The tale of two beaches: Philippines

Sabang Beach #1 Palawan

An early morning 4 hour flight brings us into the Manila Clark airport at 11:15 am. We have a 4:30pm departure out of the domestic terminal to Puerto Princessa Palawan. The problem is the domestic airport is a totally different airport and is 1 ½ hours away by bus… at least we had enough time in-between flights to make it and not be stressed about it. On the bus ride we met a guy name Dan who not only has been to the Philippines before but has been working in the Philippines for the past 13 years originally with the Canadian Embassy. Dan was great as he was more than helpful providing us with tips and a brief overview of the country’s history. Based on the info Dan provided to us it helped us decide our itinerary and visit both of Philippines Sabang beaches on different coasts and islands. We spent the first night in Puerto Princessa at the overpriced Hotel Fleuris. They promised us Wi-Fi and since they were unable to deliver Lindsay managed to get us a discount as she informed them about how we were “writers” for a Calgary travel blog/magazine and this would be documented in our article. The next morning we head north to our first Sabang beach. We have two options for getting there:
1) Rent an air conditioned van for PHP 3500…approx $75 CAD
2) A jeepney which is a cross between a jeep and a bus, lowered, spray painted, and named by owner which is PHP 200/person or approx $4.60 CAD

We opt for the jeepney. We get to the jeepney terminal at about noon and we are scheduled to leave at 2pm. Jeepney’s do not actually have a set schedule as they do not leave any terminal until they are full. When I say full I mean jammed packed with people; 4 to a seat which is the size of a park bench making at least 20 people inside some on the roof and others hanging off the sides of the Jeep. If they aren’t hanging off the side to begin with, wait a few minutes, eventually it will pick someone up from the side of the road and give them an outdoor lift. Our Jeepney leaves at about 2:30 and our journey begins. What we were told was going to be a 2 hour trip turned out to be almost 4 hours but felt like 10 due to the Jeepney stopping at every little road side store to drop off product. Since we planned on a 2 hour trip tops, we were starving, grumpy and ready to loose it when we finally arrived into Sabang. We went right to a restaurant and ordered 3 dishes to get rid of our growling stomachs. Filipino food is not that great; in most small restaurants their chicken dishes consist mostly of bone and fat in a sauce with a side of rice and a few veggies. Upon arrival Elmer introduces himself to us, Elmer is one of many locals who assist you in finding hotels, tours and return travel. They do this because they get paid a percentage from the hotel or person gaining your business. This is nice because you can ask for proper help without being taken for a ride which is something we experienced in other parts of the Philippines. Our first few nights are spent at Taraw Vista Lodge, a bamboo cabin on the ocean. We would have stayed our full four nights here except this small village of Sabang has rotating power outages making for a hot, sweaty and uncomfortable sleep. Fortunately after night 1 we meet 2 American girls on the beach who are currently teaching in Korea, this works to our advantage since there is one hotel in the village that has 24 hour power, a pool, A/C… and is really beautiful. The four of us decide to rent the deluxe suite at the Daluyon Resort and spend our last 2 nights relaxing by the pool, enjoying the A/C room and being pampered by the staff. The only other thing we will mention about Sabang Palawan is the underground river tour which we experienced since it is being considered as one of the top 7 wonders of the natural world. It was a great experience and one we highly recommend; however, you will have to see this for yourself as our pictures will never do it justice because it is an underground river/tunnel in a cliff and very dark. A guide will paddle your boat on a 45 minute tour through this bat filled cave…that’s right we saw the Bat Cave….a word of wisdom don’t open your mouth while looking up ;)


Sabang #2 – Puerto Galera

This is the second most popular tourist destination in the country and after being on a secluded beach we were looking forward to meeting other travelers. There are two major reasons people go to Sabang beach #2, one is for the diving and the other is for the girly bars…we wish we knew this before we decided to go there.
The diving is great, self explanatory so let us tell you a bit of the interesting facts we learned about the girly bars:
- The bars are all called disco’s so when we walked in looking for a night of dancing we were surprised to see girls up on stage with little clothing on, dancing next to polls….not on the poles, just beside them.
- They do not actually remove clothing unless it has been a slow month (or so we were told) luckily we did not see this when we unexpectedly stumbled into the disco.
- They live with approx 8 girls per room with half the number of mattresses, meaning they could often be sharing beds.
- The girls dance 3 at a time to the same 3 songs every night at the same time and this is one of the ways they get noticed by the male tourists...
- The girls are between 16 to 24, but who knows as we saw some that looked no older than 14.
- $1000 Pesos approx $23 CAD allows the girl to leave the disco with you, $200 Pesos go to the mama (pimp) and the girls get the other $800
- Approx $1000 Pesos is expected to be given as a tip the next morning or so we were informed.
- The girls send most of the money home to their parents who are looking after their kid or kids. This money is used to support the whole family (parents, siblings, their kids and other family if needed)
- The girls work from 7pm to what ever time they get home.
- A beer in the disco costs $50 Pesos but if you want to buy a drink for one of the working girls that beer will jump up to $250 Pesos in which $50 of it will go to the girl and the disco keeps the rest
- The average Filipino makes $6000 Pesos a month, approx $120 USD which is why a lot of girls resort to working at discos as they can make that amount in as little as three nights
- We were told that in a lot of Asian countries, some of these girls are pushed by their parents into this occupation to support the family.

Remember h0w we told you in a previous blog that the whole older men with young Thai girls gets under Kathy’s skin, well this sex trade situation is what makes Lindsay’s blood boil.

Throughout this small town built onto the beach of Sabang Puerto Galera we met quite a few interesting characters.
There is Robin, a slightly creepy older American man who works as a videographer for Discovery Channel. There was Canadian Mark and his American travel partner who although we spent much time speaking with, his name escapes us. They currently work in Afghanistan. There was Bruce and his daughter Charlie coming from London. Then there was our dive guide Josh who we only mention because he is 38 years old and just started smoking 9 months ago…WTF??
On our way back through Manila we spent some time with Dan (our Manila tour guide) who informed us that in the Philippines there is actually a bank that will give you coconut oil if they run out of money, who knew coconut oil, had such high trade/sale value. From there we went to Kuala Lumpur before heading to Koh Phagnan Thailand. In Kulala Lumpur we spent 2 of the funnest (yes we know this isn’t a word) nights of our life. We met a crazy amount of fun people including a cute professional kite surfer from France on his way to a magazine shoot in Indonesia and some US Air Force pilots currently stationed in Japan….we highly recommend Reggae Bar if you are ever in KL.


Highlights, funny situations and interesting facts
- One day while on Sabang beach #1 Lindsay is reviewing pain killers in a local store behind the counter since they are stored in drawers and sold as individual pills. One store clerk starts pointing out commonly purchased medication such as Immodium AD, Naproxen and Dulcolax… another store clerk hears this and proceeds to scream out “THAT IS A LAXATIVE” in front of a store full of people which consisted of at least one good looking guy. Lindsay has to stay behind the counter for a few minutes till the store clears out and she is able to regain her composure. We have always laughed about this story but it was pretty damn mortifying for Lindsay at the time. Who screams stuff out like that??
- In Puerto Princesa we decided to pamper ourselves and go to our hotel “spa” for a massage. They send us to the shower before the massage and tell us to just wear our panties and the robes provided into the massage room. It was the weirdest set up as no shower had a hook or shelf to keep your towel and robe on; it is for this reason that Kathy forgets she still has panties on and proceeds to shower with them making for a damp situation. Under normal circumstances this would just be a humorous incident; however, a shuttle is taking us to the airport right after our massage and front desk currently has control of our luggage. I wonder what the massage ladies thought of the wet spot on Kathy’s massage bed especially after she told Kathy before the massage started that she had a nice body maam.
- Our massages were held in the same room which was weird as it felt a bit like a couples massage and at one stage they roll you onto your back for a frontal massage and your naked chest is exposed to everyone in the room. They start at the collar bone, head south and come underneath your chest and up under your armpits…well at least that is what Kathy experienced. Lindsay’s on the other hand can only be described as an exotic rubdown; she would like to know “who goes to second base without asking permission or at least a first kiss?”
- We found the Philippine airports interesting as only those traveling are actually able to enter the airport and a security station is set up at the entrance to enforce this.
- In restaurants all employees care for a table, so anyone in the restaurant will take your order, fill your glass or bring you your bill which you always have to ask for. Eating out is a social affair and in Filipino culture is not to be rushed but rather relaxed and enjoyed.
- No one walks or takes stairs unless absolutely necessary….yes Dan that is a stab at you
- As a tourist in Philippines it really is not an easy task to get around the country or cities. Even if you ask around or do your own research, there is not really a definitive answer and the prices are always different for foreigners.
- To get around the big islands there is a great freeway called EDSA (4 -5 lanes going each direction). We were pretty amazed that a third world country which does not have a lot of car owners has better transportation roads than that of Calgary. We were in awe to see police officers’ standing in the middle of the freeway to make sure their presence was noticed and ensure that no one was violating the traffic laws. Even if traffic laws were broken I am not sure how the police would have done something about it as traffic was traveling over 50 kms and the police were on foot with no vehicle in sight.
- In Manila we spotted bright pink C shaped urinals for men only. When we asked about it we were informed that these are put up around the city mostly for the taxi drivers as they would just stop and pee on the side of the road in the middle of the city if they had to go. Even though we did see these urinals around the city we unfortunately still saw full grown men facing bushes and relieving themselves.
- It feels as though most Filipino’s will try to take the common white folk for a ride or “rip them off”. On one of our last taxi journey’s Lindsay had just about enough of this and after passing our hotel and trying to take us on one final spin around the block Lindsay firmly says “STOP THE CAR, STOP THE CAR RIGHT NOW.” Have you ever seen the IKEA commercial when the lady yells “start the car” well this is Lindsay to a tee except we were not getting a great deal.
- As a foreigner in the Philippines there is a few things to watch out for:
o Taxies do not want to give you change and will take you the round about way to get everywhere
o Looking for a simple question answered will result in a “small tip maam”
o Highballs served with anything other than Pepsi/Coke are subject to be charged as a cocktail, which is often double the price.
o Lemons are the small green ones and Limes are the bigger yellow ones (this did only happen to us once but was quite funny as she clearly did not know what she was talking about but tried to convince us this is how it is in the Philippines).


We enjoyed our Philippines experience but are excited to get back to the hustle and bustle of Thailand and to enjoy their excellent cuisine, better prices, less stress travels, and a better understanding of how things operate.

Keep following our final adventures as our trip comes to its final leg (insert tears and crying sound here) on the Eastern islands of Thailand