Palawan

Sam was due to fly from the US to Puerto Princessa, the main city on the island of Palawan.  Palawan is a long, thin island that stretches from the main archipelago in the north to Borneo in the south.  The main reason why we'd chosen this hard to reach island was because of El Nido, a small town known for amazing scenery.

And hard to get to it definitely was.  First of all there are only chartered flights to El Nido; most travelers have to go through Puerto Princessa and hop on a bus for the 6+ hour drive to El Nido.  Mike and I tried to find a flight from Kalibo, near Boracay, but all the ones we found routed through Manila.  Most involved an overnight layover in the capital.

Instead of messing around with a flight we decided to take a less conventional route.  Our first leg consisted of the short ferry from Boracay to Panay island, followed by a seven hour bus ride across Panay to the city of Iloilo (one of my favorite place names, pronounced "ee-lo-ee-lo").  Oh, and before we could begin the bus journey we had to wait at the travel office until the van filled up, which lasted another hour plus.  That's a common experience: book your ticket only to sit there in the van and wait until they completely fill it up with customers.

Mike and I were going from Boracay, just off the island of Panay to Palawan.
Can you find them?  Hint: we went from Iloilo City to Puerto Princessa.

The ride wasn't comfortable, but at least we made it to Iloilo in time for our ferry.  We had already purchased a ticket on the high speed ferry from Iloilo to Puerto Princessa.  High speed ferry?  Ha, I'm only kidding.  As a bird flies the distance between the two is only 262 miles, yet it took us two days to get there!  Well, most of two days.  We left Iloilo in the evening and arrived about 40 hours later in Puerto Princessa.

The boat wasn't all that bad.  On board we met two other travelers, one from New York City who was teaching in Beijing, and the other from Vancouver.  The four of us made use of the cheap beer prices - I thought the long ferry might be an opportunity to lay off the alcohol, but oh well - and drank with a few Filipinos who were in the army and on leave.  On the second day the boat also stopped on an island called Cuyo where we had a few hours to stretch our legs, walk around town, and chill at the beach.

beach on Cuyo island

old Spanish fort on Cuyo

On the morning of February 14th we finally made it to Puerto Princessa.  Our boat was running a few hours late, and Sam was already at the docks waiting for us.  Our long ferry ride may have been over, but we still had the bus ride to El Nido.  We booked our tickets at a tour office in Puerto Princessa, boarded the van and then waited for an hour at the airport to pick up more passengers (or course).  After a bumpy, cramped, and scenic journey through rural Palawan, we finally made it to El Nido by early evening.

Mike, Sam, and I spent three nights in El Nido.  It was sure hard to get to, but once there the scenery didn't disappoint.  On two days we took boat trips to some of the literally hundreds of islands scattered around El Nido.  Both trips included a BBQ lunch with fresh seafood, chicken, grilled veggies, and fresh fruit.  That's my kind of food!

collage courtesy of Sam

sunset over El Nido

Unfortunately I couldn't enjoy it as much as I normally would have.  On bus ride from Puerto Pincessa an uncomfortable feeling came over me: I needed to get to a bathroom, quickly!  Thankfully we made a few stops along the way and I was able to hold out until El Nido.  Much of that evening and the following day was spent resting or on the toilet.  After a day of rest I wasn't 100% but good enough for the boat trip.  Those few days of recovery actually were a good break from drinking too.

El Nido has grown considerably from the days when it was a haven for off the beaten track backpackers and adventure travelers.  The town still has elements of remoteness; the nearest ATM is in Puerto Princessa, and most places only take cash.  I'm guessing the nearest decent hospital is at least that far (thankfully I didn't need to find out).

central street in El Nido

According to one of the locals, back in the 90s there would be only a handful of tourists in El Nido at any given time, with a couple of guest houses for accommodation.  Today there are dozens of hotels along with a few upscale resorts on the outer islands.  Palawan, and El Nido in particular, are getting more and more press as the number of visitors grows.  It sill has a far-off sort of feel to it, but that probably won't last too long as it becomes more commercialized.  There I go again, the pessimistic traveler!

On the 17th Sam, Mike, and I took the bus - well I keep calling it a bus, but it's really just a van - for the fun trip back to Puerto Princessa.  Again we hadn't booked anything, but we found a decent place with a pool next to the airport for less than $10 a person.  That evening we tried the local fast food joint, Jollibee, just for the hell of it (more on that later), introduced Sam and Mike to Tanduay rum, and went out to a local bar.  There wasn't much happening in Puerto Princessa, but it was a decent last night in the Philippines before we headed on to Hong Kong.

typical van used to transport passengers around many islands in the Philippines