Matilda, age 3, going on 13
As regular readers will know TBK fell in love with Palawan many years ago when staying at El Nido Cove (ENC- now sadly closed). In 2018 a group of students from Barutaan National High School (BNHS) were doing their on-job training (OJT) at Cove, and later Casa Kalaw at Lio. A group of them (Jhoanna, Grecil and Rodel) really impressed me with their good English, beaming smiles, smart appearance and the fact they were always laughing and singing and joking. They were all very polite and respectful (like all 17-year-old Filipinos are bought up to be) and whenever they saw me would ask how I was and say “Hello sir”.
A few years later Jhoanna, a college friend, Danica, and I
were walking down Nacpan beach. Grecil was working at Sunmai and rushed out
shouting “Tatay” (daddy) and jumped into my arms in that now famous photo!
Grecil in TBK’s arms at Sunmai in 2020
Grecil had to go back to work but pointed at a house down
the beach and said “Rodel lives there” so we went and saw him and his family.
That’s when I met and fell in love with Matilda who was being looked after by
her Lola (Grandmother) while her mum, Rhoda (Rodel’s sister) was at work. We
chatted away by the beach and Rodel disappeared. When I asked where he was,
they pointed up a high coconut tree where Rodel was picking 3 fresh coconuts
for Danica, Jhoanna and I. That’s when I fell in love with Rodel and we changed
his name from Catriona Black to Unggoy
(monkey) due to the speed with which he climbed the tall tree. He later told me
he learnt the skill as a young boy and that he used to pick fresh coconuts
daily from their garden and sell them to Sunmai who made them into cocktails.
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After our fresh Buko (Coconut) juice we went back to Sunmai for lunch and Grecil and another batch mate from BNHS looked after us very well. Then, as we walked back to our car a pretty young lady came out of Nacpan Glamping (owned by the owners of Sunmai who are also about to open two hotels in El Nido) and ran up to Rodel. He proudly introduced his sister, Rhoda, Matilda’s mother. That is when I fell in love with Rhoda!
Sadly, soon after that COV 19 rocked the world and the
Philippines was closed to tourists by then President Duterte (Oh I loved typing
that word “THEN”. Duterte who? That’s business- but his and the Marcos legacy
lives on through BBM and Sara!) . Sunmai and Glamping cut back on staff and
Rhoda, Rodel and Grecil had no money and came running to “Tatay Neil” for
loans which they never repaid! So that is when I invited them to come to
Puerto, stay and work for me cleaning, washing up, ironing etc. Grecil joined
Jhoanna at my first house rental in Banco Banco in Feb 2021, and Rhoda (with
Matilda in tow) came to the Blue House in May 2022.
Grecil making my bed at Banco Banco in Feb 2021
However as Rhoda had only briefly visited Puerto once with her brother when he was getting his paperwork for his new job at Angkla, which he later lost, I decided to take her around the city while she was here. Some of our trips have been covered in other blogs ( and vlogs) like Baker's Hill (Baker's Hill, The Blog) , and our Island Hopping trip ( Lola's on board) so here I will concentrate on the new places we visited.
The fish at Puerto Princesa Baywalk
One of the good things about Puerto is that many of the landmarks are close together. First we went to the Fishermen's Port and then on to the Baywalk. This is the venue for major Political rallies ( Leni and Marcos were both here in the run up to the election) , exercising ( lakad lakad) and at Christmas its decorated with lights and a tree and many restaurants and bars open up. The morning we went it was hot and humid so only a couple of restaurants were open at the far end. We saw a ferry waiting to go somewhere, fishermen loading up with ice for their fishing trips and an Island Hopping trip setting off. We then walked back to the car. We saw a rare Palaweno Unggoy ( monkey) in a tree and a statue of a lady which had no inscription! mystery, Mystery!
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A rare Palaweno Unggoy ( Monkey) hanging from a tree on the Baywalk
Many people have been wondering who the lady is. Well I can now reveal the truth!
"The Princessa ng Baybay was a project of Rotary Club of Puerto Princessa under the leadership of Palawan Pawnshop tycoon Bobby Castro in 2007 as support to the former Mayor Edward Hagedorn, it aims to have a landmark same like Merlion of Singapore and the Little Mermaid of Denmark."
Source: http://palawanderer.com/ang-prinsesa-ng-baybay-the-story-behind-it/ ( accessed 2.6.22)
No, Mark, I promise I did not make that story up!
We briefly stopped at the Fish Market and saw some huge Tuna being sold , presumably to Restaurants and Hotels.
Large Tuna at the Puerto Princesa Fish Market- Photo by Rhoda
Next stop was the beautiful Cathedral, often called the Immaculate Conception Cathedral. It is a white building and they were just preparing for a wedding and it looked beautiful. Rhoda and Matilda prayed while I took some photos.
Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Puerto Princesa
According to Wikipedia:
" The Puerto Princesa Cathedral (Filipino: Katedral ng Puerto Princesa), also known as the Immaculate Conception Cathedral Parish (Filipino: Parokyang Katedral ng Kalinis-linisang Paglilihi), is a Roman Catholic cathedral in the city of Puerto Princesa, Palawan in western Philippines. It is in the Neo-Gothic architectural tradition and is the mother church of the Apostolic Vicariate of Puerto Princesa which covers the municipalities of Palawan west of Puerto Princesa City.[1] It is located at the border of Barangay Matiyaga Poblacion and Liwanag Poblacion, near the Port of Puerto Princesa. At 118° east longitude, it is the westernmost cathedral in the country.[1]"
Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Princesa_Cathedral ( accessed 2.6.22)
I would hate to bore Phil with Wikipedia so if you want to find out more about the cathedral you know where to look!
After all our walking we were hot, sweaty and thirsty so we bought a cold drink and some Pasalubong and
then crossed the road to the site of the Palawan Massacre on 14 December 1944 in World War 2
One of the statues that commemorates the 141 Americans who were burnt alive
It's a pretty grisly story- so if you do not like that kind of thing then skip the next part . I can just see Ghrda
making coffee and settling down to read the next bit as she loves gory stories:
"In order to prevent the rescue of prisoners of war by the advancing Allies, on 14 December 1944, units of the Japanese Fourteenth Area Army under the command of General Tomoyuki Yamashita, brought the POWs back to their own camp. An air raid warning was sounded to get the prisoners into the shelter trenches, the 150 prisoners of war at Puerto Princesa entered those trenches, and the Japanese soldiers set them on fire using barrels of gasoline.[2][3]
Prisoners who tried to escape the flames were shot down by machine gun fire. Others attempted to escape by climbing over a cliff that ran along one side of the trenches, but were later hunted down and killed. Only 11 men escaped the slaughter; 139 were killed.[4]
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palawan_massacre accessed 2/6/22)
As well as visiting the gory sites we visited the Butterfly farm and Eco Garden where the very brave Matilda ( and Rhoda) had photos with a snake. We saw the stick insects, Pupae, Butterflies, a Crocodile, sleepy bear, the rare Palawan peacocks and learnt about one of the Indigenous tribes from the south of Palawan . TJ then ordered a series of magnetic pictures for us all as a souvenir.
TJ, Mark, TBK, Matilda, Mika and some butterflies
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Rhoda overcomes her fears and holds the snake
Thanks to TJ for loaning us the soft copy of the picture ( which I paid for!) . Sorry they delayed the blog publication for this week.
If you want to find out more about the Palawan Butterfly and Eco Park and Tribal Village you can read this blog:
https://feetpillars.com/palawan-butterfly-garden-tribal-village/
It really is a great place to visit ( this was my second trip) and I often go to the little Café next door which does great coffee, shakes, Tik tok dancing and they have a BBQ at Lunch time . It is also close to the Water Company offices which I have been visiting a lot recently to try and get a new connection in my name. I need this so I can access my Bank account in the UK ( 4 visits so far over a month and 4000 peso spent ( 28 bd or £64) and finally today I had my new connection installed. You can read all about that in a future blog on the worst customer service in Palawan which I have been working on for a few weeks.
Lunch at the Butterfly Garden Café when I paid for my new Water connection
As well as all the places Rhoda, Matilda and I visited I made them lots of healthy salads and soups at home! I also took them out for dinner at Ka Joel, Kinnabuch, Badjao Seafront, Max's and for Lugaw and Itlog !
I hope they enjoyed the stay and it was worth the seven hour van ride back to Nacpan with Ellen Joy!
This is The British Kabayan signing out for a rest before his next guest arrives!
If you would like to come and stay and experience one of our TBK tours please email me giving me plenty of notice!
This is The British Kabayan signing out and wishing you all Ingat Palagi and kita Kits
Hello, I am The British Kabayan! Feel free to read my stories.
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