TBK Travels to Port Barton, Palawan in the Philippines- "There's no fan in the Philippines!"

                     

        My car outside Eshanti's place in the pouring rain

The three hour drive (158 km) from Puerto Princessa to Port Barton bought back many happy memories! I first drove this road in 2018 on my own and then again with Kuya Ran in 2019. 

The road takes you north from Puerto , on the east coast, before you turn off in Roxas and climb over the mountains that run up the middle of Palawan and then drop down into Port Barton on the West coast. In spite of the pouring rain and the devastation caused by Typhoon Odette on 17.12.21 the views are stunning. Especially when you have lived in the flat brown dessert that is the Middle East for 12 years!

               On the drive from Port Barton to Alimanguan

One of the waiters at El Nido cove (where I stayed from 2014 to 2017) set up a restaurant in Port Barton (Dam Dam’s) and I stayed at his aunt’s accommodation called Eshanti’s Place. Adam was a great host and the people who stayed at Eshanti's place would walk next door for breakfast at Dam Dam's. On my last visit in 2019 it looked like this:

I became friends with the family and Rosemarie, her son JJ  and Adam gave me a warm welcome when I finally arrived. They have survived tough times being closed through the pandemic and then Dam Dam’s was badly hit by Typhoon Odette on 17.12.22. Now Dam Dam's looks like this:

   Sadly Dam Dam's is still closed as he has no money to repair the storm damage

If you want to help Dam Dam get back in Business or the thousands of others affected by Typhoon Odette in December 2021 in Palawan and Siargao you can read more in my previous blog by clicking this link:

https://thebritishkabayan.blogspot.com/2021/12/an-appeal-for-help-from-my-kabayan-in.html

So now Adam has joined forces with Rosemarie to promote Eshanti’s. Adam provides the breakfast, takes bookings, arranges boat trips etc. The family also own the Recaro’s vans that take tourists from Port Barton to Puerto Princessa and vice versa.

One of the properties devastated by Typhoon Odette- it was once a house with a sari sari store and a café for people wanting refreshments at this scenic spot.

The road between Puerto and El Nido has greatly improved over the years that I have been travelling it. Most of the 158 km are now concreted and in places up to 6 lanes wide. However, Typhoon Odette felled trees, damaged bridges and caused landslides so in places it is down to 2 lanes. I discovered from Adam and the Recaro’s drivers that one of the roads to New Canipo (which was to be my next destination) had been blocked for a while. The only way in was by going North to Taytay and then back on a different road to get to New Canipo!

               The southern route to New Canipo was blocked for cars

Adam is very well connected and called Cierson at New Canipo for me and they agreed to finalise the best route for me by the end of the week. However, when they had brown out ( a power cut for those not familiar with the term) in Port Barton, Adam kindly arranged for me to go to Alimanguan instead. Originally I had planned to go back to New Canipo for the Holy week when Alimanguan was full. However, Cierson said that he had no rooms then ( in spite of telling me he had before) and so I cancelled the whole booking in New Canipo.

The route from Puerto Princessa to Port Barton is mainly on the Northern Highway which runs along the East Coast of Palawan

Once you leave Puerto Google Maps tells you to drive on the Northern Highway for 122 Kilometers until you reach Roxas. That sounds easier than it is as you are crossing the mountains in the centre of Palawan. In many places the road has a steep gradient (Bahrain is flat!). This slows down the heavier traffic, which in some places is hard to pass. There are also many local vehicles, trikes, Jeepneys and trucks which crawl along, forcing the cars behind them to slow down. There are also hundreds of mopeds and motorbikes, some carrying up to 4 people! In between these are the professional drivers of the fast coaches and vans who know the road well and get impatient when stuck behind slow retirees like me! They flash their lights, hoot and in one case force other drivers off the road so the van can pass.  It rained all the way which made the road slippery and the visibility was low so I decided to take it easy and arrive alive rather than early. I was looking for a place to stop for a coffee and comfort break part way but the place I normally use was packed with pick-up trucks full of Marcos supporters so I drove on! Probably the furthest I used to drive in Bahrain, a small island, was 30 mins at any one time, so 3 hours without a break in heavy rain was very tiring!

                                                   JJ , now age 9, and back at school.

Once I arrived at Eshanti’s I had a very welcome coffee and pandesal with Rosemarie. I had hoped to walk Adam’s beautiful Golden Retriever, Bailey, but she is in St Vicente where she just gave birth to 5 puppies. Adam came to say hello and once I had unpacked and they had all the guests checked in we headed down to the beach for dinner.

 I had meryenda and lunch here, and we wanted to go to dinner but it was closed

Adam rode his Motorbike and I walked – he wanted to get some fuel. He also needed the bike in case he had to rush back to Eshanti’s to deal with arriving guests. I wanted to walk after all my driving! Adam said he would go ahead and get a nice table for us. By the time I arrived he and the waitress had carried a table and chairs onto the beach and set it up with a candle and beer for himself and a Calamansi Juice for me. Once the Chef arrived at 6 pm we had a bowl of soup, a delicious grilled Tuna steak with chips, and a fruit platter. With 3 bottles of San Miguel for Adam and 3 Calamansi juice for me the bill came to 785 peso (6 BD or 12 GBP). In between telephone calls from arriving guests, bookings, enquiries and arranging boat tours we chatted about the old days and our many mutual friends at Cove and Allimurgan where Adam was born.

                     The view from Besaga of Port Barton Beach

On the way back Adam rode the bike to light the way with me walking behind and when we got back, he arranged a water supply for me. I took my medication and turned the fan on and drifted off to sleep around 8 pm. When I awoke, as usual, at 3 am there was a brown out (pinoy term for no power). It was then I found another use for my Smart Phone as a torch!  When I finally woke up properly, I realised that no electricity meant no Wi-Fi and no coffee! I went back to bed to write this blog in Word and I will upload it once I am back on line. Welcome to life in the provinces! Back in Bahrain we take 24/7 electricity, A/C, free water supply (in Awali) and so on for granted. I had an email from Neil Gilbert telling me it was up to 40 degrees in Bahrain and so I was glad of the cool 27 degrees and warm rain in Port Barton! It was Forrester, back in Manila who came up with the new Philippine tourism slogan for Port Barton:

"There's no fan in the Philippines!"

Once everyone was awake and I returned from watching the sunrise on the beach I learnt from Forrester, Via Facebook, that the private power generating company in Port Barton, Powersource, had deliberately turned the power off to force the local residents and hoteliers to pay more money. 

The cause of the Brown out in Port Barton, the local electricity company

Laughingly, Powersource, in their website : https://powersource.group/ talk about improving the quality of life and helping businesses grow!

The residents refused and started hiring generators! By the time I left Port Barton at 7 am on 9th April the power supply was still off (29 hrs.). I thought I was the one having a bad year by not being able to get a visa to move to the Philippines. The Brown out remained overnight and I decided to check out and move on. My 14 months transitioning in Bahrain did not prepare me for life without power in Palawan.

                                Our romantic table for two on the beach at Port Barton

Imagine investing all your savings in a Restaurant business. From your income you reinvest and build cottages to rent. You employ local staff to cook, serve food, run the bar and clean the rooms. Your drivers collect the guests from the airport and bring them to your hotel. Then over in Wuhan (and my name is not Zaid so I will not bore you with the conspiracy theories) a virus called COV19 is identified and your President (an old man called Duterte who admitted he enjoyed killing people for those of you reading this in years to come) closes your country to tourists for 2 years and your business closes. Just as the elections approach the borders are reopened but you are unable to reopen as a typhoon ripped your business to shreds. If your business was lucky enough not to be decimated by Odette then it was ripped to shreds by the combined mite of DNER, IATF and a variety of other post COV 19 regulations requiring the hotels to spend money they don’t have on temperature monitors, screens, hand washing and sanitising stations. You survive all of that, reopen and fill with guests and you start to think maybe things will be ok and then the power company turns the power off!

If you would like to see my Vlog from Port Barton, please click on the image below:

I had a very interesting coffee with an Australian whose Phillipino wife has a hotel in Port Barton where he told me in graphic detail with a lot of F words about the hurdles he had to go thorough. He patiently explained why, for a long time, in spite of pressure from the tourism bodies, he refused to reopen his Pension (opps Resort- but to get a license they expected him to down grade his offering to tourists or pay more to retain his old business name). Then I walked back along the beach for lunch at Besaga where the waitress remembered my name after I had coffee ad lemonade there earlier in the day (ironically, I forgot her name but she came from Mindanao and wore a red blouse!). The guys were busy repairing a roof (a common sight across Palawan) and a sign over the entrance. After a very enjoyable Spaghetti Carbonara and lemonade I noticed the skies were darkening again and headed back to Eshanti’s for Meryenda which I bought from a bakery on the way. Not only did it rain but there was thunder and lightning and having been woken at 4 am by the people in the next room I decided the best thing to do in a Brown out was take a nap. Have you noticed how quickly the British Kabayan has become Pinoy!

            My spaghetti Cabonara and Garlic bread at Besaga for lunch

In the evening I took a walk down the beach to Besaga as the sun set, but due to the Brown out they had closed the restaurant early. I called Adam and he diverted to another restaurant for dinner. I managed two bowls of soup, a Mackerel steak and chips and 2 fruit platters and Calamansi juice while Adam down two San Miguel and some pasta (most of which he had as a take out!). When we got back to Eshanti, he confirmed my booking in Alimanguan and cancelled my booking in New Canipo. The next day I contacted Ritchelle who said I could stay at her house n the 14th and then at another of the Lio hotels on 15 and 16. So that will make 7 places I have stayed all over Palawan in my first month here. I sure hope my agent finds me a rental home soon or I will be back at the Microtel in May! 

One of the many stray dogs and cats I befriended along the way, pati3ently waiting for his lunch!

Once again, I guess I must have been really stupid after the chaos of the last 14 months to think that my months’ vacation in Palawan would have gone to plan.

As I leave Port Barton early to return to a world with electricity my thanks to Ate Rose, Adam and JJ for making me so welcome, doing my washing, and booking and cancelling hotels for me. I sincerely hope that you win your fight with Powersource. However until that happens, dear reader, I would take Port Barton and New Canipo off your bucket list.

This is The British Kabayan, leaving Port Barton and heading north to Alimanguan

Ingat Palagi!