Philippines 1995: Part 14

Note: this trip was made at Christmas 1995. In the time since then I'm sure much has changed so it may not be a great idea to treat this as a guide. Treat it as a memoir, which - give or take some editing - is exactly what it is.

Next day, before dawn had even started to lighten the sky, we were off on our travels again. Alone among the group, and I know I shouldn't be smug but I am, I seemed to have anticipated the first problem - the bangka was moored at the same point that it had dropped us off. I stripped off my trousers and T-shirt and pushed them into plastic bags in the top of my rucksack leaving me in just sandals and swimming trunks. Although it was still pre-dawn it was warm enough for it not to bother me that I had to wade out in chest deep water to get to the boat.
The bangka took us to Caticlan where I dried off and changed back into my clothes. Several of the others had also got changes of clothes but I had the bonus of not having to carry any wet ones around for the rest of the day.
Our bus took us back to Kalibo. Unfortunately Kalibo was not where our flight was going from. That was Ilo-Ilo on the south coast of Panay. The problem with Ilo-Ilo was that our bus, a large modern coach, wouldn't take us there because of the condition of the roads. We were forced to split up into two smaller groups in mini-buses. The first bus set off and a couple of minutes later we also set off. After half an hour of driving around, picking up a passenger who seemed to be a friend of the driver and getting some petrol our bus turned a corner and we found ourselves back at Kalibo airport.
The bus bounced and juddered along the washed out and rock strewn road. Eventually we caught up to the other bus which had stopped to wait for us and Alex tried to impress on both drivers a sense of urgency.
Of course we made it in time. In fact we made it with almost five whole minutes to spare. I knew all along there was no reason to get excited.

Puerto Princessa, our destination, is the capital city of Palawan and has about 100,000 inhabitants. Our Hotel, the Airport Hotel, was a very short walk from the arrivals building and only a few minutes after landing we were checked in. The Hotel itself had a surreal taste in decoration with imitation tree trunks in garish colours thrusting their way through the walls. The rooms were comfortable enough if a little basic.
I went for a walk along Rizal Avenue towards the harbour. It was already growing dark and the Christmas decorations were lit. A tree constructed entirely of strands of shimmering lights stood in the centre of Mendoza park surrounded by red lanterns glowing in the trees.

There are quite a number of good places to eat in Puerto Princessa and apart from the good places there are literally hundreds of tiny shacks with names like Elsa's Eaterie or Gladys's Grill which have dubious architectural merit and even more dubious hygienic standards. We had decided to eat in one of the good places, the Trattoria Terrace which boasts a remarkable range of competitively priced international cuisine. What it doesn't boast is polite efficient service. After taking our order and serving three rounds of drinks the chef came out and said that he was not going to serve us. The official story was that there were too many of us wanting too great a variety of food. From his heated exchange with Alex there was obviously more to it than that but we never did find out the real story.
Instead we went down the road to the Kalui Restaurant. This has no menu as such instead serving a choice of two set sea food meals, the exact nature depending on the day's catch. It is decorated in a charming rustic fashion and the service goes beyond smooth to slick. I chose the special menu which worked out to a grand total of about four pounds. A selection of fish dishes including some truly delicious lobster served already cracked open, were brought to the table in succession and were good enough to compensate for the unexpected change of venue.