By the way, let me put a short definition of terms here. Palawan is a small island (area 14,896.3 km²) located southwest of the Philippines. It is my country’s cleanest and greenest province which is known for its diverse flora and fauna. The other term that I would like to define is the acronym IRRI, which stands for the International Rice Research Institute. The best rice research institute in the world. That’s my workplace and am proud being part of it.
Cinderellas at large: Step aside Prince
To continue…Getting up the next morning was a drag. I woke up at 5 am as usual (it’s a hard habit to break when you cook breakfast for your kids everyday who needed to be at school at 7 am!) I couldn’t go back to sleep but I don’t really want to lose this chance of getting up a bit late. I have no breakfast to cook or kids to bring to school today! Just for a change, I stayed under the sheets until it’s around 6:30am. Turned on the TV and switched between channels. It wasn’t a good sleep though. I missed snuggling with Ethan (my 1.8 years old son who occupies ¾ of our bed at home). But that’s something I should not think about at that moment. The plan was for me to take a break and for the people at home to be more independent of me. Today will be a great day. I will go to the Palawan Underground River. There are only 7 underground rivers in the whole world and one is right here! I wouldn’t miss that, not a chance. So I got up, took a bath, took time to dry my hair (with a hair dryer which I got over a ruthless fight with the front desk officer) and leisurely talk just about anything with my great roommate while dressing up. Why great? She’s the “whole house in a small bag”…food&coffee, meds, thread&needles…name it, she has it. No pressures on us now…just enjoying our time. Everyone is almost done with breakfast when we reached the buffet. Ask why were so late? Well, we’re both Cinderellas now and it’s way before midnight!!!
Heard of quadricycles?
Not like my great roommate who wore a classy blouse and slacks, I am in my denim jeans and cotton shirt. She’s going to the conference (which was our official business here) and I was heading to the underground river (UR). Three of us, me, my eldest colleague (male), and my youngest colleague (female) missed the package tour to the UR which left that 7am. This is the only day when we do not have much business with the conference. It’s today or never. So we head forth…we will commute…by OURSELVES. We went outside the hotel and rode a tricycle (a motorbike with a sidecar on its right side, usually having 3 tires – 2 for the bike and 1 for the sidecar. This time it has 4 tires, another 2 for the rather big sidecar – shouldn’t we call it some sort of quadricycle?)
The terminal adventure
The terminal to Sabang was 15 mins away. We arrived just in time to catch the last bus for the day. They only have 7am and 9am trips. The bus left 15 mins after 9 am and all 3 of us got excited…here we go! After running 50 meters from the terminal, it stopped at a grocery store, 10 meters more -- another store, 10 meters more -- another, 50 meters more –a meat shop and petroleum gas store, then a liquor store, then…waah! When will all these end? Assuming that we spent something like 10-15 mins at each store, it must have been 15 minutes past 10 am when we finally got out of the terminal area. The bus went for another 2 kms and we parked inside a big ice plant. Everything was re-arranged for the blocks of ice to be loaded. Then, the people in the ice plant slowly started to cut blocks of ice in half, wrapping them in jute sacks before placing them on top of the already overloaded minibus. One block after another, after another, after another until we had around 40 pieces of them on top of our heads. Talk about transport efficiency! When my oldest colleague started to ask questions about weight capacity of the bus…here’s what he got, “well, it’s the way it is…all the time!” After 30 mins in the ice plant, everybody’s sticky inside the bus. Our face, hands, and skin were all saturated with sweat and dust. I didn’t even dare to touch my own face. Gives me creeps! Finally, we were Sabang bound. The ice is always the last stop, right?
The journey: against all odds
The first ½ of the road was alternating asphalt and cement which meant that it wasn’t too shaky to travel. You can enjoy the ever green countryside with occasional bonus sites as enormous rock formations, well formed soil profiles, lion caves, plantation, and odd-looking roads traversing the whole cross-sectional stretch of Palawan. Then came the bloody half. It was a not so dusty but ever rocky road. We had bumps and shakes of an octopus ride through the deeps and mounds scattered all over the whole road. But these are the natural part of the trip, so we held on tight to keep ourselves in place. It was in the last ¾ part of the trip when the tires hit a big hole and started to hisss continuously. The bus stopped and olaH! – a flat tire! It was one of the 2 rear tires on the left side of the bus. Both my young and old colleague were seated right on top of that spot and we started kidding about whose jinx it was. It only took 15 mins to change the tire and not another transpo passed by. So we got back to our seats and continued the roller coaster ride. We were on the last 1/8 of the trip when we heard a loud ‘puff’ and a continuous ‘hiss’ coming out of the rear left again. Almost automatically, the people got off, talked a bit, got on again, and looked forward to reaching our destination. Jinx or not, it was getting bloodier and bloodier. During the last 1/16 of our trip…guess what? Right, another flat tire…same spot. Everyone knows it’s flat…nobody cared to stop and change tires. They said, “we’re almost there anyway.” It seemed like an everyday thing to these people, nobody worries about it…why should we?
The thunderstorm: the final challenge
As we approach the waterfront (where we will board a motorized boat going to the underground river dock), a thunderstorm passed by. Big drops (not droplets!) of rain started pounding on the metal roof. Everything turned gray and it was like 5% road visibility. The plastic fiber boards which were supposed to close our windows were falling apart that it needed a wooden slab support to keep it functioning. It’s not misty inside the bus anymore; everyone’s soaked with sweat and rain…the wind shields are foggy…it felt like we were breathing in what all the other passengers have been breathing out (let me out!)...a tire was flat…everyone’s cramped and exhausted…what else will follow? Fortunately, nothing else did. We reached the waterfront while the winds and rains peaked. As soon as the bus stopped, we stepped out immediately into the salty air of the South China Sea where a small booming town is emerging. It was still raining hard and we all raced toward the already crowded waiting shed. The rain was then falling at 45 degrees due to the strong wind with it. Everybody’s on their toes to fit into the very corner of the shed. At that point, my eldest colleague seriously asked me, “All the signs are here…are you sure that you still want to go?” I said, “I did not go through our plight just to back out at the gates! Of course, I do.” So the 3 of us didn’t waste more time, when we heard that our bus was the last and only bus going back that day, we asked the driver to wait for us. Surprisingly, that’s the only way that they saw it coming and they were very happy to wait for us. Did anyone else mind? NO. Such friendly no-time-pressure people!
The last leg
Assured that we will have a bus to ride back, we hurriedly got our permits (P150 each) to explore the underground river. We all then grabbed something to nibble on the way -- a bottle of water, a banana, and a soda cracker. It didn’t take much time to board the motorized boat since there are only 3 of us to fill in the relatively big boat. The rain and winds were suddenly gone and the water was calm now. Cruising along the western shoreline of Palawan makes me feel like a moving character on a post card. Deep, clear waters reflecting the artistically carved rock formations at the island edges. One would even feel guilty for disturbing the tranquility of the place…for breaking the silence and somehow endangering the waters with the motor boat fuel. When we reached the final turn at the most awaited cove, we went crazy taking pictures to capture the moment. But pics are pics…no amount of pixels would be enough to capture how the 3 of us felt that moment.
Dream breaker
The ‘relatively big boat’ docked around 2 meters away from the dry seashore sand. Here’s my problem -- I am in my rubber shoes and I don’t want them or my pants or my feet to get wet! Thanks to my already ‘certified-arthritic’ eldest colleague. Trying to be a gentleman, he volunteered to carry me on his back from the boat to the dry land. Yipee! While I am comfortably hanging on his back, I could see his face turning purple with all the neck muscles bulging out and body shaking. I started to giggle but did not show him to prevent him from falling off. Talk about excess baggage going to the underground river! Tatang, thank you!
The reap
Before you get to the riverbank, you have to go through a 15-min trek. Actually, it’s not an authentic trek; it was a walk in a forest park on a creaky wooden road. At the end, you will find an oddly constructed tent where they house the life guard vests and hard hats that tourists should wear inside the underground river. Along the bank is a bamboo barge for picture taking poses in front of the UR and several canoes with bamboo balances securely fastened on each side as additional floats. You won’t be satisfied by just looking at the underground river ‘door’. Staring at the solid rock façade, which was almost concealed by the surrounding moss, bushes, and trees, melts away your reality side. One will not expect that the undisputed longest navigable underground river (8.2 km) in the whole world is just underneath the mass of rock in front of us. The ‘door’ which is actually the entrance cave to the river is a not-so-wide stretch of stalactites hardly hanging above the water. After gearing up and boarding a canoe, the guide immediately paddled us toward the mouth of the cave which literally engulfed us in. The height of the opening is just enough to let us in on a sitting position without bumping our heads with the stalactite tips. Little did we know that after the narrow door comes an amphitheater which showcased all sort of enormous rock formation, statues, and dome cathedral. The canoe ride took 45 mins, back and forth gliding through roughly 1.3 km stretch. It was dark and pungent inside. We were finally inside the solid rock that I was staring at a min ago. Different breeds of bat had colonized and lined the high, dark ceilings of the cave. All you could hear are the occasional bat eeks, wings flapping, our bamboo pole splashing, and the continuous water droplets falling from the stalactite tips above. The only source of light that we had was an emergency light powered by a car battery. I was having goose bumps at first which made my mind wander over the sheer possibilities of not being able to get out again (I was a bit claustrophobic there) …of the chances that the walls of that overwhelming cave could start crumbling over us…of the depth of the still waters underneath…of the living creatures (aliens?) thriving in that brackish stream…uppss…I realized that I am ruining the ‘exploration of my life’ so I immediately dismissed the thoughts and enjoyed the overflowing funny ‘underground river’ stories coming out of our professional guide. Here’s one: What do you call the Philippine freshwater crocodile? Answer: Crocodylus mindorensis. What do you call the Philippine saltwater crocodile? Answer: Crocodylus porosus. So what do you call the Philippine dry land crocodile? Answer: Crocodylus senadores. Get it? Senadores…senators. After feasting our eyes with a Nature’s masterpiece for 45 mins, we headed back until we reach the blinding daylight outside. Reality set in…we made it. Mission accomplished. Now, we can proudly say that we’ve been to Palawan. It was almost 3:30pm and we hastily board our motorized boat to meet our patiently waiting bus. Overwhelmed and exhausted, we went up the bus as soon as we reached it. Since we know that it will still take a while before leaving, I went down the bus again to get some corn chips and soda before finally resting on our bus seats. Ready to travel 2.5 hrs back to the city. We will be late for the big banquet arranged by the city mayor for the conference delegates but…it’s all worth it…yes…including the 3 flat tires that we had and the thunderstorm.
