First Taste of Palawan's Beach - Sabang

After days of sleep deprivation, I slept and woke up really early. This time I felt really well-rested. A pleasant Sunday morning to begin with, it was nice and peaceful in my guesthouse. While outside, people were up early doing their thing. I packed my stuff, ready to go. I was enjoying the early morning sunshine as I headed out for my next destination - the underground river.

I took a short ride to San Jose Terminal. I got there early to catch the bus going to Sabang. Voila! My attempt to get the first trip failed, and so I waited for a long time to get the bus full. Having been traveled around the Philippines, this was no longer new to me. I’m tested for having no patience in waiting, and in my mind I was secretly throwing tantrums. 

A sweet ordinary bus ride gave me plenty of time to contemplate. The amazing scenery along the way took away all the frustrations I created. When will I ever learn, I and I alone, how far I can go. Recalling my history of tantrums and drama in my past travels, and the poor people who have to suffer and deal with it. When I’m alone, I tend to talk myself. Perhaps this is the alter ego as we know it. But this is not a psycho thing, I just have to constantly watch myself, awareness that is.

To my disappointment, the underground river trip has to wait until the next day. I didn’t know about the permit that I have to obtain first. Another option to get there is to stay in a guesthouse so the owner or the manager of it could arrange the permit for me. It looked like there was no room for camping around here. The place is a tourist trap. I found the cheapest accommodation around. I had the whole Tribal guesthouse for P500. Well it was because I’m the only guest that time, while everyone else was in some fancy hotels along Sabang beach. I had a simple room (with my own toilet) with a window overlooking the beach, not bad for its price. The guesthouse owner was really nice and helpful, and he really did help me in arranging my trip to the underground river.

So for the day, I took advantage of the nice weather to take a dip in the clear and wavy waters of the beach. This pretty much reminded me of Boracay, touristy and pricey.  But the beach is really amazing, with a long stretch of fine white sand and mountains as backdrop, so why should I complain. Oh well, this was my first taste of beach in Palawan. And once again the beach bum was on the loose.

Along the picturesque seashore, I met again a familiar friend – the bearcat, and a new friend – a snake, definitely not a cobra. To overcome my fear of it (which I think I didn’t), I had a picture taken with this new found friend. For me it was not an easy thing to do, and I had to caress the snake repeatedly to get used to the slimy feeling of it. I hope I’m not adding to its stress.  I’m crossing this off from my bucketlist now.

Wherever you go, locals will always tell you that there’s a waterfall you have to see, and it does not matter if it’s big or small. Just a kilometer away from the main beach, there’s a waterfall you can visit. The route is composed of rocks and stones of varying sizes, and that’s what made it challenging to go there. When I finally got there, it was just a mini waterfall, nothing really special. It is just some alternative place to go to to kill time or just for the sake of having something to explore in Sabang.

Alas it rained. The real challenge was going back. I fell down many times due to the slippery stones, and it was getting late. I definitely didn't want to be trekking there alone in the dark.  Back in the beach, I felt like there was no place to hang out while raining. So I stayed in my guesthouse and fell asleep to the sound of rain. I slept really early and had forgotten about the owner's invitation to have dinner and some drinks with him and his crew. Wow I was really getting a lot of rest in my trip, my system was  probably making up for the lack of sleep due to last week’s uninterrupted work.

I guess sleeping in an unfamiliar bed in a strange place is the cure . . .

How to get there and back:

- Take a multicab from Puerto Princesa City to San Jose Terminal - P13.00
- Bus from San Jose to Sabang (3 hours) - P125.00