Planes, Trains (tiny ones), and Automobiles...and sleeperbuses.

Our first stop after Queenstown was the tiny island of Palawan off the Philippine coast.  There are two main towns on the island, Puerto Princessa, and El Nido.   We flew from Auckland to Singapore, had an 8 hour layover, then flew to Manila (the worst airport in the world) for a layover of what was supposed to be 6 hours but turned into 13 because of delays.  Then on to Puerto Princessa on a small plane.   I am not sure how many hours in total the traveling was but it certainly felt like 2 days straight and probably was close.   In retrospect this was not the best planning our our behalf.

Which brings me to the Manila airport, basically the worst airport in the world.   As fantastic as the Philippines were, I don't think I will go back again only so I can avoid the hell that is the Manila airport.   It has absolutely no signs in English.   There are security guards everywhere but every time we asked one of them a question, such as how do you get to terminal 3?  They laughed and said either nothing or pointed us to the taxis with a sinister grin.   It wasn't that they didn't speak english either, everyone in the Philippines actually speaks very good english.

We finally found what appeared to be a free airport shuttle, or at least a sign for one.  An hour and 15 minutes later it still hadn't appeared.   When it finally did come around, it was basically a small van, and by now there were 20 people waiting to take it.  So we packed in like sardines not wanting to wait for the next shuttle 2 hours later and drove out into the city.   The terminals are literally across the city from each other which may have explained the laughing when we had asked for directions.  

After 3 more stops with 20 more people at each stop trying to squeeze on we finally arrived at terminal 3 in the middle of what appeared to be a shanty town.    There are no chairs to wait for the planes so you have to sit on cold hard tile.  It is hard to imagine what the architects of the airport intended for people with multiple hour layovers to do.  

About a million hours later we arrived in Puerto Princesa where Michael cajoled me into walking to our hotel.  "It's only a few blocks!" He said.   A few unlit blocks and about a hundred feral dogs later we arrived at our hotel, my nerves completely shot.   I was ready for a bed after 48 hours of travel.  Not to mention a stiff drink.   Our hotel was a tropical haven and very cute.  They greeted us with a Margarita (my kind of hotel!) and I was in bed asleep 20 minutes later.

The pool at our hotel

 The entrance to our hotel

It turns out the neighborhood was actually fine by the light of day, but we probably should have opted for the 50 cent tricycle ride anyway.  Puerto was an adorable town.  It had tiki inspired architecture everywhere, the buildings were thatched and mostly had no windows, they were more of roof shelters. Everyone was very nice and upon talking to people in town we found out that Palawan is known to be the safest area of the Philippines.  

We had our hands down best meal to date there at a restaurant called Kalui.  It was phenomenal.   You basically ordered for how many people you had and they decided what to bring you based on what they caught that morning.  It started with a delicious seaweed salad and a broth soup that was beyond amazing (no idea what was in it.)   Then lucky for us the catch of the day was a giant tuna, so we had seared tuna steaks with some sort of teriyaki type marinade and a white fish curry, tempura vegetables and shrimp.  Every dish was the best, freshest seafood I have ever had in my life.  If you find yourself in Palawan it is worth going to Puerto Princesa solely for Kalui.  It was that good.

 Kalui

 Seaweed started, the essence of the sea!

 My plate, most of the food is already in my belly

The Kitchen

See the giant Tuna on the right?!

We headed out to El Nido the next day on a six hour van ride (the last hour and a half of which is on an unpaved very bumpy road).   El Nido is a fishing village and filled with expats from various western countries.  It is tiny but definitely a slice of paradise.   With giant limestone rock formations and white fluffy sand beaches it is probably the most beautiful place we have ever been to.   They turn off the towns electricity from 6am to 2pm though, which is pretty rough seeing as it is one of the hottest and most humid places I have ever been to.   As with Puerto it is filled with some of the nicest people we have met on our travels.  

 The street in El Nido

 Local boys, very excited about our camera

The harbor

I (of course) immediately came down with a cold, probably due to shock from the drastic change of weather.   Let me tell you being in bed with a cold when it is 90 degrees with 100% humidity and no air conditioning is rough.  But Michael brought me out of this world soup and soon I was better and ready to explore...  Except then Michael got travelers diarrhea from the many street side mystery meat sticks he insisted on eating every time we passed.  Every time we passed he would yell "MEATSTICKS!"  and do a little dance with glee waiting for the roasted treats. I will say, I warned him, but he was just so damn happy eating them. So back in bed we went.   

Me walking the path to the beach at Las Cabanas

 Michael enjoying the sun after being ill all week

 Las Cabanas at sunset (thats Michael in the water)

Thank god the last 2 days we were both feeling better and got to explore the local beaches.  On our last day we went on an island hopping boat tour and got to visit 5 local islands and lagoons.    We snorkeled and saw sea turtles and visited the lagoon where they filmed The Bourne Legacy.   Overall even though we were a bit of a hot mess in El Nido it was paradise and we were so happy we got to see it and experience life with the locals.

 First stop on the island hopping tour, we are thrilled to not be sick!

 Michael in the secret lagoon

 Limestone rock formations

 A slice of heaven

 The meal our boat captain prepared over an open fire.  Amazing!

We flew to Singapore next.   Judging from the food we had in the airport on our last layover we were already excited for it.    We had used the last of our government travel credit to buy a night in the Marina Bay Sands.   The nicest hotel in Singapore and at 300 some odd dollars a night, pricey.    But since it didn't come from our pockets we were happy to indulge.  The infinity pool at the sands stretches on the roof across all three towers.   It was very surreal looking over the city from a pool but definitely worth the experience.   After the limited accommodations in Palawan the central air and down comforter were a real luxurious treat.

The "airport" in El Nido

 Me in the pool on top of the Marina Bay Sands

 The View from the Pool

 The Singapore Flyer in the background

 Raffles Hotel, where the Long Bar is located

 The Original Singapore Sling

 The 1887 Sing

We spend the 2 days eating Singapore's famous black chili crab (gave me travelers diarrhea but was damn tasty going down), again some sort of soup that was amazing with fried chicken, quails egg and fried tofu in it...  They really know how to do broth based soups in asia.    And we had an amazing meal at Tanuki Raw, an oyster bar and sushi place where we got the happy hour special, 6 oysters and 5 pieces of phenomenal salmon sashimi for 10 bucks.   Definitely worth the 45 minute wait at the door.  And finally we drank Singapore Slings at the original bar where they were invented, The Long Bar.  At a whopping 29 Singapore dollars (about 21 USD) we only had one each.   I got the original and Michael got the 1887 with 4 oz of 125 year aged Billecart-Salmon Champagne in it.   It was VERY good!

Next stop Vietnam!   Since this post has gotten away from me a bit in length, I will cover our Saigon adventure to the famous "Lunch Lady" and our sleeper bus to Da Lat next time.

Love and miss you all!