Tefas - Underground river, Puerto Princesa ~ Philippines

Underground river, Puerto Princesa ~ Philippines

Our last two days in Malapascua the clouds decided to stick closer to each other and we happened to experience rainy days. "Rain in the Philippines? The tropical paradise? How rare!!" we thought trying to ignore the fact that the country has a tropical monsoon climate which means just a lot of rain and humidity half the year. So, with the rainy clouds hanging over us we packed our bags, hugged our new friends goodbye and took the boat to the port to take a van to cebu airport where we stayed the night waiting for our flight to... damdamdam, Puerto Princesa in Palawan!

The island Palawan has been announced the most beautiful island in the whole world two years in a row and if you google pictures of the island you'll understand why. This is also the island where the swedish tv-show Robinson (year 2009) took place. So, if it rains in Malapascua let's go to the sunny paradise, let's go to Palawan. We thought. We arrived to Puerto Princesa and the rain was pouring down, we were hungry and Mollie had lost her nail scissor. Well, as you hear the mood wasn't too positive. So, we had some food, showered and went to bed super early and the next day we woke up in a better place to go to one of the new seven wonders of nature and UNESCO world heritage site, Puerto Princesa Subterranean national park.

We did this trip through a tour company and got a discount from our hostel which made us pay 30 USD each for the transfer, the activity and lunch buffet. Not too bad, right? Anyway, the national park is situated 80 kilometers outside of Puerto Princesa city and one of the longest underground river in the world. The river is 8.2 kilometers long but only 1.5 kilometers are accesible by boat which is the entrance limit for the tourists. If you want to get deeper into the cave and river system you need many hours and to get a special premission for making studies on the phenomenon, like if you work for National geographic or something similar.

After the two hour bus ride we had to queue up and for this we loaded up with some vitamins. Philippines, your cheap juices makes me want to marry you <3

One boat ride later we went for a short walk until we reached the small lagoon where rowing boats was waiting to take us through the cave.

Gearing up for dangerous adventures.

Then we plugged our audio guides into our ears, got told to not stop our fingers in the water because of the electric eels and not keep our mouths open because of the constantly falling "holy shit" (bat poop) and slowly we floated into the cave.

The rock formations in the cave are all created by the raindrops falling through the cracks in the stone and by the many minerals found in the cave. One of the most important minerals are the bat poop and there were many people in our group that had problem staying in the cave for the 45 minutes that the tour lasted for because of the smell. I accidently gasped while looking up and realized how lucky I was not getting this holy shit in my mouth. Since it's pitch black in the cave my poor GoPro couldn't deliver any photos but it was really cool to see all the stone formations that looked like so many weird objects. We saw everything from mushrooms, holy families in a cathedral and a naked lady.

This is a baby lizard. The baby filipinos are cuter. I want one.

When we got back to the port where we took the first boat and where we drank our juices it was lunch time and free time since half of the group decided on hiking back to the port and we had to wait for them. Sooo, we ate and then went to the beach. Mollie fell asleep after 2.3 minutes and me, I went swimming until I glimpsed a massage booth on the beach, just next to us. I don't even have to tell you what happened next.

I fell asleep and Mollie came to wake me up in a hurry to not miss the transfer taking us back to the city. My masseuse was standing staring at me, which maybe wasn't too weird since I slept for 20 minutes after she finished the massage... So I paid my 6 USD for my massage and my nap (can you believe this??) and then we headed back and took the van to our hostel in the center.

We have found this vegan restaurant in Puerto Princesa so I'm planning on taking Mollie there for dinner, tonight again. But seriously, they have everything I need in my life and just looking at the menu makes the butterflies circulate in my tummy. Ok, enough now. Tomorrow we're leaving this town to go to Port Barton, how to get there we don't know yet. But I'll let you know when I've figured it out. Until then, PUSS! (Means kiss in swedish).