Philippines Expat and Travel Blog February Archive

Balinsasayaws of Palawan

By ProTraveler at 02/17/08 10:17

Before in my previous entry I have mentioned what a 'balinssayw' is. For the benefit of others, a balinsasayaw is a bird that is only found in Palawan Island, and is priced for its saliva. Balinsasayaw's turn their salivas into their nest. A kilo of a balinsasayaw's saliva reaches up to 25,000 to 200,000 pesos or US$5,000. Most of the buyers of these exotic foods are Chinese people who make use of them for soups and other delicacies.

I once dined in a luxurious restaurant in a hotel in Manila and I saw in their menu that a bowl of a balinsasayaw soup cost 50,000 pesos. But I'm no tycoon or a billionaire to spend money for just a soup.

Because of the price, lots of people are trying to secure themselves their own balinsasayaw for personal reasons. So the government, swift enough, made a law that only licensed hunters can gather the nest of these birds and it can only be taken after the mating season so that the birds will not use their nest anymore and people can freely gather them without causing any harm to the bird.

It is now one of the reasons why the number of visitors to Palawan increased in the recent years. Everybody wants to see the creatures who make those expensive salivas.

I myself want to see this birds in flight, I saw in commercials and promotional videos before that you can watch them glide while aboard an open boat to their caves on the waters of Palawan. It seems like a perfect place for new discoveries and adventures.

Count me in for the next visitors to Palawan!

Traveling Back To Manila

I am in Manila now. From Cebu I took the 45 minutes flight from the Mactan International Airport to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila or sometimes called the Manila International Airport. It was a smooth trip all in all, but theres one bad thing that happened, I lost my cellphone.

I don't know where I exactly lost it, but I have a strong feeling it kinda slip off my pocket while I'm in the taxi. It was the taxi I took upon my arrival at the airport. I've been trying to call the phone, but it cannot be contact. The operator repeatedly says, "The number cannot be reached".

That is one thing I hate about Manila, you can only count with your fingers those people who would return lost things to their rightful owners. I don't know if its scarcity thats driving them to be selfish, but all I know is that they do not care if that thing is very important to the owner that they do not consider giving it back.

I already called the airport to ask about the registered taxi companies who are in their service. They can't give me an exact detail about the taxis that are on their circulation. I'm a bit pissed about it. Their cannot give me an exact answer if I can contact the taxi company or not. They said they would call my hotel in the morning, and I do hope they have a concrete answer for me when they do that.

Indeed, there are only few good Samaritans who are living now.