Passing through Palawan

Arriving in Puerto Princesa and thinking we are in paradise. A crazy motorbike taxi ride through the streets and getting dumped in the middle of a hectic thoroughfare with everything hurtling everywhere. After heaving our huge packs through throngs of people, we settle into a beautiful pension with bamboo and leaves everywhere. A delicious lunch in the rooftop bar overlooking the sea and chatting with a couple from Holland. It is bliss and we hope it stays just like this.
A few days pass in Palawan and it seems like the things we have done could comprise weeks. We had a night out on Starfish Island in the middle of Honda Bay, and never before have I experienced something so funny yet disturbing at the same time. Two Filipinos lived and worked on this island almost all year long and while I first assumed they’d be happy to see us, I later kept telling Ben that I thought we were in great danger. It was just us and them on this tiny island, which, at high tide, is a 100 meter strip of land. And that night it blew a hurricane and the bay waters crashed furiously underneath the wooden floor boards on which our tiny beds rocked uneasily. And the next day island hopping in a tiny boat with a fearless guide who told us that the wild monkeys that jumped all over us would not hurt us. And then back to Puerto Princesa where we checked into the luxurious “Casa Linda” and ate an exquisite meal at “Kalui” with the Dutch couple.
The next day, an early start put us on a van to Sabang and we hurtled over some of the worst roads known to man. Hopped a boat out to the touristy underground river – but an experience that was invaluable.
Walked the dense, cobwebbed "Jungle Trail" the following day – feeling slightly groggy after a night of rum drinking and poker playing with the Dutch and two English guys from Plymouth, who told us of an eight hour canoe trip they took in the middle of an angry sea, and they had spent two hours kissing the sand once they finally arrived on the beach. The night had ended in a drunken plunge into the South China Sea and ripping our suits off to feel the wonder of it all. I think we will leave Sabang today (though I can’t be sure) and plan our next leg. It has been a wonderful couple of days and as I sit on the balcony of our cabana, looking at palm trees and hearing the sea roll in, not even my aching back is enough to stop me from thinking that we have stumbled upon the chosen life and should probably not leave it.