Articles by Doug Nienhuis
I am a Canadian, and I am currently traveling through Asia with a touring bicycle. These are stories and pictures from my trip.
Palawan Motorbike Trip 013
Saturday February 20 2010 7:20 a.m.
I can feel my trip winding town. Today, I turn the front wheel of my motorcycle back toward Roxas. Craig was successful on his mission, and he reserved a cottage for me at Coco-Loco island Resort. It isn’t one of the nice cottages on the beach, but that’s okay. I’m only going to be there for two nights, and the …
Palawan Motorbike Trip 012
Friday February 19, 2009 8:05 a.m.
San Vicente, Palawan
Much better this morning. I had three bottles of beer with Jason last night instead of five (or was it six?). And I slept well and I have no hangover at all this morning. It wasn’t even Jason who got me to drink. I showed up at his place last night with a knapsack of beer. He doesn’t …
Palawan Motorbike Trip 011
Thursday February 18, 2010 8:30 a.m.
San Vicente, Palawan
You haven’t lived until you’ve seen a wide tropical beach covered in thousands of giant red jellyfish.
Wednesday was something of a special day in San Vicente. When I went across the street to the covered market for lunch, I found the place very busy. My regular canteen was filled to bursting. Every table was occupied and a crowd …
Palawan Motorbike Trip 010
Our first stop was an unusual one. It consisted of a very small collection of huts on a tiny beach. No one on the boat spoke English, so I spent most of the day just guessing what we were doing and why we were doing it. This place didn’t seem large enough to need any bread deliveries. And Jack-Jack said something about this being where …
Palawan Motorbike Trip 009
Wednesday February 17, 2010 8:45 a.m.
San Vicente, Palawan
You haven’t lived until you’ve delivered bread in the Philippines by pumpboat.
I was a little bit worried about my day on the pumpboat delivering bread. For one thing, I’m overdue for a bout of stomach sickness. I haven’t been sick at all since I got here and I thought it would be terrible to be sick and stuck …
Palawan Motorbike Trip 008
Monday February 15, 2010
8:30 a.m.
I arranged to have breakfast at the canteen at 8:30. The woman has just run off to get fresh eggs and will come back to scramble them. Perhaps I can get a cup of coffee first.
I slept really well last night thanks to the fresh air and all the exercise. Otherwise my feet would have kept me awake. That anti-inflammatory cream …
Palawan Motorbike Trip 007
Just a few minutes in San Vicente and I could feel my mood rising and rising. It was exactly the sort of place that I like to come across. At first, I was a bit disappointed that there were no beachside bungalows and that sort of thing. It’s just a typical Philippines town. It’s not a tourist town. But that has its own charm and …
Palawan Motorbike Trip 006
Getting out Nagtabon was a challenge. The road was very steep and I had to gun the engine in first gear like some kind of motocross racer. My rear wheel was bouncing all over the place as the bike jumped and skipped from rock to rock. By the way, I kind of changed my mind about the motorcycle. I was disappointed in it and thought …