Our trip with the kids to Palawan started on Monday, June 1st, after Jasmin's and my 2 hour "nap." We were in a rush and barely had time to buy doughnuts for breakfast before boarding our plane in Manila with Jasmin and her parents, Gyles, Coleen, and myself. Like Boracay, the flight only took an hour; unlike Boracay, the van to the hotel was only about 15 minutes, the hotel was much nicer and included a pool, and there was no beach in sight. :[ Jasmin and I took Coleen in one room, and Mr. and Mrs. Valencia took Gyles in the other because he was sick. We ordered breakfast food in the dining area for lunch, but there were so many flies around that I couldn't really completely enjoy the food.
After lunch, we began our tour of Palawan, which included a church, the Iwahig prison and penal farm, a crocodile farm, and a bakery. The prison, according to Mrs. Valencia, is where most criminals in the Philippines go when sentenced. It's out in the middle of no where so there are no gates around apart from at the front. Prisoners generally spend the day doing hard labor, but when we went inside there were some working at the gift shop, though with shirts that read "Minimal Sentence."
The crocodile farm was cool and had an equally appealing gift shop, though ironically few souvenirs were related to crocs (see picture of nun chucks). We got lots of pictures of crocodiles and other animals, including birds and snakes. The bakery was our last stop, and had some interesting food that we picked out. Nearby they also had a garden, as well as loony toon statues that kept the kids entertained.
When we returned to the hotel, the kids were really eager to swim, but due to Gyles' sickness his grandparents kept him in the room. Meanwhile, Jasmin had borrowed Oliver's water-proof camera and we took advantage of the remaining battery to get some shots we wish we had taken in Boracay. For dinner, we ordered in from a popular fast-food chain called Jollibee. In the Philippines, all fast food delivers, even McDonald's.
The next day, Tuesday, we took the same van as Monday down to the water for island hopping. A boat took us to "Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park," the longest navigable underground river in the world at 2 and a half miles, and nominated by the Philippines to be one of the new 7 wonders of the world. While waiting for a boat, monkeys were hopping all along the area, and even began approaching when someone held out food. After around 45 mins. we finally got a boat and went through the tunnel, trying to take pictures where we could, but considering the cave was pitch black not all of them came out good. It was interesting, but not my vote for a wonder of the world. lol
We got back to the shore where the van was parked and had lunch before heading back for more swimming at the hotel pool, this time with Gyles as well. Dinner involved watching the kids as we ate from the hotel buffet, which wasn't bad but I saw ants crawling over some of the plates. o_O
Wednesday we took a long boat ride to slug island (that's what it looked like, anyway), bringing food to cook and snorkeling masks to swim with. It wasn't until we actually got to the island that we saw clear water, and even then it was kind of musty and not great for snorkeling. After we ate the wind began to pick up, and rain increasingly fell harder until we were in the middle of a full-on storm that forced us into the hut where we were eating. We waited it out, then hurried to the boat and eventually back to the hotel, where we swam yet again. For dinner, all 6 of us took a tricycle to look for restaurants on the street, and finally settled on a fast-food chain that served chicken on a stick.
Thursday was when we left, but we had time to swim one last time, and because the kids never got tired of it I was dragged, kicking and screaming, into the water. In the early afternoon we headed to the airport, back to Manila, and home to Pampanga for our last couple days in the Philippines.
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