Philippines continued…
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| The port of El Nido... |
Our next stop in the Philippines was El
Nido in Palawan but as with most places in the Philippines you have to get back
to Manila before you can get anywhere. We had a 36 hour journey again involving
many forms of transport particularly trikes and Jeepney’s. Overnight bus to Manila, taxi to the airport,
Air Asia to Puerto Princesa and finally a 5 hour mini-van drive through mountains
and tiny villages until we eventually arrived in El Nido around 7pm. It is a gorgeous and
vibrant town surrounded by huge karst cliffs and a small beach. We were shocked to find it so busy but
we found a nice wee budget cottage (Blue Azure) just a few streets away from
the beach. It only had cold showers but proximity to the beach mattered more to
us. We headed out to get our bearings and found the beach with a few
restaurants that had tables with candles outside and waves lapping at your
feet. After the food we headed down the beach to yet another Reggae bar. We met
the Masons, three lovely Canadian siblings who we ended up bumping in to a lot.
El Nido is famed because of likeness to Ha
Long Bay in Vietnam with lots of Karst islands and rock formations, and like Ha
Long Bay there are a million and one tour companies offering tours around the
islands. It is also famous for hosting a TV series called Survivor, The Bourne
Legacy and supposedly where the inspiration for ‘The Beach’ came from.
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| One of the many lagoons!!! |
We found a tour company called Servant Tours on Roxas street (the main road into El Nido). The
staff where very friendly and helpful and everything was provided including our
lunch. We set of with beautiful sunshine and four French students on Tour A. We
stopped at a few beaches along the way and some amazing secluded lagoons. Some
of which you had to climb or swim through openings in the rock formations to
get into, think the beach only with lots of Russians and Korean tourists on the
other side.
Lunch was prepared for us on a private beach consisting of bbq’d
pork, fish and prawns with rice and vegetables. We had some amazing snorkelling
stops too with lots of fish and beautiful coral and where the waters were so
clear. We had a brilliant day and even got to lie on the beach for the
afternoon. We had one more lagoon stop and then we headed back port with the
waters getting choppy and the wind picking up.
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| Susi's favourite picture from Palawan... |
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| We found Nemo... |
One strange but apparently eco friendly
scheme in El Nido is that there is no power what so ever between the hours of
6am and 4pm, it makes internet usage and clothes washing a little more
difficult but it didn’t bother us too much.
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| Las Cabanas Beach, El Nido... |
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| Suze, body surfing the huge waves... |
Over the next few days we had some lovely
walks to Las Cabanas beach, which is about a 6km walk out past the main bus terminal. Had we known
about this beach before we arrived we might have even spent a few nights there
as it is a much nicer beach than El Nido’s and much much quieter. There are
only a couple of restaurants and hotels to choose from but it would have been a
nice way to finish our time on the beaches of south east asia. We had some
brilliant fun though splashing around and diving through the huge waves that
break on the beach and of course topping up the tan. The walk to and from the beach is pretty spectacular too as you get to see lots of really nice scenery and local villages.
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| Playing in the surf... |
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| At the Reggae bar with Chad, Kandis, Natalee... |
We had one last big night out in El Nido out
and bumped into our friends Chad, Natalee and Kandis in the reggae bar (well
the one next door as it has cheaper drinks). It was another really good night dancing away to reggae tunes with good company, it was a good way to finish our time in El Nido. After four days exploring El Nido and the surrounding area we were starting
to run out of cash and with El Nido having no cash machine we needed to head
back to Puerto Princessa. We had a lovely time in El Nido and wish we had
better weather and a few days extra to explore some more of the secluded
beaches and islands.
We arrived in Puerto Princesa the next
afternoon and in the usual style did not have a clue where to stay. Our trike
rider took us from the bus station to a place called Oasis Travellers Lodge it cost us a little bit extra
at 1100 peso’s (£15) per night but it was a lot more luxurious that El Nido, it
had a hot shower and the power didn’t go off in the mornings…
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| Promenade of Puerto Princesa... |
We were quite surprised with Puerto
Princesa, although it’s a bustling city it was pretty clean, it had lots of
tours and places to see in the surrounding areas and had plenty of shops, bars
and restaurants. It was a shame we only had a couple of days. We did have a
good walk around the shops trying to buy some warmer clothes for Japan, Susi
got her hair butchered by a ladyboy and we went out for a meal in Tiki bar
restaurant. It’s a pretty cool venue with live music on every night and it
seems most tourists in the area venture out to this place as it had a really
good atmosphere and a couple of pool tables to continue our tradition of playing pool in every country.
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| There something strange about that jeep??? |
We had our flight booked out to Manilla on
Air Asia but with the tropical depression hovering over the edges of Palawan
and Manilla we were unsure if our flight would be going. With the Airport only
1 mile away and the flight path directly above our hotel Lee was getting
concerned as we couldn’t hear any flights coming in or going out. We turned up
at the airport half expecting it to be cancelled but no, on time not an issue,
part from being charged 100peso’s each to leave that is! It was the smoothest
most comfortable Air Asia flight we’ve had and it even landed 20 minutes
early!!!
We arrived in Manilla and headed for the Ermita/Malate
district which is right near Rizal park and the gigantic Robinsons Mall. We
were warned by a number of people before heading to the Philippines not to stay
in Manila. We found out for ourselves what Manila is like. Yes it is a bit
dirty, a bit seedy and not that much to do but that all depends on what you are
looking for. It is a perfectly good place for a couple of days stopover. We
spent our time wandering around the previously mentioned gigantic mall trying
to find warm clothes for Japan. We found some but only after 6 hours of
wandering around the 1000’s of shops available. We found the really cool
Robinsons supermarket food court where you can eat a meal for £1. Even better
though it has a French bakery with fresh baguettes and a salad bar so a quick
shop for some cheese and that was our lunch sorted. For the Evening we went to
a bar/restaurant called ….. (it had lots of flags outside) which has a few tourists and very cheap food and drinks for Manila prices.
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| The baguette with real ham and real cheese, heaven... |
After a couple of hours we headed for the casino we had spotted on our way down
to the restaurant. Even though we were wearing shorts and t-shirts we led
through to a huge floor of super 6 tables and one black jack table? No free
booze. The Japanese and Korean people
love super 6, we didn’t have a clue how to play this so we went and lost our money
on something we knew, Black-Jack. We had a really good couple of days in Manila
and do not regret a second of it. To those who are wondering whether to visit
Manila, just go and find out for yourself.
We where really surprised by the
friendliness of the people in Manila and the Philippines in general. It takes a
long time to get anywhere here but with a bit of careful planning its not an
issue. It has been one of the nicest, cleanest and friendliest places we have
visited in South East Asia. We would definitely like to come back and see the
many other parts of the Philippines we missed on this occasion.
Wow, that is it for South East Asia. We
have explored lots of different cultures and sub-cultures, seen some
unbelievable and breathtaking sights and made some really good friends. Now
though its time for something completely different. Japan here we come…
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