Karina, my coworker, and I raced from Mandaluyong City to the airport thirty minutes before our flight launched to the beautiful island of Palawan. Skipping lines and running through Terminal 3, we made it in time to have a conversation before loading the plane!
Two hours later, we were attempting to land in Puerto Princesa. I say “attempted” because the confident pilot overshot the runway and we had to, “try again” as he explained to the crew. I felt safe. We landed and arrived at the cloudy and rainy Puerto Princesa. It is the rainy season, but we were convinced it would be sunny for our next day Honda Bay Island Hopping tour.
Despite people’s doubts, we were right. Sunday we boarded our boat with the sun shining on our faces as we applied our 70SPF sunscreen. The boats were the most amazing wooden oriental boats I have ever seen. They were thin with bamboo balances on either side. The boats were run with what sounded like a car engine down below. Joey, our tour guide, explained the three islands we would visit as we made a quick stop to a coral reef in the middle of the bay. Because of the rains, it was a little muddy but still interesting. Our snorkel guide showed us a giant starfish thing. It was heavy and round but had starfish like teeth on the bottom.
We soon landed on our first island, Snake Island. It is called snake island, not because there are snakes around it, but because of the shape of the island. An interesting fact is that there are more than 7,000 islands in the Philippines during low tide….During high tide, there are less than half of these! Snake Island was sunny and beautiful. Here we saw Chocolate Chip Starfish, Sea Cucumbers, and many tropical fish. While snorkeling I remembered the Salt Water Crocodile story and was a bit nervous, but pushed my fear down as to not destroy my fun. At Snake Island we ate lunch. Lunch consisted of two large red shrimp, one fillet of fried blue marlin, and two pieces of fried chicken. All accompanied by rice, of course. I ordered a coconut to drink and halo halo for dessert. Halo Halo as mentioned before means “Mix Mix.” It’s a mix of yams, tapioca, Jell-O, coconut, jack fruit, cereal, milk sugar syrup, ice and more things that I am not sure exactly what it is. Some bites are great, some are scary. The food is an experience for sure.
My tour group was fun. Three guys and a couple traveled with us and they loved grossing me out with some of the food in the Philippines. One example is Balut. Balut is an egg that they let ripen until the chick has formed and then you eat it. Sometimes you might bite into a beak or feathers! GROSS. I almost lost my lunch. They like it. I do not. I did not even attempt to like it or try it. Another example is a family of oysters that are in a long white strand. They look like an eight inch white worm. You eat it raw. It is as thick as your pinky. This white worm also sounded disgusting. I did not attempt this either. I will leave these two items to Fear Factor.
The Islands were so beautiful. Clear blue water, interesting fish, and wonderful people watching. We were on our way to the third island when a storm came through. The crash of thunder was so wonderful as we do not get thunder or lightening in Seattle. Some might have been terrified to be at sea with this storm. I, however, loved it. I was laughing and smiling, an oxymoron on all accounts.
When we reached the hotel after our island tour, I was exhausted. Karina and I were going to go up to the bar to get dinner after showering and pampering. We were both a bit tired so we relaxed for a bit to rest before dinner. We fell asleep. We woke up at 3:30 the next morning. Dinner did not even have a chance. We woke up starving and ordered room service and coffee as we have to stay awake so that we may sleep after we return in order to work the night shift.
I only have a week left here and there are so many things left to do. I still want to go to green hills to get pearls. I want to go to videoke with the Gates Foundation Team. I am spending Friday with Alex the comedian, my new friend, who is taking me shopping and to dinner, and my MS team wants to take me to dinner or lunch before I leave as a farewell meal. So much to do and so little time!
Till next time
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