TBK Tours - with Mike

After a long absence- TBK tours is back!

The last time we took anyone around Palawan was in May when Mark was here from Manila and Rhoda and Matilda from Nacpan. This time my good friend Mike, who lived close to me in Awali, Bahrain for many years came to visit from Thailand where he has retired. I decided to do a mini Palawan beach tour taking in my favourite beaches around the Island. We decided to go on a circular route staying at my favourite hotels on the way and eating in my favourite restaurants. That way we reduced the number of long drives ( I am now 63!) and indulged in Mike and My favourite hobbies- eating ( and he likes drinking too!) .Just to keep our former dieticians ( and Chester the dawg) happy we threw in some walking too!

So this was our planned route:

That's a grand total of 638 km which according to Google should take 12 hours and 43 minutes!

I know Mr G is thinking " I bet you had a spreadsheet!" - and of course we did:

So did it go according to plan? Of course not!

On the positive the plane arrived early and we had a nice Pizza / Spaghetti Cabonara at Roma where Lyn and Roberto gave us their usual warm welcome. The next morning we had an amazing English breakfast at Rustic Cafe before heading off to Nagtabon beach. On the way it started to rain so we sat under an umbrella after our walk and watched the world go by.

                                 A wet and deserted Nagtabon beach- photo by Mike

In the evening I had arranged for a delivery of fish and chips and mango sticky rice from Poochies kitchen and then we had an early night before packing and heading off to Port Barton.

It poured with rain and the restaurants I wanted to visit ( Dam Dams and Fat Cat ) were closed . We did have a nice lunch at Besaga and dinner at Holiday Suites. We also walked a long way ( in the rain) to get to Besaga and back- 12,057 steps!

As usual it was a delight to stay at Eshantis and see Ate Rose, Dam Dam and JJ. Rose arranged for us to have adjoining ground floor rooms with AC and Adam helped Mike get an urgent business letter signed and dispatched - for which many thanks. Rose provided Coffee at 6 am and we headed off at 9 am after taking Chester for a long walk on the rain. The place was deserted and is still one of my favourite beaches in Palawan. Sadly Dam Dams restaurant where we had hoped to have breakfast was closed due to the shortage of tourists and Fat Cat, which I discovered and loved on my last visit, was now closed for refurbishment. However there were still advertising signs all over town for it! I said a little prayer for Malcolm who used to run a hotel on Port Barton beach, sold it and died soon after. I laughed as I imagined him in heaven querying his bill with St Peter. 

"Oi, you, what are all these F*cking angels on my bill for"

It saddens me that the same people who complained of having no customers during COV 19, being wiped out by Typhoon Odette,  reopened and then closed again. Clearly if they are closed they wont make any money and people like me will not recommend them or return. Lovely as it is it is simply not worth a 7 hour return trip if only one decent restaurant is open.

Enough of Port Barton, the sign on the wall there said it all:

We made a hasty exit and moved to our next destination, Victoria Beach house at Alimanguan. We stopped off on the way at another of my favourite restaurants , Cecile's, just north of Roxas, where we had freshly made pancakes and omelettes with maple syrup and some coffee.

                            Our lovely breakfast at Cecile's ( apart from the bacon!)

We finally got to Alimanguan after the driver ignored the Google map instructions and had to do a U turn and go back 14km. Then we ended up nearly getting stuck in the mud when the road ran out ( not for the first time, which is why I ignored Google!). The great advantage of having a passenger is that Mike took some great photos of the interior of Palawan which is very spectacular between Port Barton and Alimanguan as you traverse the mountains from West to East coast and back. I was too busy trying to avoid getting killed by maniac van and 4 x 4 drivers overtaking on the wrong side of the road.

      Approaching Port Barton, above and Palawan interior, below- photos by Mike

In Alimanguan we were given the usual warm welcome by the owners and staff at Victoria Beach house ( to think on our first visit they said dogs were not usually allowed!) and Chester got very excited having so many people fuss over him.

                                 The deserted beach at Alimanguan- by Mike

When we arrived the place was packed with people attending a religious function and our rooms were not ready, They apologised and gave us fresh pineapple. Then we had some drinks, lunch and Meryenda while we waited. Once again we had adjoining rooms on the ground floor overlooking the beach. The rain finally stopped and between an early morning walk to Besaga and a walk at Alimanguan we managed 10,760 steps - again in excess of the 10,000 steps the vet said Chester needed. 

                                     On the beach at Alimanguan

We had a nice lunch at Victoria Beach house and then had dinner at the Pizza place ( Turtle Beach) next door. Once again as a suki ( regular) we were given a warm welcome back and had two delicious home made pizzas . Mike also had his first Halo Halo. Chester got to play with their dogs and 2 cats and we had a very enjoyable evening before walking back to the Beach House to sleep. Chester , as usual, woke up at 5 am to be fed and at 6 am wanted his walk . The rain had stopped, the sun later came out and the kids, walking to school on the beach came to pet Chester. I caught up on this blog until breakfast arrived at 730 am. Later in the morning I took Mike to the Rock of San Vicente at Bato Ni Ningning. Finally we got the photos I had been trying to take for a year for Chester's 2023 Calendar which you will see in November.

You can read more about Bato Ni Ningning in this blog:

https://thebritishkabayan.blogspot.com/2022/04/tbk-travels-to-alimanguan-san-vicente.html

                            The Alimanguan National Highway

Whilst Alvin and others had informed me the road to the famous viewpoint had now been concreted, they omitted to say the wonderfully named “Alimanguan National Highway” is still a muddy track. However, with Mike navigating “ to the left, take the right lane here, slow down, oh sh*t!”, me driving cautiously and Chester running from side to side on the back seat looking out of the windows we finally made it! We got some great shots for Chester’s November 2023 Calendar, before turning around and repeating the journey back to the hotel. 

                    The view from Bato Ni NingNing - by Mike

                            Mike climbed the "Rock of San Vicente"

                  , Chester and I stayed on the ground celebrating the harvest!

Mike had a nap and a massage; I had a manicure and pedicure and then a chicken curry. Then the heavens opened (as predicted) with added lightening and thunder which Chester slept through. Luckily, we had planned to eat at the hotel so we did not have to go out as they served the food at a table outside our room. By then we were the only guests at the hotel!

                                         Alimanguan beach by Mike

After an early beach walk and breakfast we headed north to Taytay. Here we decided to go around the Fort. While dogs were not allowed the lady on the gate offered to look after Chester for us . However he had other ideas, slipped his collar and ran to the beach for a swim! When we caught him we had coffee and Showmai at a little Sari Sari store before driving on to El Nido.

                     The Sari Sari store opposite Fort Santiago in Taytay

We drove into El Nido , parked opposite Mama Jam's Banana Kitchenette but although the window was open and the sign said " Welcome, we are OPEN" the door was locked and the place was in darkness. We found another great restaurant called Gorgonzola nearby and had a very enjoyable late lunch. Then we drove to  Lio where we checked in at Huni and paid our cash deposit to allow Chester to sleep in my room. ( more than the cost of the accommodation in Port Barton and Alimanguan!)

                                Neil after dinner at Punta Playa on Lio Beach

We had an excellent seafood paella at Punta Playa and then an early night. On Wednesday we had our inclusive buffet breakfast at Huni, then left at 8 am and headed south stopping for lunch at Cecile’s and arriving back in Puerto at 3 pm.

I cooked some Lamb for dinner and we had some lovely Cheese . The next day we had Berry Parfait for breakfast and Frythy and Noel came and cleaned the house and then we had her delicious pies with creamy mash and Julia Childs sweet and sour red cabbage for lunch. After I took the boys to SM Mall and paid my electricity bill I took Mike to the airport for his flight to Clarke.

Hopefully Mike managed to get a flavour of the Philippines award winning island, and my home, Palawan. He saw some of the beautiful beaches yet to be wrecked by greedy developers. I certainly enjoyed catching up with old friends, getting lots of exercise with Chester and getting some sea air and away from the internet and Facebook.

                              Fort Santiago at Taytay- Photo by Mike

If any of my friends would like to participate in one of Neil’s tours, please give me plenty of notice. My next break now will be in December when we are heading back to Surya beach for a few days.