(above: at one of Palau's isolated beaches)
We started our experience of Palau at a
tour agency called Sam's Tours that accommodated yachts and that
housed a bar/restaurant beside the waters. Ali and Tim immediately
jumped at the opportunity for a proper Western burger, while I had my
first taste of Palauan seafood in a juicy Yellow Fin Tuna cooked
medium-rare. I wasn't disappointed, and haven't been since on the
seafood meals around here. They're so fresh they might as well jump
off my plate and back into the sea!
After lunch, we set off to explore
Koror town, Palau's most developed state where we were also staying.
We were told that the only way to get transportation around the
island was to either call a cab or hitch a ride with any passing
cars, so we decided to be cheap and try our luck with the
hitchhiking. It was quite fun to see that Palau didn't have any laws
on which side of the car was the driver's side; some cars had the
driver's side on the left and others on the right. But then again,
the country doesn't have much accessibility to goods, so it takes
whatever's available...in other words, whatever at all can be
delivered into the island.
We had to walk quite a distance before
we finally found a friendly Palauan man willing to take us the rest
of the way to the city proper. Upon getting into the car, we got
engaged in a friendly conversation with him, and then after awhile,
found out his true intentions for giving us a ride when he asked,
“You guys smoke weed?” So he was dealing. We refused, the
Straight-And-Sober (or Not-So-Hip-Oldies...take your pick) that we
were. He then asked us where we were headed, and we replied that we
needed to get to Immigration to pick up our passports, which we had
temporarily surrendered on entering Palau. He looked uncomfortable,
but took us there nonetheless. Apparently, a police station was
situated in front of the Immigration building, so right after we
thanked him, got out of the car and closed the doors, he sped off
faster than a bullet. Great first hitchhiking experience in Palau
anyway.
The city of Koror is very clean and
orderly. It's small enough that a bike ride around it would perfectly
suffice, but large enough that shopping centers, groceries, an
abundance of restaurants and hotels, hardware stores, and other
conveniences are readily available. I love the fact that the sea
often possesses the view. A walk around the city always gives me the
pleasure of crossing bridges built over clear, green waters and a
view of the rock islands scattered closeby. The city park even
accommodates a small pool of sea, complete with coral reefs, where
picnickers often like to take a dip.
We had dinner one night at Carp, a
Japanese/Palauan resto that was recommended to us by another Palauan
who kindly gave us a ride there. It's a Japanese-style residential
home that the owner had turned into a quaint and cozy restaurant. We
wanted to try some Palauan food, and the most exotic one was
supposedly the Bat Soup; eat at your own risk, we were warned. Ali
and I had eaten bat during our Survival Camp days and had found it
very tasty, so we were excited to try the famed Palauan soup. We
ordered a couple of other dishes as well, such as the clam cake and
deep-fried tapioca dumplings, which were delicious but very
heavy on the stomach (I could see why most Palauans were well-endowed
in all parts of the body). But we were surprised - and to be
perfectly honest, quite horrified – when the bowl of soup came with
a bat the size of a grown rat...and looking a bit like one too, as it
bared its large, hideous fangs in our faces.
We timidly tried the broth at first,
well avoiding the sneering bat on top of it, but then decided that
the local food experience wouldn't be complete without at least
having a taste of the dreadful-looking thing. We asked the waitress
to chop the bat up for us and throw out the head, so that we could at
least pretend it was just chicken or some other regular meat. The
waitress did chop it up, but still left the head on the plate...for
our money's worth, I suppose. What can I say? The bat didn't taste
awful, but it definitely didn't go on my list of favorites. The meat
was dark, stringy and a bit tough, and the taste was something akin
to cooked, then frozen, then reheated chicken, on the verge of going
bad. Anyway...the broth was delicious.
On another day, we took the dinghy out
to motor around the Rock Islands, a series of many tiny islands
clustered closely together. It was a nice little thrill to feel like
we were going through a maze, complete with ducking our heads while
the dinghy passed under small rock openings in some of the islands.
Reefs are scattered everywhere across the waters, so we stopped every
once in a while at a small lagoon to snorkel around. Fish of many
kinds and colors are abundant, and we spotted a sea turtle too in one
of the lagoons. There are also quite a few caves around. I
particularly liked one cave with glistening stalactites and
stalagmites, and a ceiling that went as high as an old church's. Then
we stopped for a lunch of packed sandwiches at one of the many
tranquil white-sand beaches around, and enjoyed having the place to
ourselves for awhile.
On our way back home, we made our last
stop at a lagoon that possessed a shipwreck in shallow waters -
perfectly visible for the snorkeler - so I got to see my first
shipwreck without having had to dive; which I'm excited to tell my
diving friends who have persistently nagged me for the past few years
to get that cumbersome diving course so I could see those darned
shipwrecks already. Well I've gotten to see a few now, minus the
sharks and other big, scary aliens wandering the deep. Palau has an
abundance of WWII Japanese shipwrecks. In fact, there are even a
couple of them in the very lagoon that the sailboat is anchored at,
the top part of one sunken ship just hovering above the water.
On another day, we decided to rent the
car of a nice Filipino lady working at Sam's Tours restaurant
(funnily, Palau is filled with Filipinos so that sometimes I feel
like I never really left the Philippines!), to do a land tour of the
island. This time, there were four of us: Tim, Ali and me, and Dave,
a new friend we had made at Sam's tours who was living in Guam but
had come to Palau to help a friend fix a boat, and then on impulse,
decided to purchase his very own mono-hull sailboat. He's extended
his stay in Palau another couple of months to do some repairs on his
new second-hand boat, and his wife is still patiently waiting for him
to get his butt back home. Meanwhile, we're enjoying his company and
his many stories of all kinds of engines. I honestly didn't know
there was so much to say about engines. I mostly let my mind wander
off while Dave goes on and on (and on) about them, but I'm amused
anyway with his knowledge and enthusiasm for all things mechanical.
The drive around the island is very
pleasant, with a picturesque scenery of the sea, islands, little town
shops, local residential areas that are eerily quiet (maybe because
everyone likes to take naps in the hot mid-afternoons), and lots of
greenery and tropical flora and fauna. Our first stop was a
traditional Palauan meeting house, called a Bai, where elderly men
once sat around to talk about community matters. Traditionally, women
were not allowed in these Bai's; but this doesn't mean that women
held a lower status in traditional Palauan society. Women had their
own meeting place and were responsible for keeping the village
running smoothly, as well as deciding who would be the community
chiefs among the men. The men mostly held meetings regarding the
safety of their village...meaning, they plotted war tactics against
other tribes. Before Palau was taken over by foreign countries, the
local tribes were always at war with each other. Peace only started
taking place when the Spanish came and eliminated the inter-village
wars. But though the wars had ended, I could sense that this hasn't
stopped the competition among the villages. The man who toured me
around the Bai raved about how that Bai was the best one built out of
all the villages in Palau, because the Bai's in other villages didn't
have this-or-that.
The Bai cost $10 per head, just for a
tour of the place that would last all but a few minutes, so we
decided that just to make the trip worth it, I would go in and report
to the rest of the guys what I saw after, with pictures. The thing
about Palau is that everything costs money. After our tour of the
Rock Islands earlier, it came to our attention that anyone wanting to
tour the Rock Islands actually had to secure a permit and pay $100 US
per head. Boy, were we lucky to have toured it free without getting
caught! Ignorance can be a great thing sometimes. Anyway, I liked the
Bai. It had nice tribal paintings all over it, two fire pits inside,
and it was made purely out of natural stuff. No nails, hammers, or
any of that new technology was used to build Bai's; just sticks and
stones.
(above: at the Bai - traditional Palauan meeting house for men)
After the Bai tour, we moved on to see
Ngardmau falls, Palau's largest waterfalls. It was a bit of a jungle
trek down the mountain, but we opted for it instead of the little
tram that would've saved us a walk, albeit, at $30 per head. Halfway
to the waterfalls, rain clouds started moving in our direction, so we
took shelter for awhile at a shanty.
(above: couple's bench)
(above: The Lover's Tree - two trees inter-twining)
(above: the $30 tram for a lazy trip to the waterfalls)
(above: mixing lime powder into a Betelnut for chewing; a favorite Palauan pastime)
(above: waiting at the shanty for the rain to stop)
We then discovered that there
were guides at the shanty for the Zipline adventure, for anyone
wanting to glide over the jungle in dreams becoming a bird, even for
just a few seconds. Admittedly, it's been one of my dreams to be like
those birds I so often watch soaring over the sea and mountains; so I
eagerly volunteered to try it with Ali. Our two other friends
couldn't be bothered to shell out another $20 to have their feet
uncomfortably off the ground by a few hundred meters. I guess
becoming a bird isn't for everyone. So when the sky cleared up again,
Ali and I were properly harnessed and led up to the wooden landing of
the Zipline. I remember our last same thought as we looked across the
expanse of jungle far below us: “What was I thinking!?”
Nonetheless, it was one of the greatest thrills of our
lives...especially mine! Now I can boast to the birds that I've been
there, done that too.
After another half-hour of walking down
the trail, and through rivers where we found Palauan girls chatting
away and scrubbing the river rocks so that no one would slip on them
(what a novelty!)...
(above: Ngardmau Falls in the midst of jungle)
(above: Palauan girls scrubbing away moss on rocks)
...we finally reached the waterfalls and were not
disappointed!
I did bring a bathing suit for the
occasion, but in my excitement, couldn't bother wasting precious time
to change, so I followed Ali's lead and ran straight to the falls. I
did actually think that I would only get a little wet if I ran fast
enough past the falls to get behind it. But nope, I got
SOAKED. But, I did bring an extra shirt, knowing the kinds of things I was prone to do; I'm no stranger to myself. And it was an exquisite feeling
to be behind the falls, watching the water fall from high above. Ali
and I stayed under the falls for a few minutes before finally making our way back, this time in an arduous trek to get back up the
mountain. Ali, who's not quite the Girl Scout that I am, had to go back in soaked clothes; but that's not new to him either. We ended the tiring but satisfying day sipping on
refreshing local coconuts.
The past week has met us with lots of
rain, so we haven't been spending much time out in Palau's Nature;
mostly just buying groceries and other fun stuff in town. We've also
been trying out different restaurants that range in cuisine from
Western to Indian to Chinese to Japanese to Thai to Chinese. Some
restaurants sell food too painful to the wallet to be considered
delicious, while others are as affordable as their humble building
exteriors suggest.
On nice mornings, we go around the maze
of islands on a kayak, which is a real treat with such calm,
beautiful waters and secluded lagoons everywhere. And some nights, we
hit our favorite hangout spot, Kramer's bar, where we get to drink
the local draft beer called Red Rooster and watch the occasional and
very rare live music in Palau. I wouldn't really call it local
though, as the band members are Westerners who have taken residence
in Palau...so my search for the native Palauan bands has so far still
been in vain. By comparison, Philippines is a candyland when it comes
to live local music, which I miss terribly. But then again, Palau has
its own unique and interesting things too, if not an abundance of
local music.
We still have much, much more to
explore here, both in the culture and natural wonders, but are taking
our sweet time since we will be here for another month or so anyway.
So far, everything has been a very pleasant and refreshing change
from the 9 months of boat repairs we had previously endured. I can't
stop being ever so grateful for that!
We're now starting to settle in nicely
again with a daily schedule of usual chores and work activities,
which inevitably become disrupted during our travels. Ali has been
catching up on work for his business, and I have gotten back to my
writing projects. But errands and other daily activities are of
course going hand-in-hand with further explorations of magical Palau,
so stay tuned!
(above: our new backyard)
(above: hanging at Kramer's bar for local draught beer and Saturday night band)
