November 11th - Day 3

Puerto Princesa - Sabang

We woke up around 6am and got on a tricycle to the bus terminal (if you may call it that way :). On the way, the driver proudly shows us all the fancy hotels in the city as well as all the construction sites for shopping centers - I actually prefer a whole lot more everything else they have:) Arriving at the terminal, we wanted to take the 7am Jeepney to Sabang. Jeepneys are the most popular means of public transportation in the Philippines and were originally made from US military jeeps left over from World War II. They are known for their flamboyant decoration and crowded seating and have become a ubiquitous symbol of Philippine culture.

The price was 200P (a bit less than 4 Euros) for a 2-hour ride, probably a little pricey but I don't bother to negotiate. The ride is definitely an experience! Again, we are the only tourists and you can see that this is the means of transportation that every Filipino uses for the route. One quickly realizes that most tourists use their own rented buses or taxis to move around as the prices for that are still relatively low. They give us some of the best seats on the jeepney which was waaaaay over crowded by any standards: some people went on the roof, some of them were holding themselves from the outside... anything goes as long as you get to your destination! I love all the flexibility and good mood of filipinos: so far I have never seen anyone arguing, raising their voice or being upset about anything!

The ride is tough on your bottom but the views are breathtaking. Surrounded by green hills left and right, ocean views, the road is surprisingly smooth and the driver takes the warnings of 'beware of swift turns' very seriously. We make a quick stop half-way where people come to sell some local baked pastry and fresh drinks. We take some rice cake: del-icio-us! Wrapped in a tree-leaf this tasty pastry was the best thing I have tried so far: and all for less than 0.15 Eur.

One hour later and we have reached Sabang, our home for the next 3 days! And this is... well, a bit of paradise! Actually we are cheating our backpacker lifestyle with this stop, staying in a nice resort that the wedding couple had booked for 40 of their friends! Located 5 meters from the beach, this is one dream location, a little heaven on earth. Sabang is composed by only a few houses with a few resorts all along the coast but that number will surely grow, especially if the nearby underground river is named one of the 7 new natural wonders. The water is warm and crystal clear, the beach has perfect thin white sand and surrounded by green hills - this is gonna be goooood!

Our room is not ready so we head for the beach and grab something to eat. The restaurants are pricey for filipino standards and we prefer to go into town and eat in some of the local places. One thing that one notices is how small portions are around here - they always bring you a tiny plate of meat and then one bowl of rice: you could easily eat 2 or 3 portions of it but I stick to a single portion and just allow myself a little hunger :)

We check in our room and I take a short nap before the wedding ceremony which was going to take place at 4pm on the beach. At about 2pm, rain starts pouring down! One would think that there's no way it would stop in time for the event but 30 minutes before we were lucky enough to see the rain stop and allowing the wedding to take place without hassles! It was interesting to see a wedding on the beach, a bit movie-like. Even more when you think that the couple getting married are 2 Estonians who got baptized in the morning and were being blessed by the Catholic church for their wedding in the afternoon... the whole ceremony does not take longer than 30 minutes and it all takes place in English! Soon came the typical photo shoot: first with the groom's parents, then the bride's, the whole ordeal.

Dinner time! An amazing meal sided with local rum and Estonian vodka and the party is on! The guests were asked to organize some games to keep everyone entertained so a lot of games were played during the meal keeping the atmosphere easy, relaxed and fun! Later on, we head to the dancefloor where we stay for about 6 hours. Worth to mention is the local band who was invited: their music was awesome! I was truly impressed by the guitar player, shredding with ease some of Santana's finest solos... where did he learn that?

The night was great fun, everyone was in a great mood aided by a reasonable amount of booze... I wonder how the hangover will be like :)