BACK TO "NORMAL"

Well our vacation is over, Ruther is back in Japan and I'll be going back to work on Monday. So I suppose everything is back to "normal".

.....

We had a lot of fun at Palawan this past week. There were some minor setbacks (like the travel agency did not inform the hotel shuttle that we were arriving but fortunately when we arrived at the airport there were other passengers booked at the same hotel so we hitched a ride) but other than those, it was still a pleasant and wonderful experience.

We arrived at Busuanga around 1020 in the morning. We had to take a 45-minute ride to Coron where the city proper was located. Along the way there was nothing but grasslands, mountains in the background, cows, and ranches. Reminded me of the outback (seen from movies of course). We got to the hotel and after a few minutes of waiting our room was ready. We rested for a bit and then had lunch. Since we slept pretty late the night before, we all took a refreshing nap to prepare ourselves for the afternoon tour.

We started at 4pm. You'd think it was pretty late but it was hot that day. We went around the city (running tour) and realized how tiny it was. We saw the dock, the Catholic church (only one), the public market, the plaza and the city hall. We then proceeded to the foot of Mt. Tapyas, the tallest hill/mountain in the island. We had to climb 724 (or is it 726?) steps to get to the top. It was such a relief to finally get to the view deck after pausing every other flight of stairs to catch our breath. The view on the top was spectacular. Really great to see the water, the islands scattered about with the sun setting behind pale blue clouds. We asked our guide to take our photo with the huge cross in the background. It turned out great!

After going down Mt. Tapyas, our next stop was Maquinit Hot Springs, which was around 15 minutes away. We got there at dusk. It felt sooo good soaking our tired muscles in the hot water but Ethan kept on yelling "OWWW! OW! OWWWWW!" everytime he tried to put a toe into the water. *roll eyes* Well, it was pretty hot. I read that the temperature of the water ranges from 38 - 40 degrees C. I guess that's why it's named Maquinit (which means "hot"). Hmmmm... I smell a redundancy there... (Maquinit HOT Springs?) Anyway, I also read that the entrance fee is P100 per person but our tour package covered that as well as dinner that night. We stayed for a couple of hours then we headed back to the hotel to prepare for the next day.

second day report continues tomorrow... :D