The minivan ride to El Nido was alright for the first 2 hours or so, but the last 4 hours was bumpy as it was all unpaved and/or construction. I found it interesting and a bit concerning that our driver and Filipino passengers all silently prayed before we left.

On that note, Christianity is pretty big in the Philippines (90% of the population are Christian), but it’s practiced and celebrated in a very kitschy and flamboyant way, with rosaries hanging from rear-view mirrors in vehicles, pictures of Jesus and Mary surrounded by flowers, lots of bright colours, etc. The serious, sombre, tone of the religion that you see in the west was nowhere to be found, nor was the sense of shame that surrounds out. I never did visit any churches though, and being there only a week, I’m sure it’s not all sunflowers and Buddy Jesus.

Upon arriving in El Nido, we walked around the beach and decided on a guest house which turned out to have an owner who was half-Chinese. She was the first to tell us that the Chinese presence in the Philippines is pretty significant; all of the airlines are owned by Chinese, many major companies are run by Chinese, they’re responsible for most of the skyscrapers going up in Manila, they own hi-end real-estate and land all over the country, etc.

Anyway, El Nido is nice, but you don’t go there for the town – it’s the many surrounding islands in the Bacuit Archipelago that are the real draw. The area is famous for its great snorkeling, diving, and almost unreal scenery.

To get around, you can hire a boat for the day and go island hopping. There are tours that you can sign up for that visit a few of the more popular islands during the day (about $10 USD), or you can hire a boat for yourself and go wherever you like, and get dropped off and picked up a few hours later (about $30 USD for one return trip). We hired a boat for a tour on the first day, and then on the second day decided to get dropped off at our favorite island.

As you can see from the photos, the scenery is pretty amazing. The water is turquoise, the surrounding limestone cliffs are unreal, and the best part is that the islands are basically deserted. The only island that we visited that had residents was ‘7 Commandos’ island (named after a ship that wrecked not far from its shore), where a guy lived with his dogs, and sold $1 San Miguel beers, coconuts, and snacks out of his bamboo hut to whomever showed up.

Unfortunately, I don’t know how to swim (yes, ha ha) so I couldn’t appreciate the snorkeling or diving experiences, but I did give it a quick attempt: at Ellen and the boat driver’s coaxing and reassurance, I strapped on a life jacket and jumped into the sea. If you know how to swim, it might be hard to imagine what a completely terrifying and insane experience that was. But it was also extremely cool to look beneath the surface and see the corals and fish swimming beneath my feet. It wasn’t enough to make me stop holding on to the side of the boat with one arm for dear life though.

We arrived at Puerto Princesa airport very early, and after getting our checked bag from the tiny but insanely crowded baggage claim area, we left to go and try and find a hotel.

This is usually the moment of arriving in any new place that I hate the most: being outside the airport, having only a vague idea (or absolutely none, which is more often the case) of where to go, and usually having to fend off the area’s best touts and scammers who are all trying to take you on a joyride with an inflated taxi fare, or take you to a roach-infested crummy hotel they get a commission on.

But this was Palawan and there was neither.

The airport had a few people from hotels/guesthouses that had info and pics of their rooms, but none of them were pushy; none even approached anyone. We left outside and it was the same. No swarm of cabbies or desperate rickshaw drivers frothing at the mouth with foreign dollar signs in their eyes yelling, “TAXI SIR?!” or “HELLO MY FRIEND”.

We decided on a place (the De Loro Inn and Guesthouse) which was overpriced, but alright. It had the typical backpacker/laid back/quasi-hippie/reggae decor that most upper-range budget guesthouses have. After sleeping for a few hours, we decided to explore the town and make plans to head to El Nido the next day.

The town itself is nothing to really write home about. It consists of a busy main strip – Rizal St. (which I later discovered every other town in the Philippines seemed to have, like every Indian city has an MG Road) – with a bunch of tricycles (rickshaws or tuk-tuks) and traffic.

We ate some decent fast food, had a few San Miguel beers, and then checked out NCCC, a very Asian-style department store, to pick up some sandals and necessities that would be obscenely priced in the tourist areas we were heading to.

After a dinner of seafood (which I normally don’t eat) including a squid served in its own ink, we had a few more San Miguel and called it an early night, having to get up before dawn the next day.

Tags or tiny ads aside, graffiti isn’t all that common in Shanghai. You see it around, but mostly for some commercial reason (it seems to be more of a fashion thing here than anything else). So, I was surprised to come across this area outside the construction of what I assume is to be the millionth apartment hi-rise to be built in the neighbourhood.

The two guys scraping off the one piece had about 20 cans of spraypaint in bags behind them, presumably to add something new.

I hope it was only a simple typo on David’s part, and not a genuine confusion over my gender.

Obama’s recent trip to Shanghai and Beijing made me decide to go through some pics of when I first came back to China in late 2006 and visited Beijing for the first time. Other than the city itself (which is awesome and deserves its own post), I checked out the Forbidden City (故宫, literally ‘Former Palace’) and of course, the Great Wall (长城, literally “long fortress”.)

The Forbidden City is massive – my friend and I got lost several times trying to work our way through it. When I went, some significant construction/restoration was going on, so it would be nice to go back and see how it was completed.

Another reason I’d like to go back is because the eyesore that was Starbucks located on the site was shut down because of public pressure. Call me fascist, but I was thrilled to hear this. It’d be like having a McDonalds in the courtyard of the Taj Mahal.

The Great Wall is one of the few landmarks I’ve visited that is more impressive in person than in pictures. I’m not good at describing things like this, but looking out into the valley and seeing the wall snake over mountains for miles is incredible.

The only issue I had was that even on a freezing day in early December, it was completely packed with tourists; so much so that half the time, walking on the wall was just being stuck in a tourist traffic jam. I couldn’t imagine visiting during a busy season. That said, still more than worth it. Next time I hope to check out some more remote (but less preserved) sections of the wall, other than Ba Da Ling.

The Chinese have a saying: “You aren’t a great man until you’ve been to the Great Wall.” I’m not sure I believe this though… Ellen has visited it more than once – wouldn’t that make her at least twice the man I am?