We are on our way back to Manila, on board the ferry Asuncion, after just over a week in Palawan. The two main ferries that serve Manila-Palawan have been pulled off for repairs making the local airlines packed and fares soring high and schedules uncertain. We therefore took San Nicolas, the only one shipping line still operating regularly, the same one we took coming to Palawan. It's a small ferry and cargo boat of about 50 passengers. It's about a 30-hour journey from El Nido to Manila.

We're all squeezed together on a covered but open air upper deck with the sleeping cots actually touching one another, so our faces are only a foot away from one another. We are literally packed in like sardines! Luckily the cot to Maitri's left is vacant, so we placed all our bags on it. There's a TV on each end playing American, Chinese, and Filipino action films (lots of kung fu, gunfights, and car chases that end in fiery wrecks). They keep the volume turned up high to drown out the boat's engine which is right in the middle of the boat. Fortunately, Ole brought a set of ear plugs. Otherwise, Maitri would have gone crazy with the noise. There are several people smoking and there's no designated smoking area or, if there is, no one's using it. We don't see "no smoking" signs anywhere in the sleeping area. Good thing that the boat is open air and Maitri has a fan to clear the air around her.

The main cargo of this boat is giant sacks of dried fish and coconut on the lower decks. So you can imagine there are some rather strong smells, some pleasant, some less so. The amazing thing is that, even though people are packed so closely together, they still manage to be really patient and keep their friendliness. Even the children are for the most part quite patient. The rest rooms are very basic too. There is one men's and one woman's toilet for the entire boat. They contain one porcelain toilet that is flushed with scoops of seawater that is kept just outside in a barrel. There are two public sinks, one that is continuously running sea water. The second has a tiny faucet for fresh water. Meals are included in the $20 fare, and consist of rice, a boiled egg, or dried fish. We expected this so have brought our own food. One interesting technique is that the food is served on wicker plates wrapped in a very thin plastic bag for each passenger. This avoids the need for dish washing and can also serve as a doggie bag.

After several days in Busuanga, the northern-most island of the Palawan group, we took a 7 hour boat south to our next destination, El Nido, on the main island of Palawan. It's is a tiny crescent shaped beach town, quite picturesque with the clear blue ocean on one side and tall limestone mountains called karst on the other. People here are extremely friendly. They do not hesitate to engage you in lengthy stories about their lives and families. The area really is mainly a fishing village which has become a tourist destination because of the incredible scenic beauty of the limestone formations. It remains very undeveloped. For example, electricity is available only 12 hours per day.

We hired a boat for a day-long island hopping in the nearby Bacuit Bay which is famous for its multitude of steep karst islands jutting above the clear waters. Seven other tourists, mostly Austrians, accompanied us. Unlike us, they couldn't seem to get enough sun on their skin. We went to 5 islands that featured a Catholic shrine, a tiny white beach and coral garden accessible only by swimming through a little opening, a couple of lagoons, an island called Snake Island because its beach is like a snake that runs NOT along the shore but goes out perpendicularly into the sea in a long snaky way, and an island that has a white beach and a short but quite tall cave that you have to crawl into. You can see from the panorama photos Ole made how scenic the area is. The crystal waters are quite warm and make for very pleasant swimming and snorkeling.

We had planned to continue south to Puerto Princessa, the capital of Palawan, and leave on one of the larger "super-ferries" which carry several hundred passengers that ply that more heavily traveled route. Instead, we are returning to the Manila area where we basically have 10 more days in the islands.

We are considering several options for our remaining time here: hiking Mt Makiling, a densely forested small volcano; visiting Los Baños, a university town which has one of the largest rice seed banks in Asia and a botanical garden; seeing and listening to the world's largest bamboo organ in Las Piñas (an international organ festival is happening during the last week of this month); and visiting the Taal Volcano, a volcano within a lake within a volcano.

We are looking forward to being back in Portland and being there for the spring flowers. For all the fun we are having on this trip, we still miss simple pleasures like gardening and our local circle of friends.