Puerto Princessa
I was only here for 1 night on my way to El Nido, but I am spending 2 days on my way back to Manila. I’m staying at a hotel called Lola Itang. It’s where my Filipina friends were staying, and it’s a really good deal. I have my own room, my own shower and bathroom, a/c, cable tv, and free internet for 650 pesos a night. For only 250 pesos more than my jungle rat cage, I have all the modern conveniences to keep me from losing my mind after the sun sets at 6 pm. I’m beginning to rethink all of my nature destinations in the next five and a half months.
Seriously. I love nature, and its awesome, and I believe that protecting the environment means protecting our human health, longevity and future. BUT, I’m about to throw in the towel on these naturey nothing to do after 6 pm places while traveling alone. If I have a travel buddy to hang out with after dark, ok. But no more jungle cages infested with rats on my own! Over it.
Today, my mission was to find: toothpaste, a razor, hair product, a replacement power chord for my poor dying laptop, and a Laundromat. And a decent meal. I had a blast walking around the town on a Sunday. I went to about 10 different computer/ electronic places in 3 hours and found 1 place that repaired one side of my chord for 50 pesos, and then after walking all over, unable to find the plug that connects the power source ot the power outlet, on my way back to Lola Itang’s, I stopped by 1 last place and they had the part I needed… for only 85 pesos! And it was 1 block away the whole time! For 3 hours, and $3 US, I have undone the rat’s damage. And reconnected with the world.
On my adventure, I got to go to a supermarket. While traveling, I looooove to go to supermarkets and poke around. Nothing too weird to report, besides the armed guards wandering around inside (side note: everywhere in the Philippines has armed security guards. The pharmacy. The Western Union, the Jolibee’s restaurant. Everywhere.) but there was a nice little food court where I got a bowl of noodles, freshly stir fried with 4 little spring rolls for 50 cents.
And I found a town square blasting Tagalog Christmas Rap tunes while skateboarders tried to land tricks. I sat and watched for about 20 minutes and saw 3 tricks actually landed. And there were about 15 skaters. Yeah, they sucked, but it was fun to listen to music and watch people dramatically bust their asses on their skateboards. Good times.
