Indulgence

underground

E. M. Forester
Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.

I was reading my older entries last night. I read through my Palawan adventure and realised I never really got to the part of the underground river. Of course, at the time, I had so many symbolisms that I thought up of for the moment but it's all lost to me now. But I still want to talk about it.

So we went to Sabang beach, where there were monitor lizards walking around like stray dogs. They were about 3 or 4 feet long and they just walked around, unafraid of people. There were monkeys too, but I don't like monkeys.

We walked through a forest that was pretty much untouched except for a simple little wooden path that they made towards the underground river. There was a little jetty with a beautiful lagoon where we waited for the boat to come back. It had brought a group of Japanese tourists into the cave and we have to wait our turn. We watched the peaceful lagoon and waited.

When it was our turn, we got on the boat and the boatman rowed us in.

First off, we discovered that the creatures that flew in and above our heads were not bats but swallows. Apparently, the bats were asleep and in the day time, it is the swallows that come in and out of the cave. At night, the bats do the flying and the swallows sleep. The water was supposed to be 30 to 40 feet deep and got deeper in other parts and the whole river length would be around 8 or 9 miles (though we could only reach 3.5 or 4.5 by boat; to go deeper, you'd have to get down from the boat and swim). It was completely dark except for the lights on the boat -- it would be pitch black should the light break.

The boatman showed us the different stalagmites and stalactites and how they would make such interesting shapes. He brought us to many chambers within the cave -- one was called the Cathedral because it had a huge ceiling (about 40 feet high) and there was an island where a big stalactite (or was it a stalagmite?) was in the shape of a pulpit with another rock formation in front of it, looking like a priest with his back turned. It was inspiring to be in such a huge place that was completely and utterly naturally formed.

There was a moment I realised that if the boat had turned over and we fell into the water, that was probably it. I'd never have been able to get out.

There was special sense of reverence on my part, having come into this natural formation over 80 years old, it could have even been older. I don't remember all the exact details anymore. But I was just in absolute awe and wonder at the beauty of the place. It is something I can never, ever forget. It was a purely wonderful magickal moment in my life.

(all pictures of Palawan taken in June of 2005 by Rica or Berna. Pic of Berna, me and Pabsy before we got on the boat to explore the underwater cave.)

posted by wanggo @ 4:51 PM