Paradise Found

Yesterday, Robert and I left the kids in Malolos with Robert's parents and sisters and we traveled on to Puerto Princesa, Palawan, another of the 7,107 islands that make up the Philippine archipelago.  I think we found Paradise.

A view of some of the islands from the plane

Palawan is, essentially, everything Manila is not.  In contrast to the concrete jungle chaos that is Manila, Palawan is laid back, simple, and true rainforest jungle.  The sky is a clear blue, the clouds are fluffy and white, the trees are lush and green, and the wildlife consists of carabao, birds, monkeys, and monitor lizards in addition to cats, dogs and chickens.  The houses are simple huts, some of them on stilts, with children pumping water from the well.  Rice fields and fruit trees are abundant.  The temperature is definitely lower than in Manila but the humidity is heavier than ever.

Elephant Cave

The base of the Elephant Cave

 A little monitor lizard

Monkeys

A man working in the rice field

Typical house

The view from the Ugong Rock area

Our accommodations here are also heavenly.  We debated about staying at one of the resorts with a swimming pool and/or a beach but ultimately decided we'd prefer something more intimate, personal, and traditional.  With that in mind, we stumbled across the Subli Guest Cabins.  There are only 4 cabins with a maximum capacity in total of 16 people.  They just opened up approximately 1 1/2 years ago when the owners, Nancy and Glen, decided to return to Palawan from New York City.  The cabins were built on property passed onto them by their parents out of wood from their grandmother's and aunt's houses and furnished with furniture passed onto them by family members as well.  They surround a giant mango tree and provide an amazingly serene and peaceful setting.  One of the girls who is employed here, Vanessa, can always be heard singing in her angelic voice and the mynah birds greet us every morning on our way to the dining hut for a delicious Filipino breakfast.

The old mango tree

The view of the garden and reception area from our cabin

Our cabin - #3

Today we ventured to the Underground River in Sabang, Palawan.  It is the longest subterranean river in the world and is one of the new 7 wonders.  It was such an incredible experience.  Our guide had warned us that it was a long and winding road to Sabang with portions that would resemble a roller coaster, but I think his description downplayed the road a little.  It was narrow, full of blind curves and hairpin turns with cliffs on  the side of the road.  I forgot to mention the fact that we are sharing this road with drying rice, carabao, children, motorcycles, tricycles, to name a few and that it was down to one lane due to construction ("concreting" by hand) for much of the way.  Our driver could have qualified for a Nascar race with the way he took those curves, using his horn instead of his brakes.  I didn't feel the bamboo fences that were located on the side of the road for some of the turns would have actually kept our van from flying off the cliff if our driver was to misjudge any of the curves.  A kid in our van actually vomited en route to add a little more excitement to the adventure.  I'm sure Robert has bruises on his left thigh from my fingers holding on for dear life!

The Underground River itself though was pretty amazing.  There was so much to see with all the stalactites, stalagmites and unique rock formations.  It was, of course, full of bats, which I have to admit was a little on the freaky side.  It "rained" on us for much of the tour and although I'd like to think it was water, I'm not completely convinced it wasn't bat guano.  Robert got to ride in the front and be responsible for the flashlight to help illuminate some of the more interesting formations.

Sabang town

Underground River

The entrance to the Underground River

 

The exit from the Underground River

The boat ride back to Sabang

Tomorrow we are planning to head to a beach and do some shopping at the market.  If it's still raining though, maybe we'll take a jaunt to the Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm which is a colony of prisoners and their families who live without bars and get to choose their vocation (ie., farming, fishing, etc.).