We were very uncomfortable after the two hour drive from Puerto Princessa due to the poor quality of the hired van. We had booked the five hour ride to El Nido with the same company. So we canceled that van and booked a much better van through the Four Points. This van had two captain seats, side by side in the first row behind the driver, which made the drive much easier. We left at 9 AM and arrived at 2:00 PM. Five hours almost to the minute. We passed rice fields that were getting planted by hand, fields soon to be planted, lush fields growing and fields being harvested by hand. Then we saw rice spread out in the sun drying, rice rolled up in tarps to keep the rice from the rain and rice packaged in very large bags. Lastly we saw some of those bags being transported by motorcycles. We saw the same cycle of life for bananas, without the drying of course. Every type of motorcycle and motorcycle attachment was on the road with us. Thank goodness that we switched out for the nicer van.
Winding our way around the mountains
Up on top the view is sublime
Along the east coast
Back on top of the mountains
Over many rivers
Double peacocks
A police check point that never stopped anyone
Mini camping?
Detour
Lots of construction on the way
Fish on the gates
No lack of vegetation
Suddenly it is six lanes wide and almost no one on the road
What will we find over the hill?
A fine welcome arch
Little shops every mile or so
Newly flooded field waiting for the planting
Freshly planted rice
Growing super green
Harvesting by hand
Laying the rice out to dry
Raking out the rice
When it is dry they fold it up in the tarp
Put it into a bag
then haul the rice away
There are many forms of transportation
From the oldest form
To the motorcycles that are used to haul items
These are custom made enclosures that fit over a motorcycle
This is a side car for cargo
A variety of sidecars and moto-shells
A motorcycle with a motorcycle in its sidecar
This one is hauling an entire family
Hauling very long tubes
Space age, the nuclear symbol for wheels
Of course there is the long haul busses
A comfort room just in time
Leslie is always happy to fill out a survey
Growing bananas
Pack the bananas
Sell them at the shop
Water buffalos in the creek bed
Pink and green!
Many different building styles
Some nicer than others
Going up yet another mountain
Landslide zone
As we approached El Nido we saw Jeepneys
A shopping center in the bush
Rolling hills
Palm trees everywhere
A school event is big news in this small town
So green after the rain
Active land slide
Some ad hoc repairs?
El Nido is bustling
Building a enclosure for the food truck
The streets were crowded and congested
We got to our waiting point and there were three white breasted wood swallows
El Nido is surrounded by towering limestone hills
This judge is not for lease or for sale!
Loving the green motif
Caw Caw
