Part 24: Sabang.....
Sabang was as quaint and picturesque a village as you could possibly begin to imagine, gently kissing the sea, with a panoramic view of limestone rocks and dashing mountains from left to right, surrounded by a luscious tropical environment, with small fishing boats bobbing up and down on the bay, yes indeed this place was beautiful.
There was a convenience store, a couple of clothes stalls and one or 2 cafes, that was it.
Young kids where playing basketball on a small square right on the shore, whilst a few people looked on.
I also noticed pigs running around freely near some bamboo huts, a few public transport trikes speeding by, this was far more remote and picturesque than I'd ever imagined.
Who on earth would fail to be blown away by this?
A read someones negative comments online about Sabang, who rather misguidedly said there was not much to do here, that there was no electricity, that the accommodations were terrible, but wasn't that completely missing the point?
For the record our accommodation was great, for £5 a night!!!
What do these people expect.
It was gateway to the newly crowned 7 wonders of nature, the underground caves and river.
But I sincerely preyed that tourism would not swallow this beautiful place up, because so far, apart from a very small scattering of local people, that hadn't proven to be the case.
I did a little research online previously and discovered that readymade package tours to the river from Puerto Princesa, where both expensive and sold out!
But there was no way I was going to let that stop me, especially after all we went through to get here.
So far my trip had cost less than £2!
I was bursting with adventure as the plan was a little 'do it yourself' improv to get there.
Our cheap accommodation could not have been closer to the sea, admittedly it was a little modest, but offered good value considering.
Knowing that electricity in Sabang was rare, but In some places, including our tiny hotel, it was limited from 6pm to midnight, no wifi, no phone signal and no TV.... perfect.
I was still covered all over in that dry dust and sweat from the long bus trip, so I decided to freshen up.
A typical Filipino cold shower did the trick, it felt so good washing all that dust away, but I started perspiring the second I stepped out of the shower in my scorching hot room.
We really did do this the adventurers way so far, no fancy air conditioned busses, hotels and tour guides for us.
Me and my Filipino friend then went on a mission to speak with some of the locals about getting to the underground river, and the sweet girl at our accommodation helped us get the permit we needed to enter the caves.
This was something we were told there was no chance of us getting by the online agencies, It cost us £3 each!
Next it was arranging a boat there, and we struck gold again.
We would be sailing to the caves from right in front of our accommodation first thing in the morning by a local fishing boat.
So far in total, our inclusive trip, including, permits, boat transfer, entrance to the caves, and the bus journey here cost us less than £10 each.
Not bad considering, had we booked the easy option on line tour, it would have cost us a whopping £65 each!!!
Tours do have their place, but you don't get the free sense of adventure that I was craving, because for me, knowing you are on your own gives you so much more satisfaction.
We were still deciding what to do today, when my friend got chatting to another young guy in one of the nearby stalls, he recommended a few things of interest to us.
One being a nearby zip line in the mountains, which immediately got my attention.
These were one of the Philippines most recent additions to their already many attractions that have swept the country here, and this particular one he spoke of, was over 800 meters in length, one of the longest in Asia!
We did not need much persuasion, smiling to each other and immediately asked him how we get a piece of the action.
Apparently the only way to get there was in a 4x4 through some really bumpy off road terrain, and a bit of a trek to reach the zip line.
The guy then made a quick call on his mobile phone, and within 5 mins, this super cool red and blue 4x4 jeep turned up right outside his stall.
The beaming, bare chested driver with flip flops, and a humongous hair style then drove us there, on what was turning out to be an unbelievably scorching hot day.
We were both in fits of laughter in the back for some reason, especially when I started whistling the theme tune to Indiana Jones or maybe it was the drivers awesome Buffon hairstyle that made us giggle.
It was so much fun, after a really bumpy, and stupendously rough, but thrilling 25 minute drive, we reached a small covered hut, where we were met by a guy carrying the straps and harness for the zip line.
'Hello' he smiled as he asked us to follow him through some dense trees and bushes to a bamboo raft that we took across the river.
We proceeded through an opening and onto a gorgeous sandy beach laden with rocks.
The heat began to really intensify as we walked along the soft sands, towards some bamboo steps on the edge of the beach amongst some palm trees and more rocks.
The guy who was leading us did not even break sweat as we followed him up the steep, creaky and wobbly steps through the jungle.
It got steeper and steeper, ducking underneath some hanging vines, with monkeys in view swinging through the trees, this was brilliant and equally tiring, especially when we reached some dodgy wooden ladders!
Then after 20 minutes climbing we reached the creaky zip line platform, and what a view it was from up here.
looking down on the white beach, I could barely make out the other end of the zip line over 800 meters away, which was stretched across the blue South China Sea, with rolling mountain views to the left, coconut trees, and all of Sabang's coastline directly ahead, it was stunning.
I guess if you were scared of heights, then you would have a big problem, because navigating your self back down the trail would pose a bit of a challenge to say the least.
My Filipino friend looked a bit worried, nervously giggling to the crew on the platform, whilst they strapped and suited us up, pulling the harness really tight in between my legs.
Mind you, I was starting to get pretty worried myself, but the trick is to not show it, smiling instead, and mocking my friend, in the hope that it would take my mind off the nerves kinda works for me.
The crew gave us a quick safety briefing and equipment check, to be fair they new what they were doing.
We were really high up on the side of this mountain, stood on a shoddy looking bamboo platform about to launch ourselves off the edge over the blue sea, on a 800 meter long zip line, nearly a whole Kilometre!!!
Whilst we were looking at the view, one of the guys just thew himself down, and off he went with the pulley making a loud buzz in process as he whizzed down the zipline, getting smaller and smaller in the distance, until he was barely visible.
When he reached the bottom they radioed up to the crew saying the coast was clear for us.
Now it was our turn, they decided to strap us together on the same pulley, which offered me no extra consolation, other than if our cable snapped, we would both plummet together, anyway we just hung there for a few seconds, suspended over the blue sea, my heart started to race when I looked directly down below us
My friend kept repeating how scared she was, it was a little bit late for that right now, I was holding the straps so tightly the circulation in my hands nearly stopped.
The crew then asked us if we were ready, and not even waiting for an answer, they just shoved us down!
Oh my goodness the adrenalin, it was
Exhilarating as we began to really pick up some speed, spinning around in the process, shouting at the top of my voice, and dangling there on this steel cord was an incredible way to take in the view.
It seemed to go on forever as we approached the last section, literally skimming the sea as it levelled off!
We were both completely buzzing our socks off!!
The landing platform on the beach was coming up really fast, almost a bit to fast for my liking, then a split second before reaching the end, 2 guys pulled a break chord, causing us to stop with an almighty judder!
The harness tightened around my groin as it did so, but the adrenalin was so high, I did not feel a thing.
Wow, what an experience, almost a full minute and a half in total, the rush was awesome!
Regathering my senses, I looked back up the zip line, and all around me taking everything in, thinking in almost disbelief, what was happening to me? my newly discovered sense of adventure and confidence just kept on growing.
Don't get me wrong, I was loving every minute, but this was as much a surprise to me as it will undoubtably be to anyone who knows me well back home.
We thanked the crew, before making our way back across the beach to the river crossing.
Now it was time for a very different experience, we arranged to take a trip down the river through the really dense and almost prehistoric looking Mangrove forrest on a paddle boat.
Our guide was a really peaceful and rather charming elderly man, full of charisma and personality.
Politely introducing himself, and welcoming us to the forrest, we just sat back, relaxing in the boat whilst he explained the importance of the centuries old mangrove trees to the local environment.
This wonderful man continued educating us about the many species of mangrove trees, or Bakawan as they are also known, learning both Male and female Bakawan can be differentiated through their leaves.
He explained one of the local delicacies in Sabang is the Tamilok worm, which tastes like oysters apparently, and can be found inside dead mangroves trees.
As we sailed deeper down the river, we found ourselves taking refuge from the intense heat under shades of natures canopies, this now seemed like we were in an amazon rainforest, believe me this was fantastic.
This wonderful chap politely asked our permission if he could sing us a song, to which we of course agreed.
Me and my friend just sat there beaming as he then proceeded to sing about the forrest to us, clicking his fingers and stamping his bare feet on the boat, I loved it.
All the guides here, including the zip line crew, work for free, surviving on small donations mainly from other countries with no Filipino government funding at all.
They were on their own, proud and protective of Palawan, working long hours preserving the area.
Knowing this made me a little sad but endeared me to this incredible Island and its amazing people even more.
These mangroves are so important to Sabang's ecosystem, if it were not for the trees, the incredible beaches would not be what they are, so you can totally appreciate why the locals are so protective over the area.
What a brilliant way to end the day, to just sit back in this wonderful paddle boat, sailing peacefully deeper into this incredible forrest, was such a worthwhile and satisfying experience.
I made a mental note to endorse this area as much as I could, to other travellers on my journey.
Well, not to much.
I loved it just the way it was....
Next, the quest for the underground river....