Our Travelationship in Review: July 2016

Last Updated on February 12, 2024 by Travelationship

By: Heather

July had its ups or downs, with not much in between. The month started strong. We finished our time in Cape Town with a couple of walking tours, including some of the street art in the Old District Six and Fringe Street area. As we left Cape Town, we promised we would return, but our next visit will be in their Spring or Autumn months instead of their winter months.

We flew to Palawan, Philippines, via Dubai and Manila from South Africa. The weather held out nicely for us until our last week. Then it was riddled with cloudy skies and prolonged rains. The beginning and middle of the month were loaded with sun and tolerable temperatures, which motivated us to be in the water as much as possible. On one of the earlier days, we rented a motorbike and drove out of town to a beautiful beach called Nagtabon. The day we went, the weather and the water was perfect. Sadly, this beach has recently gained lots of attention and is picking up in the number of visitors. Get there soon if you want to see it before it becomes too commercialized. Our favorite beach in Puerto Princesa was the Microtel Hotel next to the Emerald Playa Beach and Nature Park. The beach was close, so we enjoyed the views for a few days.

We spent one day traveling to/from the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park. We are still on the fence about the experience, but we wish we had spent at least a night in the Sabang area where the cave was. Lots of hiking and outdoor activities, and the site was gorgeous. On the way back from the PPSRNP, we stopped at Hundred Caves, probably our favorite non-water activity on Palawan. The Hundred Caves is a new attraction next to the famous Ugong Rock off Mile 63/64. On our visit, the caves weren’t officially opened yet. They were in the process of getting their final authorizations from the government. Because they are not officially open, they can still give tours but can not charge. Our tour was based on donation only, and it was so good we were glad to pay for the visit. Once open, cavers can choose from 3 different tours (a 4th tour will be available for researchers). We took tours A and B, which took us over an hour. The trek required some physical effort, mainly climbing and bending. We enjoyed this place and look forward to sharing more information about the caves soon.

All the time in the water and humid caves seemed to wreak havoc on our sinuses, and we both came down with sinus infections and an ear infection for me. We visited the local hospital three times and still did not get the correct prescriptions. We were both in bed for about a week. Matt is almost feeling back to normal, and I am still struggling with sinus issues and most likely have some ear drum damage. We were not comfortable going back to any doctor in Palawan, so I will seek a specialist for my ear in Indonesia.

We ate way too much all month long. Our favorites included pancit bihon, pork lumpia, longanisa, calamansi juice, and our favorite dessert all month was ube/taro ice cream or cake. The staff at Balay Tuko in Puerto Princesa kept us fed with their delicious homemade food. The island hopping tour we took with BiniBini Travel and our dive/snorkel day with Palawan Divers served us some great food. I especially liked the mussels; we both loved the eggplant salsa from BiniBini. The chicken and pork adobo from Palawan Divers were delicious. We tried a few different restaurants in PP and El Nido. Our favorite was V and V Bagel in El Nido. I know, I know not very worldly to eat bagels in the Philippines, but we haven’t had a bagel in over a year. Matt also had some delicious fried chicken, and I had tasty sautéed shrimp at a restaurant on the main road from the beach. Unfortunately, we don’t remember the name and can not find it on any map.

Considering we had about two weeks of illness and crap weather, we still managed to close the month feeling good about our time on Palawan island. Sure we wish we could have seen El Nido at its best, but damn, that place is even breathtaking in a black-skied thunderstorm downpour. Guess we will have to come back soon to see it all again.

The Stops

South Africa: Cape Town
Philippines: Manila, Puerto Princesa, El Nido

The Great

Palawan, Philippines, was voted by several sources as one of the top islands in the world. We did not see Palawan at its best, and we thought quite a few parts were stunning. If you are interested in visiting Palawan, we suggest you visit soon. We felt the place was busy, even though it was considered off-season. I don’t want to imagine what it would be like during peak season. We enjoyed our time but figured out what we would do differently and better.

Every time we hit the water was a great day! Crystal clear, blue waters for miles and miles. We were shocked that we saw just as much and a few times even better sea life snorkeling than we did scuba diving. Matt got to see a turtle, a white spotted eagle ray, a couple of blue spotted lagoon rays, an electric clam (it lights up), shrimp, crabs, tons of fish, and corals close on his solo dive. On our dive and snorkeling together, we saw turtles from the boat, a snake, and lots of fish and corals.

A Hundred Caves is by far our favorite dry activity on the island. The tour guides and management of the facility are what put Hundred Caves at the top of our to-do list. Their enthusiasm and passion for the work they have done and continue to do preserving and researching the cave system were contagious and fascinating. We admit being one of the firsts to visit the caves was pretty darn cool.

I occasionally grew up eating Lumpia, Pancit, Adobo, and Longanisa. For the first week, all I ate were those four meals. We (Matt especially) indulged in Ube/Taro ice cream, cake, crackers, and cookies for dessert. Nope, we didn’t try anything crazy. Matt did try chicken and pork adobo (he thinks for the first time).

We are excited to have met some wonderful people in July. The owners and staff at Balay Tuko in Puerto Princesa took great care of us. We enjoyed every minute of our stay. Every Sunday, Balay Tuko has a bowls game where locals and guests play a bit of a tournament. It starts in the early afternoon and ends at 7 pm when the kitchen promptly serves a huge buffet dinner. Matt had a fun time playing on three different Sundays.

On our dive with Palawan Divers in El Nido, we met Molly, Michelle, and Heilly. All 3 of them made our day even better. We were looking forward to staying in touch with these ladies and hearing about their future adventures.

The Not So Great

We both got sick at the same time. Sinus infections and an ear infection kept us in bed for a week. And of course, the week we were in bed was the best weather of the month. Convinced the bacteria in the water and the humid temperatures got the better of us.

We waited too long to get out and see things. We had to cancel excursions because we didn’t take advantage of the perfect weather days while feeling healthy.

My ear has changed the way I function daily. My ear has not appropriately cleared, and I can not hear correctly from my left ear. The issue forced me to sit out scuba diving in El Nido. I am still so disappointed I didn’t experience a dive in El Nido. It was for the better, but still, it sucks. I have waited four years to dive off of El Nido. Our medical experiences in Puerto Princesa were not helpful, and we both decided I should wait until Indonesia to seek further advice regarding my ear. Hoping the meds hold up for the three flights to Bali.

The Oops!, WTF?, LOLs – Lessons learned, head-scratchers & hilarities

Oops! Let’s not do that again lessons.

Go out and see things when the weather is good, and you have time. Don’t procrastinate. With a whole month on Palawan, we thought we would space things out, and it bit us in the ass. We lost a week from illness and our last week because of poor weather. We missed a list of things we wanted to see and do.

Although we loved our setup at Balay Tuko in Puerto Princesa, we didn’t love Puerto Princesa. We had booked the entire month with BT to cut costs, but we ended up feeling like we missed out on parts of the island because we didn’t move around as much as we usually would. We thought Palawan was smaller, and it would take much less time to get to/from PP to other destinations on the island. It ends up that Palawan is quite large, and the roads are slow going because of all the crazy turns and curves. I don’t think we will book ourselves into 1 location again for so long.

WTF? Did that really just happen?

Paying PHP 1100 / USD 22 for three hotdogs and two soda cans. This lesson pains me so much because we really liked the owners of the place and didn’t think to ask for prices before we ate. Stupid, stupid mistake, and we got stuck in a total rip-off. Best tip – Bring your food to the remote beaches. I’m indecisive about publicly outing the way overpriced establishment because it was our fault for not asking first. If you find yourself in Palawan and want to avoid the place, direct message us, and we will let you know the name.

We continue to see asshole tourists who treat locals and the environment poorly. Palawan’s waters were some of the most beautiful waters we had ever seen, and the coral life was some of the most traumatized we had ever seen. Our guides and other guides we heard stressed to swimmers/snorkelers/divers to stay off the corals, only swim within designated areas, don’t touch any animal life, be respectful, and don’t litter. Still, we consistently saw people disobeying the above rules. Plans for stricter regulations are in the works for Palawan, but the damage already done looks devastating.

LOLs, our laugh-out-loud hilarious moments

On one of our days in El Nido, we took an island hopping/snorkeling/kayaking tour with BiniBini Travels. At our lunch stop, we had time to snorkel before the food was ready, so Matt and I walked to the end of the beach to check out the corals and fish. We geared up; Matt asked if I was ready. I put my snorkel in my mouth, nod my head, and face-plant myself into the water. In a split second, everything goes blurry, and my eyes burn. I think I will lose my contact lenses, and I think I broke my goggles; I panic just a tinge and pull my head up as quickly as possible. I haven’t broken my mask, and I’m a dork. My mask is sitting atop my head instead of on my face. In my excitement, I forgot to lower my mask to cover my eyes. Matt and I are still laughing and wish we had had the GoPro rolling to catch it all on video.

While we were ill, Matt had heard from our hotel friends that a taco stand was at one of the open market eatery locations in town. He spent days thinking about Mexican food and cheese. After about five days of obsessing about it and feeling better, we hopped on a tricycle and rode into town. We walked about halfway through the market and found the taco stand. It was dark, and the window and door were locked shut. A tiny note on the door hung, “Not normally closed today. Will be open regular hours tomorrow”. Matt was so disappointed. When we arrived at our hotel, the staff was excited to ask Matt how he liked the food. Poor guy had to relive his extreme disappointment several times as he dramatically explained they were closed. His theatrics while describing his ordeal caused us all to laugh (including himself). BTW, see our August review to find out if he ever did get his Mexican food in the Philippines or not.

On one of the days while in Puerto Princesa, we decided to spend a few hours at Pristine Beach. It was low tide, so we had to walk a fair distance to reach a water line up to our shoulders. The location was next to an underwater grassy area where a few creatures live. After walking out barefoot, we donned our goggles and dunked our heads. We saw a few fish but nothing too overwhelming until I saw what looked like a striped snake next to my foot. Not knowing if it was a snake, eel, or venomous, I started to yell at Matt to come and pull me away. I tried to swim but seemed to be treading water instead of moving. When Matt asked me what I needed, I told him I saw a snake. He looked at me like I was crazy and said he was not going near the snake. I moved away enough to put my feet down again. Matt came over, and I convinced him to go with me to find it again. I don’t mind snakes, but I wouldn’t say I like being surprised by a snake. Matt squealed & squirmed the entire time because he hates snakes. We found it again, and it was a little thing lying on the seafloor for anyone to step on him. The rest of our time at the beach, we danced around and wouldn’t put our feet down because we were scared we would get a snake stuck between our toes.

The Posts

• Our Travelationship in Review: June 2016
• Kolmanskop, Namibia: Things to Know Before You Go
• Juma Art Tours Showcases Cape Town’s Street Art

Our Ears and Eyes

Heather

Still working on finishing “Out of Africa” by Karen Blixen (But I did manage to watch the movie)

Matt

“The Accident” by Linwood Barclay
“Never Saw It Coming” by Linwood Barclay
Podcasts: The Adam Carolla Show

Up Next

We will depart the Philippines early in the month for a night in Singapore. We hope to see a few sites during our 20-hour layover. From Singapore, we will fly to Indonesia for the rest of August. We haven’t finalized our plan in Indonesia but hope to visit places in and around Bali, Lombok, Raja Ampat, Borneo, Sumatra, Komodo, and Rinca. I have no doubt this island list will change once we arrive. My biggest goal is to get my ear healed, so we can get some dives logged while in Indonesia. We’ve also heard Indonesian food is incredible, and we are ready to eat some delicious healthy meals.

Have any suggestions on where we should go next? Let us know in the comments!

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