Francesca and Henk-Jan's Backpacking Trip!

On the morning of June 6th we flew out of Cebu to Puerto Princesa. We arrived at the tiny airport in the early afternoon. Since we’d come on relatively short notice we hadn’t booked a place yet, and we’ve grown accustomed to staying away from Lonely Planet’s picks. A nice lady was trying to sell some tours, and had information about accommodation available too. Francesca went over to her and found a place to our liking: Circon Lodge. Then she even offered us a free ride to the hotel. Awesome! After she dropped us off we took her business card and vouched we’d book any tours we might want to do through her.

The Circon Lodge had a basic double for us in a spacious room, which we settled into without much hassle. I ended up falling asleep due to pure exhaustion from the previous days’ mad dash and woke up around dinner time. We knew the mall wasn’t too far away, but stumbled upon a great little place called ‘Heavenly Desserts,’ where the desserts looked so good we wanted to try their gordon bleu with macaroni salad & chips (Francesca, who could’ve guessed!) and the somewhat small, but tasty pasta putanesca (for me!). We were not disappointed either! The mandatory and delicious dessert was a shared chocolate cake. We even brought back some chocolate chip cookies and a brownie. In the evening I booked the tour, leaving us set for a trip to the ‘Underground River’ the day after.





We woke up on the 7th to be picked up by our tour guide and driver, who inadvertently ended up giving us a tour of Puerto Princesa, since we had people to pick up in all corners of the city. After a good 30 minutes of driving we were underway. Around 10 AM the van arrived at our first destination: the Buena Vista view deck. A beautiful view of the bay in the distance was the reward for a short climb up to the deck. Francesca took control of the camera and shot a good selection of photos of me and the bay behind.



We drove for a while longer in silence, until we reached the beach around 10:45 AM. Brunch was being served on a picnic table. It was also the first time we actually got to talk to our travel companions: a young Filipino couple that seemed a little hesitant to speak, and a much more open Filipino family from Canada: Jun, his wife and their two sons James and Ryan. They were visiting, just like us. We talked about our travels and their trip whilst the food was put on the table. The meal started off with a simple ginger soup, followed by a mini buffet of chicken adobo, grilled tuna, fried pork, rice and vegetables. Francesca adored the adobo, whilst I opted for the tuna, which was not a bad choice either. Jun was filming everything, and offered to take pictures of us throughout the meal. What we did not know at that point was that he’d continue to do this all day, giving you guys a very handsome collection of pictures including both of us!











As lunch ended rain started… It didn’t deter the boys from going for a swim. Francesca and I went for a quick walk as well, but preferred the cover of the picnic table over the grey sky. Our guide had a little surprise in store for me when we got back: ‘tamilok.’ ‘Tamilok’ is a mangrove worm that is not exactly a worm. Although it looks like one, it is actually a mangrove-boring mollusk. The bowl of worms looked like a gooey white mass, which meant I got to try it first. I picked up a good-sized sample if roughly 15 centimeters and ate it. I have to admit, it wasn’t half-bad! The texture was a little soft and the flavor not that strong, but the delicacy of it worked. I actually had another one, this time dipped in vinegar, as the locals do. Francesca declined the snack, along with the rest of the table. Their loss!



Brunch ended and we were taken to the little harbor nearby, where a bangka was waiting for us to take us to the entrance of the Sabang Underground River. The thirty minute trip was very scenic and well worth it already. Landing on the secluded beach a little further on was wonderful as well; safe for the fact we were immediately surrounded by mosquitoes. A short walk through the forest led us to the waiting area, where a few other tourists were just grabbing their helmets and life jackets. Our boat wouldn’t be ready for a while and we all had a look at the enormous school of fish under an overhanging tree, the scruffy dogs roaming the area and the few monkeys up in the tree tops. Jun decided more pictures had to be taken and another shoot took place.



Just after 2:00 PM we were finally ready to board and explore. The 8.2 kilometer long underground river is supposedly the world longest, and has some pretty cool stalactite and stalagmite formations. I wish we would’ve all had a big flashlight to have a look around though, because we were quite far away from said formations and I had a hard time taking pictures. The guide was yelling out the locals’ names for several formations, but we couldn’t really hear most of the time… The large amounts of bats and birds that call this cave home were amusing to watch, whilst some of the formations (some horses, a large pterodactyl, a reversed highway) were indeed unique. It took roughly ninety minutes to go up and down part of the river, which was more than enough for me since the boat we were in was quite uncomfortable.

























Before making our way back to the bangka Francesca and one of the dogs walked off to explore part of the beach and the lukewarm seawater. I followed with the boys and we played for a while on the sandbanks. The view was once again stunning! With the limestone karst mountain landscape in the background Francesca thought it would be a good idea for a ‘jumping’ picture. This is what I ended up taking!



The boat ride back was followed by a minivan drive back to Puerto Princesa, which left everyone except me tired and asleep. By the time we returned dinner was on our minds, so I walked off to Heavenly Deserts and got some takeaway cordon bleu and pasta. We had the noble plan of going to the local festival, but sleep deprivation and a long day made us go shut-eye early.

On the 8th we got off to a late start. Since the Palawan Museum didn’t open its doors until 1:00 PM we had a bit of time to kill, before entering and having a look around. The museum covered the region’s development since ancient times. We read about the old trade routes, the coming of Catholicism, local people and their art, nature and even some creation stories. In short, the legend tells that the first man and the first woman were split open from a bamboo stem that emerged on an island created after the battle of the elemental forces (Sky and Ocean). The rest of the day went by slowly, which was good since we had a long trip ahead of us the next day. We did some grocery shopping and figured out what time to go to the bus station.















The next morning we did exactly that. I had some trouble finding a tricycle driver that didn’t want to blatantly rip us off, but in the end all was well and we arrived a few minutes before the van would set off. We had read the drive would be pretty bad, with long stints of gravel road and lots of bumpiness. The first three hours were pretty smooth however, and lunch in Roxas (which we skipped since the buffet food looked like it’d been made two days before) came fast. After lunch things deteriorated fast, and soon we were bouncing all over the place. This was made a little worse by the fact that our late arrival at the terminal meant we didn’t have the greatest seats in the van, leaving my knees rather cramped. Luckily we had our trusted laptop and watched ‘The Hurt Locker,’ an impressive war movie. The new mp3-player came in handy after that as we selected three songs in turn.

Around 3:00 or 4:00 PM we finally arrived in El Nido, were greeted by a trike-man and taken to the center of town. We hadn’t booked a place yet, but knew that the Alternative Pension got some decent reviews, thus we asked to be dropped off there. The fan-room was a little small and open, which had us doubting the place. I went off on my own to find other deals, but came back after an hour of strolling from hotel to hostel without anything better. Any A/C room was too expensive, and we’d already found the best fan-room. We decided to stay at ‘Alternative.’ After we dropped off our bags Francesca had a quick bite: chicken adobo and French fries. I booked a snorkeling tour for the following day in the mean time. Then we headed straight for the gorgeous beach for a walk. Our jaws immediately dropped as we took in our surroundings. The tiny town of El Nido consists of a lovely sandy beach, a small strip of quirky hostels and hotels and has amazing limestone formations as its frame.







The stroll along the beach led us to the far right side, where we spotted locals hunting for crabs and fish in the low tide. With the sun setting in the background it made for a perfect picture. We decided to make full use of the situation and started a very long and elaborate photo shoot that lasted until the last rays of sun disappeared. Some of you will already have seen these, but those of you that haven’t can agree with us and say these are some of the most beautiful pictures of this trip. I didn’t think our camera was even capable of this!

































Now surrounded by darkness Francesca and I made our way back to the town where the beach was illuminated by torches, which added to the already great atmosphere. We decided food in the room was appropriate for the right level of relaxation. After a while we received a basket of home-made bread and dipping, along with flambéed fruit with chocolate sauce. Ah, life is good!



The 10th was to be a much more active day. Unfortunately, rainy season had indeed started and the first raindrops had already fallen. They continued to do so whilst Francesca and I contemplated buying/hiring a disposable underwater camera or simple case. We decided we could try with our guide’s somewhat broken plastic case and around 8:30 AM the two of us and one other girl were underway. We passed some amazing rock- and cloud-formations on our way to our first stop: a piece of reef right under one of these steep limestone cliffs. So impressive! And what we got to see underwater was of equal quality. But before we jumped in we had some trouble with our gear. The guide hadn’t really brought much snorkel gear and Francesca struggled to find a pair that fit her. Luckily he had brought some extra wet shoes, which I put around Francesca’s feet to fill up a large set of fins. This worked and we both were in the water a minute later.















We snorkeled for a solid two and a half hours! We got to see some of the finest unspoilt reef of this entire trip, lots of different colors of coral and fish, tiny flying fish, several turtles and a giant lobster. Our guide explained we’d come at a perfect time. A few weeks before it’d been a little hotter and the water had been filled with jellyfish. Now they were gone, but another plague persisted: crown-of-thorns. If you remember our Cairns post, we’d come across these pests of the sea back then and found them in far greater numbers here, slowly eating away at the coral. Luckily local government is aware of the problem, so regular missions go out to catch them, but it doesn’t seem to work just yet. We would’ve loved to help out! Instead, we continued snorkeling together. After a while my feet got sore from my slightly small fins and I returned to the boat. It had started raining! I climbed on board, but Francesca actually couldn’t get enough of it. Whilst everyone else was back on the boat drinking a nice cup of hot tea she was still out there snorkeling away.





Eventually she too returned and we continued to Mantiloc Island, just across from us. Lunch would be served here, freshly made by our guide and captain. Mantiloc Island is home to a little shrine for the Lord, which made for a good distraction from the mosquitoes and killed the time until lunch. The latter worked, but the former failed, even with bug spray and loads of smoke. We were amazed by what was cooked up for us: fresh fish, grilled chicken, fruit, vegetables, potato salad and rice. We gorged on the food until all the plates were nearly empty. Quite a feat for just the three of us! I then climbed a set up shaky stairs up the sharp rocks for a view of the surrounding peaks.









Once back down the boat was ready to get going again. Secret Beach was our next destination. And a secret beach it was! A little archway, only accessible during low tide led to an enclosed strip of sand. We followed our guide over the hard rocks and were shown around. We got to see this really cool octopus starfish: with its long tentacles it looked a lot like a spider. Francesca and I walked around for a while longer and spotted a supposedly poisonous brown snake. We kind of wanted pictures of the beach and coral and I decided I should go get the camera. We went back to the boat and I packed the camera in the guide’s camera pouch. Francesca then snorkeled off with it. All seemed well, as she paddled off into the distance. I was beckoned and shown Francesca’s find: a moray eel, which kept poking its head out of its lair, and a small crab with bright red eyes. Very cool! We also found mudskippers hiding just above the water level.

























We went back to the boat and put the camera away. It seemed to have survived the action just fine, so we hoped to get a few more shots in upcoming places. Our next stop was Hidden Cove, which we had to reach by walking on coral. Not so good for our feet, and even worse for the coral! We both felt really bad about breaking anything and tried to swim as much as we could. Unfortunately, the coral is really sharp, which made this a dangerous enterprise. On top of that the Cove wasn’t that worth it. We saw a few clownfish and wanted to take a picture… Only to find out the camera wouldn’t turn back on…Apparently it had gotten a little wet during the previous swim. After a year of duty our Nikon gave up the ghost and died a volatile drowning death. No more pictures for us! We left the Cove, scraping ourselves on the coral before making it back to the boat.

Rain enveloped us on the way to the last stop: Helicopter Island. Helicopter Island is a privately owned place and the beach is guarded until it’s closed around 5:00 PM. We’d gotten there later, but luckily were allowed to swim for a while. During the short stint in the water there we spotted a tiger eel, two more turtles, a really pretty blue brown and cream fish with white 'ears' on its side, as well as a small white with blue spotted sting-ray. Nice catch for such a short swim! The guide was yelling for us to come back, and after roughly 9 hours on the water we finally headed back to ‘The Alternative.’ We had a very welcome shower and sat down for dinner in the restaurant. Francesca had loved the chicken from the trip so much that she asked for more of the same, along with fries. I had a gigantic platter of noodles and vegetables. We were really surprised by the quality of the food, El Nido being such a remote place. Definitely recommended!



The next morning Francesca and I got up really early to catch the 7:00 AM minivan ride back to Puerto Princesa. We would have loved to stay a little longer, but we had a flight to Manila to catch and really couldn’t afford to change it. Another boring minivan drive followed, along with one more night in the Circon Lodge with a pizza for dinner, before being woken up rudely at like 4 in the morning due to independence celebrations, and a few hours later making our way to the airport in the morning on the 12th. Manila was our destination once more!