Puerto Princessa, Philippines

Palawan is a big island but only has two main roads; one going north and one going south - I like this simplicity! The capital, Puerto, is in the middle and is a fairly big city, but nothing on the scale of Manila. I stayed in a place called the Badjao Inn - recommended on wikitravel. There were, however, no other western tourists here - as soon as they land in Palawan they're whisked off in minivans to the beaches. I'd decided to spend a few days here - how bad can it be? Any westerner here seems to have a young Filippino girl on his arm - I looked particularly out of place not having one. I went to a busy restaurant hoping to meet some people. It was an odd place, staffed by hundreds of people with a projection TV showing the comedy show "Just for laughs" - everybody was staring at it while eating. They had a DJ supplying the (very loud) sounds. While eating my pork adobo my ears were treated to the song that goes "my neck, my back, lick my pu... and my cr..." - no-one in the restaurant batted an eyelid. At 8pm a band came on containing 3 Filippino dudes and their instruments and 4 Filippino girls dressed in pretty much nothing. They were bad, and I left as soon as they'd finished the first song!

I wanted to go to Sabang, and the UNESCO underground river. If you don't do it in a tour you have to go to the office in Puerto and get a permit. Then I hired a motorbike for the fantastic 70km trip. The roads are winding up, down, in and out of hills, through smiling villages and along mangrove beaches - truly beautiful - I have about 10 minutes of great video! Once there you're assigned a slot (they limit visitor numbers) - mine was 9:30am the next morning. I found a cheap beach hut and threw my bag in, then the rains came - HEAVY! There's nothing to do when it's raining in Sabang (there's not much to do when it's not raining!), so I read, and played sudoku. Eventually they stopped and I had another lonely dinner on the seafront - most people just come here for the day in groups, then go back to Puerto.

I was woken at 1am by a cockroach walking on my face! Oddly this is the first time this has ever happened to me, in all of my travels - or at least the first time I've woken up. I'm not sure how it got in, as I was under a mosquito net! I brushed it off and away - I actually don't mind cockroaches, anything that doesn't bite me is fine by me. I killed two mosquitoes who were also inside the net (wtf) and went back to sleep.

Next morning I went to the registration place and showed my permit. I paid the 400 Pesos fee and the 40 Pesos tax - then had to pay 200 Pesos as I wasn't in a group - they then bolted me onto a group of Filippinos. Getting on the first boat is crazy! Imagine 20 boats, all with outriggers, trying to get to one little badly made concrete dock, while rough sea waves are battering the dock! Tip: wear flip-flops - you get very wet just trying to get in the boat. I was wearing my walking boots as I was on the motorbike and they were socked through in seconds (they're still wet now). One on the boat it's a rough ride around the coast to a secluded beach, when you walk a little through the jungle, then get on another boat (more feet wetting) that takes you into the cave.

The cave is a monster - you can go 1.8km on the boat (it goes 8km in total). I sat at the front so had to hold the torch with the camp Filippino man shouting where to point it, in not-very-understandable English. Thankfully the Filippino girl behind me could see I was struggling to hear and translated. I wanted to point the torch at what I wanted to look at (cute hanging bats mostly) - but was told to move it, and point it a the rock that looks like "Sharon Stone" or the one that looks like "Jesus" or the one that looks like "Mary" or "the last supper" - seriously - can we have some useful information? Does anyone care that that rock looks like a carrot?? Tour over, my feet got a little wetter and I got on the bike and made the lovely rolling journey back to Puerto.

On my last day in Puerto I still didn't meet anyone. Traditional Filippino food is ok but just essentially just seafood or meat, in a sauce with rice. Vegetarians would have a nightmare - on one menu, under the "vegetables" section there was "vegetables with pork". Unfortunately American style diners selling burgers, fried chicken, hot-dogs, shakes, pizza and all that jazz are taking over, and it's not even good junk. I ordered some fried chicken and chip from a major Filippino chain, and got a tiny piece of dry chicken with five (count 'em!) undercooked chips!

I'm going to sound like a moaning tourist git now (and I probably am, especially as I'm a little travel weary at the moment). The people are friendly, the diving and snorkelling is world-class and the beaches are amazing - but I just don't get a spark from this country like I have with others, something's missing for me - that cultural high that gets inside you and makes you feel fuzzy and excited about a place - it's just not there for me - however there are another 6998 islands to explore :)

I'm now in the airport, drinking an Americano from "Seattle's finest", while the latest news and basketball from the US is on the TV. I await my plane to Borneo.

El Nido, Philippines

Manilla's a bad introduction to the Philippines. It's severely under-developed for tourism, most people spend a day or two there before hopping on another plane or boat. I caught a flight for Puerto Princessa, on the beautiful island of Palawan - the last frontier of the Philippines. At first I wasn't exactly sure where to go from Manilla - there's seven-thousand one-hundred and something islands to choose from, with maybe 100,000 beaches - if combined they would form the longest beach in the world! El Nido seemed to be the quiet haven I needed after being in big cities. From Puerto (as the locals call it) I get a minibus (600 Pesos) up to the northern tip of Palawan. It takes six hours and the roads are barely roads in sections! I read that El Nido can be inaccessible in the monsoon rains.

The town is a tightly-packed and spilling onto the beach. It's surrounded by the same karst limestone formations I saw in Malaysia, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam - they sit on the same fault line. This is where Alex Garland gained inspiration for "The beach" - but told everyone it was Thailand so they wouldn't flock here. My instant thought is with Ton Sai (Thailand), but there's no rock climbing here - and the beach (and food) is better in Thailand IMO (grilled chicken and papaya salad ANYONE!?) The local vibe is extremely laid back - if you're doing nothing you're doing too much! After diving and snorkelling I did "nothing" as much as I could handle, but then had to do something as I'd booked two weeks here - as Cebu pacific airlines decided I needed an onward (or return) ticket or I wasn't getting on the plane (I had to quick-book something in the airport - how much time do you give yourself in this situation, knowing nothing about where you're going!? I'd also like to add that this isn't a government requirement, and I've never done it anywhere else in Asia yet (I hate planning ahead - who knows what you might want to do?? So it's put me on edge a little - I've planned the next three flights!

I now have a daily routine as follows: After breakfast I hire a kayak for three hours and find some deserted beaches (it's easy). Back for lunch time in my favourite cafe "The Sanctuary". They serve a delicious red bean salad and the best coffee in El Nido (none of this 3 in one instant shit - c'mon, what is this stuff???). After lunch I hire a mountain bike for a two hour sweat-fest punctuated by diving into the sea at various beaches. I'd also like to run on the beaches but, sadly, as with most Asian beaches, there's some litter with occasional broken glass and tin-can tops. To counter-act this daily goodness the evening is spend stuffing myself with an incredible local dish called pork adobo, which is fatty pork stewed in vinegar and garlic, and served with rice - I'll be cooking this when I get home, guaranteed! Beer is stupidly cheap at 40 pence a bottle (San Miguel) so it's rude not to have one... or two.

My beach :)

Manila, Philippines

Wow, it's hot here. Following a tip from a good friend I avoided the yellow cabs and went up to the departures to grab a white (city) cab that was dropping passengers off - you can save a lot of money, as the white cabs don't pay airport fee's. Manilla (or Hong Kong) airport stupidly decided to break my padlock open, even though it was just hanging there, not securing anything. They also cut the string-pull on the top of my bag for some reason - thanks airport people!

My hostel (Where 2 Next) is on a backstreet, on the edge of the tourist area. A nice place with a Korean restaurant and a bar attached - the beds in the mixed dorm are super-comfortable! Heading out for a look around I was told by the staff not to flash cameras and phones and keep my wallet safe! At night there's all sorts of interesting people walking about - scantily clad girls try and drag you into many seedy looking bars and clubs, dope-peddlers offer their wares, trinket sellers push sunglasses and jewellery at you and cycle rickshaw drivers appear from all directions!

This is the first Catholic majority country I've been to on my travels and there's lots to see in old Churches and Spanish colonial features - by lunchtime though I'm so hot, and have to retire back to the hostel or the extremely confusing mall - and this is getting into winter! The seafront is not much to look at - polluted with huge cranes and trucks parked up. There's a statue of some parents playing with a child but the arms, and anything else that could easily be levered off, are missing! Rizal park is  nice for a stroll, although I slipped (comedy banana skin style!) on one of the numerous dog turds sitting around! The jeepneys are excellent - it would be great to photograph all of them in Manila.

Armless

Jeepney!