Friends and Adventures to Palawan

Packed and ready to go except for my dive gear.

Today was the day I was moving out of my house in Puerto Galera to go to Puerto Princesa, Palawan where I was meeting some friends from Bohol—Sara, Martine, and Erich. Sara texted me previously telling me that their flight was cancelled and couldn’t meet up until the next day. I guess the first night will be by myself. I wasn’t familiar with Puerto Princesa and was hoping to use their guide books when we met up. I texted Sara what place the guide book recommended to stay at and she replied with a few places. Okay, well, at least I have an idea where to stay.

I woke up around 7 AM to do some final last minute packing and to make sure I had everything around the house. By 7:30 AM I was ready to leave my home and go to the dive shop to pack my dive gear. My boat ferry was scheduled to leave by 8:15 AM.

When I went to the El Galleon one of the staff there said that Grace was looking for me. Really? I went to the dive shop to pack my bags because I was running a little late. At the dive shop, Grace, Maziar, and even Lee visited me to say their final goodbyes. I was touched to have such good friends wake up early to say goodbye; true friends. I thought my last time seeing them would be the night before.

Unfortunately some of my dive gear was still damp and I couldn’t find my booties at first. I seem to always stress myself out by rushing to get things ready before I leave somewhere despite prior preparation. I found my booties in some box, packed them into my bag, and said my goodbyes. To my surprise, Grace, Lee, and Maziar offered to help carry my bags and walk me down the beach to the ferry. I was very touched by this and soon realized their help was much needed.

Good friends from Puerto Galera—Lee, Grace, and Maziar. Good to know friends will be there even when you leave.

After a few minutes of walking and going down some stairs, my dive bag handle snapped in half because the metal rusted away. Just my luck! The broken handle made it difficult to drag the bag. Because my friends were with me though, they helped me carry my bags through sand, stairs and any other obstacles. Its good to have great friends. At the ferry we waited around for a few minutes before saying our final goodbyes. It was sad to see them go, I was tired from dragging my bags, and now it was time to move on to another chapter in my adventure.

The ferry I was taking went to Batangas Pier as scheduled. At Batangas, I was meeting a private driver I booked beforehand to drive me up to Manila airport. I booked a private van because I didn’t want to worry about not making it to the airport on time, worry about bags getting stolen, and it’s a lot more comfortable. My driver, Richard, took about 2 hours to drive to Manila and along the way we stopped at a Starbucks for coffee and a travel agent to see if I could reschedule my return ticket to the US for a later date.

My return ticket to the US is scheduled for July 29, 2008, which I for sure won’t be able to take. I wanted to see what it would take to reschedule it before I went to Palawan so I wouldn’t worry about it. The travel agent called Cathay Pacific and they said that it would cost me $400 USD to reschedule the ticket to sometime in December. The problem is that I’m not sure what day I would go back because it depends on getting a job and a few other things out here. I think I may go back to the US to visit friends and family but not sure what I will do after that.

At the airport I checked in my bags to find out that I was 20 kilos overweight. Just my check-in baggage totaled to 40 kilos. Why was I so overweight? Damp scuba gear? Unfortunately, my airline—Cebu Pacific, just increased their overweight pricing to 100 pesos/kilo from 50 pesos/kilo. I paid 2000 pesos in overweight charges for a 1400 peso ticket. Damn, that sucks. At least my flight went well.

When I arrived at Puerto Princesa airport and got my bags, I immediately visited the Tourist Info booth. There I managed to get a map of the area and some information about what’s around and where to stay. The lodge Sara recommended from her guidebook was close and was my first stop. I refused to take one of the overpriced tricycles at the airport for 40 pesos and instead walked out of the airport to find a tricycle for 15 pesos. It was a long walk in the hot sun with all my bags and I’m not sure if it was worth the walk but it’s more for the principle.

My nicely furnished room in Puerto Princesa.

The lodge I stayed in was very nice; in fact, one of the nicest places I’ve seen out in the Philippines. The room I rented was the only one available which had a nice dark wood floor and matching wooden furniture. Even the bed sheets matched in style. This is a contrast to the usual rooms I’ve stayed in that were just the basics with little concern for looking good. Additionally, my room also had a clean bathroom and air conditioning. I don’t normally care for air conditioning but if it’s available, why not?

Water jug in my room.

After unpacking, settling in a little, and cooling off next to the air conditioning, I set off to explore the city of Puerto Princesa. I wasn’t sure how it would be so I brought my backpack in case I needed to hide my camera. The main part of town is all walking distance from where I was staying. This made me like my choice of stay even more.

Chicken attached with a rope to a motorbike. Dinner to go.

Biochemist Drug—Jesus heals by selling drugs.

Puerto Princesa is a blend of traditional Filipino establishments, Westernized chain stores, and family owned foreign establishments. There’s street venders, lechon minok stands (BBQ chicken), Jollibee, coffee shops, major banks, and Vietnamese restaurants. There are several stores with funny names like “Biochemist Drug —Jesus Heals.” Jesus heals with drugs? I kept an eye open for interesting restaurants to eat at because I was getting hungry and it was dinner time. I ended up eating at a place with BBQ chicken and all you can eat rice. I only had one serving of rice.

After dinner I was disparate to find a good bar to hang out at and get a beer. I sound alcoholic but after a long day of traveling and walking around, I think I deserved it. I just wanted to relax and maybe meet some other people, hear stories, etc. I asked a hip looking group of Filipinos—a guy in a motorcycle jacket with two young educated looking girls—where I could find a good bar. They told me of a bar that I could only phonetically understand and which I eventually forgot the name of. I went in the general direction they pointed but didn’t find anything so I had to ask someone else—who was less hip looking—for a bar.

I didn’t find the bar that person suggested but eventually ended up at Kinabuchs Bar and Grill because it was the last place before where I was staying. The place was crowded, mostly with foreigners, and looked quite hip and happening. There are two nice pool tables, a well stocked bar, and a generally good vibe. I found a nice seat in the middle of the bar with empty seats next to me in case someone wanted to sit next to me and talk.

Delicious 130 peso tuna sashimi.

A Taiwanese guy was sitting two seats away from me eating tuna sashimi. Since I had no one else to talk to but myself, and the sashimi looked good, I asked him how it was. In broken English he implied it was good and told me to have some. The sashimi was extremely fresh and tasty which is not what I was expecting. The guy introduced himself as Peter who was a regular at the bar and only really spoke Taiwanese and Filipino. Since our bartender understood both Filipino and English, he helped translate the conversation between Peter and I. Peter ordered another dish which was a grilled tuna jaw which was very tasty also. I was surprised to eat such good food at such a trendy establishment.

After Peter left an American couple from Valencia, California sat next to me at the bar. The guy’s name was Ken and I forgot the girl’s name. They’re an interesting couple that I actually saw at the local bank several hours beforehand. They just traveled around Palawan and were leaving the next day. We talked a lot about why its better living and working abroad, what is success, and traveling.

By midnight, things were getting slow at the bar so I started walking back to my room. I was confronted by a tricycle driver in front of my lodge and casually struck up a conversation with him. I decided I didn’t want to end the night just yet and asked him where I can see more Palawan nightlife. He drove me to Phoenix bar.

The bar was sadly desolate. When I walked in I was the only customer, the place was brightly lit, and the bar girls danced lethargically on the dance floor. After getting a drink, I looked for a place to sit down. A few guys came in and invited me to sit with them instead of sitting by myself. I sat with them, they bought some drinks, and even paid for a few girls to sit with us. The guys were all special forces soldiers in the Philippine Army which are equivalent to the US Marine Recon special forces; that was interesting.

One of the Philippine soldiers with a hired girl.

The guys were really friendly and even invited me to join them at the beach the next day. I couldn’t though since I was to meet Sara, Martine, and Erich. After a few drinks, I took a tricycle back to my lodge. They shared the tricycle with me to save money and make sure I didn’t get ripped off by the tricycle driver.


- jason