Underground River

   This area is famous for it’s cave system. It’s about 5 miles long and is a tourist mecca for the first mile. The trip is in a 10 person wooden canoe with outriggers. The guide in the back paddles the entire way. I sat in the front so I got to use the spotlight. It was attached to a car battery at my feet. The cave is freshwater away from the ocean and is home to bats and swallows. We were advised to keep our mouths closed when looking up. Life jackets and helmets were worn.

  Getting there was difficult as I had to be picked up at 5am. There was a Fun Run in town at 5am so many of the streets were blocked off. We finally got out of town and drove an hour when we stopped for breakfast. It was a rice porridge with a hard boiled egg floating in it. Most cheaper meals have an egg in them somewhere as a protein source, I guess.

  Sabang, the town by the Underground River, was filled with tourists. I foolishly stopped to buy a bracelet and started a feeding frenzy of venders. I had 8 around me at one time. After the river trip we walked back on a trail past some Monitor lizards to where lunch was served at 10:15am. It was the usual BIG lunch with rice, three kinds of meat, and spinach? The meats are often very fatty and I became close personal friends with four orange cats who sat patiently at my feet waiting for the next fat package from Heaven!

  Most everyone on the trip fell asleep on the way back. We had the same group of Koreans and Filipinos. The Russians and other American left. I’m sure I’m on everyone’s camera since I posed with nearly everyone.

  I ate supper at a local Vietnamese place and had Po soup, a pork sandwich and a Pepsi for $1.10  More Animal Planet on TV and then to bed