(RELATED: Onok Island Itinerary)
The road to paradise is not always glamorous. I have always known this, but the idea kept on reinforcing itself during that trip to *Onok Island with my best friend, G.
I am only posting about Onok now because I have reviewed the photos and videos from my camera just last night, for the first time! Why I waited for so long, I don't know. Maybe I just didn't want to get lost in its beauty all over again?
But this post is not meant to gush about how wonderful the road to Onok was. Because in reality it was not. It took a total of 20 hours to get to Balabac island municipality from Puerto Princesa, including the waiting time for the daily ferry from the port of Rio Tuba. And that was not it. After reaching Balabac, we had to wait until the next morning before we could take another boat ride to Onok Island.
Politics and local corruption made it so much harder too. I didn't mind the wait and the lengthy travel time, but when we were already being conned for our money outright, I was fuming mad. This is my home province, and you are making me pay that much?! My pride (and sense of entitlement) almost had me catching the next ferry ride back to the mainland.
To reiterate what I said after that trip, I am glad I went through with it, with all of it--not just the good, but also the not so good. It was a great exercise in practicing grace under pressure. And at the end of it, I got to go home with photos and anecdotes, too.
The road to paradise is not always glamorous. I have always known this, but the idea kept on reinforcing itself during that trip to *Onok Island with my best friend, G.
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| Port of Rio Tuba. Some of the boardwalk planks felt like they would give in at any moment. |
But this post is not meant to gush about how wonderful the road to Onok was. Because in reality it was not. It took a total of 20 hours to get to Balabac island municipality from Puerto Princesa, including the waiting time for the daily ferry from the port of Rio Tuba. And that was not it. After reaching Balabac, we had to wait until the next morning before we could take another boat ride to Onok Island.
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| Port of Rio Tuba: Shanties on Stilts. Photo taken from the ferry. |
To reiterate what I said after that trip, I am glad I went through with it, with all of it--not just the good, but also the not so good. It was a great exercise in practicing grace under pressure. And at the end of it, I got to go home with photos and anecdotes, too.
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