When you land in the Philippines and tell people you are going to Palawan, everyone will ask you the same thing - ‘are you going to El Nido?’ Situated to the north west of the island, the town is about a 6 – 8 hour drive from PPC (depending on whether you’re in a bus or a car). It is renowned as the most beautiful part of Palawan and is popular with Filipino holidaymakers as well as backpackers and those in search of white sand, picture perfect South East Asian beaches.
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Is it just me, or do tour guides at every natural phenomenon across the globe claim theirs is a one of the ‘Wonders of the World’? Today was the turn of Palawan’s Underground River, which we took a day trip to with an organised tour. This was mainly because you have to apply for a permit from the government to go there which is a lot easier when we don’t have to deal with it ourselves.
One of the activities we decided we wanted to try at some point in the trip was scuba diving. Joe had never been before and I had only had a go once on a family holiday in Turkey when I was very young so we thought it would be a great opportunity to take a PADI experience course. For this we went to Let’s Dive Palawan and we have to say we were very impressed with their credentials and professionalism. We started with a classroom style briefing in the office, going over the do’s and don’ts of scuba, before heading out to shallow water to practice essential skills like recovering your respirator and clearing water from your mask. After this we headed out on a 30 minute starter dive to get used to being in the water and practising moving with the gear on. I was told I’m positive buoyant meaning the instructor had to keep adding a load of weight to me to stop me drifting to the surface (Joe was negative buoyant meaning he sank like a stone).
Whilst looking up places to eat in PPC (I’m shortening Puerto Princesa City to this from now on), we came across good reviews for a restaurant called Artisans. Run by a Scottish expat, they serve HUGE (and I mean HUGE) portions from the most random menu you will ever see. There’s Italian pasta dishes, Mexican burritos, Spanish tapas, Asian noddles and rice, steaks, salads, seafood, wraps, paninis and good old fashioned bangers and mash. Each dish is served with a side salad and sometimes bread and the plates are so big they literally struggle to fit them on some of the tables. The quality is excellent and though expensive for the area, is actually cheap if you convert to GBP and extra kind on the wallet if you share. We think the portions are so big sharing one between two will still leave you full, even when your partner is a never satisfied human dustbin * cough * Joe. As our trip to the Philippines is the first time we’ve ever been to South East Asia, we weren’t exactly sure what to expect from the new ‘go to’ destination for backpackers. The impression we had from seeing travel documentaries, friends Facebook photos and hearing other traveller’s stories is that landing in a major city, like Bangkok or Hanoi or even Manila can be overwhelming for the uninitiated. As we travelled directly from Manila to Palawan, we avoided some of the chaos and instead landed in Puerto Princesa, a much smaller city serving as the island’s provincial capital.
Yesterday was a LONG day. After spending two sleepless nights in our very loud, night club flanked hostel in Auckland (which really bizarrely had the feeling of one of those rundown Conservative clubs that host weight watchers meetings and stuff, complete with stale beer smell and blue carpet everywhere), we began the mammoth trip to our next stop: The Philippines!
As we sit in our budget hostel in Auckland, sapping the free wifi and sheltering from the rain, we have a little time to reminisce about about our very own kiwi experience (this became a bit of a running joke between us as the other main way of seeing the islands is on a kind of 'party bus' aimed a younger crowd called Kiwi Experience that we decided wasn't really our scene, but which we kept running into with their garish green buses anyway). We've massively enjoyed having the freedom to spend our days exactly as we wanted to, stopping when we saw a sign we liked the look of, having the time to take our time at the places we enjoyed, rather than being rushed onwards by a group leader and being able to freedom camp in some beautiful nature reserves along the way. The only slight problem with self driving is having to take full responsibility for all aspects of your travel. Particularly unpleasant tasks include removing your own waste water - definitely not fun to see last nights washing up and three days of toothpaste and cold coffee coming back out of the van, getting flustered when the sat nav doesn't realise the road layout has changed and being taken in all sorts of crazy directions, angering locals at the same time and trying to do some good old fashioned map reading whilst attempting (and sometimes failing!) avoid prohibited roads. However this was nothing more than couple of small stresses in what has been an overwhelmingly positive experience. I think the NZ road trip is something we definitely want to do again in the future, as there is always more to see and do in such a beautiful country. Below is a little map of all the places we visited on the approximately 4000km we drove across New Zealand. For now though, our thoughts are being turned to the next stage of our adventure - 4 months backpacking through South East Asia! For this we are hitting some of the 20 somethings backpacker favourites, including Bali, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam (plus others!) The change of pace is likely to be a bit shocking, but we're ready for a bit of backpackers party after being sensible designated drivers for such a long time!
It has been raining for 4 days straight. And not like, light drizzle or the occasional shower, like being set upon with a pressure washer. We are wet, cold and if we're being completely honest, a little miserable. Road tripping is fantastic when the sun is shining and you can spend whole evenings lazing in the heat of the afternoon with a few beers, watching the world go by... But when you are stuck in your tin can, unable to even walk to the shops or toilets without getting soaked, the dream looks a lot more distant. I guess this is why motor home holidays have such a bed rep in the UK! Even the beauty of the Coromandel Peninsula can't shine through the miserable grey, and we've been forced to take shelter in motor camps in a variety of locations. Everything is wet and won't dry, there's mud and grass all over the floor and every type of insect, from the 5 house flies currently buzzing around my head to the beetle that decided to drop from the ceiling of the van and land on my shoulder this morning, all try to make their home inside the only thing for a hundred miles that isn't wet. One thing is for sure however, we are still eternally grateful for our camper upgrade as we watch the other poor souls in converted cars huddled over their portable stoves in raincoats, trying to cook dinner under the open boots of their cars. Tragic.
This post follows an early and very cold morning. We got up at 5:30am, drove the 45 minutes to Hot Water Beach in the dark (complete with rain and wind) and pulled up to the deserted car park. After debating whether stripping into swim gear on a beach being buffeted by huge waves on a very cold and grey day was actually a good idea, a couple of other tourists arrived and we decided we couldn’t back out now. Armed with a small spade, we got out of the comfort of the van and went in search of the famous hot water which gives the beach its name. Here, hot water bubbles out of the sand two hours either side of low tide, and if you’re quick and strong, you can actually dig yourself a small hot pool spa to sit in. We hadn’t however counted on the weather, which made digging for our lives rather unpleasant (as we were being hit by tiny needles of sand from every direction every time the wind blew). However, after meeting up with two American tourists (the only other brave souls on the beach) we joined forces and dug… a small puddle of hot (and I mean HOT) water. In some places it was too hot to stand in, but as the occasional wave rolled in and smashed into us, the cold sea water tempered the boiling pool and in the end we were afforded some time sitting in the warm waters. We both enjoyed the whole experience a lot, and weather meant we had the beach pretty much to ourselves which is always nice, even if we did have to endure some freezing rain and could only spend limited time on our hard won hole. In the end, we rewarded our early start and hard work with a full cooked breakfast and hot coffee to warm up. When travelling in New Zealand, it is impossible not to see the influence of the country's Maori population. From place names to bilingual signs and schools, the Maori language is evident, and many of the places we have visited have provided information on the uses of the diverse landscape by these early Polynesian settlers, and their legends and stories which for centuries were used transmit their unique tribal culture.
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Hi! We're Alice and Joseph, currently on a year long RTW trip :) Archives
September 2018
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