Underground River and a jungle lodge

After the 40 hour travel marathon from Chile we needed a day to chill. So we only ventured out a bit during our one day in Manila. We went to the Manila Ocean Park (aquarium) which was fun and the fish spa was noteworthy. You sit on the edge of a shallow pool and submerge your bare feet and little fish eat the dead skin off your feet. We also took a walk through Rizal Park near the Ocean Park.

The next morning we flew to Puerto Princesa on Palawan island- just over an hour from Manila. Puerto is the only city on the island. On the way to our hotel we booked a tour for the following day to the Underground River.

Transport on Palawan, and in much of the Philippines is typically done by tricycle. Tricycles are three wheeled vehicles consisting of a motorbike attached to a two seat side car. We’ve seen as many as five passengers riding in tricycles which is crazy considering Rich and I feel cramped with just the two of us.

We hired a tricycle for the afternoon and took it to the Palawan Nature Conservation Center, also known as the croc farm. They rescue, breed and release crocodiles and the tour takes you first to see the baby crocs and then the full size residents. The biggest one was over 17 feet long. I think about him now every time I swim in a river in Palawan.

In addition to the crocs, the center has other native animals and birds on display. The bearcat was our favorite.

That night we went to Kinabuch’s restaurant with one goal- eat crocodile. Rich had croc in coconut milk and I ordered cros sisig- sisig is sizzling chopped meat and veggies served with rice (everything here is served with rice, even breakfast, I love it!). Both dishes were excellent!

Easter morning our tour picked us up just after 7 and we drove two hours across the island to Sabang. Sabang is kind of magical and I recommend spending a night there if you come to Palawan. Gorgeous beaches with spider boats bobbing in the current and lush green and rocky hills lining the landscape on both sides. We spent nearly two hours hanging on the beach, drinking fruit shakes (I am addicted to mango fruit shakes- heaven!), and eating a buffet lunch before our group’s turn to go to the river.

Once it was our turn, we boarded spider boats- which made me happy as I love spider boats- and set out on a 15 minute trip to the beach outside the cave. There were some monkeys near the beach when we arrived and we’d been warned not to bring colored plastic bags or liquids as the monkeys are not shy. We were given audioguides and then loaded a spider canoe to enter the cave. Spider boats and canoes have wooden logs attached to each side of the boat making them look like spiders.

The trip through the cave lasts about 40 minutes. The only light comes from the guide’s headlamp and he uses it to illuminate various rock formations as bats fly by. There are thousands of bats living in the caves. The audio guide is very informative about the development and evolution of the caves although it gets a bit cheesy with the rock formations. Overall a really interesting and beautiful experience.

For dinner Sunday night we went to Puerto’s Baywalk which is on the water and has a variety of food stalls displaying the food they have available to cook. We picked a spot and both had pork sisig with rice and a beer for about $6 total. And the food was great!

Monday morning we took a bus to a turnoff on the highway 53 kilometers from Puerto and took a tricycle to the Love and Peace Jungle Lodge another mile off the main road. Rich found it on Hostelworld and we thought it would be a cool place to spend a few days. We got a river view room and they gave us a “welcome cocktail” at 10:30 am. Then we hit the river.

Love and Peace is its own little oasis. Bamboo huts, a hammock, a tiki bar, mats to lounge on, and a rope swing off the dock into the river (selling point for Rich). We spent our first day there in and near the river. One of the local boys gave Rich pointers on the rope swing.

I took a walk through the town and was greeted by everyone I passed with “Hello! Where are you going?”. Foreigners are still a novelty there. Two local girls joined me for a bit and tried to teach me some Tagalog (Filipino). Unfortunately I have already forgotten it.

Love and Peace had great food which was nice since there are no other options nearby. We had the place basically to ourselves the first night as it was just us and Scott and Paula, a Scottish couple staying up the hill. Steve, the German owner, arrived in the late afternoon and chatted with us for a bit. He’d lived in Bali for 30 years and now owns two resorts on Palawan and is builing a third. He introduced Rich to Love, the lodge’s pet duck and Rich’s new best friend.

There are a variety of tours and activities on offer at Love and Peace and we decided to take the tubing tour on our second day at the lodge. We loaded tubes and ourselves into a spider boat and headed upriver. We figured te would drop us off and let us just float back to the lodge, but the boat captain and our guide Aris stayed with us the whole time. We went about 20 minutes up the river in the boat, but it was low tide and there was practically no current so it took us over two hours to get back- with a good amount of paddling. We stopped on the way and hiked barefoot to a huge Dao tree- 213 feet tall. The scenery along the way was terrific. Dense forrests littered with palm trees. And we were joined in the ririver by the occasional bathing bull (I don’t blame them- Palawan afternoons are hot!).

That evening we hung out with Scott and Paula and spent a little time talking to a couple of Finnish girls who arrived that day. They gave us information about El Nido, our next stop in Palawan.

I was going to try and capture all of Palawan so far in one post but this is getting long so I will post about El Nido tomorrow.