The rest of our week followed in a very similar fashion, morning beach walks, exploring the island via motorbike, and hours spent at the beach (dodging the pushy souvenir vendors). We did sign up for a snorkleing trip, although this too was not quite what I had expected, and failed in comparison to the one I had done in El Nido years ago. The tour was supposed to las 3 hours and included three stops: the underwater cave, snorkleing in a coral reef, and viewing of a giant clam shell. The boat was much smaller than I had expected, although that added a bit of character to the trip. The cave was really cool and easy to navigate, despite locals trying to sell their guide services upon arrival, but the two snorkeling stops were frustrating. Both of our snorkel masks were continuously fogging up making it difficult to see much of anything, and we both experienced a few stings which we were later told "probably small jellyfish, no problem!"
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Early on in the year I had set my mind on a (belated) birthday beach vacation in the Philippines. We had a week off school the week following my birthday, and in an effort to find a middle ground between good weather, flight duration and cost, we landed on the Philippines as our destination. My one issue with the country is that there are endless opportunities of where to spend your holiday, beautiful beaches and secluded islands, however getting to these destinations is sometimes a full day effort. I know for most people a week is a long time, but having spent months backpacking in my younger years, it still feels short to me. I didn't want to spend 1/3 of our time in transit, and instead chose to find an easier to reach beach paradise. Honestly though, in retrospect, I probably should have just put in the effort.
After our, thankfully, uneventful bus ride to El Nido, we decided to get a trike to the El Nido Art Cafe to get recommendations on where to stay in town, since we hadn't prearranged anything. The cafe is basically the central 'go to' spot in town for all of your needs - clothes, snacks, tour bookings, boat and plane tickets, as well as a good meal/drink. They were helpful in providing us with a list of accommodation (including price range) so we decided the best method would be to start knocking on doors. We originally wanted a beach side cottage but upon realizing the 'non-beach' properties were literally 10 ft across the street we settled on a cute room at the El Nido Plaza Inn for only 500php per night, such a steal. Once we were settled in our room it was time to explore the town, get to the beach and find something to eat!
Being New Years eve we decided to splurge on a bottle of local rum, a whole 85php (~$2) and start our night early with some cocktails. Nico, from France, had no plans for the night so we invited him to venture into town with us and see what we could find. We had heard that the place to be was the Baywalk downtown, so after 'hitchhiking' our way out of the Navy compound we caught a tricycle and soon found ourselves among the locals. Nico was telling us about an awesome seafood restaurant but upon arriving we told they were out of food so instead we had dinner at one of the street stalls and also indulged in one of their massive beer towers. After a while I was getting bored of sitting so I took a few laps around the area before meeting some local Pilipino boys, shy and friendly, just like the Koreans :) The five of us spent the rest of the evening together listening to the live bands, drinking and enjoying the NYE fireworks. Later in the night we decided to move on to a bar downtown for a few last drinks before calling it a night, and what a fun night it was. |
AsiaPhilippinesOver 7,500 islands of pure bliss. I've been twice, both times arriving with a "what am I doing here" hesitation, but weeks later resisting my departure. Forget about being on time, or eating lots of vegetables, but welcome beautiful sunsets, gorgeous beaches, and welcoming, friendly locals. Categories
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