Singapore : my first time in recent time.

Singapore, one of the most modern cities in the world, and I would say, the most advanced in terms of science, technology and modern architecture over the South East Asia region.

I have been here many times before. In fact, this is where my first out of country trip happened! I was very young then, and was more concerned and busy comparing my Manila to this brilliant city, that I failed to truly appreciate its beauty. Other trips had different agenda so I can say that this recent trip was when I felt that I am really a tourist. (And please, let's stop that tourist vs traveler debate!) 

Let me share with you some of my "firsts" experienced in Singapore recently:

1. Took photos inside Changi Airport 

Shame on me. But it was my first time to take pictures inside the magnificent Changi Airport. Really the best airport I've been to all my life! On our flight back home, we were at the airport 5 hours before our boarding time, and never, never did we ever get bored!

2. Walked around Little India like a tourist.

I remember going to this area because of  Mustafa. Being a 24 hour shopping center, my friend and I went here to buy last minute "pasalubongs" for a flight just hours away.

During this recent trip though, I got the chance to walked around the area a little longer. And I was not disappointed! The little colorful houses/shops are such a beauty to look at!

It was the day after Diwali when we went there so the place looked even more festive.

3. See the much talked about Gardens by the Bay 

I am not a big fan of things artificial, but this amazing place is truly an exceptional example of mankind's brilliance at its finest.

4. Visited 2 of Singapore's world class museums: National Museum of Singapore and Singapore Art Museum.

Not as spectacular as Louvre nor the Academia, but definitely worth your time. They're not as crowded as the 2 mentioned museums too, so really, why not do it?

 I particularly enjoyed our visit to Singapore Art Museum (SAM). We stayed there for almost 3 hours and loved every minute inside.

Inside National Museum of Singapore

And my new favorite SAM

Even these benches outside SAM are beautiful!

5. Just roam around and appreciate these marvelous things done by mankind during 'our era.'

A little bit of a story. As I mentioned above, many times I've come here with different agenda. First and second time - I walked around the streets with long envelope, in corporate dress, crossing from one building to another with hopes that I can land a job here. Third, and the rest - I've come here to spend time with friends, to catch up with each other and party. And when I say party, we really partied hard which makes us asleep until early afternoon, with no time to explore the city anymore.

During this recent trip, not that I deliberately planned it (I have another agenda too), I was just glad to really pause and look around. To see and experience. My friend and I were seldom in a hurry to go from one place to another. We even spent a couple of hours each sitting in Merlion area, Marina bay and Orchard to just watch the people walk around. To observe and live the moment.

And this experience made me feel that this is the first time I'm visiting Singapore again. And because of that, I would love to come back for more.

Under the Bridge near the Merlion

 View of Chinatown from the footbridge above MRT

Subway entrance along Orchard Rd

PS: 

You might be wondering why I came back. :)

My agenda for coming here this time:

EL NIDO: What to do. Where to eat. How much. And anything in between. Part II

Ola! I hope you found my previous post very helpful.

Now, here's the 3rd part of my El Nido articles which will cover the "Where to Eat" and "How much is the Budget" questions.


Crossing Bridges, Puerto Prinsesa

Just a few meters from the airport. Serves as a terminal for van leaving for El Nido.

Here I ordered their version of Big Breakfast meal which includes bacon, ham, egg and bread. I'd say for its price, it's pretty worth it. The vicinity is also perfect for that airport layover.

Art Cafe, El Nido

Ate here a couple of times. One was for dinner and the other for brunch.

I ordered pesto, a glass of house red wine and another glass of margarita for dinner. The serving size of pesto was big! I wasn't able to finish it myself.

The next day I had seafood salad. I highly recommend this particularly to those who don't eat meat. There's no scarcity of sea creatures on this meal, shrimp, squid and tanigue on your plate plus the freshest green veggies!. :)

This is a nice resto, but I didn't like how the staff lingers around while you eat. Sure, it feels great to know they're just near when you needed something, but it's different when you feel they're around to rush you eat and place another order. Sadly, I feel the latter on both my visits.

Mezzanine, El Nido

One of the many restaurants along the beach. They serve mostly Italian cuisine. I ordered seafood pasta. I was a bit disappointed as I was expecting pasta with more seafood and less tomato sauce. Most reviews in TripAdvisor though were fantastic, so maybe I just ordered the wrong food from the menu.

Trattoria Altrove, El Nido

I saved the best for last. I am not exaggerating, THE BEST PIZZA I'VE EATEN IN THIS COUNTRY IS HERE.  

It was quite a challenge to look for this place as there's no signage along the streets and it's on the second floor of what looks like another small inn. I almost gave up actually, but as they say, "you just have to follow where your smell leads you" and I'm glad I did!

The size of the pizza is good for 2, but it was so deliciously good that I was able to finish it all by myself!

The service was also great! The owner (I assumed) was very hands on, and the staff were very polite! I hope they open a branch here in the City!

There were a lot of other restaurants I was meaning to eat (Squiddos, La Salangane) but sadly time wasn't on my side. Next time when I return, I'll make sure to try out these other places.


Now- on to the question everyone would like to know the answer. How much is the budget needed to enjoy El Nido? If you've read the Part I of this post, you basically have the idea what my daily activities were. And those 3 full days I was there, it was very enjoyable.

Here we go, rundown of my expenses (all in PHP):

Day 1:

Round Trip Van PP-El Nido: 1200

Breakfast at Crossing Bridges in PP: 140

Lunch stopover: 80

Tricycle from van terminal to El Nido proper: 50

Early dinner at El Nido Skyline resto: 110

Biscuits, bottled water from grocery: 125

Day 2:

Island Tour + Environmental Fee: 1400

Underwater camera rental: 700

Dinner at Art Cafe: 640

Day 3:

Island Tour: 1200

Tip to tour guides: 200

Dinner at Altrove: 470

Day 4:

Brunch at Art Cafe: 420

Tricycle to and from Corong-corong: 30

Banana Shake at Corong-corong: 150

Dinner at Mezzanine: 325

Day 5:

Back to PP. Remember that the van ticket I bought was 2way, only expense I had was the quick lunch along the way which was 110

Dinner at PP in a Fast food joint: 300

Day 6:

Breakfast at Blue Lagoon: 200

-----

Accommodation

4 nights in Dayunan Inn, El Nido: 6000

1 night in Blue Lagoon, Puerto Prinsesa:  1400

Airfare

This was booked back in October 2013: more or less 4000


TOTAL: 19,250

Please note the amount I paid for my dinners. If you're sharing meals with another person, this will significantly decrease your expenses.


Hope this post will help you in your future travel to El Nido. For any questions and tips, don't hesitate to message me!

Til my next adventure!

EL NIDO: To do. To eat. How much. And anything in between. Part I

"Paradise on Earth."

Hello fellow travelers! This is my first post that will give you some tips slash advise about my travel activities.  Hope you'll find it helpful. :)

WHAT TO DO:

Unless you're from another dimension and haven't heard about El Nido yet, please check out this post for a brief introduction about this island. Now if you're one of the million travelers who've been here, or have plans of going here, you should already have an idea that this place is surrounded by water and mountains. Hence, most activities involve these bodies of nature.

Day 1 : I arrived in Puerto Prinsesa around 8am, left the city (read related post here) at 10.30am and arrived in El Nido bus terminal just few minutes past 4pm. After dropping my things in my room, I roamed around town to book my island tours for the next day. I was starving from the 6hour van ride, that right after booking the tour, I entered the nearest restaurant I could find and had an early dinner. 

With stomach happy, I headed back to my room and dozed off to prepare for a busier tomorrow.

I stayed at Dayunan Inn. Read my review in Tripadvisor here.

Day 2: Had an early room breakfast then went to the meeting place for our Island Tour. Originally I signed up for Tour A, but the captain of the boat decided to go on Tour C because of the weather. Turned out, my "tourmates" booked Tours A and C and the impending bad weather may make it difficult for them to go to islands in Tour C, which will mostly cruise the open sea known as The West Philippine Sea (aka South China Sea).

View from our meeting place for the tour, just right in front the Coast Guard Office.

Tour C it was then! Luckily my tourmates were very friendly and quite entertaining so it kinda made up for me being pissed off not able to go Tour A on this day. There were 11 of us travelers on the boat. 

TIP: Monopods  have become a necessity for most today, but let me tell you: MONOPOD, IF.NOT.OF.HIGH.QUALITY, IS NOT FOR ISLAND HOPPING. One of our tourmates used his monopod while we were on top of Matinloc cliffs, and boom! His phone just fell off from the monopod. Lucky him our tour guides were not only great swimmers, they were able to perform some acrobatics to get his phone back. Whew!

Some photos when we were in Matinloc Shrine

Trivia about Tour C:
It's all about surprises! There's the Secret Beach, and The Hidden Beach. Both are worthy of your money, camera memory space and swimming powers.

When we returned to Bacuit, and after a quick shower, I went to Art Cafe for dinner. 

Day 3: My day started almost the same as the previous one, except that it was raining non-stop. It was very cloudy and gloomy, I actually had doubts if the Tour will push thru. Thank goodness it did. 

It was almost the same group as the previous day. With some addition and subtraction, we're almost the same number of tourists on board too. :)

If Tour C was about surprises, Tour A is more about lagoons, Big and Small, they have it there.

The Big Lagoon. 

Our tour guide said they sometimes host weddings here. Can you imagine how spectacular that would be?

Too bad I didn't bring my camera when we went to the Small Lagoon. It was pretty amazing in there!

Tip: El Nido's beauty lies mostly on the limestone mountains around the vast ocean. I guess God was fair when He didn't make its underwater as magnificent as that of Coron. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't bring your snorkeling gears when going to there.

I ended the day by eating the best pizza I've eaten in the entire country at Altrove restaurant.

Day 4: I decided to just stay in town during this day. No island hopping but more of land walking. I walked the shore of Bacuit in the morning, took some photos and had brunch in Art Cafe again.

I went to nearby Corong-corong beach in the afternoon. It was a 10 minute 15 peso ride from the town proper. Unlike Bacuit, Corong-corong's shore is more quiet and peaceful. It was very isolated. Had I known it earlier, I would've spent longer time there.

For my last dinner in El Nido, I decided to eat along the beach at Mezzanine restaurant.

Day 5:  I bid El Nido goodbye.

Part II of this post will cover reviews of the restaurants I ate at and the expenses for the trip.