Palawan

I don't know if you have ever sat down and contemplated a place before going there, but I have, and when I thought of the Philippines and envisaged what it would be like, I pictured white sand, turquoise water, sea life (and therefore sea food) and beaches and boats and snorkelling and palm trees and stunning landscapes and all those other things that go together so wonderfully when you imagine a tropical paradise. Well, Palawan was the epitome of the Philippines, at least in my imagined version: simply put, it was gorgeous.

Excuse the rope: this a a view from one of many boats

Palawan was also special for more than just the setting: it was the location of our Streatham housemate reunion. Becky flew out to join Vita, Kim and me for a week and it was bloody wonderful.

In Palawan, we spent time in four places: Puerto Princesa, Sabang, El Nido and Coron. Puerto was fine, nothing much to write home (or blog) about but the other three places were all very nice.

In Sabang, there is a subterranean river which has been listed in various travel blogs/reports/articles as one of the new natural wonders of the world. Essentially, it is (as you would imagine from the word 'subterranean') an underground river than you can sail along, inside the caves, under the cliffs. When inside, the person who is sitting at the front of your small boat or 'bangkha' holds a light to shine around the stalactites and stalagmites at the guides direction, to illuminate the inside of the caves. (That person was me; naturally I was keen to sit in front and be involved somehow. Classic teacher's pet)

Unfortunately to take a photo of the incredible sights inside the caves requires an SLR camera of very high quality and between my GoPro and phone, the light quality just wasn't good enough to capture the amazing sights inside the caves. If you are curious, Google it. If you are very curious, come and see it yourself! To make up for the lack of photography, here's Becky and me in hard hats:

We had to wear these not only for protection, but also because the bats in the caves like to poo on tourists' heads

We then headed north to El Nido and experienced tropical rain first hand: I couldn't believe how much water the clouds were holding; it was the kind of heavy rain that feels like you're being punched, and it went on all day and night. Luckily the sun came out the next day and we rented a couple of sea kayaks, to explore the islands around the bay and their secluded beaches.

It took us about 45 minutes to paddle to the first beach but it was worth it: we were the only people there.

Here's us doing acrobatics on the beach. I'm on the bottom right. Very poor form, a shame I'm so useless at anything remotely sporty!

If you want to visit the Philippines for a holiday, I would definitely say Palawan would be the best island for it. It is still relatively untouristy for South East Asia and absolutely stunning.