Our journey into Filipino culture continues as we catch a Jeepney from Puerto Princessa to Sabang.  The transport leaves when there are enough bums on seats to fully appreciate the massaging effect that a 3 hour journey on not smooth roads leaves passengers with.  We ended the ride at Sabang, a little community based around the natural wonder of a sub-terrainian river (which is supposed to be the longest in the world!).  As luck would have it, we arrived the day before the annual celebrations of the National Parks opening, and decided to stay to enjoy the festivities aswell as cruise the underground river.  We lodged at a little resort just out of town in simple bamboo huts from here we had to walk through the community to get to village centre.  Its completely the opposite to Manila, everyone smiles, waves and talks to you as we go by. 

So the next morning we are ready for a cave trip, some walking and hopefully some traditional festivities.  At 8am we are the first to go into the underground river, appropriately attired in life jacket and hard hat, Kate decided that she looked like a tic tac.  With a huge torch in hand the guide and boat paddler pointed out all the religious symbols of the cave on the way in, then after 2.5kms underground the way out he spent most of the time pointing out phallic symbols to Kate and asking how many children she had.  They are obsessed!  After the hour underground we decided to walk the 2 hours back to the village via the Monkey trail.  Didn`t see any Monkeys, but we did spot a pack of Chess playing Monitor Lizards, millions of hermit crabs and some Palawan Eagles and the bats in the cave were great!

When we eventually returned to the village the festivities were underway, the first event was the annual Stilt racing contest and then over to the special square where local men fought with their Cocks!  It was obvious who had won each contest as the loser went limp and was then sent for plucking!  Its an amazing sight to see a local villager washing and grooming his Cock, I`d say that these specimens have a better life than most of the regular people in Manila.  The event of the day though had to be the finale.  The Miss Sabang contest began at 8pm and drew the biggest crowd, we were offered ring side seats but chose to stand with the locals, (I didn`t want to get too close to any cat fight that might erupt).  It was as much fun watching the crowd as the show, a very simple and well organized event, really well supported by the people.

The next morning we rose early, (not difficult with all these f***ing roosters around, albeit a few less than yesterday morning) to catch a Banksa boat to Port Barton, Kate decided that the boats look just like pond skeeters but are a lot noisier.  Not many people make it to Port Barton as the roads are virtually non existent and the boats are pricey, so it is a great place to do very little.  I think I may have found the tree of idleness just off the beach, with a locally woven hammock swinging under it! 

After another pond skeeter ride (It had rained over night so the road was a river of mud)  and we got to El Nido, a beautiful limestone cliffed  town amongst the Bacuit Archipelago.  We planned to stay here for 2 days but stayed a week because its simply amazing!  Our accommodation was at Ralf`s bar and resto (More of a home stay with very simple facilities eg a bucket equals a shower)  where we had a sofa on a balcony to peruse the bay while eating donuts and drinking San Miguel or local Vodka for 90p a litre.  While here we did the tours of the Karst Cliffs and many secret lagoons with a french couple who sold their home, quit jobs and are 32ish and have been traveling for 20 months, and who feel exactly like us about wanting to go home.  It was almost unreal finding some fellow travelers who are missing home (the three F`s, family, friends and food) and that all they really want to do is settle down, work, have kids and watch TV. It was funny because we would swim through a tiny hole in the rock, discover a beautiful beach and then just sit there and talk about home, work and everything we miss until it was time to go to the next secret spot where we would do more of the same.

And so after much reminising with the French it was time to leave El Nido and head to Coron town on Busuanga Island, and yet another boat.  This time a cargo ship with a 50 berth dorm on board oh and a hold full of buffalo, live fish, a million empty bottles of San Miguel and some pig feed!  Heaven!  The ship was due to leave at 12 midnight, but didn`t arrive in port till 8am as the crew were partying at another village fiesta.  It was an experience as they say!

In Coron we stayed at a resort on mangrove stilts over the water in Coron bay, a really beautiful place to watch the sunsets.  We went on a boat tour of Coron Island, calling at the various lakes and lagoons and snorkeled in some great spots.  Coron is famous as a dive site as there are 12 or more WW2 wrecks (Japanese) at reasonable depths.  I spent the last day exploring 2 of them and was totally amazed at what 64 years can do, turning man made steel ships into coral covered ecosystems. 

The last few weeks have been a boat overload, so we decided to catch a little plane back to Manila, (we even had a few Cocks on board but no Buffalo thankfully).  Here we are spending one day and night too long before flying to Vietnam tonight.  After Palawan and all its Filipino wonderfulness, the heat and hell off Manila is too much to bear so we cant wait to get out of here.  Its an incredible place the Philippines, a real top destination as long as you can handle the Manila Mania!