~manila, you're not that ugly

Welcome to Bahay Kalipay, a house of healing in Palawan, where I found myself on a quiet inner journey for six days barely a month ago.

There’s something about going barefoot that invites opening up, a baring of sorts..

…and this daily habit of having to take off one’s shoes and walk with naked feet on the floor is simple but it does what it is meant to do… which is to disarm, interrupt, like a cymbal clanging in a church, or maybe more like a flute in a library. It is strange but not unpleasant, maybe even friendly…

Living in a communal setting also disarms– especially for someone who values private space and the comforts of familiar noise or absolute silence.

I went to Palawan to visit my old friend, Pompet, and still no day passes that I don’t go back to those six days and wonder what really happened there.

When you go to a place expecting to live simply and commune with nature, you prepare yourself by leaving behind your city habits…  As someone who has no attachment to TV, newspapers, radio and magazines, I didn’t expect to have to adjust much.

I went with a passive mindset–I was there to observe, I was just going to watch.

(more…)

Will finally be going on this 5-day boating expedition I’ve been dreaming about since July..woohoo!

(Image from Tao Philippines)

I came across Tao Expeditions while researching for a trip to El Nido, and raved to friends that it was exactly how I wanted to explore Palawan:

Open Expeditions take groups of independent travellers between El Nido and Coron through the Linapacan Group or vice versa. This is our playground of over 200 islands and covers a 150km journey through the most remote region in Palawan, connecting Coron and El Nido.

Was so downcast that I missed the voyage season by a hairline (boats don’t go out to sea during the rainy season of July to October), but all is fair to those who wait:  Am now good to go on my first ever island expedition in November, yahooo!

More about the boys behind Tao from their website, www.taophilippines.com:

Tao Philippines was founded in 2005 by Eddie Agamos Brock, a native from the Northern Province of Luzon. After 10 years of extensive exploration of the remote provinces of the Philippines, he finally chose to settle base in the Northern Palawan islands. His friend and cofounder Jack Foottit, a British architecture student,  designer of the business and build up the projects.  ‘We wanted to explore deep into the island culture of this vast archipelago, and experience real island living. This is one of the most beautiful regions in the Philippines. For us this province is a playground of hundreds of tropical islands, nobody comes up here, over the years of our expeditions we have never run into other travelers.’ (more…)

From GMA News:

Starting Wednesday [June 30], Southeast Asian Airlines (SEAIR) will discontinue service to five destinations for the installation of additional exit doors in planes flying to these locations.

The airline’s flights to El Nido in Palawan, San Fernando in La Union; Marinduque; Zamboanga City in Mindanao; Tawi-Tawi; and Jolo will be discontinued on June 30, Wednesday, the company said in a statement.

…

The statement made no mention of the airline’s flight resumption to these areas.

Oh this is a major setback for El Nido tourism.

Been actively planning a trip to El Nido, now the only transportation options from Manila are land travel from Puerto Princesa or boat travel from Coron, both of which have direct flights to and from Manila, or via (expensive) chartered flights from Manila to El Nido. Boo boo boo and triple more booos