A week of journeys.

On Monday I set off from Puerdto Princesa to El Nido in the pouring rain with ‘my driver’ Allan in his tricycle, and so, beginning my 8 hour journey. It was sad saying goodbye to Allan, he was a nice man, as was his wife, 6 kids and grand-daughter, who he introduced me to. The bus journey left me a wreck, though. It had some very dodgey suspension and a few times I thought we would tip up as we went around the hairpin bends on the way up the mountains. And freewheeled down again (Honest!) When we eventually got to El Nido I had to get another tricycle to take me from the Bus Station to my lodgings and if I thought the roads were bad in Puerto Princesa, I was in for a surprise, a lot of them were dirt tracks, turned almost to mud by the rains.

The lodgings were lovely and after I dropped my bags off I went exploring but it was getting dark and I kept standing in puddles so decided to leave it until the morning. As is usual, for me, I took a wrong turn but as I’ve said before Dog poo on the road/pavement is a good way of finding your way around anywhere. Well, it always works for me! I got in the shower when I got back but as I was bending down to wash my feet I heard tapping on the window. I nearly died of a heart attack! When I turned around a little bird was peck-pecking at the window and flew away as soon as I turned the shower off. This happened everytime I got in the shower and when I mentioned it to my host he said it did it whenever he or his family got in their shower. Bizarre! I was going to have an early night and a lie in as I’d got nothing planned for Tuesday. Not!! 4 am, Cock-a-doodle-dooooooo! I couldn’t believe it. Damn Cockerels

El Nido is gaining momentum as a tourist destination due to it’s beautiful, white sand beaches, coral reefs and limestone cliffs which are home to tiny Swiftlets who make their (edible) nests from saliva and this is the main ingredient of Birds nest soup. El Nido mean ‘the nest’ in Spanish. It is a protected area and is #4 on the Conde Nast list of the worlds most beautiful beaches. It’s also the gateway to the Bacuit archipelago,  which consist of 45 imestone outcrops that hide sinkholes and beautiful lagoons.

I went exploring early on Tuesay and had finished after an hour and a half! The town is tiny but boasts a population of 41,000 people. I don’t know where everyone was, they must be up in the mountains. The main road, which runs from Puerto Princesa runs through the middle of the town right down to the sea. There’s a row of shops on either side of the main road, just one street runs off towards the cliff and on the other side there are a few streets with cafes, bars, shops and a Police station. There is also no end of tour operators offering swimming, snorkelling, diving and Island hopping. As I don’t do any of these except Island hopping I went and sat in a beach bar with my feet in the sand. It was lovely just chillin’ watching the numerous boats and catamarans bobbing up and down in the water and the tourists,wading out to them for their trips. No piers here, you go to the boat!!

After I’d watched the third plastic bottle wash up on the sand I noticed that the beach was full of detritus, which surprised me. I would have thought that if you lived in a place that had gained the kind of prestige it has, and if the Palawan authorities were intending to open the doors wider to tourism (I think they are judging by the amount of Hotels, supermarkets and Malls being opened/built) they would endeavour to keep the beaches clean. Not just that, El Nido also has a stray Dog problem and I watched packs of them roaming around the beach and visiting cafes, looking for scraps. Some of them were pregnant or weaning. I dont know what the authorities can do about it but it was the same in Puerto Princesa. As I was pondering this issue it started to rain heavily so I changed my thinking spot to a lovely coffee bar that sold pastries, Yum! and no matter who I spoke to about the rubbish and Dogs, no-one seemed bothered. Anyway.

During the night it rained, and rained and rained. So, when I went down to reception, on Wednesday,  to see if my pickup had come to take me to the boat, (I was going to the lagoons) my host informed me that all boat trips had been cancelled by the coast guard. Doh! That meant I’d have to spend another day chillin’. I went back to the coffee shop, (I don’t drink the stuff usually but the Barista was very lovely so I had an hour of leching!) I also had a dirty chocolate brownie and loved every mouthful! And weirdly enough, it put me in the mood to do my packing.

During the night I was woken by (I thought) rolling on the aircon remote, but when I looked it wasn’t even on. In my half asleepness I thought it was a train then it occurred to me that, to my knowledge, there are no trains on Palawan. So I jumped up and went and opened the door. It was just like someone had thrown a bucket of water at me, I was soaked. I slammed the door and had to get changed before I went back to bed but I couldn’t sleep, it was torrential and making a right racket!

My hosts had ordered me a tricycle to take me to the airport on Thursdy. It was still raining heavily and I looked every inch the English woman holding on to my hat, bags, brolly and the side of the seat to stop myself from falling out. It was really rough terrain and I was being thrown all over.The tricycle was sliding all over the place at times and I wasn’t sure we would make it to the airport, and with all the jogging about I felt my back jar, that’s all I need! But I had to chuckle when we did get to the airport. The security guy on the barrier pulled a rope to lift it up! When I got inside, my luggage was searched manually, then I had to take my own case (during which time I ccould have put anything in) to a hole in the wall where a pair of hands took it off me. Then I had to check in. (No online check-in here) The woman behind the desk asked if I wanted to move to an earlier flight and I thought, ‘why not, lets get this started?’

My flight to Maniila was pretty uneventful. We landed at the domestic airport and I had to get to the international airport 12 Km away. And guess what? There was a free airport shuttle bus! Where the hell was this service last week when I was badly ripped off!? Anyway, When I got there I went through security and as I’d had no breakie I went and got something to eat. But when I tried to get back in they wouldn’t let me. I explained what had happened and luckily for me one of the security guards remembered that I’d said I was going for something to eat so I got back in. I still don’t know what the problem was. The flight to Kuala Lumpur was really nice. Malaysian airlines are good. I had a cushion and because I was near the exit, a banket. There was an in flight meal which was surprisingly good and a constant supply of soft drinks.  And I watched War for the Planet of the Apes. Very good!

At KuaIa Lumpar I almost missed my flight. I only had just over an hour wait before my flight to Borneo so set off to get my case but of course, had to go through immigration. After queuing for half an hour it dawned on me that if I went through there I’d have to check in again so I asked a staff member who said that my bags would be transferred automatically as I was flying with Malaysian airlines again. He said I needed to go to domestic flights, up the escalator across the concourse, down another escalator and to desk A. This I did, While queuing at desk A I noticed on the back of my ticket that domestic flights needed to get the shuttle at desk C. After all the mis-directon in China I’m a bit suspicious of verbal instruction so off I went running to desk C. No!  I should have stayed at desk A. I went running off again and at one point was racing an airport Policeman on a Segway!! I finally got through in time to catch my breath before boarding and while I was sat there a Muslim woman on the walking escalator went by. She had a black dress with pink flowers on and a turquoise head scarf. She looked very nice, but suddeny going in the opposite direction was another woman in a black dress with pink flowers and a Turquoise head scarf! I thought I was seeing things and even thought there was a mirror for a while until, 2 minutes later, I spotted another woman behind a desk in exactly the same attire. Yes! They were cabin crew!

The final leg of the journey was scarey. Thunder ad lightning and the Plane kept shuddering and dipping. I tried to watch Arthur: Legend of the Sword but I was too scared. I usually take a small dose of Diazepam when I fly but because of the ‘Hat trick’ I didn’t dare. Even the in-flight meal had trouble going down. I really couldn’t wait to land and the Pilot, God bless him, got us on the ground safely.

After we landed I had no network, and no cash. I couldn’t retrieve the address I was staying at from my phone or ring a cab. What to do?? Before I came away I bought some USD. People love them, so I went and cashed 100 of them, bought the cheapest SiM and went to get a cab. I hadn’t got a clue where to go so I asked a Woman who insisted on walking with me to the rank and negotiate a fare. I thought she was going to rob me. How bad is that. A product of English living!

My accommodation was totally self contained and had all facilities, a real home from home, and by the time I got there I was so traumatised by the day I had to go to bed. Knackered.com.

Friday I set off for the Museum, I didn’t realise it was as far as it was and although Kota Kinabalu, the city I was staying in, is quite modern, none of the main roads, that I walked on, had a pavement. So I had to walk on the green at the side of the road which was covered in a kind of succulent and was at times, waterlogged. My feet were filthy! There’ll be no little bird looking at my bum when I wash them later. There are high rise buildings but no sky scrapers and everywhere looked clean. I was parched after about 10 minutes of walking, the heat was overwhelming so I called at a cafe and ended up having fried fish, rice veg and soup for breakie.Then when I set off, using Google maps, I ended up at the art gallery!  I found the people in Kota Kinabalu to be extremely friendly, people pass you in the street and say ‘Good morning/afternoon, Ma’am’ and when I was looking to buy a SiM card deal to last me while in Malaysia a lady shouted to me from the bus stop and asked how I was. I didn’t realise she was talking to me at first and had to go and apologise.She showed me where to go for the card before getting her bus.  That evening I had my tea at a lovely Chinese restaurant and got the biggest Prawns I have ever seen. They were like Whales on my plate! After the amount of walking I’d done and the heat I had no trouble falling asleep and slept until 8.10! next morning. No Cock-a-doodle-doo!

I ended up at the Museum on Saturday and was amazed at Borneos history. Chinese manuscripts from 977AD record trading with Borneo as well as the Indians and Javanese and the islands have been occupied by the Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, British and during WW11, the Japanese. Up until a 20 point agreement preventing them from doing it, the Borneo tribes have collected their enemies heads as trophies, which they put on a pole with herbs, shells, pearls and coloured stones. The more skulls they had the better the warrior they were and  it meant that they could impress someone enough to get a wife. They had a couple of these poles on display, Eeeeek! But it did stipulate that the Borneo tribes were never Cannibals. Small comfort to those who were topped. In 1962 British rule ended here and the country seems to be thriving. Oh! and they drive on the left.

I went to the Green Connection, supposedly an Aquarium focused on environmental education with 1200+ marine species. It was closed.  And I found myself in the middle of no-where, Luckily, I’d downloaded an App for ‘Grab’ taxis, a S.E Asian version of Uber and although they have Uber here Grab is the one most people use, and I’m not surprised, they are so cheap. A 10 minute ride cost 10 Myr, less than £2. I ended up in the weekend market. l manner of wierd and wonderful things were for sale. Even home made remedys! There was a leaf to combat Diabetes and they sold a mixture of Aloe vera, Birds nest and seaweed, said to detox and rid the blood of a build up of uric acid. I bought some and it was nice but I don’t think it did anything noticable. I also bought some beads that the guy tried to sell as Chinese Jade. I know they’re not but I liked them so we haggled and I got them for a few quid less. Tomorrow I’m on the move again to a different part of Sabah, called Sandakan. I hope after my week of journeys that I get to see what I came for, the Orangutans.