Sabang Travelogue

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Palawan was what I was looking forward to the most and made up of more than 1000 islands it exceeded my expectations. I guess no matter how much you read about it, you'll never know what it feels like until you are there and that is what its all about - the feeling. Palawan is always described as a Last Frontier and that is ... well, what it feels like. Like a mouth of sabang underground riverlazy outpost, devoid of the rest of the country's problems and mass tourism. Palawan is actually closer to Malaysian Borneo than it is to Luzon, so this does kind of justify its title, the Philippines Last Frontier. Puerto Princessa is a wonderful lazy, safe and happy capital town from where you can arrange transport to the island's main attractions: Sabang, El Nido and Coron.

We first travelled to Sabang, famous for the subterranean river, a unesco protected "world heritage site". The river is located in or under the St Paul mountain range. Getting to Sabang involved a long and dusty ride in a jeepney, taking up the better part of eight hours. Along the way we picked up a group of local boy scouts heading to a jamboree who took up most of the space on the roof. The jeepney was an especially heavy duty one and we travelled mostly off road. It was a bone shaking ride but all in all it was good fun. a local family in our jeepney on the way to the underground riverWe arrived in Sabang after dark and had some problems finding any accommodation at all. An ox cart eventually pulled our bags to this one guesthouse by the sea where there was no electricity (or cold beer). The guy who ran the guesthouse did give us a lot of information about the Sabang underground river, such as how to best get there, the price of the permit etc.

The beach in Sabang is long and wide, and the waves are quite big so a swim did not look like a very good idea. There had been a storm the previous day and the beach was full of washed up jelly fish. After a much needed night sleep, we set off the next day on foot along the monkey trial to the underground river. scenery from the hike You can also take a banca ride to the mouth of the river, this is what most Japanese tourists were doing. We thought it would be nice to walk instead so we did, but beware: this is not as easy hike! we finished our water supply before we were even half way there and had to come back without any water at all. Leave ample time to make your way back through the jungle!

It took about 2-3 hours getting there along the monkey trial route and we passed two beautiful and completely deserted beaches. We arrived at the underground river completely exhausted because it was so hot and humid. The river exits in a pool of unbelievably turquoise water which makes for an amazing setting. A boat ride up the river is done in near darkness and is thus about as different as the next boat ride through a cave, with the boatman rattling off the standard set of jokes. Because of its "world heritage site" status most of the area is protected and thus off limits to us tourists.

The hike to the river and the beautiful surroundings are much more impressive than the river itself - don't take a boat to the river because you will miss out on most of this. There's nothing like a serious hike through the jungle of this remote island in the South China Sea, thinking about David Attenborough and having some beers upon return. Apart from the river, there is little to do in Sabang. After a day or two we set off to Port Barton, somewhere half way back to Puerto Princessa. From there we were told we could catch a passing bus to El Nido by a guy from the Philippino army who we spent some time chatting to.

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