ABW Dec 2017
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ABW Dec 2017

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a large Coca-Cola bottle full of gasoline being sold at the side of the road a few hundred metres further up, and headed out again, found a shop, bought an inner tube and headed back. The tube was fitted filled with air and we headed out again for San Vicente another 41 kilometres away on the West coast. Correa’s Borrowed bike from a completely friendly stranger banged on the gate and shouted for 30 minutes there was no response whatsoever … So much for booking online! We quoted Murphy’s Law again and Arnold, who luckily had kindly waited, triked us to a place he knew, which was all light up, with a receptionist wide awake and we were shown smiling to room number 5. We fell asleep before our heads hit the pillows and slept like logs! The next day Arnold helped us organise an automatic 125cc Japanese scooter and we scooted around the City to the Abanico Yacht Club, where I left some copies of the Philippine Active Boating and Watersports magazine for the yachties based there, and left them a ‘sponsor’s pack for my upcoming republication of the book “Combing the Coral Carpet” which is the sailing and cruising guide to the Philippine islands. We also biked to City Hall and left “Sponsor Packs” for the Mayor and the Department of Tourism (DOT). We pushed the bike for a kilometre and with amazing luck found a repair shop. We then headed out up country for a bike ride of some 200 kilometres and finally after passing Roxas on the East coast of northern Palawan Island Murphy’s Law paid us another visit. We arrived in San Vicente having travelled on a covered road all the way, and went a little further north looking for a beach resort. Another wobble session found us re-punctured, again it was the back inner tube! Hurtful Murphy had done it again. A friendly local on his bike stopped to help us, and I wobbled to the next built up area to yet another vulcanizing shop. Our new found friend told us of a beach resort just a few hundred metres way from the repair shop, and we slipped in to book a room while the bike was being fixed. The weirdest thing was about to confront us. The place was called the Victoria Beach Resort, and it turned out to be the same owners as at the one we had abandoned at 3 am in Puerto Princesa. Was Murphy giving us some positive payback at this stage, for it was a remarkable coincidence. The Victoria Beach Resort was a class act, very friendly and helpful staff, a full on birthday party that evening which we were invited to join for singing, dancing and a luscious seafood dinner caught from the pristine ocean waters of the West Philippine Seas. Then, the ultimate coincidence occurred, and we met the owner Mylene, who apologized for our treatment in Puerto and welcomed us with open arms to this magic resort laced in natural materials that tuned neatly into the environmental consciousness of the place. Then and there I vowed to write a Trip-Advisor review to celebrate this great find. The next day we rode all the way back to Puerto, stayed at the same spot, but took issue with the Bike Rental shop, and asked for a replacement bike because there were some strange clanking sounds now coming from the bike as we wove our way back to the city. Sure enough they turned up with another Japanese auto scooter, and we had a relaxing and full night’s sleep. 34 All of a sudden the bike started wobbling violently side to side, and luckily my experience and gradual braking found us still up right and on the side of the tarred road, but with a back tyre puncture. We pushed the bike for a kilometre and with amazing luck found a repair shop. However, they did not have a replacement tube, since the burst one had opened at the seam for a 2 foot stretch, so they lent us one of their Rusi bikes and we headed back to Roxas, but only for a mile before the bike ran out of gasoline – Murphy was beginning to take over our lives and the amusement side was now long gone. We found The next day was D-Day, it was Nessy’s Birthday, and time to visit the magnificence of the St Paul’s Underground River, designated as one of the 7 New Wonders of the Natural World since 2012. We headed out on our fresh machine. Murphy joined us for another session! Some 30 kilometres out of town the now familiar wobble began again and this bike’s back tyre was totally flat. I pushed, then rode the bike gingerly and slowly for 8 kilometres (that Asian lucky number 8 was haunting us again) before we found another

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