Monthly Archives: May 2014

Beer

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So, for those of you that like posts about alcohol, here goes….

It’s a pretty bad picture because my flash washed out the napkin completely.  Anyhow, when you order a beer in the Philippines you pretty much get San Miguel.  It’s the national beer and comes in a pilsner, a light, and a strong.  It’s pretty good beer and usually costs you around a dollar in a bar or 60 cents or so in the supermarket.
The interesting thing is it always comes with a napkin wrapped around the top.  The bartender opens the beer and then wraps the napkin around.  He does this because all beer bottles in the Philippines are recycled, as in Canada.  However, here the bottles are mostly stored outside and in the rainy season they get pretty wet.  What happens is the water gets trapped underneath the cap and it starts to form rust.  The napkin is to clean off any rust that you may find on the top of the bottle before you drink from it.
It’s interesting in a somewhat unsanitary sort of fashion!
The bartender wanted to play amateur photographer so this is what we ended up with.

Underground River

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Today I took a day trip to the worlds longest underground river. It’s about a two hour drive out of Puerto Princesea.  Along the way you have the opportunity to stop and do some caving and a short zip line.

Perhaps off topic slightly, but Filipino all inclusive tours are never all inclusive.  I’m always nickel and dimed for some side activity, or environmental fee, or terminal fee.  There is always something.  They are small, but they add up.
Anyway, back on track.  The underground river is very popular now that it has been listed as one of the natural wonders of the world, so there was a little wait for a boat.  After about an hour wait, we made it to the enterance.
Going through the cave was really neat.  Tourist are only allowed to do a 45 minute, 3km journey.  Some parts inside are huge, going up 10 meters or more and it’s filled with bats.
Around the area are monitor lizards and monkeys, which try to steal your bags because people won’t stop feeding the bloody things 🙂
On the way back there is an 800 meters zip line.  Everyone else on the boat wanted to do it too, so we stopped.
This is by far the longest zip line I have ever done.  I recorded a video on the way down, so once I get it off my camera I will post it.
The scenery around here is pretty amazing and because there are not many people loving here things remain untouched. Snorkeling you see some pretty good coral and lots of fish.  I really like Palawan, so far it is my favorite place in the Philippines.

Palawan

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I arrived at the final frontier of the Philippines, well kind of.  I arrived in Puerto Princesa which is the gateway to the final frontier.  This area is famous for coral reefs around Honda Bay and the worlds longest underground river in Sabang, both of which are day trips from here.

As far as cities go, I have not been very impressed so far, but Puerto is quite nice.  It’s streets are clean, the people are friendly, and nobody has asked me for money yet.
There is a nice church downtown.
Across from it is a memorial for US military personel that died here at the end of World War Two when it was occupied by the Japanese.
This is the only place in the entire province (island) where you can get cash.  After this, no more banks, no ATMs, and limited power.  I’m told that the phone companies have made a push for reliable phone service though.  SMART has just ran an undersea cable between here and Manila to provide 3G and LTE services. 
I have a couple nights here to see Honda Bay and the underground river and then will go up to El Nido for 4 nights before returning here to fly to Manila.