No photoshop required this week- its really me at the Underground River in Sabang on 1.1.2020!
I first visited the Underground River with Drew in 2013. Back then we were staying in Puerto Princessa and he arranged a van to take us there. It was less sophisticated then , the boatman described what you were seeing as he rowed, now you have a recorded commentary in a choice of languages as you can see from the poster above. However the life vests still don't fit unless you are 45 kg!
The British Kabayan at the Underground River in 2013
Then I met a great guy called Arvin in 2018 and he was telling me about the hotel he worked at in Sabang ( Daluyon beach and mountain resort )
So when I returned in 2019, on 31 December, I decided to stay there for New Year's eve with a friend and then he persuaded me to go to the Underground River at 7 am on 1st January 2020 ( bad move, and I don't drink alcohol!)
If you have not been before then you really must visit the Underground River. According to our friends at Wikipedia:
"The Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park is a protected area of the Philippines. The park is located in the Saint Paul Mountain Range on the western coast of the island of Palawan, about 80 kilometres north of the city centre of Puerto Princesa, and contains the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River.
It has been managed by the City Government of Puerto Princesa since 1992.It was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999, and voted as a New7Wonders of Nature in 2012. It also became a Ramsar Wetland Site in 2012."
Source: Subterranean River ( accessed 26.12.2020)
The river was an obvious choice for my Palawan countdown along with Nacpan beach, St Vicente, Dumaran, Brookes point, Bakers Hill and my new house in Puerto. So I guess that only leaves two Palawan tourist spots for the 20 and 10 day countdowns.... but you will have to keep checking back to find out what they are!
So back to the countdown- it was actually 30 working days to go on Mon 28 December when I was back in the office after 3 days working at home as part of my Quarantine ( 5 days required by Bapco after an overseas trip). So 40 days was on 7 December as I had 7 days off in Dubai.
So what did I get up to between 7 and 28 December? Well the good news is I completed all my marking and had my Cov 19 test ( Negative ) on 13 December and then on 14th Corleen took me to the airport at 1 pm and I flew to Dubai to say farewell to old friends Erickson and Jeyboy. We had a great time in the sun and visited lots of places and saw the Drone light show.
I flew back on 21 December from the amazing Dubai airport ( Self check in, smart passport gates, choices of restaurant and hundreds of shops . In fact it took 2 hrs to get from the hotel in JBR to being checked in using the Tram and Metro! 2 hours later after my second Emirates late departure in a week we arrived at Bahrain's old airport ( queue after queue to pay for COV test, register for COV test and have COV Test - negative again) where it took 2 hours to get from the plane to my waiting car! You can read all about my final trip to Dubai in another blog.
The next day I delivered my final ILM 3 workshops on Coaching to group 10 and then marked an assignment that came in while I was away. I finally used up all the food in the fridges, freezers and cupboards and then on Christmas day, when we finally got paid, I sent Corleen shopping for food and then to collect me a Christmas lunch from the Bapco club which I had ordered by email.
I spent the week in Quarantine catching up with old friends from around the world on line as Europe is not now sending mail to Bahrain so I only had 7 Christmas cards, including two hand made ones from Bahrain!
One of my beautiful home made cards which took Vidhi 2 and a half hours to make
On Christmas eve I had two amazing emails. The first was from Nadya who was my girlfriend when I was 16 so we have known each other for 44 years. I met her last year when she flew to Bahrain ( she was a British Airways long haul hostess) but due to COV 19 she lost her job earlier this year, just short of 25 years service with BA. How sad.
The other email was from Annie in Australia who I met when I was 20 and working in London as part of my degree.We spent several months traveling Europe and working in Greece and then she came to my 21st Birthday and back to Huddersfield for my final year at College. She asked if I wanted to go back to Australia just before my finals and I declined. However, 39 years later we still write every Christmas and this year I had an update on all her grandchildren and the fact that she two has decided to retire.
The next day I had an email from David and Lynda Green who looked after me in Huddersfield from 1978- so we have been in touch for 43 years. The power of Christmas and my Blog bringing people together again. As well as Annie, Nadya and The Greens i have heard from Mark Johns who I first worked for in 1982 as a Graduate Trainee at Trusthouse Forte Hotels ( as it was then ) and many Little Chef Colleagues (1986 - 1996) like Stella, Jane Frost, Anne Marie and the Gregories.
All have been wishing me luck for the next phase in my life- Thank you all!
As well as getting back in touch with all my friends, preparing Blogs on Dubai, Christmas, and one with a superb artist called Arjen in Palawan I have been making final arrangements for my new house. Jhoanna met the landlady Daniw on 8 December and a quote is on the way for an extension ( what they call a dirty kitchen there) to keep all my things there is not room for. Jullymar became my second houseboy to drop out a couple of days before Christmas but Jhoanna arranged a replacement called Grecil who I lent some money to when she had no wages in the COV 19 crisis. 9 months on she still has no work or money so she is going to come and live with Jhe and I and clean the house for 2 months and do all my unpacking. Then I had a request from another WPU student who had to give up her Criminology degree when her dad died so Tala is coming to join Team Neil in April 2020 and will resume her studies.
Here in Bahrain Corporate services came while I was in Dubai and caught the rat that has been running around the roof keeping me awake at night and replaced the curtain rail that was jammed in the spare room, so now everything is working. On 1st Jan , after 2 weeks off for Christmas, Jake and Corleen are back to clean the place and do all my ironing. In January I will complete moving some of my investments from the UK to Bahrain ( Premium Bonds) and buy all the things I have been unable to for the last 11 years ( new laptop, camera, video, lighting, microphone, ( for the new British Kabayan Vlog) and new prescription sunglasses and glasses). Oh yes, and apply for my Retiree Visa, repay my indemnity loan , get my good conduct certificate, return my car and all that Jazz!
So until the next time....
 |  |
Hello, I am The British Kabayan! Feel free to read my stories.
No comments:
Post a Comment