Island hopping in Honda Bay

Although it is supposedly not really Honda Bay.  It was actually named Hunda Bay by the person who did the naming.  Unfortunately, as people are apt to do, someone early on mispronounced it and the new pronunciation stuck.  Good thing it didn't become Ford Bay.

Today was a day for an island hopping tour.  It was lovely weather, to the point that I managed to get a bit of a sunburn, my first of the year.


On the way to our first stop it was possible to view this mountain.  You might understand why it is called Maiden't Breast.

Our first stop was a snorkeling area where it was possible to view coral reefs.  I didn't have the inclination to wear a life vest in order to go swimming, so I passed on the opportunity.  In fact, none of the people on my tour decided to go snorkeling.  I'm sure it's a lovely view, and I can understand why they require the life vests (it's not to keep people from drowning, but to prevent damage to the reefs by blundering tourists), but I just find using a life vest to go swimming somewhat self-defeating.

After the snorkeling area, we headed to Snake Island, a long, narrow bit of sand in the middle of the bay.  There were some little snack shacks and a swimming area.  The water in Canada is only rarely so warm.  It was very nice, if a bit choppy.  There was also some time for some beach shenanigans.

Next up was Pandan Island for lunch, more shenanigans, and then a return to Puerto Princesa.  It was a great day, and not just because I got to pose with a bunch of attractive Filipina nurses.  Of course, if all that happened was getting to pose with the nurses, I would still consider it a successful day.

Puerto Princesa's hope for being on the list of the New 7 Wonders of the World

So there is this cool thing to do in Puerto Princesa.  You go from the center of town and take a ride to another part of the city, some 77 kilometers away (I think their definition of city is a little different than mine, as there are only a couple of hundred thousand people that live here.  It seems to be mostly jungle and rivers and little mountains.) and climb in a boat and go check out a cave.  It's quite interesting.  You put on a lifejacket, the undertow is apparently quite dangerous even though the water doesn't seem to be moving, and you also need a hard hat.  The hard hat isn't because of low rocks or falling hard objects.  Nope.  There are bats and birds in the cave, so the hard hats protect from falling, er, um...  Well, you can figure it out.

From entering the maw...










You enter a dark, underground world.

There is a "cathedral" with a candle, a nativity scene (that didn't turn out well in my photos), and a winged horse out of Greek mythology (I don't think the guide really got the irony of that).

Later on, there is a half face of Jesus.

And at the end of the navigable area, is the highway, a long stretch of cavern that just runs on out of sight for several hundred meters.


It's a fantastic voyage of sorts.  However, I'm not sure it's necessarily worthy of the status of being called one of the seven wonders of the natural world.  I guess the votes will decide that, but personally, having been to some of the other contenders, it doesn't quite "big" enough.  It is, though, a really cool thing to do.

Starting out

Koreans.  They are wonderful in so many ways, but then they sometimes find it hard to go by the rules.  I got on the plane and the first thing that happened was that a bunch of Koreans proved it. A bunch of them wanted to sit together. So they started to move to do that, but the flight attendant told them they could do that later, after the plane was in flight. They duly did this, but a group of about five of them tried to all fit into the same row of three seats. This being somewhat suspicious, the flight attendant went over to see what was going on and discovered they had a rather large bottle of possibly vodka open and on the go. Clearly against the rules, she confiscated it. Shortly after that an announcement came over the loudspeaker saying that drinking your own liquor on board was against the rules. I just wondered why they would do something like that.

But this isn't about them.  This is about my trip.  So, on to that.

I got to Manila, but I had neglected to secure a place to stay before I left. The flight landed at 12:30 am. Oops! So I had to arrange something right there. Luckily there was an information desk at the terminal with a rather helpful guy, whose middle name was Kenneth as he proudly informed me when he found out my name. He helped me find a place to stay and off I went to get a taxi. Now, I was tired, it was a long day, and that is my defense. I got to the taxi stand and let them tell me that there was a hotel that was close by and cheap. And I, like the fool I seem to regularly prove myself to be, believed them. And so the taxi took me to the hotel that was twice as expensive as the place I had arranged with the information guy. Sigh!! I hate taxi drivers. I hate taking taxis. It's too bad I gave myself no choice. And Manila is a city I could really do without. Both times I have come here, I have ended up having problems of getting ripped off. Of course the first time it cost me almost 3000 dollars. This hotel thing only cost me an extra 40 dollars. But I wanted out of Manila so bad. And I was laying in my bed thinking that this whole big trip thing was not starting out so well.

This morning, I got up, searched the internet for information about Palawan and Puerto Princesa, where I am now, and what I can do here. I went to the airport and got on the plane, in front of a woman with a fussy baby that seemed to relish kicking me in the back through the seat, and wondered if I should just give it all up. This was reinforced by sitting, waiting in a plane queue for three quarters of an hour before finally getting airborne. But once we landed, it was a whole different story.

There were people waiting for the plane. They had places to stay. They had planned activities to do. They had transportation worked out. It is all just easy in a small place like this where most of the revenue comes from tourism. They want your money, just like in a big city like Manila, but they get it by providing what people who are coming here want. Of course, I am in a pension/hotel that is currently on a generator with consequently limited access to electricity. And the town doesn't seem to have a lot of electricity anyway, few streetlights and all. But I see lots of stars. And it's quaint and busy. And dirty and just like it should be in a place like this. It's fantastic. I feel so much better now.

One thing I have noticed is that the Spanish seem to have left a lot of very devout Catholics behind them as they conquered their way through the world. Peru was very Catholic. So is the Philippines. I guess it's Ash Wednesday. I know this because I noticed a lot of people today with these marks on their foreheads. They look like some kind of ashes in the form of a cross. I asked about them and was told that it was because it's Ash Wednesday.

I had chicken at a roadside restaurant. I walked in the dark. I revelled in being out on the road. Goodbye Korea. I'm over it now, for the time being at least.