After 3 years, I decided to fly back to Puerto Princesa, my beloved hometown...
The adventure started from Vienna via Amsterdam to Manila-and boy! was it too much for the soul.Too exciting, too exhausting and too many questions. And I hated the thrill...so I tried diverting myself and watched movies during most of the 17-hour flight. Nevertheless, my thoughts were always on Palawan; my parents, property, friends, food, boatride, diving, the sea, people, islands, fish, beach...
Arriving in Manila wasn't much of a help.The queue system didn't change at all.The same old bureacracy one can find in NAIA was still there.Tsk,tsk. Oh well, WELCOME BACK TO THE PHILIPPINES...
And of course, I had to wait for half a day in Manila to get on the last flight on that day to Puerto Princesa. And as I have expected (the unexpected) the flight to Puerto was delayed. I had been awake for more than 27 hours - yet I couldn't rest my eyes nor sit on one corner. (My brain was only functioning due to the high intake of Espresso coffee!).
But the sheer excitement that I finally would see Puerto again overwhelmed me. I just wanted to go home...
It was late afternoon as we took off for Puerto. As we entered Palawan airspace, the clouds tinged with pink and red greeted me with a familiar warmthness one can only find in Palawan.
From the window, I saw Honda Bay beneath and the islands about it. The memories rushed in-I was in a trance for some minutes. How I missed the warm waters! And how I wished to parachute away and splash into the bay (with or without my luggage)...
How can one forget a once beloved hometown? a place one considered incomparable? where one discovered the sensations of nature? where one found a place in one's heart?
As we made the final descend and saw again the green curls of her mountains, I remembered the romance I had once with Palawan. During the time I approached manhood, she taught me a lot as I ventured into her jungles, explored her caves and dived her waters. Extremely wild and sensational...
My thoughts were interrupted as the stewardess caught our attention and bid us goodbye. Somehow, I was afraid the time will come when I had to say goodbye again to Puerto and fly back to Vienna...
And oh Vienna! Somehow I needed to choose between the two. Puerto Princesa-a young, virgin, naive place and; Vienna-old, but modern, rushing city. (Jokingly, it sounded like 'the Filipina or the Foreigner?')...
In Palawan, I was free.Time didn't exist in her forests nor beaches. Just the rising of the sun and moon mattered to her.The setting of the sun signalled the moon. And most of the time, the stars kissed the seas as they gleam reflectingly. I fell in love with her seas and what's under them. Her seas offered me a silent kingdom where all creatures bowed to my presence. She offered me nourishment, bounty, and a place of refuge-to wash away the stress found on land.Somehow, the life above strangled me and I fell despair. The seas could not remedy such.I fell out of love and decided to search for a new one. I left Palawan...
As I got out of the plane and saw Puerto airport atlast, I tried to rekindle the once romantic relationship I had with her.However, I too feared the involvement as I already started a new admiration for Vienna.
Vienna, a foreign-speaking, highly cultured, developed city who undertook a thousand facelifts offered something different. She offered security, opportunity, equal human rights, ease-a new pasture where grass grew plenty...
After spending a week after 3 long years,I realised I didn't have the same amour I had with Puerto.This was not anymore my home. Sadly, I did not belong to her anymore...
Things have changed. And changed her a lot. She tried to undergo cosmetic surgery but it wasn't done properly.So she ended up unfortunately ugly. The trees which adorned some her corners were cut down. Lost with them, were memoirs of the once mystic Puerto Princesa I knew. Unknowingly, she attracted more suitors, more migrants and a result, more pollutants. And she had driven away the good people, whom I knew, and who loved her for what she formerly was...
The freedom which she offered to my soul at one time existed no longer. It was perhaps, given to another suitor. Or perhaps, it was simply lost...
But how can one forget a feeling? The excitement, the thrill were exchanged with boredom and discomfort. My once considered hometown felt estranged. I felt like a simple passer-by. An alien. A tourist...
And time came to leave the 'old flame' behind, or so I thought. As we parted, Puerto Princesa whispered something into my ear...An offer to remain friends forever and promised to welcome me anytime I should look for 'new' home...
The adventure started from Vienna via Amsterdam to Manila-and boy! was it too much for the soul.Too exciting, too exhausting and too many questions. And I hated the thrill...so I tried diverting myself and watched movies during most of the 17-hour flight. Nevertheless, my thoughts were always on Palawan; my parents, property, friends, food, boatride, diving, the sea, people, islands, fish, beach...
Arriving in Manila wasn't much of a help.The queue system didn't change at all.The same old bureacracy one can find in NAIA was still there.Tsk,tsk. Oh well, WELCOME BACK TO THE PHILIPPINES...
And of course, I had to wait for half a day in Manila to get on the last flight on that day to Puerto Princesa. And as I have expected (the unexpected) the flight to Puerto was delayed. I had been awake for more than 27 hours - yet I couldn't rest my eyes nor sit on one corner. (My brain was only functioning due to the high intake of Espresso coffee!).
But the sheer excitement that I finally would see Puerto again overwhelmed me. I just wanted to go home...
It was late afternoon as we took off for Puerto. As we entered Palawan airspace, the clouds tinged with pink and red greeted me with a familiar warmthness one can only find in Palawan.
From the window, I saw Honda Bay beneath and the islands about it. The memories rushed in-I was in a trance for some minutes. How I missed the warm waters! And how I wished to parachute away and splash into the bay (with or without my luggage)...
How can one forget a once beloved hometown? a place one considered incomparable? where one discovered the sensations of nature? where one found a place in one's heart?
As we made the final descend and saw again the green curls of her mountains, I remembered the romance I had once with Palawan. During the time I approached manhood, she taught me a lot as I ventured into her jungles, explored her caves and dived her waters. Extremely wild and sensational...
My thoughts were interrupted as the stewardess caught our attention and bid us goodbye. Somehow, I was afraid the time will come when I had to say goodbye again to Puerto and fly back to Vienna...
And oh Vienna! Somehow I needed to choose between the two. Puerto Princesa-a young, virgin, naive place and; Vienna-old, but modern, rushing city. (Jokingly, it sounded like 'the Filipina or the Foreigner?')...
In Palawan, I was free.Time didn't exist in her forests nor beaches. Just the rising of the sun and moon mattered to her.The setting of the sun signalled the moon. And most of the time, the stars kissed the seas as they gleam reflectingly. I fell in love with her seas and what's under them. Her seas offered me a silent kingdom where all creatures bowed to my presence. She offered me nourishment, bounty, and a place of refuge-to wash away the stress found on land.Somehow, the life above strangled me and I fell despair. The seas could not remedy such.I fell out of love and decided to search for a new one. I left Palawan...
As I got out of the plane and saw Puerto airport atlast, I tried to rekindle the once romantic relationship I had with her.However, I too feared the involvement as I already started a new admiration for Vienna.
Vienna, a foreign-speaking, highly cultured, developed city who undertook a thousand facelifts offered something different. She offered security, opportunity, equal human rights, ease-a new pasture where grass grew plenty...
After spending a week after 3 long years,I realised I didn't have the same amour I had with Puerto.This was not anymore my home. Sadly, I did not belong to her anymore...
Things have changed. And changed her a lot. She tried to undergo cosmetic surgery but it wasn't done properly.So she ended up unfortunately ugly. The trees which adorned some her corners were cut down. Lost with them, were memoirs of the once mystic Puerto Princesa I knew. Unknowingly, she attracted more suitors, more migrants and a result, more pollutants. And she had driven away the good people, whom I knew, and who loved her for what she formerly was...
The freedom which she offered to my soul at one time existed no longer. It was perhaps, given to another suitor. Or perhaps, it was simply lost...
But how can one forget a feeling? The excitement, the thrill were exchanged with boredom and discomfort. My once considered hometown felt estranged. I felt like a simple passer-by. An alien. A tourist...
And time came to leave the 'old flame' behind, or so I thought. As we parted, Puerto Princesa whispered something into my ear...An offer to remain friends forever and promised to welcome me anytime I should look for 'new' home...
(Thoughts on Migrating)
Manila, 2008 Philippines Trip
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