Here in Palawan, we're away from Manila's madness and a bit closer to serenity… On our last day in the big city, the owner of the guesthouse we stayed at invited us to some undisclosed ‘activity’ at a local bar. It turned out there was a reporter from National Geographic doing a documentary on a Filipino delicacy” Baluit. Now I had seen these nasty eggs all over Asia before but I never dared to try them. They are boiled eggs that have been incubated for 18-20 days – which means there’s a chick in the shell. Once the camera was rolling, I cafefully opened my egg and disecited the critter with my hands, I inspected the feathers, the claws, the beak…I opened it up and gawked at the organs…its little heart and all. And then…I ate it! Well, at least a bite of it. Jay didn’t even want to try until I kind of pressured him. Surprisingly, it tastes like boiled it…with a little “je ne sait quoi”… Anyway…keep a look out in the nest few months for, “Jay and Rachel” –the next National Geographic stars airing on TV.

On the following day we took a long ferry to the island of Coron, in Palawan. That’s me on my bunk bed in the boat. That boat was jammed packed with passengers, luggage, dogs, roosters…you name it. It was nice to finally get off and get settled in our new guesthouse: the SeaDive Resort. We went on a snorkeling boat trip with 2 other couples yesterday. Not the best snorkeling I’ve ever done but still a nice venture. We snorkeled around ship wrecks from WW2. In fact, that’s Coron’s big attraction and there are remains and mementos all over the resort. In the last picture of Jay and I, we’re sitting in the bar with the propeller of a war plane behind us.

That night we had dinner with one of the couples from the boat trip – they were on their honeymoon. I had the best meal I’ve had in a long time – fresh crab (almost as big as king crab - in the shell) in a coconut ginger sauce. The seafood here is real good…and supposedly ‘safe.’ Though I will surely be careful about eating seafood in the Philippines since a lot of their fishing is done with dynamite, cyanide or chloride poisoning. Not only does this completely ruin the coral ecosystems but it’s got to be unhealthy for us to eat.

Anyhow…I should go and meet Jay for dinner soon. Our days on this island have consisted of lounging around in hammocks, sipping San Miguel Light, playing pool at the local bar…you know…the usual. Hope we don’t get to used to this living…we’re just so good at it. I swear our stress level’s got to be down to minus 5.