"Come Back, Come Back to Palawan, Philippines"

“Come back, Come back to Palawan, the Conclusion”
I started my series of articles on our recent visit to Palawan with the same title above. I guess I owe you an explanation on why I chose this title that is why I would be writing about it in this concluding article on Palawan.

During my first visit to Palawan in 1987, I met a lot of people in line with my work at the Department of Agriculture with the implementation of the Palawan Integrated Area Development whom later became my close friends. Before I left Palawan for the first time, those new friends warned me then that I will become a victim of “kambak, kambak”. I did not understand that they were saying. So, I asked them to explain what is kambak, kambak. One of them told me a story to explain it. He narrated how one soldier was assigned in Palawan. He was smitten with a local lass. The soldier courted her. This article and more are also posted in my blog:www.inbetweentakes.com.They became sweethearts. When the time came for the soldier to be recalled back to headquarters in Manila, he told his girlfriend not to worry because he would come back to her. After a few months that he was recalled to Manila, fate would have it that he would be reassigned again to Palawan. So, he was able to be back to Palawan to be with his beloved. However, when the time came for the soldier to be recalled again, the headquarters told him that it would be his last assignment in Palawan and he would never be assigned in Palawan again. The day of his trip back to Manila on board a naval vessel, the soldier jumped into the sea and swam back to the Palawan shore to be with his beloved. He had to be physically pulled out from his sweetheart and tied like a crazy person so that he could be recalled back to Manila. I could not help but laugh after listening the story!

After a few months, I had that mystical feeling that Palawan has that magic that would mystify its visitors and lead them back to her again and again!. You see, after that first trip, opportunities (mostly official travel) just came my way to be back to Palawan!

However, this time, I have now a more rational justification why people would simply keep on coming back to Palawan: unlike other places which one would be able to see all the tourist destinations in just one visit (for example, Boracay or Singapore or Baguio), you could not see everything of Palawan in just one visit. Having experienced a nice trip to one destination in Palawan, one would crave for more of Palawan, one would simply be back for more!

If you have not been to Palawan, it is bout time you make that first trip and I am sure that just like me, you would not have enough of the place the first time, you would simply come back for more!

Nagmamahal,

Edgar Sandalo