Sun is shining..

Welcome to another update on the trip to Philippines. We have just returned from El Nido back to Puerto Princesa, the capital of Palawan province. This internet cafe is full of children playing computer games. There are diplomas on the wall, acclaiming that the local counterstrike teams is one of the most promising in the country. It's very loud and the children are rather obnoxious, running about and yelling in Tagalog. They mix a huge amount of English in their language, and it sounds really awkward to hear all the English words pop up in the middle of their incomprehensible jabbering. The good thing about this cafe is that the internet costs 15 pesos an hour (about 7 Czech crowns, or 25 Eurocents).

El Nido has truly been a wonderful experience, and I'm willing to believe the various sources that claim that the beaches and seascapes here are some of the best of the world. Thailand? Maledives? Fiji? Well, El Nido can probably still top them.

There are dozens of small islands forming the Bacuit archipelago, which surrounds El Nido. The islands are mostly towering limestone cliffs covered with lush greenery and the occasional beach, only accesible by boat. One day, we hired a boat and went to explore some of the more famous places around, including 3 lagoons. There we went snorkeling around, exploring the coral reefs, while the boatmen made a great lunch for us at the beach. Very nice service. I also met a Czech couple at one of the beaches, the first Czech people I've met here so far (although these two actually live in Australia now). The Swedish version of the Survivor show is being shot in one of the islands, and we went to explore their cottages too (the contestants weren't there at the time, so I probably won't make appearance on the Swedish TV.)

On a different day, we rented a kayak and paddled onto a nearby island to find our own private beach. This is the first time either Noora or I have been kayaking. It took a while and the sun was merciless, but it was fairly smooth otherwise. After a few hours on the beach, a dog and a half-savage men emerged from the jungle (apparently living on this wild island), ruining the image of a private beach reachable by water only. The man was pretty friendly though, and didn't attempt to chase us away with his wooden spear. Still later, a boat arrived - there were two passengers (a young couple) and three members of the crew. Why the hell did they choose our beach, I don't know. Anyways, the couple lied there in deck-chairs, while the crew set up a fancy table there on the beach, with candelabras and all, and went on to cook some equally fancy lunch. Must have been some rich people. Unfortunately, we didn't take any pictures of them to sell to some celebrity magazine. Little upset by their invasion of our beach, we paddled to the next one and built a sandcastle there.

Previously, I said that electricity in El Nido runs 12 hours a day. That's wrong. It should, in theory. However, more often than not in our cottage, we had a "brown-out" as they call it here. All that means that there is no power, so we ended up sitting there in candlelight several nights.

We took a bus back to Puerto, to see how the locals do it. It was pretty confusing to even find it. First, there was supposed to be a bus at 7 a.m. Then they told us it's leaving at 6:30. Then they changed it to 6. As we arrived to the station, the bus wasn't there and we had to walk to a different terminal. Found the bus, which ended up leaving at 7 a.m. anyways. Bus transportation here is truly amazing. People seem to be getting on and off as the vehicle is still moving. Most luggage is carried on the roof of the bus. Not only the passenger luggage. Sometimes, the bus stops in the middle of nowhere, picks up 10 large sacks of something (grain or straw or something) and keeps going. A lady with a big pot of fish rode on the bus for a while. Unfortunately, she took the fish inside, so it stunk pretty bad. When the inside of the bus gets too crowded, passengers sit on the roof. We even saw a moving bus that had a live pig running loose on the roof.

Back in Puerto, things are fairly peaceful. Tomorrow, we are going to a big local attraction, the Underground river in Sabang. I'm pretty excited to see it. Just yesterday, we ran into a huge parade on the main boulevard of the city. There was police, military, volunteer groups, religious groups, all other kinds of groups, and at least 10 groups of majorettes (baton twirlers), accompanied by drum orchestras. What was the fuss all about? Apparently, there is a worldwide internet poll to select the "New 7 wonders of nature". The Underground river has been selected to represent the Philippines in the poll, which had to be properly celebrated. They even had fireworks in the evening. At the moment, the river is #1 in the category "Forests, National parks, Natural reserves". Yahoo. To see how the wonder of your country is doing in the poll, here's a link. For your information, Czech Republic is represented by Pravčická Brána. Taiwan by Yu Shan.

Last thing I need to say. If you ever go to the Philippines, try the banana cake. It's wonderful. Actually, forget that. Stay away from banana cake. It's addictive!