Following the Jr World Gymnastics Championships in Manila, I walked to the airport and flew to Puerto Princesa on the popular tourist island Palawan.

It poured rain on arrival. November being near the end of the rainy season.

Tourists in Palawan sign up for 3 popular tours:

• Underground River
• Honda Bay Island Hopping
• Half-day City Tour

Due to rain, the only one running was the Half-day City, so I signed on. It turned out to be surprisingly good.

BUT crowded. The only tour running. AND there was a cruise ship in town.

Puerto Princesa is the site of the Palawan Massacre. 14 December 1944 …

Allied soldiers, imprisoned near the city, were killed by Imperial Japanese soldiers. Only eleven men managed to survive, while 139 were killed. They were set on fire after being doused with gasoline.

This Roman Catholic Cathedral is largest in the city.

I tried using a loom to weave different grasses. An impressive technology that still works today.

The first simple looms were invented around the 5th millennium BCE,

The Butterfly Eco-Garden and Tribal Village was excellent.

A conservation “zoo” taking care of perhaps a dozen indigenous animals and birds.

I’d never heard of the nocturnal Palawan binturong (Palawan bearcat). Unique to this island. It can grow to 1.4 m (4.6 ft) in length. There are others of the same Binturong species across Asia.

I’ve been to many Butterfly farms over the years. Always interesting and entertaining.

They have perhaps a dozen large insects — that you can touch and hold, if you like. But not the millipede

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Palaw’an tribespeople come down for up to 3 months at a time to man this tourist attraction. Traditional costume, musical instruments, …

We saw a blowgun demonstration with bamboo darts. Very accurate!

I was impressed with how quickly this guy could light a torch from flint. It burns up to 3 days, made from some kind of evergreen resin.

Last stop was Baker’s Hill. A collection of oddities built around the city’s most famous bakery.

Puerto Princesa is known as one of the cleanest and greenest cities in the nation. Far better than Manila, certainly. They have strict laws here regarding littering.

At dusk I ran the Baywalk.

The waterfront has been steadily upgraded in recent years. Most significantly, the main market will be moving into this tourist friendly location.

It’s still an active fishing and boating area in 2025.

This was my 2nd trip to Philippines. In 2011 I spent a week hiking the rice terraces of Banaue. Then flew to the single most touristy destination on all of Philippines 7100 tropical islands ➙ Boracay.

Intramuros (lit. ’within the walls’ or ‘inside the walls’) is the historic walled area within the city of Manila, the capital of the Philippines. …

… considered at the time of the Spanish Empire to be the entire City of Manila …

Intramuros is the most important tourist area in the big city.

I didn’t enjoy the visit as much as I’d hoped. In a bad mood because transportation is so gridlocked. It was slow to get here and back to the Gymnastics competition. I tried public transportation — but it was lined up. Too slow.

So I took a GRAB car (something like Uber) and that was also problematic. There’s no easy way to get around Manila.

I started at San Ignacio Church as it’s the tourist information centre. CLOSED on Mondays.

The GPSMyCity app didn’t work. It’s a self-guided walking tour guide that would have been perfect here.

Walked down the street to the impressive Manila Cathedral.

Said HI to Carlos IV.

Then to the main attraction, Fort Santiago.

There’s a problematic ticket queue set-up. I had to square up with a lady tour guide trying to go to the window ahead of us.

Fort Santiago was the highlight, actually. A lot of history.

This is one of the prettier views I’ve seen of grotty Manila.

Most of the good photos I’ve seen of this city are backstreet, real life close-ups.

There are plenty of statues.

And — past Intramuros — many of the major architectural attractions.

I spent 11 days in Newport City for the Jr World Gymnastics Championships 2025 and before flying back to Canada.

There are no 3 star hotels so I stayed in something like an AirBnB apartment. There are plenty available in this high density part of the city. They are called a “Condotel” here — starting at about USD $30 / night for a full apartment with kitchenette.

Here’s the view from my 10th story.

View of the airport from my window. I can walk to departures.

There are no parks anywhere close so I ran stairs for exercise, working up to 10 x up and down 10 stories. A good workout in the heat and humidity.

One novelty ➙ many cats that live on the Main Street. Somebody is feeding and caring for them.

Movie theatre, performing arts theatre, upscale mall, high end restaurants.

Most hanging out here are wealthy.

Every possible fast food outlet is available. Dozens of sit-down restaurants.

I mostly bought groceries, making my own coffee and meals.

Newport City is a 25-hectare (62-acre) township development situated next to the Villamor golf course and Terminal 3 of Ninoy Aquino International Airport …

… designed to combine accommodations and entertainment with residences, hotels, a mall and Resorts World Manila, the country’s first fully integrated entertainment complex.

It’s always entertaining for a Canadian to see folks who’ve never known snow celebrate a white Christmas. 😀

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

I’m a big fan of Gymnastics in the Philippines since leading a coaching course here in 2011.

I’d not known much about Taiwan before traveling there. It was much different than I anticipated.

I hear of Taiwan often in the context of TSMC, the world’s biggest semiconductor manufacturing and design company. I ASSuMEd that Taiwan would be high tech, something like Singapore and Hong Kong.

Not so.

I found it backwards. More like China in the 1990s than Singapore.

Taiwan still has multiple dumb, unnecessary rules that are strictly enforced. Government hasn’t modernized. For example, currency exchange at the National Bank is still a time-consuming drama with a dozen pieces of paper, all of which will never be seen again by human eyes.

Banking is digitized now in the modern world. Easy, for example, in the Philippines.

I anticipated a language barrier, of course. But it’s challenging.

English is not used aside from direct tourist facing employees. A bus full of tourists will have a driver who cannot answer even the simplest question in English. It results in frustration for all.

Signage, of course, is mostly in logographs. I couldn’t even guess at what they mean. Restaurants often don’t have an English menu.

I’d heard something of the great hiking and cycling trails. Those are good, well organized, but shorter and less adventurous than expected. Taiwan is smaller than I thought. 394 km  long and 144 km at widest.

Next time I’d travel the less developed east side of the island. I followed the high speed rail side this time.

Taiwan still uses cash. Refusing credit cards in many places.