Something I realized last night was that this town is very, very primitive. There is no Internet, but more importantly in my case, there are no banks or ATM's. The problem with that is that I didn't plan the rest of my week out yet. I didn't pull out enough money when I was in the city to survive a whole week and I haven't even bought my plane ticket back to Manila yet. Sadly, what this means is that instead of traveling to the northern end of Palawan, I need to find a ride back to Puerto...but only after I do what I came to Sabang to do, which is see the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River.
So I got up at around 7am this morning after a rough night of sleep. The only way I was even able to sleep at all was because of the mosquito net in my room. The sad part is that even with the net, I woke up with way more bites than I went to sleep with. Vicious little bastards. But although last night wasn't favorable, it all became worth it when I realized that I was waking up in a Nipa Hut on the beach! My front yard is literally the ocean...about 10 paces and your feet are wet. Oh and did I mention it cost me about $10? Waking to the sound of crashing waves is the ONLY alarm clock for me. And the sunlight was coming through the hut floor...it was a beautiful sight to behold.
After packing my stuff up, I made a decision to try to fit in the Underground River Tour and catch a ride back to Puerto Princesa today...because there are no set bus schedules, this isn't the easiest of tasks. So from there I went to the tourist center to get my permit to enter the underground river. The locals were all super nice to me and I had some great conversations as I waited for my boat. I even talked to a guy who is going to get me on a van to head back to the city later on today, sweet.
It was a 15-20 minute boat ride to the underground river from the town. I haven't been to too many places in my 25 years on Earth, but I can honestly say that this is the most beautiful place I've ever been to in my life. The water surrounding my boat was so glossy that you would think it wasn't ever touched by another living being. And the color was unlike any color I've ever seen in the ocean. It was as if every shade of blue and green was right in front of my eyes. For a moment I was actually reminded of being at some lake in Oregon visiting my Grandma for the summer. But then I looked up and I was surrounded by big, luscious mountains and huge limestone cliffs shooting out of the water covered with the most beautiful trees, that make you wonder how in the hell they got there in the first place. The beaches to my right were also covered in what I can only describe as a "beach forest". Kind of a hybrid of a regular forest and a rainforest...on a beach!
At this point, I was lucky I was wearing my sunglasses because tears actually started flowing while I was taking in God's beautiful creation. I mean, I've teared up over beauty before, but these tears were flowing down my cheeks like two mini waterfalls. I've been known to ball at the movies ( i.e.- Remember The Titans, Antwone Fisher, Seven Pounds, Bambi...), but this was something very new to me. Although embarrassed, I was in appreciation of the moment.
We landed at the beach and I jumped off the boat into the shallow water and waved goodbye to the boatmen. From there it was about a 5 minute walk to the River. There was a big crowd of tourists waiting there to meet me. While checking in and waiting for your turn to get on a boat, you are surrounded by a bunch of monkeys just chillin' in the trees and walking around near all us tourists. I think that was my first time ever seeing a monkey outside of the San Diego Zoo... and i'm really glad that they weren't throwing their poop every where. While I waited they dressed me up like I was one of the Village People with a life jacket and hardhat. Our kayak arrived and I jumped on with about 10 other people and a tour guide who would be paddling us about 2.5 km's into the Underground River.
Inside of the Subterranean River was really cool. It's just like a huge cave with a big, calm river flowing through it. It kind of felt like being on the "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride at Disneyland (which is my favorite), except with bats and little swiftlets flying around everywhere. Throughout the tour, our guide was mostly speaking in Tagalog, but I pretty much understood everything he was saying...2o days ago I couldn't say that. Basically the guide was just explaining the rock formations and the stalactites and making jokes about them. There was a section called "The Cathedral" which had a ridiculously high ceiling and a bunch of rock figures that were supposed to look like the Virgin Mary, Angels, Jesus, and other religious figures. There was also a "Market" section where the guide pointed out different rocks that looked like fruits & vegetables...it really was more interesting then it sounds. We were also told that there are two types of water that falls from the ceiling...mineral water and "bat shit". Yes, he really said that. He even made a joke about it when we were in The Cathedral, about how they call the water coming from the ceiling "Holy Water"...but if it's not water then it must be "Holy Shit." I got a good laugh out of that one, but for the most part I tried to keep my mouth tightly closed.
So after I was done with the tour, since I had enough time, instead of taking the 20 minute boat ride back, I really wanted to hike back on one of the trails. There are two trails that go back to Sabang, "The Monkey Trail" and "The Jungle Trail". I read about it in Lonely Planet and I know I wanted to try it out. I don't really know what to say, Jungle Trekking just sounded like a great experience to me! So from the River, I headed to the Monkey Trail. I immediately realized I made a few mistakes:
#1- I was wearing my flip-flops.
#2- I skipped breakfast.
#3- I WAS ALL ALONE!
In my head I imagined a nice, clean, and clear trail, that was flat and filled with cute animals and beautiful jungle flora. It was supposed to be a great time for nature photo opp's! In reality, it was a steep, very secluded trail that could could have used a little more trailblazing, and a lot more guidance. Maybe this will help provide a little more insight: Right as I started the journey, there was a HUGE monitor lizard just chilling right in front of the path I was about to enter. Like seriously a Komodo Dragon sized lizard...aren't those things dangerous?!
One other thing that came as a complete surprise to me, was that NOBODY else was taking the trail back. Literally, zero people. And after walking for a little, I soon realized that I was ALL BY MYSELF IN A STRAIGHT-UP JUNGLE! The very first part of the trail is made up of a bunch of steep, wooden stair sets and quite a few "bridges" made of a couple slabs of wood. Since the jungle I was hiking through was on a karst, it was a very steep climb for a good 30 minutes. The steps were spaced much too far apart and it seemed like at any moment one could give out. I mean seriously, how do you take care of wooden stairs that are out in the middle of the jungle?! I wasn't naive enough to think that there are handyman checking on them every morning. I figured the only way you find out if a bridge needs to be fixed or a step needs a little repair out here, is if it gives way on someone. And at that point it's already too late for me now isn't it? At this point I was just thanking God that my parents talked me into purchasing travel insurance (as if anyone would find me out there anyways).
I'll just say this: This decision was a mistake. I should have worn shoes. I should have told someone at the ranger station that I was going in. I should have had breakfast. And I most definitely SHOULD NOT have gone about this alone. I'm not too proud to admit that I was pretty scared for the majority of the time and contemplated turning around more than once. The only thing that really stopped me was my pride and stubbornness to finish what I started. The noises coming from the surrounding trees were loud and eerie. There were huge bugs everywhere. And although this morning, before the trek, I was hoping get some great pictures of jungle fauna, at this point I was really hoping that I wouldn't run into any. Snakes, lizards, monkeys, huge spiders...none of these I wanted to see. But I did.
I just put my head down and started trekking at a very brisk pace. It is a 5km hike back to town and is supposed to take about 2 hours. Whenever I had enough room, I would run. There was really no way of knowing if I was going in the right direction except for the faint outline of a trail and every so often I would run into little cement stumps on the ground. Now I know what Bear Grylls and Survivorman go through! I can imagine this being an extremely fun experience with a buddy, but not so much alone.
Eventually I hit the ocean and most of my fear went away.
At that point I could actually enjoy myself a little bit because I at least knew where I was in relation to the town and if all else failed, I could just swim the rest of the way (although it would have been a very long swim). Once I got out of the middle of the jungle, it was no longer dark and I honestly felt like I was Harry Potter escaping the Forbidden Forest. I finished the hiking part in a little over an hour, haha! But then I hit an obstacle that Lonely Planet nor the tourist center seemed to think important enough to warn me about. There is a deep river, with a strong current, that separates you from the town! At first I followed the sign that said, "This Way To Sabang",
but it dead ends at a swampy section of the river...damn liars.
So I went back to the beach and walked to the end, only to be stopped again by the same river. I had no idea how deep it actually was, all I know is that I couldn't see the bottom and the current was very strong. Plus I had my cell phone, wallet, camera, and room key...swimming it just wasn't going to happen. So I headed back to the swamp portion to see if there was something I missed. I tried crossing from there, but it was deep also and I couldn't help but think that there might be crocodiles or something lurking about. After turning around, I spotted what looked to be a little trail, so I tried that route. Um, definitely not a trail. I found myself surrounded by Mangrove and wading through knee-deep water. Once I finally hit what was a dead-end to me (I wasn't about to just force myself through a bunch of bushes!), I went back to the beach. I sat there on that beach like a castaway sent to exile island. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how I was supposed to get back. I even contemplated floating across on some parts that used to make up an old boat. I was stuck there for about an hour until I saw someone from town in the distance and waved him over. The guy who came to my rescue was a local who didn't speak any English. He realized that I wasn't planning on walking through the river, so he picked me up in a little canoe-like boat and dropped me off on the other side...
ego buster. What an amazing experience! I would NEVER do it again alone, but wow, it is awesome to look back on. This place is so gorgeous. The water, the plants, and the people are all so beautiful. The weather is like San Diego on it's best days. And not to mention I got to see what they call the 8th Wonder of the World today. I kind of wish that my trip ended today because I am pretty sure I couldn't end it on a higher note.
After I got back to town I met up with a van that would take me back to Puerto...no more Jeepneys for me! But once again I was waiting for 2 hours after the scheduled time to leave. While I waited I had a good conversation with the driver. His sister was apparently a Top 10 Miss Earth Finalist a few years back and he had a lot of questions on what he had to do to get work in the U.S. I had to break the news to him that it would be a difficult task for him to start a new life in America.
Finally, the rest of the van passengers arrived. I was sitting in the back just waiting and right as they got on and noticed me, they were so excited to see me. It was a little overwhelming. There was 6 girls and 2 guys all about my age, from Manila. They all worked at the same place where they do some of the HR outsourcing for a few U.S. companies. One of the girls was even forward enough to introduce herself as, "Hi, I'm Single." It was pretty funny and made for a much better trip back to Puerto then it was getting here. Thank you Jesus for such an amazing day! Now I need to figure out my plans for the next few days...
