A First Taste of Magical Palau

(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)

Hidden Wonders of the Camotes Islands

It took a whole day of sailing for us to get to the Camotes group of islands, just East of mainland Cebu. We were amazed by the clarity of the blue waters as we anchored in a large bay at sunset. Even in the dark, we could clearly see the bottom at a 6-meter depth. I was feeling too cold to jump into the water and thought I would save my swim for the morning, but Ali jumped in and found a little sort of alien world down there, with large abandoned cages scattered across the reefs. He said it looked like an underwater city, with all the cages as buildings and the fish as residents. Later in the night though, we were asked to move our boat, as apparently, we had chosen to anchor in a marine sanctuary! Well, so much for that morning swim for me.

We decided to anchor at the next lagoon, which was mostly a wall of nice rocks, with houses perched on top of them and stairs that you could climb from the water to get on land. There was a shore at the other end of the lagoon, but it would be a longer kayak ride for us to get to the shore from the boat, so we opted for the staircases nearby. We parked the kayak by the staircase of a quaint little resort called Harbor View, and got their permission to leave it there. Then they offered us to rent a motorbike to get around the island, as the island was too large to be traveled on foot. We knew this to be true, based on some initial research about the place, so we agreed.

But first-things-first, we needed cash! There was no ATM at Malapascua Island, and on this one, there was only one machine, located at Poro town proper . The friendly, helpful people at the resort offered to take us on the motorbike so we could try to get some cash out, since we only had a total of P20 in our pockets. And to our dismay, when we did get to the ATM machine, it was offline...on a Monday! The locals informed us that the machine was out of cash, and that it had to be refilled by staff coming from the mainland; and that it was a common occurrence. However, there was an abundance of pawnshops, so an idea formed in my head...to ask the good ol' parents a favor! We managed to borrow some cash from my parents, and got it sent via Mluilhier Pawnshop, to be paid back as soon as we touch down to mainland Cebu in a couple of days...and so we began our explorations by motorbike.

The Camotes group of islands is segmented by many barangays. There are four islands in total, with two of them joined together by a small bridge. The conjoined islands of Poro and Pacijan were where we decided to explore and call them one island. There are schools and children everywhere, so it came to mind that education and making babies were the primary focus of the island. Other projects of importance are environmental in nature; from fisheries, to reforestation projects, to mangrove habitat protection. Each of the schools have their own plant nurseries as well, where the kids are taught at an early age to grow plants for livelihood. The island itself is rich in greenery, and I could sense the awareness in people of the importance of preserving the environment for their own benefit, as well as that of their future generations.

We had a nice drive along paved roads built mostly along the coast, where we could enjoy the view of both land and sea. We had a hard time finding restaurants to eat at though, so we mostly ended up eating at carinderias, with twice-reheated food in all its glory. It kept our tummies from growling, at least. But we were later informed of restaurants inside the few resorts located around the island, and a tiny cottage resto called Sea Breeze that wasn't part of any resort.

There were nice white-sand beaches, but they were mostly inhabited by villages and fishing boats. The island is definitely more rural than it is a tourist attraction. With all its abandoned buildings and sites, it looks to have been a place that was on its way to tourism development, which fortuitously came to an abrupt end. According to our research, there was supposed to be a nice restaurant at Lake Danao - a massive lake within the island - and the lake was a developed park. But when we got there, all we saw were a few tables and benches, a sari-sari store, and some kayaks for rent. At the other end of the lake, there was a tilapia fishery, so it satisfied us enough to see the fish ponds. 

We were getting discouraged at first, upon finding that it was looking to be a place abandoned by time. Little did we know that the best was yet to come. Camotes has its own charm and beautiful secret treasures, and they can only be found with some patience, perseverance and asking for directions. No signs were available as to the location of the sites. We made more than a handful of wrong turns to find the island's treasures, but when we found them, they made our journey very worthwhile indeed!

We found Bukilat Cave, a surprisingly stunning underground cave with picturesque rays of sun streaming in from the holes above-ground and lighting up the stalactites and stalagmites inside the cave. There was a natural pool inside the cave too, with crystal-clear waters that were just completely enticing me to jump in...so I did. The water was refreshingly cool, and it ran all the way into another small cave that birds had chosen for their habitat. I basked happily within the natural pool and cave walls all around me, relishing the fact that for that moment, the place was ours, and ours alone.

We next set out to find Panganuron falls, which proved to be another game of hide-and-seek. Deciding to ask the locals where the “waterfalls” were, we were pointed to one that they all knew instead. We assumed they would know the popular Panganuron falls, and they assumed we wanted to see their own Busay falls. I, in my ignorance of the Bisayan dialect, could only guess along with them what we were each trying to say. We mostly had to rely on which direction their fingers were pointing. So Busay falls it was! 

And what a magnificent accident that turned out to be, as their local gemstone of a hideaway was far better than what we expected waterfalls to be. The water fell both forcefully and serenely out through a cave and into a clear, baby-blue pool. The pool was surrounded by the walls of the mountain, the plants, and some tree vines, and ran off the side into a smaller waterfall below with another smaller pool; so there was the adult pool and the baby pool. We chose the 'adult pool' of course, the grown-ups that we were (although I did sneak into that peaceful little 'baby pool' a couple of times, hehe). That place became our very own natural playground for that moment, too.

We checked out a couple of other nice spots as well. Buho Rock Resort, though seemingly yet another abandoned or mismanaged resort, provided us rest, with a pretty view of the clear pools of water from terraces built over the rocks. A little maintenance through clearing out the fallen leaves and debris on top of the waters would have done well for an enticing swim and snorkel (which was originally the resort's idea), but the waters remain a clear, blue-green color that still offers a feast for the eyes anyway, and the gardens are pretty and well-maintained.

After a quick afternoon coffee at a cafe on top of a hill which we pleasantly stumbled on, called D'Island Shooting Range and Cafe (yes, they had a shooting range, but it was closed for the day, for the owner's own reasons...surprise, surprise) we headed toward the Arquis Viewing Deck to get a nice top-view of the island. We found the place along a long dirt road some locals had pointed us to, with the only landmark they could give us: a white gate. Had it not been for those simple words – “white gate” - we would have missed the viewing deck, as the gate didn't have any signs at all. Though the deck was yet another unfinished project, with a pretty hut bearing overturned chairs and couches and another ramshackle hut situated at the edge of the mountain, the place really did possess an outstanding view of the island, including Lake Danao (which we had visited earlier). So we ended the day with the memory of a full view of a quiet, picturesque island in the Camotes.

We were only able to see a few of the island's wonders, as we needed to get to Carmen, Cebu for the boat's yearly maintenance; but I'm sure there are more wonders hiding within that unassuming little place.

Do I regret hours under the sweltering heat of the sun, trying to find our destinations? Of course not. Part of the adventure of exploring is getting lost. And in the many wrong turns we made, we were able to find treasures that we would otherwise have missed. So I came out of the place fulfilled and deeply grateful for the experience. Secretly, I thanked destiny too, that this island did not find its way very well on the tourist map. It's beautiful, just as it is. And maybe the island's deepest message was exactly in its lack of road signs toward its beautiful sites. More than anything, what it told me was, “Explore me for yourself.”