We've been left speechless by the Phillipines, but dead-gunnit we're gonna try and capture it. A 'country' made up of over 7000 islands, teaming with wildlife (not to mention little thin deadly snakes sniggling among your beach camping area), electrically vibrant greenery, and surrounded by clear waters with an abundance of water-life. Plonk in an A-Grade collaboration of people, the most local fish available - Tuna, a fine local beer, ridiculous beaches, sailing catama.... sod the summary, let's go.
With only 2 weeks in the Philippines, we decided just to hit one island, and do it properly. Having had a strong recommendation from a recent visitor (Flop), Palawan was our island of choice. We flew into Puerto Princessa but headed straight out the following day up to the bus station to take a 4 hour bus North towards Port Barton.
We were dropped off at a local restaurant that quickly became our daily regular, serving up basic fare of pumpkin in a coconut milk curry, or a sort of daal, with rice and a drink for just 80p. Yup, see you tomorrow. And the next day. And the next day.
We were dropped off at a local restaurant that quickly became our daily regular, serving up basic fare of pumpkin in a coconut milk curry, or a sort of daal, with rice and a drink for just 80p. Yup, see you tomorrow. And the next day. And the next day.
Yet another country we've managed to land in during Mango season : )
After trudging across the near half kilometre length of the beach to find a place to stay, we came across a spot that was charging about £12 a night. That'll do. The room was basic, and with a fan that didn't do a great deal to break the mid-30 degree heat, but you adjust, you starkers starfish etc.
Conscious of time, we were quick to book up a boat trip to see the infamous array of islands off the coast, and having met a young teenage driver (yet another lawless country btw) when we arrived in Port Barton, we needed to fill it with good humans...
Next door to us were a Swiss couple who I first made contact with after Luca knocked on my door after I'd returned from a lengthy trip to the toilet and quite directly said 'you were quite some time in there, do you need some medicine?'. Actually it was just a lazy prolonged poopy, but I appreciated the concern.
From here our relationship with him and his girlfriend Anne-Sophie blossomed and they became our very welcome travel companions throughout the rest of the trip. We have a huge shared interest in food, and with Luca being Italian born, and Anne-Sophie French, the way these two would talk about some of the lesser known foods of Italy & France, they'd have Alice and I utterly hypnotised. Suffice to say we're now wishing the calendar away to go visit them in Switzerland, for reference, the below image is where they now live...
Yup.
Anyway, back to more beauty. Also on our boat trip we met two hilarious Saffa girls, a local Filipino photographing/videographing hero called Terence, his very un-yank-like yank friend - Parker, a passionate German fisherman called Patrick and his lovely lady Svenja, a quintessentially lovely Irishman, and one of the floopiest hippies we've met on the trip, pit-hair and all. Sounds like the start of a joke, and many a laugh we would have.
The best way to show you our overnight island boat trip is through the spectacular video that Terence shot with his SLR, GoPro, and drone. That's a 3-way we really could have done with on this trip! The drone shot is the island we slept on, under the stars with just blankets:-
An unbelievable trip, spending a night on the deserted island you saw above. Woof.
Sun-setting on our group on de island.
Back in Port Barton, Luca was determined to try and get ourselves some fresh Tuna, delightfully, the most local fish available. Luca, myself and Patrick woke up early the morning after our boat trip and assumed posts across the beach, impatiently waiting for the fishing boats to come in, and preparing to battle with all the restaurant owners who also come down early to land themselves the best catch they can.
After an hour of scanning the horizon, and a few unfruitful sprints to approaching boats, a boat laden with Tuna and Spanish Mackerel chugged in.
After very little negotiation, we bagged ourselves the above 5kgs of Tuna and 3 Spanish Mackerel for a mere fiver.
YES. YES. YES. YES. YES.
And between the Swiss and ourselves, we were determined to Ceviche and Carpaccio the lot. Some of it was BBQ'd but most of it was, rightly, eaten raw, with a little lemon, ginger, garlic and olive oil.
This was well and truly one of the best days of our entire trip. It became known as 'Le matin de decadence', preparing the freshest Tuna you could taste throughout the morning, then consuming it, and countless bottles of wine all afternoon - all intertwined with a few dips in the clear blue sea, wine glasses still in hand of course. What a day, what a group.
After staying over a week in Port Barton, having loved the place so much because of it's minimal tourism and relative infrastructure, our morning beach runs and swims, and simply great chat with our new friends, it was time to bid farewell to paradise.
Though our time away from paradise was quickly replaced by a new beauty, the area of Corong Corong, another swell reco from Flop.
Such is also the flavour of the area up at the Northern tip of Palawan, we managed to bag up a private boat for ourselves to go and see some of the coves and islands off the coast up here.
And I suppose this is where we really started to see the typical tourist brochure photos you see of the Philippines - endless shades of blue water, & pre-historic rock formations. This area wouldn't have looked much different thousands of years ago.
Props another enchanted food description.
Pon return from our boat trip, it was time for a trim. I bloody loved getting foreign haircuts. Risky, but that's the thrill, never fully knowing what local style you may end up rocking.
Our next highlight of Corong Corong was renting, bloody, Catamarans. We took a Hobie Cat out per couple for 2 half days, sipped in the surroundings at the pace of the mellow flying wind, beaching on islands to explore and snorkel, and pitching up head to wind so we could launch into the water in the middle of the sea. Absolutely breathtaking. Learn to sail.
There you have it. A little whistlestop but it's the pictures and videos that do the talking. It feels like I say this every post, but Palawan in the Philippines is a must while it's still relatively unscathed.
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