Touchdown. The moment she stepped out of the plane, she asked me to take a picture. While lugging 3 bags on my shoulder (and since it was our anniversary after all), I took a picture. And then another. And still another. For "documentation" purposes, of course. No complaints there. I think we spent 30 minutes just taking shots of her stepping off the plane. Note : Don't believe a word she says when it comes to photos.
(Sneaky sneaky woman with her sneaky sneaky smile)
The city tour was scheduled after our lunch. There were also 2 other couples with us. One Pinoy couple and the other was Korean. They're very nice people and we had fun touring with them. First stop was the "Bay". Very much like the Manila Bay here except that it used to be a squatters' area and they were relocated to a much much better home. It makes you wish you were a squatter there.
Next stop was the Cuartel which was right next to the Cathedral. The tour guide explained that the Cuartel had an underground tunnel that was used by a couple of guys to escape the prison and stuff. There were also people who were burned there. I wasn't really listening. I was distracted by 'someone' who was poking me to get a better picture of the tunnel.
After that, we went to the Crocodile Farm. While waiting for our turn, we entertained ourselves with their pasalubong center. They had everything from wood carvings to t-shirts. When we finally got inside, we saw this huge croc skin. Apparently, the croc whom the skin belonged to ate a man. Crocs are pretty huge. This one was only half of its potential size. Un-fucking-believable. I definitely do not want to pee in those waters.
(meh.)
(This was the head part of a sperm whale. It may not look like much but it occupied half of the room.)
We went outside to be greeted by these :
And these :
She was clinging to me all the way to the end of the puny walk way but you'll never guess it in this picture :
Next stop was the Iwahig Penal Colony. This is where the inmates just roam around to till the soil and make cool souvenirs. The prisoners are generally friendly in spite of the big burly figures with full body tattoos. You just couldn't (and shouldn't - for obvious reasons) say 'No' when they approach you to sell their stuff. I think the Pinoy couple bought enough key chains to give out to all the people in their place. One of the inmates caught a snake the other day. Here is the proud owner goofing around with his pet snake :
There's something incredibly green about this picture. I just can't put my finger on it. Anyway, next stop was the butterfly farm, then Mitra's ranch and last one was the Baker's Hill. Tip : Never buy accessories there. You can hoard bags of cashew nuts, ube hopia, and pastillas.. but just forget about the accessories. They have a 100% mark up. Dodge the heartache and just go to the public market. Trust me. They can sniff out losers and sell you a P100 necklace for P200.
(sucker)
(Mitra. Poor guy with no privacy.)
(Baker's Hill - mini Disneyland)Dinner was at Ka Lui's. You have to reserve for a table though. Their place is really homey - that is if you grew up in nipa huts. But it's a really nice place though. The seafood is also fresh - as expected. We just got the P300 meal that was already good for two.
(This was Marian's reaction when she saw the small servings for the meal we ordered. But she quickly changed her mind when she realized that she was already full and could barely finish the grilled blue marlin.)Underground River Tour.
The next day, we woke up early in the morning for our 3 hour dirt road trip to Sabang's underground river. I honestly don't know what the people were complaining about. Their 'rough' road was not that rough. I've had rougher roads before. Have you ever been to Malapascua in Cebu? That was THE GOD of rough roads. My head kept bumping the car top. I had bald spots. Thank God for whoever invented seat belts. I digress again. Anyway, the ride was pretty cool. We saw gigantic trees, monkey families on the side of the road, and a lot of road kill (flattened snakes. gacckkk!). When we got to the pier, we hopped on a boat towards the river. The whole place is just breathtaking. I was a bit proud that we have a place such as this in the Philippines. Just don't forget your Off lotion.
(on the way there)
(smile.)
(cave entrance. When you look up, keep your mouth closed. There are stuff dripping from god-knows-where and there are bat shit.)
(I almost lost my head here. I kinda forgot to duck.)
(just one of the millions of rock formations there)
(Picture time with bat shit on my shorts. The water was a bit murky because it rained yesterday. I'm thinking it could also be because of the tons of shit the bats are producing. The locals said that it's usually crystal clear. )
(Professional thieves. No matter how much you curse the furry things, you will never get your bag back. So don't bring your colorful plastic bags. Listen. It will save your life.)During the ride back, everyone was sleepy. My dreams were rudely interrupted by a bump on the road followed by screams from my fellow travelers. Apparently, the driver drove over a huge monitor lizard and it was so angry that it decided to eat the whole van. Kidding. It was squashed to death immediately - raising the road kill count to 157.
Honda Bay
Ahh.. Beautiful beautiful beaches. Schools of colorful fishies even though you're just knee deep in water - if you have bread. If you don't, they'll just wiggle their butts away from you. I love this place. We only visited 3 islands though - it's actually more than enough. We went to Pandan, Snake and Starfish islands. We snorkeled our hearts out... with our life jackets, of course. We also pigged out on lobsters. It's only P400 per kilo after all.
There are more pictures but I think you can only stomach this one. The rest has weird poses and people in bathing suits. And some are for my eyes only - as well as all the boatmen that were watching. The island has sand bars that connects it to another island. If you do decide to visit, have fun exploring!
There are also a lot of restaurants here that are really cheap and with good food. We tried the famous Chao Long. It's a Vietnamese rice noodle. It's actually tasty but be careful while eating it. I stained my favorite shirt while eating this one. At night, their favorite hang out is Kinabuch. We never tried their specialty - 'tamilok' or wood worms. Cowards. You really should try it. It's a tough job but someone's gotta do it.
(Entertaining ourselves while waiting for our orders at Kinabuch.)Ah. Palawan. I'm supposed to conclude the blog here but I can't think of anything right now. Just go and see for yourself.
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