Underground River (Destination: Puerto Princesa & Sabang, Philippines)

Traveled Nov, 2011

From Manila I flew directly to Puerto Princesa on the island of Palawan arriving early afternoon.  After a HOT walk to the hostel with harassment from several taxi drivers, I booked an afternoon tour of the city.  On this trip, we saw the cathedral and the location where many American POWs were massacred by the Japanese during WWII.

We stopped at a small zoo where I got to kiss and hold a crocodile,

Baker’s Hill…a kitschy spot overlooking the ocean,

and the Ilawig Prison…working Filipino prison where the prisoner’s sell their crafts.


The next day, I headed out to the west coast of Palawan to the town of Sabang.  The beach was great but there was a thunder storm approaching.

This is the location of the Underground River, supposedly one of the “7 natural wonders of the world”.  We saw huge monitor lizards and monkeys as we made our way to the boats.  Then we were paddled into the cave that has one of the longest navigable underground rivers in the world.  This was neat but probably would have been nicer on a sunny day.

The next day I just chilled out in Puerto Princesa city since I knew I’d be off the grid for a few days and the heat was unbearable – visiting the ATM, internet, supermarket.  I got a great haircut for the equivalent of 92 cents!!!    Went to dinner with Jamie from the hostel – had crocodile in coconut sauce.

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