It was hard to leave Sagada, there's so much you can do there and I really loved the chilled out vibe. But leave I did, and caught a 6 hour bus in the morning to Baguio which apparently used be quite like Sagada but has now bloomed into a much bigger town. Jason and I didn't spend long there and most of the time was spent in the bus terminal waiting for the night bus to Manila. We decided to splash out and go for the 'deluxe' bus which was more spacious and comfortable but still arctic. Apparently the aircon is tied directly to the engine and so the drivers can't turn it down, but I think they just like making us suffer.
We arrived back in Manila in the (very) early hours and again didn't really spend long there, we got a taxi to the airport and spent a few hours there waiting for our flight to Puerto Princesa. Eventually our flight time came around and we smoothly progressed to Palawan. We only had one night in Puerto, but it was long enough to appreciate that as far as provincial towns go it is quite pleasant. We stayed in a lovely little guesthouse with a view of the bay, and after Jason had sorted out his visa extension (he's staying in the Philippines for a while longer) we went for a walk down to the pier. All in all it was a nice relaxing day and we finished it off with dinner in a nice restaurant, eating some fresh seafood and a drink in a fairly lively bar before heading back for some sleep.
It was another early start the next day as we wanted to be able to properly appreciate our next stop, Sabang. It was another simple journey, a short tricycle ride to the bus terminal and a 2 1/2 hour van ride up Palawan to Sabang. The main attraction in Sabang is the world's longest navigable underground river, but instead of just taking the 10 minute boat ride down the coast to the river we decided to be really keen and do the 5.3km trek through the jungle. It wasn't a particularly challenging trek but it was good fun to see all the karst formations and feel like you were just out in the wild. The river itself consists of a 45 minute round trip into the cave on a paddleboat, it wasn't quite as spectacular as I had maybe anticipated but it was still remarkable. Since it was after 3pm after we had been up the river, we couldn't make the trek back so we just sat on the beach until we found a group with a couple of spaces on their boat (we didn't feel like spending the money on one to ourselves) and headed back round to Sabang. We didn't stay on the beach itself, but instead in a nice little cottage with a porch metres from the water. After a walk on the beach I had a couple of drinks on the beach before joining Jason for some more lovely, fresh seafood for dinner. We saw the night out with drinks and chatting to the people who run the place we were staying... at least until the power went. In the more rural areas of the Philippines the power often isn't very reliable and normally only on for up to half the day so we took that as our cue to retire for the night.
We were again on the move early the next morning. Having turned down the offer of a very expensive private van to take us on to El Nido, we decided to do it how the locals do. We had an hours ride on top of a jeepney and then a 7-8 hour journey on top of a bus (they were both packed). Riding on the roof is actually great fun, apart from the fact you have to be very awake and aware, otherwise you get hit by tree branches and low-hanging telephone cables (as I found out). It also seemed as though we had picked the hottest day of the year to make the trip, so by the time we finally made it to El Nido we were pretty damn baked (and a little sunburnt). El Nido is a small town on the coast from where you can look out to the Bacuit archipelago (think Halong Bay but smaller) with fantastic views, fabulous food and plenty of things to do (or you can just lie on the beach). We found out from the manager of the guesthouse we stayed at (which was really nice with a great restaurant) that El Nido used to be much smaller, quieter and less touristy but it has really picked up in the last few years. Thankfully it turned out we were there right at the end of high season, but enough before Holy Week, so it was actually incredibly quiet most of the time. Apart from a day island-hopping tour out to some of the islands to do some snorkelling and the suchlike, I didn't really do a huge amount. I ate, drank, swam and slept and was incredibly relaxed by the end of it. It also turned out that we were there at the end of an Arts festival so on one night we went to a charity concert which was so incredibly hippy and treehugger-esque! The music was pretty damn good though. I met some cool people there and enjoyed just soaking in the Filipino vibe.
I again found it almost impossible to leave (which may or may not have had something to do with the night before) but I bid farewell to Jason and caught a van all the way back to Puerto Princesa to the same place we had stayed before. After dumping my stuff I went and printed off my Vietnam visa information and went to a grill and bar for dinner. Up until this point I hadn't really experienced any kind of bad weather in the Philippines, but this was corrected when, shortly after starting eating, the heavens opened. Being quite an outdoorsy place to eat everyone was scrambling around trying to put up umbrellas and move tables. It was quite entertaining. Once I had finished eating and the rain had stopped I walked back and got a reasonably early night before getting up bright and early to catch a flight to Manila. Rather than bother going into the city, I spent the entire day stuck at the airport and will be catching a flight to Singapore followed by one to Hanoi shortly. I decided to splash out and pay to use the lounge, which is where I'm writing this.
I wasn't really sure what to expect from the Philippines when I first arrived, but I've had a great time, seen awesome sights, met great people, and had some very interesting local food (such as Pinikpikan, Halo-halo and Sisig). I think I will definitely have to make a return visit at some point to explore more of this wonderful country.
But for now I'm off, next stop, Vietnam.
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