Palawan continued...

I want to start posting more piccies, but thought I should finish the narrative of Palawan before I do that, so as not to ruin the flow… And brace yourselves Uncle John and Aunty Rhonda (do you even read this???) – There may not be too much weeding in the pics as Palawan is just that stunning! All the relief you felt when seeing how selective I was with my Egypt pictures last year can just go hurtling back out the window!!

Anyway – we are back in Manila and I have been absolutely swamped since returning, so haven’t had a chance to update. Coming back was very hard to do (ridiculously hard – we had to sit for an hour and a half after our plane was supposed to have left in this dodgy little terminal while absolutely nobody told us what was wrong with our plane. I got into this ridiculous situation trying to find out what the problem was as there was only a security guard in the terminal and he had no idea what was going on, eventually saying that the captain knew and said Captain was on the plane. So the Security Guard said he was going to find out some info and never returned. So I decided to go to the check-in counter and ask there, and saw him there hiding! When he saw me again, he turned and walked out and on it went etc! Pretty funny (and incredibly annoying). Eventually, one and a half hours after scheduled take-off, we boarded and with no apology or explanation for the delay (although they did apologise for the warm cabin temperature!) we took off. As I was saying to Ange, if there is a problem with the plane then tell us – none of us want to get in that steel hotdog and go hurtling through the air if it is broken. But we just want to know why we are still sitting on those ghastly chairs – we will understand, but just tell us, for crying out loud… She suggested that it was once again the Filipino fear of losing face – they wouldn’t admit there was a problem (I eventually found out there was a problem with the autopilot and they had to get approval from the head of the airline in Manila to take off and they couldn’t find him…or something like that).

So we are flying back into Manila and can see the smog on the horizon and I looked down and the bay was just black and fetid – so depressing in comparison to the green hills and mountains and the sparkling ocean we had been at a few hours ago. We briefly contemplated hijacking the plane and making it take us back, or transferring our entire offices to Palawan, but eventually took one for the country, landed and battled the Manila traffic to come home.

Backtracking a little…
Our last day in Coron we climbed the hill that I mentioned (can’t remember its name now – will look that up and get back to you). It is 690m and was just incredibly steep steps – we had sweat absolutely streaming off us in rivers and I was panting like I was in labour or something – it was unbelievable. But the view was stunning so it was worth it. Then we went out in a tricycle to these hot springs about twenty to thirty minutes ride way. That was great – the water was incredibly hot and you couldn’t stay in too long (thank heavens Palawan is cooler than Manila – and it was not April!) and it was perfect after the climb.

The next day we flew to Puerto Princessa, the capital of Palawan. Actually, what I may do it stop the narrative here, and put up my pictures from Coron, then continue on with Puerto in my next entry…
Toodles