February 26, Puerto Princesa

Very tired tonight. Got up ridiculously early for 9am flight, only for it to be an hour delayed. Groan. We arrived at our hotel and was greeted by some assistant to the Governor of Palawan – my dad handled the PR and election campaign for the current governor so he feels eternally grateful to him. Ho-hum. She had an itinerary all planned out for us – island hopping today, subterranean river tomorrow, etc. So basically just had time to quickly unpack our bags and change and rush to the neighbouring restaurant to buy a packed lunch (very delicious barbequed chicken for 80p a head) and go to the pier to catch a boat.

Went to Snake Island – one of the many islands on Honda Bay, off Puerto Princesa. It was a 45-minute boat ride from the pier. Our boatman was lovely, and very knowledgeable. The people from Palawan are very proud of their island, as they should be. It’s very much a tropical paradise.

Snake Island is one of the more famous islands – the others are either private, too far or don’t have a lot of fish to see. We all went snorkelling for a couple of hours and saw a LOT of fish, making them all come closer by giving them bread.

The environment here is very well protected, with signs everywhere saying the only thing you should take with you are memories and photographs. Kitsch perhaps, but when Callum was insisting on taking a few sand dollars with him, we just showed him the sign.

Got back to our hotel and got ready for dinner at a restaurant Ka-Lui. Highly recommended by the Lonely Planet guide for its seafood and atmosphere. The food was excellent – everything we ate had been caught today – an assortment of fish, clams, prawns, etc. And the bill for five people? £22.00, including service.

The children were all very tired and are now asleep, and soon I will be going to bed as well. We have a very early day again tomorrow for the river tour – we need to be ready to leave the hotel by 7am. Egad.

Have started speaking to the children in Tagalog, the dialect that I speak. The Philippines has 66 dialects, with the one that I speak the most widely spoken. I think it’s about time that they started learning it. I was quite appalled earlier when I said a few words to them in Tagalog and they told me to stop being silly and speak English instead! So I’ve told them that I’m spending the rest of this holiday speaking to them in Tagalog. I know that I will regret this as it’s not easy, but it has to be done…