Palawan is a large mostly undeveloped island southwest of Manila that has popped up on the tourist radar over the last few years. There are no resorts and very little western influence. The best you’ll find is a 2 star hotel. Tuk-tuk tricycles and jeepneys dominate the transportation choices. Right now it doesn’t offer the tourist amenities that Boracay does and is mostly a backpacker hot spot. Our plan is to start in the capital town, Puerto Princesa and then head up north to El Nido for some island hopping tours.
Day 1 – We arrived on the island around 3:30 in the capital Puerto Princesa and grabbed a $2 Tuk-Tuk to our hotel. After a quick shower we headed out to explore. The food options were a McDonald’s, a pizza place, a few small hotel restaurants and street side shacks. We choose McDonald’s and afterwards we walked along the bayside market area before calling it a night.
Day 2 – We woke up with plans of exploring but after breakfast Alyssa wasn’t feeling like walking around in what turned out to be the hottest temperature we have felt since the outback last year. Instead she took a nap and I wondered the streets. I returned around noon and we rented a scooter and took off to do some beach hopping. Another lazy day on the islands.
Day 3 – Other than beaches the only big thing to do in Puerto Princesa is take a tour of the Underground River. This being our last day here we couldn’t resist. You can only enter the underground river with a park permit that is impossible to get without being part of a research group or an organized tour. We usually don’t like tour groups but we had no choice. After a 3 hour bus ride we stopped at a small cave where they tried to get us to spend more money on stuff we had no interest in like a small cave and a lame zip line. After an hour there we finally got to the port where we were served a buffet lunch that wasn’t all that good. The highlight was when we were offered a chance to try a local delicacy called Tamilok. It is a worm that lives in trees and is about 15 inches long. Upon further research I found out it is actually in the mollusk family but still really gross. You remove it from the wood and eat it raw. So we dipped it in some hot sauce and down the hatch. Absolutely terrible. Very chewy with a slight wood and guts flavor. After that privilege we got on a small boat and were brought to the beach where the cave entrance was. Here we were loaded onto smaller row boats and sat in silence listening to an audio tour play in one ear while the guide rowing the boat pointed out formations. The cave was filled with bats flying around and smelled like bat guano. The river runs for 12km and we were taken down 1.5km. Only research teams are allowed further. The government along with the UNESCO world heritage organization did a really good job keeping the caves untouched. They don’t even allow lights to be mounted inside. The only lights were on the small headlamps on the guides head. We have been in a lot of caves and even other underground rivers but this one was really impressive. Between the cave and the Tamilok it was worth the bad tour. By the time we got home we were ready to eat and call it a day. Next stop El Nido!
