2 posts tagged “palawan”

III

Here's a closer look:

Unfortunately there's not many pictures of our actual snorkeling "adventure," as i don't have an underwater camera.  I keep wondering if i should just have sprung for the $50 gfm waterproof camera that i saw at meijer; would it have taken good enough pictures?  I guess we'll never know. 

This is my third try at snorkeling and Gianina's second.  I do find it somewhat enjoyable (except for the little stings i get on my skin when i pass by a patch of seaweed) and it whets my appetite for something more.  Mayhap one day when we're living lives of leisure we'll take up actual scuba diving.  For now i'm content to enjoy the sights in the shallow parts of the sea. 

On the way back we passed by a waterfall which serves as the main water source for the town of Sabang (which is where our resort was located).  If the weather had been more cooperative we would have kayaked there with a guide. 

As it was, we just contented ourselves with kayaking within a few hundred feet of the resort.  This particular experience i enjoyed immensely; i didn't realize that the waves subside (or at least start breaking) the farther you get from the shore.  Sitting two hundred feet into the sea, there's a peace that just settles on you... as if there's nothing wrong with the world, and i can appreciate how some people can get addicted to sailing. 

Here's a video of Gianina kayaking, subtitled for the non-Filipino-speakers among us:

 

For people who have never been on a bangka, here's a short video of what it looks (and sounds) like also:

The main event for Day Four was the City Tour. 

First on our itinerary was lunch (of course - no Chong ever goes hungry).  One of the more famous restaurants in Puerto Princesa is called Ka Lui's (Brother Louie's).  I'm no architect, but they seem to have constructed and decorated the place in the native fashion.  Their "gimmick" is that there are no shoes allowed in the whole restaurant.  Aside from keeping the floor clean, i guess it projects a little bit of local color.  The food was good and relatively inexpensive... and we got to try some STINGRAY!  There was the weird picture in the bathroom however that seemed out of place (it's the last picture - do not click on it if you are under 18). 


Next up was the "Crocodile Farm," although the official name of the place is obviously much longer. 


Inside the museum proper there's the skin of a sixteen-foot crocodile that's been hung out to dry, as well as some assorted odds and ends from local wildlife.  There's also a nature park where you can see "wild" animals that have been caged for all to see.  But the big thing is the crocodile "farm" itself. 


For thirty pesos you can have your picture taken with a baby crocodile.  In this picture, Gianina is genuinely enjoying herself while i am getting ready to pee in my pants:


A short drive away from the Crocodile Farm is the Iwahig Penitentiary, which is a weird tourist attraction in that it consists only of a large prisoner settlement where the low-security prisoners are actually allowed to roam free.  We have no pictures of the place as i found it equal parts depressing and creepy; the less that is said about it, the better. 

The third stop was the ranch of the late great Congressman Ramon Mitra.  The place looked deserted, but the security would let us through the gate; i guess someone still lives there.  At least we could frolic in the garden and enjoy the spectacular view. 

Half a mile down the road is "Baker's Hill," where we picked up some local hopia.  Seen from the road, it looks like a simple stall in someone's garage where they sell pastries.  It's a lot more when you walk inside the property, though.  It's hard to describe, but it's something like a cross between a sculpture park and a zoo for exotic animals, with a fancy snack bar.  The pictures do it absolutely no justice. 


There's a big house on the property which i assume is the owner's residence.  If he's really a baker, then i wonder if i got into the wrong profession. 


(As an interesting aside, another half-mile from Baker's Hill is a big house with a big sign announcing that it's the residence of a certain retired Commodore.  We asked our driver if it was open to the public, and he replied in the negative.  Why the heck would you want to advertise who lives in a house if you don't let visitors in?) 

The last destination of the day was the Butterfly Garden.  The name is pretty self-explanatory.  We spent the better part of a half-hour chasing around butterflies and i was able to snap at least one decent picture.  Not bad for a dinky little point-and-shoot, i think.

After that we headed straight to the airport, waited for our flight, and headed home. 

PALAWAN POSTSCRIPT:

I do have to point out that our City Tour was more than just mildly disappointing.  For the large sum of money we shelled out (a little over $2000 for our mini-vacation, excluding airfare), i did expect to at least have the various nominal entrance fees included.  They were measly sums to be sure, but being asked to pay "a little" more after just having paid a lot is just nasty and unprofessional.  Another thing that got my goat later on was how limited the experience was.  Although it was almost the exact same city tour i had when i went to Puerto Princesa with my family a few years ago, when i looked up sights to see at the WOW Philippines website after the fact, there were a lot more historical places we could have gone that were not even suggested.  This was a far cry from the uber-professional tour we got in Bohol last year, but i guess that's what you get when you go see the "frontier." 

Anyway, after the Palawan experience, there was one last big event: Marwin's wedding.

I

As i've said before, Gianina and i have decided to take "mini-vacations" whenever we go to the Philippines.  This year's destination was Palawan.  

Palawan is an island province located on the western edge of the Philippines, and (i realize this is a major understatement) it is a really interesting place to visit.  IMHO, it's a good representation of what the Philippines is really about - hospitality, fresh food, and miles on miles of unspoiled (or minimally-spoiled) land and sea teeming with biodiversity.  

The drive from Puerto Princesa to Daluyon Resort took around 2 hours through partially-paved roads.  The ride was definitely worth it, as the seclusion of the place was a nice change from the hustle-and-bustle of Manila.  At around the midpoint of the trip, we stopped at a view point and were treated to this beautiful vista: 

I won't really say much about our accomodations (the interested reader is directed to my tripadvisor.com review), but i think it suffices to say we weren't terribly disappointed.  I think the location was worth the little trade-offs (except fothe city tour, but that's a story for the next post).  

To understand how far-flung we really were, here's a picture of the resort from about half-a-mile out: 

Not much excitement on the first day, as it was spent mostly soaking in the ambience, loafing around, and having a romantic dinner on the beach.  

II

Day Two had two activities.  

Our morning (and early afternoon) was spent waiting in line to get into the Underground River.  For the uninitiated, this is a 5-mile-long river that winds underneath a mountain (beneath the Sleeping Giant; see the picture above) to eventually terminate in the South China Sea.  Until recently, it apparently was in the running to be named one of the New 7 Wonders of the World (I'm not entirely certain how the voting works - it still seems to be the top in its category but not listed as a "Finalist.").  

Prior to getting on the little paddleboat, there was some interesting human drama: 

1. A caucasian foreigner, annoyed at having to wait so long (we were told we had to be there at 10:30AM but really only got on the boat at 1PM), started to raise hell and complain to the hapless attendant about the tardiness.  On being told that the boatmen were on their lunch break, he yelled "WHAT ABOUT MY F@#%!NG LUNCH BREAK?!"  While i could definitely understand his frustration, i couldn't see why he could just buy a snack if he was so hungry.  

2. A local know-it-all, after witnessing the above exchange, proceeded to lecture the hapless attendant (and everyone else within earshot) about how things should be handled instead - i.e. tourists should be told that the time is a moving target, that there's actually a substantial wait, etc.  While i know she meant well, i don't understand why she had to repeat her comments THREE FREAKING TIMES to no one in particular.  I guess know-it-all-ism can't exist in a vacuum (i.e. when no one acknowledges that you are indeed right).  At least she stopped after the third time.  

The Underground River is actually only navigable until a quarter of the way in (or half for the intrepid traveler who is willing to take the time to obtain a special permit), and consists mostly of looking at interesting rock formations, and avoiding accidentally drinking bat or bird urine (we were advised to keep our mouths closed when looking up).  Not really much for the casual tourist, but interesting enough if you're into geology or even history. 


The short stretch of forest you have to walk through is also a nature park of sorts where monkeys and monitor lizards abound.

 

The second event of the day was a visit to a Mangrove Forest.  We were taken via a short carabao-cart ride.  Given the short distance we had to travel (roughly a quarter-mile), this was quaint but entirely superfluous.  

Mangroves are apparently trees that grow in brackish (a mixture of salty and fresh) water, which i vaguely remember studying in college.  Once felt to be useless aside from being a source of wood (and mangrove worms, which Andrew Zimmern has enjoyed in the past), they are now known to play a significant role in ecosystems, being spawning grounds for various fish and shrimp.  

(That wasn't all the Mangrove Forest grew... with pockets of mostly stagnant water abounding, it was also a breeding ground for mosquitoes.  For some reason i had a major brain-fart and forgot to apply insect repellant before the jaunt, resulting in tons of bites.  We are still currently taking malaria prophylaxis.) 

 

Anyway, Gianina and i capped the day off by just sitting on the beach, having a leisurely conversation (a luxury when you have a two-year-old constantly running around), and just watching the sunset.