Palawan

We took our first big trip this weekend to the island of Palawan. It was absolutely amazing! I must warn you though, this blog that I am about to write will not do justice to the incredible experiences we had or the beauty of the things we saw; with that said, I will try.

Day 1:

We arrived in Puerto Pricessa which is about an hour plane ride from Manila. There was a camera below the nose of the plane and so throughout the flight we could see everything. We traveled over beautiful islands and bright blue waters. In some parts the water was so clear you could see the reef formation underneath.

After arriving we waited for hours at a bus station for our ride to Sabang. We investigated the market and made friends with the locals. The jeepney finally arrived to take us Sabang, which is about 2 hours away. The jeepney was so full that we offered to sit up top with the luggage, rice bags, the buckets of fish and about 10 Filipino men. It was so fun! We saw miles of rolling hills and remote towns scattered along the way. As we dodged the branches, recovered from the flat tire, hid from the rain and drove muddy, unpaved roads we saw the most beautiful giant cliffs made of limestone and marble. Darling beach villages were scattered along the road.

Sabang is a very small, remote beach town. There are only a handful of small places for tourists to stay with a few local restaurants. We stayed in the most darling place, Dab Dabs. Our rooms were little grass hut bungalows with only room for a bed and mosquito net. It was nestled in the beautiful tropical wildlife just yards from the ocean.

We went for the most delightful sunset swim upon arriving. The beaches are covered with beautiful, white sand. The water is calm and clear enough to see your towns. In the distance you can see amazing green hills and the far off fisherman. Oh, man! The scenery and the feeling of amazement I experienced, I cannot even begin to describe.

Day 2:

We woke up early to the delightful sounds of the chickens, cows, birds, and every other animal known to man making a ruckus. We then went for a 2 1/2 hour hike through a tropical rain forest. Yep! We saw a million different types of trees, hanging vines and brilliant flowers. We even saw giant lizards and wild monkeys on our trek. (Let me remind you, this is not a joke!)

We hiked to the famous underground river. The river runs 8 kilometers into the side of the mountain. We took a boat tour of the river and saw huge formations, different cave entrances, and hundreds of bats. In some parts of the cave the ceiling is hundreds of feet high.

We spent the rest of the afternoon swimming, having handstand contests, running through the town in the rain, and making friends. We had a seafood dinner in a darling grass hut restaurant on the beach with some of the townspeople we had met. In this town everyone knows everyone and everyone knows what tourists are in town. It's so great! These people are so kind and so generous. They live a simple, happy, beach life. I just can't even describe how much I love this place and these people.

Day 3:

Now you must understand that what I'm about to describe to you in not from a movie or a dream, it really happened. We left Sabang (atop our favorite Jeepney) and headed to Honda Bay. There we rented a boat and a driver for the day. We went island hoping! Jojo (our driver) took us to three different, beautiful islands with white, sandy beaches. We spent most of our time snorkeling and admiring the scenery. We saw beautiful coral formations of every shape, size and color. We saw swordfish, sea anemones, Nemo, stone fish, and thousands of other fish of every shape, size and color. I was absolutely blown away by the beauty of God's creations.

That night we ate at a famous local restaurant. We had the best seafood I have ever tasted and mango shakes galour! Does life get any better?

Throughout the day I just kept looking around and chuckling to myself thinking, "I can't believe I'm doing this! I can't believe how amazing this is!" I am so, so grateful for this opportunity to be in the Philippines. There is so much to learn and to discover in this life.