the last frontier

Quick, name the worst 2 things that can happen whilst on vacation.

1. Getting sick
2. Bad weather

I got slammed with both. I have not been sick in 5 months, mind you. Ever since I set off on my Asia tripping, I've been the picture of perfect health. I thought maybe because I was so happy & carefree? And then, upon waking up the morning of my flight to paradise, otherwise known as Palawan, I felt a nagging itch in my throat & promptly downed all the vitamin C I could get my hands on, just in case. Coz I couldn't really get sick on this perfect holiday could I? That would be a cruel joke. But the throat itch rapidly deteriorated into a sneezing,mucus-y, hacking, puffy eyed, red & raw-nosed mess, & I realized my body will do whatever it damn well feels like doing, whether I want it to or not.

As will Mother Nature. The weather remained a steady overcast haze the entire time. The sun shone through the clouds every now & then, teasing us in a maddening game of peek-a-boo, & every time it did we frantically stripped down to our bikinis & prostrated ourselves in the nearest patch of rays in vain attempts to get that holy grail golden tan. It rained every few hours or so, for about half an hour at a time. The saving grace was that we were already wet anyway.

And of course, it was still amazingly beautiful. Its remote location as the westernmost island group of the Philippines keeps the beaches & waters that surround them pristine & fosters a unique plethora of flora & fauna, & is thus declared a nature sanctuary of the world & the country's last frontier. The landscape was not at all what I was expecting. It was a mix of the jungle rivers, rainforests & terrain of Brazil's Amazon, the majestic mountains soaring out of crystal clear & still waters of Milford Sound, New Zealand, & the limestone cliffs, emerald waters & tropical climate of Krabi, Thailand.

Palawan is touted as an ideal honeymoon spot for being so naturally gorgeous but also so quiet & intimate. I can see why. Our resort, El Rio y Mar, was the only establishment on its own little island & we the only guests. The world could end around us & we wouldn't have a clue. In fact, it was the perfect lonely deserted island wherein to escape to if you've just committed a multi-million dollar bank heist or murdered the entire royal family. Yes, it was romance galore. And us, 4 partyphile chicks on our apparent honeymoon.

The worst part of all my misfortune was that I couldn't dive! Diving while sick is dangerous because the sinuses are blocked & you won't be able to release the dense underwater pressure through your ears. So while my friends gleefully strapped on their BCDs & regulators & went on night & wreck dives (2 of the most coveted types of dives in the diving world), I sadly waved goodbye from shore & promptly got myself a mango rum daiquiri & then a very expensive massage wherein I fell asleep, snoring on account of my clogged sinuses. Sigh.

But I did try to do everything else.

And just to top off my bad luck, I had borrowed an underwater camera from a friend, but lo & behold when I went to use it the faulty battery was dead. So I am left with no underwater pictures. When Sophie finally uploads the ones I took with her camera (in approximately 2 years from now), I'll share more. Underwater is where the real fun happened! The life down there was amazing. Again & again I find that going under really makes my world so much bigger.

Of course the sun came out the day we left. But isn't that just how it goes sometimes?