The Last Frontier II (Palawan Bike Tour PicDiary)

continuing..

Day 6 (03.06.11)

sleeping at an unknown, heavily populated area. a little restless.

leaving Taytay at the early morning. off to San Vicente!

but first, detour to Lake Danao! The largest lake of the province and an ecologically important ecosystem. Saw a pair of osprey scouting the whole terrain.

traversing the Northern forest of Palawan via the 20km off-road to San Vicente from Barangay New Agutaya, felt excited yet calm.

a kid pointed us the wrong direction and we ended up in the San Vicente poblacion. Bye bye Long Beach! Still, the sunset is breathtaking!

dinner is grilled parrotfish and surgeonfish for P70. yummy! The town's market has lodging rooms for P50/pax. Additional P15 if you will use the market's shower, which surprisingly clean and has ample supply of water. Unlike our usual Metro Manila public toilet, tsk.

Day 7 (03.07.11)

hitched a boat ride to Barangay Port Barton, also a well-known ecotourism site in San Vicente.

Hello Port Barton! But, we are greeted by heavy rains. Spent the rest of the afternoon biking in the shore, swimming and drinking hehehe.

DAY 8 (03.08.11)

Slept in Port Barton Elementary School. We decided to stay in Port Barton for one more day to explore the different sites in the area. First stop. Pamoayan Waterfalls.

Next stop: Intake Waterfalls. We thought the name of the waterfalls is a Cuyonon word because locals pronounce it "intek". We realized our mistake when we read a signboard advising the public not to take a bath because the area is a source of drinking water of the barangay hahaha.

In the entrance of Intake 2, we met Dominador Guzman, a former boxer, and his family. He invited us to his house, which is almost made of yantok. Spent the early afternoon listening to his stories about his past, sport, love and travels.

We tried to pedal all the way to White Beach but we decided to abort the plan halfway because its already getting dark. Locals say the White Beach is being claimed by Palawan Representative Antonio Alvarez. Sadly, I am not surprised . Even the uninhabited islands in Busuanga Group of Islands and El Nido were being claimed by rich and influential individuals. You can even buy (?) an island in Palawan via Internet.

Day 9 (03.09.11)

Last day in Port Barton and I almost dragged my butt just to get up. Its always difficult to leave a very lovely place, haaay. We thanked the Gacayan family for their generosity. Their sari-sari store and restaurant, which is located in front of the school, served as our shelter, storage area and tambayan. Biking along the Port Barton-Roxas road, come face to face with a snake. It almost bit me. Well still have the nerve to take a picture of snakey :-)

Arriving in the national highway in Barangay San Jose, Roxas, we decided to take a bus to Puerto Princesa City. Top load from 11am-1pm, we were literally baked under the sun.

Arriving at PP, dehydrated, tired and muscles aching due to scorching heat, we only have less than an hour to rest 'coz we still need to bike to Aborlan, the hometown of Shyo, which is almost 70km down south, tsk. Started to bike at around 3:30pm, along the way we passed the Iwahig penal colony and Governor's controversial beach house, spotted flock of Palawan Hornbill and Philippine Cuckoo-Dove, and smelled the aroma of Palawan Badger. We arrived at Aborlan at around 8:30pm. We were hosted by the family of my friend Eunice, whose parents are also close friends of Shyo. Small world hehehe.

Day 10 (03.10.11)

Started the day drinking coffee while watching bising (tree squirrels) jumped from one tree to another. Biking inside the Palawan Western University campus and meeting former co-faculty members of Shyo. Since Shyo needed to finish some transactions in PWU, spent the day reading "Into Thin Air" and sleeping. Rest day hahaha