved closer, we realized that this was perhaps the most touristed place / touristy thing we'd ever done. Far outnumbering locals, tourists moved to and fro as we walked through the small town towards the beach, hoping to find a hostel. People of all nationalities could be seen and heard although mostly Europeans and Chinese composed the crowd. Since we hadn't eaten all day, we were hungry and hoping that we could find a vacancy at one of the many places along the water front. It turns out that after four locations on the beach, none had openings. I remembered that a place called the Cliffside Cottages, located on the main road into town, was positively reviewed and were able to get a room for the night.

The Cottages

Our cottage

Interior sleeping room

Bathroom

It was a cute little place and headed out to find food and play hacky-sack on the beach. A middle eastern fusion restaurant offered us falafel and humus and we devoured my first none-Taiwanese food meal since arriving on my new home island. It was delicious.

Sunset on the beach

Hacking until nightfall

We played some sack, returned early to play a game of cribbage on the front porch of our little cottage and went to bed early having not slept in 36 hours. Thus is our first two days away from home.