Had the pleasure of taking a trip here recently. Started off badly as at the airport, there was SUPPOSED to be a van to take us on the 5 hour trip from the airport to El Nido. Regardless of what they tell you, they dont leave until the van is full, about 5:30 in the evening. We spent some hours at the airport listening to the lies. After that, everything went well. The hotel was clean, reasonably priced, and the staff very friendly. There are tours listed as A, B, and C. Due to the weather we did not get C. I would recommend as tour A to take a boat called Island Nica I believe. The boat is what I think is called a pump boat, but the guide was funny, very knowledgeable and the tour was fantastic. They park the boat for lunch ( they are cooking on the back during the tour) at one of the islands and puts out a feast that astounds you. All total, less my drinking, was maybe $1,500 from Dumaguete round trip, 5 days and four nights. Some of the most beautiful islands, hidden coves, caves and such that I have ever seen.
Our 10 days trip to palawan that creates a story to tell before i die. i also have to thanks all the kind and generous expats in dumaguete and other islands of Pilipinas Mabuhay, thank you "Kano/Long Nose" for changing the life of the pinays and i'm sorry if things didn't work out. ***** Dearest Maria, as said, I wrote a reflection on our trip. (I am not sure if reflection is the right word.) Having met Maria is definitely one of the best things that happened on me. Her heart, mind and spirit are warm, serene and alive. I had the privilege to spending many days with her and I learnt from and inspired by her. I would like to write a biography of her or a story based on her. A pending project! On food Maria is not a big eater and is selective in food, which suits perfectly fine for me. Her sensitive stomach is part of the reasons. Once I brought her a cup of non-fresh coco juice (I did not know it was not fresh.) and her stomach could not take it. Being a pescatarian notwithstanding, I avoid dairy, deep-fried food, gluten, unhealthy snacks, soft drinks and so on. Actually I am cutting back on fish and seafood too. But we devoured garlic buttered lobster at only 350 peso without guilt. In front of Maria who has an aligned food taste as me, we had our meals happily without hard compromise. Other friends might be annoyed that I drink only fresh shakes. She considerably suggested we shared vegetarian dishes. On several nights, we skipped dinner because it was late and we had heavy lunch. This pleased me. Okinawa centenarians practice eating 80% full. I aspire to have this habit too. Most time during my trip in Palawan with Maria I practiced it, except times when the food was really irresistible. On the first instance we met, Maria frankly expressed she did not feel the need to finish all food on her plate despite the fact that she understands someone say it is a waste of food and a disrespect to farmers. Think about poverty in third-world countries. She thinks that not tormenting our stomach is a respect of our body. I concur totally. Uneaten food can be used to feed animals or as compose. Even if they end up in landfill, they are biodegradable. Also, isn’t our body more precious than landfill? However, over ordering is a problem. Maria condemned two Chinese girls who ordered massive feast in a restaurant in Puerto Princesa city. The meal we ordered that at restaurant accidentally contained a lot of meat. I do not eat it and Maria couldn’t take it all. We shared them with waiters. I never had this idea. Now I know what I can do if my plate is too large or contains food that I do not eat. I also recalled that she expressed discontent at her sister-in-law who placed several bags of sticky rice on her plate back in Malatapay in Aoril. In her opinion, one should take one at first and take more when not dissatisfied. Again, she is absolutely right. I still eat fast and gobble addictive food on my plate, and even finish up other’s portion. When I am aware of this act, I remind myself, think Maria. On consideration Maria is the most considerate person I know. During an island hooping tour at lunch time, buffet was offered and vegetarian options were lacking – only one small plate of roasted eggplant and tomato. Knowing that I wouldn’t eat other food, Maria took a small portion to enable me to have more of them. A more selfish or normal person will just take whatever he pleases, ignoring the fact that if he and I both took a lot, other people would not have enough to eat. I keep in mind this example and would like to do what Maria did if unfortunately similar incident occurs. On being smart at travel Maria is a true traveler. Her military Manduka duffle bag looks cool and is also practically. She travels with merely 5 kilos. She brought a waterproof bag when going to the sea. This is very presciently smart. Our bags were wet and contents were partly soaked. She hanged flip flips on the stripes of the bag. Genius! A majority of the clothes that she brought were quick to dry. Thanks to her, she booked the best accommodation possible every night. The bamboo house at Puerto Princesa was cozy and inexpensive. Spin Hostel in El Nido is new, chic and reasonably priced. Orange Pearl in El Nido is perfect. Palawan Village Hotel is conveniently located. She didn’t book Orange Pearl in advance. She knew that we needed to check out the prospective resorts ourselves before deciding. She is so right. Many nice resorts In El Nido were not listed in Agoda because of poor network there. She was not ripped off by tricycle drivers or travel agents. She told me that we should talk to local people and learn of pricing from them, and even make friends with them to get better deal. For example, when we took tricycle from Spin to Orange Pearl, the driver charged 150 peso, which is a lot based on the short distance. Maria refused to budge and rejected the fee outright and paid only 50 peso. Tour fee quoted by Spin was 1500 peso. As a young driver Mike drove us one time, Maria talked to him and made friends with him. He quoted a much lower price. We went to Nacpan beach with him, which would cost 1500 peso per person (inclusive of lunch) if we booked at Spin, but we just needed to pay him 500 peso each. We save 1000 peso! As we were charged an expensive 150 peso from terminal to Spin. The next day she asked a Spin security guard if all drivers charge 150 peso. He replied that departing from Spin, yes, departing on the road no. So we walked a few meters to find a tricycle instead of right in front of Spin entrance. Later during island tour, we learnt that some people paid cheaper (800 peso versus 1300 peso). The trick of them was to ask around. Maria and I only booked at Orange Pearl. If we were not have another tour (We wanted to go to Tour C and visit the shrine.), we would not book at the resort and visited tour operators ourselves to seek out the best deal. Lunch of our island tour was awful and arrangement was messy. Maria told that to Orange Pearl and demanded that we had another operator on our new tour. She also thought that visitors should voice their frustration to tourism office of unscrupulous merchants or drivers so that better official policy can be placed to curb these behaviors. On being generous Maria is smart at travel. She avoids paying unnecessary extra. However she is far from being a money stink. She pays tips generously if she likes the food/service. At a restaurant we tried in Puerto Princesa, after collecting half the amount of the bill (which was 320 peso in total) from me, she generously gave out more than 40 peso as tips. Take note here she did not insist me to give out tips. She gave on her own. Back in Hong Kong, I seldom give out tip. And if I do give out, the food/service will have to be above average to justify it. I do not want to blame cultural difference to my non-tip giving tendency. There has been controversy over giving tips is hurting to the staff thus should be abolished. Put this aside, I would like to nurture my appreciation of people’s hard work and be more giving. Maria also told me stories of some foreigners in Philippines sponsor young street vendors to go to school. When they see young street vendors, they ask the youngsters if they go to school. Often the family of these workers is so poor that they need their children to work outside to learn money. The foreigners think that these children should go to school, not work, at least not during school hours. One time, Maria paid 500 peso to a young child selling peanut on the street which costed just 50 peso. Maria did not award every people. She awarded people who go to work and work hard, not those who stay at home and do nothing. I think it very wise. I shall help those unfortunate who work hard too. On work-life balance Maria has a lot of rich friends who earn a lot of money, have a lot of big houses and employ multiple maids. At one point of her life, she realized she does not need to be very rich. She wants to have time to relax during the day and not working around the clock. She has many rich best friends. She shared with me they became work-obsessive now. They have a lot of money, more than enough in fact. They can quit any time to enjoy a good life. Yet they keep on working and working, envying Maria who gets to travel often. This is a choice. I am totally with Maria on this view. My friends who work in law firm and banks earn significantly more than I do. Yet I enjoy that my work hours are 9am to 6pm Mon to Fri 95% of the time. I go to yoga studio after work. I do not need to attend to business email at my private time and my work stress is not intense. On being total sharing Her frankness and unabashedness in revealing private side of her makes me feel that I am special and I aspire I can reveal more about myself like her. She told me her love stories in Dubai. How some men courted her feverishly but then one day dated and married her coworker. How she pressed her beau to iron her panties. She even revealed that they did not have real sex but oral sex. I cannot imagine myself I telling anymore not my partner these intimate details. If she makes an impression on you now, you can tell she is total sharing. She was unashamed to let hotel staffs know that she was unable to go to tours because she was at peak of her period. On a lagoon, she causally announced that she needed to pee and peed a few meters away from us. One disturbing and unforgettable moment during our trip was, in Orange Pearl, a nice resort just a few steps away from the best beautiful beach in town we were staying at, one night as I was undressing at shower in bathroom, I saw a pairs of eyes watching me through silted windows. I was naked, for God’s sake. I screamed on top of my lung and rushed out. Maria was shocked too. She told me she caressed her body and sang during shower and that man must be seen it too. She said that she was psychologically very disturbed and she recounted the story to hotel staff. She even reported the part that she caressed her body and sang during shower, with demonstration. I need her carefreeness and low threshold to embarrassment! A case in point, she reminded Amira and me that we should bring pepper spray with us. I do not tell good stories. I should acquire the skills to provide more details and example to what I have to say to make it more engaging and informative. Maybe I also considered myself a boring person whose stories are nothing remarkable. Just as Maria says at times she is not beautiful or old- which I disagree completely. It is time to let go these unfounded self-sabotaging beliefs. On food again- sharing snacks She shared with my candies, brownies, croissant and pain au chocolat. I should learn to actively share food during travel to friends. No need to be shy on this matter. On pursuing childhood dream When Maria was young, she wished to wear the nicest clothes among her classmates and have a big house. She worked hard at her aunts shops at study break. She used her salary to buy herself pretty clothes and shoes. Voila, she indeed became the most beautifully dressed girl in class. After study, she realized that she would not be rich working in the Philippines unless selling drugs. She worked abroad. Everyone has his dream. But Maria’s determination and effort to make it happen is inspiring to me. Look at Maria’ house now. So beautiful. She was not born a rich family. She worked her way through the life she enjoys today. After she explained to me drinking coco water in the morning is like having kefir, and explained the benefits of coco, I told her I want to have my own coco tree. I now also dream of having a nice house like hers with a lot of plants and flowers. Sipping cocktails at roof of skyscraper is not my ideal life. I want to reside near the sea, like at hammock at Orange Pearl, listening to sound of seawave. I want to be financially capable of eating healthful food, say a majority being organic. If I run out of water on the go, I would be able to buy Evian instead of general brands, without worrying about my purse and bank account. Think Maria, make my dreams happen. A case in point, Maria shared that a man only eats coco and banana living in a jungle and introduced to me coco detox day, eating only coco at breakfast, lunch and dinner. One coco for breakfast (no other food) felt very good indeed. I really want to embark on coco detox day. On being a teacher Maria is a good teacher. I had my first kayaking experience with her. She taught me how to paddle, make turns, stop and paddle backwards and the correct body position. She explained patiently yet informatively. She pressed me that “Now you paddle, I won’t move or tell you what to do.” This is such an effective way for me to try hands-on and not rely on her. What is important is I practice it, she said. Two days later she suggested that we had paddling session again. She instructed me how to move my arms. When it rained stopped and she had showers, she encouraged me to continue on my own. Sensing my doubt, she added that it was up to me. Of course I cannot waste her effort and I practiced for maybe half an hour. God, it was tiring for my arms and torso. I am looking forward to learning surfing from her in Bali. And I am more motivated to lead a great yoga session with her. On her calmness I consider I am a calm person. Maria is even calmer. She talks gently and does things gently. I lost my calm when I discovered my shoes were left behind at a hostel and when I saw a man watching me shower. Maria screamed too when she saw a snake in bathroom. But not as dramatic as I did. She handles situations gracefully and calmly, without judging voice and expression. I need to be more like her in this respect too. Maria is much more than what I wrote above. Yes, I had wonderful time in Puerto Princesa and El Nido. I had three times guyabano shakes (thanks to Maria’s recommendation. We are fans of healthy food and superfood. ), slept at beach house a few meters away from the best beautiful beach in proximity, had nice and healthy Filipino food, went to the most exquisite islands and beaches. However, memories I share with Maria and time spending with her are more valuable to me. It is almost like my trip is about her. She telling me about hotel business based on comments on Spin is eye-opening to me! Her beautiful soul and face capture many people’s heart. I have such the privilege to know her. The world will be a better place if more people get to know her and are like her. I look forward to our Bali trip, and going other yoga/ healthy cooking/yogic lifestyle events with her. I miss too Marpas Apartment and Marpas Farm. P.S. When I feel like relaxing, I mentally conjure up the scene when I laid on Orange Pearl hammock in early morning in my nightgown, listening to seawaves and regarding the blue sky and clean sea. This scene is one of my favourites.
