Palawan Vacation, Part I, Arrival

Mexica and I took her mom, dad, and sisters Russia and Miami to Palawan for a few days last week. It was a fun trip. We saw some new things and some very different things. We had some adventures.

Adventure Number One was getting from the airport to our hotel. Our hotel was the Sheridan Beach Resort at Sabang Beach. The airport was the Puerto Princesa airport and they are about 75 km apart, over mountains, and through jungle, quite literally. We arrived at the airport at about 5:15 PM, so by the time we got our luggage and found the hotel shuttle and got situated for the trip, the sun was going down and we made most of the journey in the dark.  That made the whole thing feel very much like an adventure.

Once we got out of the city of Puerto Princesa, we were on a dark two lane road that twisted and turned, with switchbacks and hairpin turns, with only our headlights for illumination. The jungle felt very close. The road was often steep. Most of the time it was a smooth ride, but once in a while the pavement got rough and washboardy--and once in a while, the pavement just plain disappeared. The turns were sharp and it felt like the driver was pushing for speed, sometimes we jolted around and bounced like popcorn in a popper. I think the highlight was seeing a small sign by a wooden bridge, the sign said "Weak Bridge!" We crossed it.

All in all, the trip took about 2 hours. By then the hotel was looking pretty good!