Mangroves, Monkeys and Mozzy Nets

The Sabang Gang...

It was finally time to leave Manila and it couldn’t have come soon enough. All of us were tired of the city and ready to get to the beach and unwind a bit.  There were eight of us traveling together and we started really early to catch an 8am flight. Well we were actually split between two flights as I had asked Andy which flight they were on and he told me they were on PAL not Cebu so book the PAL flight which I did and Mavis did only to find out that Andy was on Cebu. Luckily the flights landed within about 15 minutes of each in Puerto Princessa. Apparently, the flights landed so close to each other that Andy’s flight landed and they turned off the runway and he looked out the window to see our plane barreling down on the runway. Either way we all made it there in one piece and were ready for the trip to the beach. It was nice having Peewee as she was able to speak to the van drivers and hire us a private van to get to Sabang. It was about a two hour ride in the van and I think that almost everyone of us was getting a bit of motion sickness as nobody had eaten anything all day.

Once the van pulled up to Sabang we took a stroll down the beach with the water buffalo to find our accomodations for the next two nights. We got settled and had some lunch on the beach and then got some relaxing time body surfing, tanning and chatting. Sabang is a pretty sleepy town so there was no internet, no real night life but we had a great group with us so we made our own little party in town. Mitra and I had a room with 2 beds in it so we had Kate Bauman staying in our room with us and on the other side of the hut was Simon and Stefan. When we finally all headed to bed that night we could hear those two talking like school girls on a sleepover. So of course we started asking them through the walls if they were having a pillow fight, if they had on their face masks, etc…We all finally got to sleep that night with the waves crashing right outside our window but the sleep was interrupted a few times by the barking dogs, crowing cocks and for some people mosquitos biting.

The next morning was our day for “sightseeing” in Sabang. Now there is not really a lot to do in Sabang except the Mangrove tour and the Underground River Tour. So we all set out to do both of these tours that day. My personal opinion is to skip the mangrove tour as to me it was a waste of time. They paddle you through the mangrove swamp and point out birds and snakes. The two highlights were the dog Brownie that followed us all they way through the swamp and they two guides going out and looking for these edible worms that live in the branches of the mangrove trees. Simon was supposed to eat one of the worms but chickened out as again we hadn’t eaten anything yet that day. So we were on to our next adventure which was the undertaking of the underground river. We decided to hike to the river and then take the boat back to the town. The hike was about two hours long and we had the choice of two trails so we decided to take the Monkey trail. It was pretty hot and the trail had a lot of stairs and to my surprise the person doing the hike the quickest was the smallest person on the trip Peewee! We also had Simon toughing it out with his broken toe. As we arrived  at the underground river we told the guys there we needed a boat back to Sabang when we finished the tour. We got the classic answer “Yes, Yes. No problem” and donned our hard hats and life jackets and got going through the river. I got the enviable job of being the light man on my boat which meant I got this high powered spotlight to shine at all the stalagtites and stalagmites as we made our way through the river. It was definitely a cool thing to see and our guide was pretty knowledgeable giving us some fun facts along the way as well as a few mistimed belches.  Apparently he was having some digestive issues during our tour and was not shy about sharing that with us. Now that the tour was over it was time to head back to town and of course there were no boats waiting for us at the beach. A theme in the Philippines is that even if they don’t understand what you are saying they just say “Yes” like they know what’s happening. After about 30 minutes of waiting on the beach we got our two bankas to take us back to Sabang. It was about to get interesting for us all as there were about 6 foot swells so it was a pretty rough ride getting back to town but for me just another fun travel experience in the Philippines.

Simon and his broken toe

                                   Stefan and Mavis in Sabang

That night we probably had the most excitement in Sabang as we had dinner at the Daluyon resort where Mavis/Summer and Andy/Peewee were staying. I think there were ten or eleven of us at dinner and as we sat down to order dinner and everyone was getting drinks I had the bright idea to get bottles of rum instead of individual drinks for the table. This led to some fun antics later in the night involving Norweigans and their Filipina “girlfriends”. We had a great meal and after a few bottles of rum being downed at the table people started to peel away and head to bed as we had a van ride to El Nido the next morning. I was one of the people who headed to bed but the gist of what occurred is one of the Norweigans started to yell at his “girlfriend” in the middle of the restaurant and make a scene so Andy decided to say something to the guy. Andy basically told the guy not to disrespect the woman and what he was doing was rude and since he is married to a Filipina this guy is giving all men a bad name. Apparently it got pretty close to punches being thrown but that never came to fruition. Everyone survived in one piece and we made it the car the next day to head up to El Nido.

                                                               Underground River

Overall my impression of Sabang is that it’s a nice laid back town. However, the only reason to go there is to see the Underground River. You could make it in spending one night there and then move on to El Nido. If we weren’t with a big group I probably would have done one night in town. Oh and Andy I’m enjoying the ride!

Until next time…

Brian

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Sabang, Sabang, She bangs, She bangs

(Tales of the Honky Parade)

Song for this post:

I was gonna do She Bangs By Ricky Martin

but that’s too easy

I was also thinking of Even the Nights Are Better

by Air Supply cuz they love them some Air Supply in Palawan

But instead I settled for Amongst the Waves by Pearl Jam

            So Manila left me unbelievably exhausted, what with the grueling travel and the late nights, so exhausted that I broke down in tears at dinner one night.  I was ready for some R and R down at the beach.  Dear reader, before we begin, I’d like to share with an apology for my seemingly schizophrenic baby blog.  (I mean no disrespect to schizos – I have no problem with schizos…and neither do the voices in my head!)  But for whatever reason I feel the need to explain to you how the process of this joint writing endeavor with my all so patient and understanding other half works.  We don’t read each other’s posts except for maybe small bits here and there and that’s how I want it.  Brian doesn’t read mine because for some reason he thinks I’m wordy and would rather be doing stuff than chained to a computer reading about the mental and maybe sometimes neurotic musings that he lives and breathes every day and I’m absolutely fine with that – I absolutely cringe at the idea of him making a mere suggestion that I change or omit something!  Conversely I stay away from reading his posts because as an English major and a control enthusiast, I fear I would try and edit the hell out of his experience and when all is said and done, it is probably best for our relationship that the right hand remains completely oblivious as to what the left is up to!

         

     In that vein, I’d also like to mention that I don’t even read what I wrote – hence any errors of grammar and/or spelling or any chemical imbalance, verbal diarrhea, or asshole twitching vulgarity that may spot my posts from time to time.  I do this, dear reader, all for you.  Well you and my own sanity, the ease with which I can OCD the hell out of something if I don’t show a little restraint, and the fact that I’m just pretty lazy…but mostly it’s all for you!  I’m hoping and trusting that in this process my posts will grow into what and how they want to be and therefore – so as to not censor or edit myself along the way and having what’s being written be forced to become something it’s not – I’m trying to back off as much as possible and just let it reveal itself, let it find its voice.

            I only mention this because if you have some expectation of reading a travel blog that talks mostly about spectacular scenery in soulful, subtle, scintillating sentences alive with clever alliteration, or places you HAVE to go and weird food you MUST try, interesting facts about local life, reviews on museums, palaces, ruins, and general points of interest, and suggestions of places to stay then you should probably just punch yourself in the nuts repeatedly and read no further.  (The nut punching isn’t necessary, but I just like to mention it when I can).  You may find some of that here - probably more so from Brian than myself – but that’s not how I experience the world.  And if you try to get me to explain how exactly I experience the world, well…that’s precisely what I’m trying to figure out myself…

            So we get up early Monday morning and fly from Manila to the island of Palawan.  Brian, Mavis, Summer and I were on one flight and Peewee, Stefan, Simon, and Andy on another that arrived about 10 minutes before ours.  We get our luggage and negotiate a van to take us to Sabang – a beach that’s about a 2 hour ride from the airport in Puerta Princessa.  In comparison, the van ride was rather luxurious in comparison to the public transport we’d experienced thus far.  That being said – almost everyone in the van felt like puking at one point along the ride.  But we got to Sabang and – halle-freakin-luah – I was in heaven!!!  White, soft sand and clear blue water as far as the eye could see.

                                                                     Sabang Beach

            We walked down the beach and headed to our lodgings – Andy, Peewee, Stefan, Simon, Brian, and me at Taraw (basic little huts on the beach for about 500 pesos a night) and Summer and Mavis headed a little further down the beach to the nice resort – The Daluyon (which means “strong wave”).  We got ourselves settled – B and I were staying in a room right next to Simon and Stefan who we all had decided at some point on the trip since they were the only 2 singles that they were now a couple.  Then we had a little lunch looking out on the water, reconnoitered with Mavis, Summer, and Andy who had disappeared to find them, and then headed for the water.  I was still feeling a little sick and worn out from the ride, but once I got into those waves, I can’t describe it any better than feeling like a kid again.  I was rejuvenated and reborn.

            At some point I was sitting on the beach – which always makes me sentimental – and though the others were scattered about, frolicking the day away, I remember it as being alone.

I was thinking a lot about Ellie.  Without going into too much detail and betraying any trust, Ellie was my first very best girlfriend from the time I was 4 until when her family moved away when I was about 6.  I didn’t know it then but it was the last time I would have a true, joyous and trusting relationship with another female for a long time.  When her family moved, we lost trust and I always longed to know what happened to her and had thought of her intensely over the years and even made feeble attempts to find her, though I didn’t know even where to begin – until this past August.  One day I was checking my e-mail and I saw a friend request from her on Facebook.  I was stunned and elated.  We started corresponding pretty intensely from the start and at the very beginning of our communications we discovered that we shared an awful secret that we didn’t know we shared for 27 years that has haunted and shaped us both over the last almost 3 decades.

Even later when we were at The Daluyon hanging out with everyone – talking, laughing, and enjoying the beach and each other - I felt so unsure of myself that every word I spoke and every engaging moment I had with another person was timid and made my whole body feel like I was pushing an 18-wheeler uphill.  I was wishing so much that sharing myself with others was easy, like with Ellie, that they could simply relate to me on that same level and that I didn’t have to think of how to relate to them on theirs.  The simple fact is that long ago, little by little, I stopped knowing how to relate to others on anything besides the shared path of past pain and tragedy and though it may have appeared that I was being cold and unfriendly and highly discerning of others, I was mad and frustrated with myself and it was just building and my demeanor was getting uglier and more shriveled as the days were going by.

Later as we were finishing dinner, Kate (Andy’s sister) showed up.  She had been delayed on her trip out to the Philippines by two days and though she had done the kayaking/camping trip we were about to embark on her with her husband Rusty before the wedding, she had decided to extend her stay and go again with the rest of us and thanks to the selfless, big-hearted generosity of one of the group, she was able to come join the gang so she flew up later in the day and took the van by herself with our driver Joe with whom she sang Air Supply songs the entire ride up.  Brian first met Kate when she was 16 and came to South Carolina for a weekend with a friend to visit Andy and since then, her and B have maintained a great friendship.  Since it was essentially Peewee and Andy’s honeymoon and Summer and Mavis didn’t have an extra bed and no one wanted to intrude on Simon and Stefan’s “alone time”, Kate roomed with me and Brian.

Kate is very much like Peewee in the sense that she’s just that girl you wanna be around.  She’s beautiful, a great storyteller, has an amazing laugh and she makes no demands whatsoever but is so good hearted and lively that you want to do things for her.  Of course I was completely intimidated by her!  After walking back from The Daluyon in the dark (there were no lights along the path back to our place and even then, like the rest of our time in the Philipines, there was only about 6 hours of electricity a day) and I’m pretty sure stepping in a big pile of water buffalo poop, we got back to our room, I donned all of my carpal tunnel arm and wrist gear, making Kate laugh that great laugh of hers, and we went to sleep to get some rest for our big day of adventuring the next day.
                                                                                                               Peewee, Andy and Kate

We woke up fairly early in the morning – it’s hard to have any sense of time these days and I rarely even know what day of the week it is – and met up with Ian and Melanie (a couple from the wedding who’d arrived in Sabang a day before us with Kelly, Quincy, John, and Bobby) and the 11 of us set off for the short hike to go on the mangrove tour.  About the mangrove tour…the best part of it was the tour dog, Brownie, who followed us the entire time down the water way excitedly running and navigating himself deftly through the abstract, twisted tree roots and swimming next to our boat when the mangled mangrove terrain wouldn’t allow him to run after us.

At one point, the boats stopped and the captain of the boat we were on jumped off, disappearing into the woods to find some woodworms – the disgusting, snot-like critters that Andrew Zimmern ate on his show once – and brought them back to the boat after some of the group expressed a desire to possibly eat some.  Brian had brought it up and since we hadn’t had time for breakfast, Simon said he could use a snack.  It would have made the trip a lot more interesting if Simon had actually eaten one, but he totally pussed out and then the tour was over.

We went back to our place and got organized and headed off in search of food that didn’t look like loogies.  We ate and then a few of us set out to find some essentials that we needed to replace or stock up in general.  For Simon, who had decided to come on the trip at the last minute, that was pretty much everything, including being on a mission to find a mozzy net since he’d barely slept due to being relentlessly attacked by mosquitos throughout the night.  After that, the group came together again – all of us who’d gone on the mangrove tour who Andy had aptly named the honky parade – and set out on the semi-treacherous monkey trail that led to the underground river.  The monkey trail was amazing and it felt amazing to be moving my body that much again, putting me in greater, more playful spirits.  And the group was really starting to gel and just having a blast getting to know each other and joking around – mostly teasing Simon and Stefan for being hot for each other.

                                                     Simon and his mozzy net.

          The Honkey Parade

                                                 The Monkey Trail

                                                            

           Cute little monkeys climbing through the forrest

By the time we got to the underground river it was already pretty late in the day so we opted for the shorter tour.  Once again we were split up into two boats and headed into the dark cave.  It was a pretty amazing sight to see and our tour guide did it great justice, pointing out interesting rock formations, giving us pertinent information about the river, and making the distinction for us between when he was relating a fact or just burping.  “That is what they call the Cathedral.  GGGGRRRRRRUUUUUUPPPP!  That was a burp.”  But my favorite was when he was talking about the bats that were more than plentiful in the great cavern.  He was telling us that they are eaten sometime and he said, “Bat is good, I like bat.  It tastes like mouse.”  When he was done with all the interesting tidbits he had to give, he informed us – very much like a PSA on the radio – that if we’d like to vote for the river as one of the seven wonders of the world that we could “Please visit www.new7wonders.com, thank you very much.”  (at least I think that was the website, but it was kind of amusing none-the-less.)

We finished the tour and then started to negotiate a boat ride back to the beach, which was looking pretty dismal as the weather had become ominous – dark and gloomy and windy as hell.  I was beginning to think that we were all going to have to camp out on that little tiny beach overnight and so I quickly offered up Brian for the group to eat if it came to it.  (One of my biggest fears is that I’ll get stranded somewhere and have to eat another person to stay alive.  Though I feel pretty confident that as a former anorexic I could probably hold out for quite some time.  But still – I usually try to carry peanut butter with me most places I go.)  Luckily we’d be eating pizzas at the Daluyon later that night as two boats came to take us back to civilization.  The ride was choppy and slow but we all made it with our bodies and stomachs in tact.

That night we had a great dinner and Brian and I excused ourselves somewhat early to get rest for the long car ride the next day up to El Nido.  We found out the next day though that we’d just missed all the excitement as our group almost got in a fight with a bunch of Norwegian guys whom Andy confronted when they started yelling at one of the hookers they were with.  Us old, married (or domestic partnered) couples miss all the fun I guess!  Nevertheless – Sabang was a nice interlude from all of the running around in Manila we had done and I was more ready than ever to just give myself over to the sun, sand, and sea on the upcoming camping trip.  Though I’ve spent the better part of the last 6 years in the mountains of Colorado, I am a beach girl through and through – it’s my element, it’s where I feel most at peace and I was hoping that a great deal of peace was coming my way to sooth the restlessness, irritability, and discontent I’d been soaking myself in for the past few weeks.

I was thinking about Ellie and what we’d been through and how I’ve become and who I was wanting to be and how much that all dogged me so much still when what I was hoping for was to break free from all of that on this trip.  I’ve had so much love in my life and in this life I have had the world given to me.  Now I’m presented with the challenge of giving myself to the world.  How will that come to pass, I don’t know when and if and exactly how it will.  But when I was in Sabang, when I was in those waves, playing more freely than I have in longer than I can remember, I had a moment of hope and a moment of feeling like a kid again, without a care in the world, only trust and I’m hoping to ride that feeling to freedom and floating and flowing and finally start to leave the fight behind…

xoxoM