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.

Review: Palawan - Eulen Joy Transport Service

My first review on this blog. 

As much as I want to write only positive things, sadly as we all know, there are things that are just beyond our control. Or maybe it's within my control, but the adventurer in me took risk, hence this review. 

I booked the earliest flight to Puerto Prinsesa because I wanted to arrive in El Nido the soonest. Thinking we will be in PP around 7am, I will be able to catch a van leaving the city at 8, then set my eyes to beautiful El Nido just before sunset. 

Flight delay caused our plane to arrived at PP around 7.30am. I ask the person on the tourist information desk at the airport lobby where I can catch a van to El Nido, he excitedly said "you can book with us, now". Wow! That was easy! I asked what time is the van leaving, he said 8am. I glanced at my watch and it says 7.46. Great! Just perfect!

This guy then endorsed me to another fellow just outside the airport. We walked a few meters to a nipa hut office where they have these booklets that shows ETD of vans. It says there: 7am, 9am, 10.30am etc.  Hmm... no 8am schedule. I didn't mind that I was lied to by the first a--hole! But that's fine. I can have breakfast while I wait until 9am. 

9am arrived with no signs of any van leaving. I asked some men in the area if they know what time the van will leave, they said anytime soon. Great. And there was no one in the nipa hut office too! Awesome! 

So I stayed for a few minutes, read a very thank goodness entertaining book called 'Mr. Penumbra's 24 hour bookstore' oh wait wait! I saw the fella who booked my ticket for the 9am van. He's giving, I assumed, another group of passengers their receipt for their transportation. I calmly asked him what time is the van leaving, he just answered "now" and pointed to the group saying "they're your companions". The thing is the people in this group were just ordering their food! So obviously, the van is not leaving now! Darn it!

Oh well, this is supposed to be a vacation. And I know that stress causes cancer, so what the heck. I returned reading (Travel Tip: Books - a travel essential) and what do you know, a man(which happened to be the driver) approached me and asked if I am headed to El nido. I answered yes, and he took my bag and put it inside the van and finally, we're leaving PP. Yehey! Happiness. Almost! As it was already 10.30am.

PS. Googling Eulen Joy, it seems that they have quite some positive reviews, so maybe my experience is just a one off. What do you think?

EL NIDO:

So it is true,the writer of the movie "The Beach" got his inspiration from the beauty of Palawan. The Secret Beach of El Nido to be exact. Fortunately, unfortunately the movie was shot in Thailand though, I have no idea why. Would you know?

Anyway I've long been wanting to see the beauty of El Nido, but was very hesitant because of the hassle of transportation and travel time. If you're an average traveler like me who couldn't afford the flight that lands direct to El Nido, you would have to travel by land from Puerto Prinsesa to El nido for 6 hours. That doesn't get me excited. 

But I just have to go right? Foreigners are going crazy about it! You read it in every travel blog. It's been featured in CNN and other international travel magazines. I just have to see it! So see is what I did. 

I traveled during the month of August, which Google will tell you, is the wettest month in the Philippines. I was lucky that the sun decided to show himself during my first 2 days. It drizzled yes, but it was mostly sunny for the first two days. 

I didn't know that the town I was going to is such a small one. Really! Maybe I set my expectations too high. The vacation houses are very simple, the streets look like the residential area where I live. It's a town where everybody knows everybody. If you've been to Saigon, the El Nido town proper is more like it, with a bonus of the sea.  The shoreline is not good for swimming though. That's where the boats are docked. To make is simple, it was quite disappointing. 

But one doesn't go to El Nido to just roam around the town. You have to go island hopping. THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR YOU NOT TO DO THAT. There are 4 (or is it 5) different Island Tours you can choose from. The more famous would be Tour A and C. I booked my tour with Northern Islands Tour. If you were not able to book in advanced, you can just go directly to their small "office deck" in front of the St. Francis Catholic Church. 

I'm not going to write in detail the different islands each tour will go to. There's a lot of that floating around in Google. One thing I can assure you though, you will love it. If you're a Filipino, you will be proud of our country. You will smug around with the non-Pinoys on the boat, smile and boast that this is your country. And if you're not Filipino, it will make want to become one. No, maybe not. But it will make you want to come back. Or it will make you dream of retiring in this country in the future. 

So yes, it maybe a hassle to travel to El Nido. The town proper could be a bit disappointing. The weather may not cooperate at times, you can make a lot of excuses if you want, but at the end of the day, think of what you will miss if you don't visit this paradise on earth.  

Check out this video I did when I was there

Italy, sans the colors

Italy. It's one of the most vibrant and colorful countries in the world. Its overflowing history and culture is just a gastronomic paradise for all hungry wanderers. The sights in every corner of the streets will make wish you have more than two eyes. The smell of good food in every restaurant will make starve even though you just ate. And the way Italians speak, the sound of their voices and accent, is just music to everyone's ears.

But let's try to strip it off its visual colors. How does Italy looks like without the green colors of the trees? Without the turquoise waters of Venice? Without the blue shade of the sky?

Below are photos I took when I traveled to Venice, Florence and Rome a couple of years back.

My love-hate relationship with Manila

It used to be called “The Pearl of the Orient.”
Some even mentioned that it’s like the Paris of the East. Sometimes I’d like to agree. The streets and the old architectures around this city reminds me of the City of Lights. I even read from other Filipino bloggers who’ve been to France, that Paris reminds them of Quiapo. And yes, I imagine it that way. Sometimes.
Manila’s rich history made it what it is today. Imagine being colonized by the Spaniards, Americans and Japanese- it is an international city within itself. Sadly though, we Filipinos didn’t make the best out of it. We even make it worse for our own misery. Which makes it really sad.

The facade of the oldest University in Asia, University of Santo Tomas which was founded during Spanish colonization.

Such a nice feeling walking around the pebble streets surrounding UST

The National Museum of the Philippines

Inside Rizal Park, which is the National Park of the country

A street within what is called the University Belt. This is one of the busiest district in town, having around 10 Colleges and Universities in a very compact area

Divisoria, another busy part of the City, where one would go if they want to buy anything cheap.

Amazing how something as brittle as a fishnet can separate the toys of the rich from the poor

Residential area along Road 10, where most illegal settlers have found their homes. This is a major highway by the way

A woman taking a bath along a National Road. For everyone to witness.

I hate Manila. The traffic. The trucks. The overpopulated residential area. The air and noise pollution. I hate Tondo area where the poorest of the the poor have been living. I hate its present condition.

But I love it. I love its history. I love the culture within and around it. I love the parks. I love running along Roxas Boulevard. And I love thinking that one day, maybe one day, it will become again what it’s been before.

Travel Vlog 1

Okay, this is amateur-ish. I know.

More to come.

Better.

For now, please enjoy some scenes captured while I did my running along Roxas Boulevard.