underground

of the travels that i had last year, my trip to palawan was one of the best. this included island-hopping around honda bay's islets, city tour of puerto princesa, a trip up north to a paradise called el nido and an underground jaunt to st. paul subterranean river, a unesco world heritage site.

the trip here was bumpy as hell, so my troop and i were very relieved that we were able to hire a van from puerto princesa's north terminal rather than braving the almost 4 hour drive via a local ordinary bus. this national park and that of sabang, small town jump-off point to the underground river, are still part of puerto princesa city. but the rugged terrain of the st. paul mountain range and palawan's poorly managed national highway system make it very hard to reach. from sabang, you need to take a short (less than 10 minutes) boat ride to the national park and then hike (5 minutes or so) to the mouth of the river. from there, smaller boats paddled by local boatmen who also serve as tour guides will take you inside this wonder of nature. according to the guides, the navigable river is 8.2 kms, but only about 1.5 kms is open to the public. swimming is strictly prohibited.

inside, you'll see a bevy of stalactites and stalagmites, some of which resemble Jesus' face or Mama Mary's figure. there are also a section called salad bowl coz of the vegetable-resembling formations. the highlight for me is the cathedral, with its dome so high that would remind you of some of our tall churches.

natural wonders like this give me a sense of pride, really. not many countries can boast of having this kind of mother earth's marvel, given its immensity and grandeur. that's why, we really have to vote for puerto princesa's subterranean river to be one of the nature's 7 wonders. vote now! (",) ~~ thanks to det for some of the pics.