Friday, Saturday, Palawan I'm in Love

I woke up feeling so much better today – it’s amazing what a good night’s sleep will do for you! Our driver Andy picked us up right on time, and we left for the airport after a massive breakfast. The Philippinos like their buffets, that’s for sure. We ate so much that we weren’t hungry until well into the evening.

We checked in to Manila's newest airport, which seemed way more organised than Bangalore's latest one. Of the many things Omer likes to do in new cities (buying local T shirts being one) he likes to try local favourites and someone recommended an energy drink called Cobra to us yesterday. We found some at the airport and I can safely say that it is some of the vilest stuff I have ever had the misfortune of trying. The thing is pure poison - and sugar. A 235 ml bottle had a whopping 42 grams of sugar in it and Omer was off the wall for a while after, and then got really quiet when the sugar crash rolled into town. Boys and children - there's not much difference sometimes.

I slept for most of the hour and a half long ride on the tiny plane which was powered by two tiny propellers, much to our amusement. My first view of Palawan was quite pretty - lush, hilly green islands in the middle of the sea.

I felt like the holiday had really begun as we descended on the Busuanga airport strip, the only one on the tiny island of Coron in Palawan. The airstrip was tiny, not much more than a dirt road and the airport the smallest I've ever been in.

It was incredibly exciting for the sheer novelty of it. We were met at the airport by a representative from Club Paradise, the first resort on the itinerary. The first leg of the journey to the resort involved a ride through the island one of the jeepneys I'd been wanting to experience since I landed in Manila.

The island looked like something right out of Lost. It's almost entirely uninhabited.

Palawan is a relatively safe island and it's guarded by the Air Force, who we had to make a stop for on our way through Coron. Three men in combat fatigues hopped on and stayed with us until we reached the resort. They were mostly a surly, reticent sort except for one, who had the nicest, most open face and spoke to us a little bit. He even got his very shy friend to pose for my camera:

Coming to a river, we saw a boat lying in wait for us. Club Paradise is on its own secluded island so getting there involved a ride through the island and the surrounding sea. This place has a soaring sense of undeniable beauty. Arriving in Palawan, speeding through its seas, you really get the sense that you are in a remote corner of the world, one that is still untouched by most of the things that make people want to run away from their daily lives in the first place. I tried to take some pictures, but my amateur skills do the place little justice.

Beauty like this has always moved me; I think things like love and knowledge and spirituality are innate, as I was discussing with friends a couple of days ago - but sometimes you come across places that seem to facilitate this private conversation, both inward and outward, with yourself and with the universe. This, I believe, is why people travel. Sometimes you claim a place as yours through your memories of it, and sometimes a place will claim you. We made another stop at a resort called El Rio y Mar to pick up a middle-aged German man who was travelling to Club Paradise with us. We got to talking with him and he told us that he lived in Manila but started his career in Hong Kong. He used to travel through South East Asia a lot because he's always been drawn to islands and oceans. He came to Palawan one day and had one of those 'this is it' moments and started, as it turns out, Club Paradise.

We arrived at the island feeling like total celebrities - descending from our little yacht, the island looked like it was all set to be our own personal playground. This is the last bit of the year before the peak season begins, so there are relatively few people about, giving this place a lovely solitary feel. Heading in the direction of the island for over 45 minutes, we didn't quite realise what we'd left behind. It's only when I turned that it took a second to register. This is our view as we snorkel through the island's shallow waters, as we watch the sun set while relaxing on our loungers, as we eat dinner:

Isn't nature great? The beach is called the Sunset Beach for obvious reasons - I didn't have my camera with me as the sun set this evening, but I'll try and get some pictures tomorrow. It is beyond spectacular, and I've seem some pretty singular sunsets, including some in Acapulco last year.

Our little cottage is located on the other side of the island, with our own private beach, which is called Sunrise Beach. I look forward to seeing how it got its name tomorrow morning. It's so pretty - your own personal stretch of white sand and blue water, with an even more private little cove thrown in.

To our right we have this little beauty:

And this is what we have on the left.

We tried going for a swim here, but the beach was so stony that we decided to head back to the main beach with the great view. We rented some snorkel gear as well - Omer hadn't snorkelled before but he took to it instantly. I had some trouble getting my glasses to keep from fogging up but once we went face down, none of that stuff mattered any more. I remember the first time I went snorkelling; it was last year, off the shallow seas of Cancun. I knew as soon as I saw the world beneath that I'd be doing this again, possibly many times over. It's a whole different world out there - I can think of no better way to describe it. It's beautiful. We have our first dive lesson tomorrow and I'm so enamored with the experince of snorkelling in shallow waters that I can hardly imagine what exploring the ocean further will be like. It's a different kind of beauty, however, and today's experience was a little different from the one in Cancun. Because we were so close to the shore today the water was still a little cloudy and the bed was fairly more uneven than in Mexico. I fell in love with the experience of shallow, clear water snorkelling - just white sand to offset the myriad colours of the fish. In contrast, the beaches we explored this evening had vast growths of coral on the sea floor and while beautiful in their own right, they looked like something out of a science fiction novel. I can see why writers like Jules Verne were so fascinated by the sea - the environment and the creatures that live in it are so alien as to appear otherworldly, yet they're as much a part of this life as we are. I got the heebie jeebies several times over when I saw just how close I was to these formations and had to propel myself to sandier floors before I could shake the creeps off. I'm not a very good swimmer either so I emerged from the ocean a bunch of times red, puffing, hair wildly askew, mascara all over the place - Omer laughed at me for ages.

It's been a beautiful day - I am so blessed to be here and it's only my first day - tomorrow we meet our dive instructor, Dirk (tee hee) who's supposed to be a real hard ass. I'm not always comfortable in parts of water my feet can't touch, so it should be interesting - I'm determined to get my dive license however, so I'm sure it's going to be a lot of fun!