I left my heart in Palawan

I finally made it to El Nido, Palawan after a 28 hour journey from Sagada. Although cloudy and a little rainy, I could tell I would love El Nido. Nestled around towering marble and limestone cliffs and green hills, El Nido (“the nest”) is a thriving tourist center, and probably the most popular destination in Palawan.

As I arrived and met some people at the hostel, I was convinced to sign up for a boat tour the next day that would take us island hopping. I woke up the next morning to extremely heavy rainfall – seriously like a wall of water coming down from the sky – and was told that this was the first time in several days that the tour was not cancelled due to bad weather (go figure). Some places we saw on the tour included Helicopter Island, Hidden Beach, Star Beach and the Matinloc Shrine. According to legend, the beaches and islands surrounding El Nido inspired Alex Garland’s novel The Beach, which was written while the author was living in El Nido. Incidentally I read the book here before knowing that.

That being said, you don’t need to do any of the tours to fully appreciate El Nido. In the 6 days I spent there, I must have spoken about those tours countless times, and with every single person I met (60% of the time, I was asked what tours I had done every time). Other possible non-tour activities include: renting motor bikes and driving to different non-tour beaches, renting kayaks and visiting different non-tour islands, and snorkeling (best snorkeling in Philippines – shout out to Isolde, pronounced Ees-old-dehh). There are plenty of great local places to eat (including a crepe stand with The. Best. Nutella. Crepe. Ever) and the two bars open at night are crazy fun.

 

Next stop for about 11 of us from the hostel in El Nido was Coron, famous for its World War II wreck diving. In 1944, a fleet of Japanese ships ships hiding in the harbour were sunk in a raid by the US Navy. As a result, there are about 10 well preserved underwater shipwrecks that have spawned beautiful coral reef (shout out to my diving buddies/kings Edward and Henry).

Apparently still tour crazed from El Nido, we hired a boat for all 11 of us one day and did our own island hopping, where we explored Coron Island and the Twin Lagoon (and plenty of snorkeling in between).

 

After a quick stop in Puerto Princesa, it was time to head back to Manila.

Next stop: Saigon, Vietnam!

MellowYellow rating: 💛💛💛💛💛

Traveler’s tips: there’s a ferry to/from Manila to/from Coron, but from what I heard it can take up to 24 hours (even though they claim it takes 16 hours) and it isn’t too much cheaper than flying to Puerto Princesa. The ferry to/from El Nido to/from Coron is bearable in good weather but pretty horrid otherwise, its a pretty small boat so 7 hours of choppy waves can be a bit rough. You can always fly to/from Coron but its about triple the price. I stayed at OMP in El Nido and at Kokosnuss Garden Resort in Coron, both highly recommended!

Manila and the Eighth Wonder of the World

The solo adventure begins! After a cry-fest goodbye with Fred at the airport in Bali, I headed off to Manila on my own. After checking in at the hostel, I discovered that the hostel offered free walking tours of the city, and that it happened to be Independence Day, so there would be a lot happening around the city. We did the Intramuros tour (San Agustín Church, Casa Manila and Fort Santiago) and walked through Rizal Park. We ended the day with some beers by the harbour at sunset, where I discovered Red Horse Extra Strong beer, a welcomed change after a month of Bintang Pilsner beer.   At night we did a sort of pubcrawl where we ended the night at a bar 71 storeys high, and here I discovered that Manila is the most densely populated city in the world.

 

After a short stint in Manila it was time to move on elsewhere. As keen as I was to return to the beach, I decided to take an overnight bus up to the north, to a town called Banaue. I heard about the lush 2,000 year old rice terraces that were carved into the mountains of Ifugao by ancestors of the indigenous people. I figured I could spend a couple days there, trekking and exploring the north before eventually heading to the beaches in the south. Once arrived in Banaue, I found a group of three people inquiring about guides for a 3 day hike, and so I tagged along. We wanted to take it easy that day since we were embarking on a 3 day trek the next day, so we went to the nearby hot and cold springs.

On the first day of our trek we walked through the famous Banaue rice terraces (often referred to as the Eighth Wonder of the World) and all the way to another village called Cambulo (18km, 9hrs).

The next morning we visited a nearby elementary school where we got to take some pictures with the kids. We hiked down to a 30 meter high waterfall and then spent the night in Batad (7km, 4 hrs).

On our final day we climbed what seemed like a million steps and walked through the rice terraces once last time before heading back to Banaue (7km, 4hrs).

 

Our next stop was in Sagada (north of Banaue) where we did a 3 hour hike through the Sumaguing Cave and then walked through Echo Valley to see the hanging coffins. We were explained that the hanging coffins were used in order to avoid occupying land that could be used for farming and because the people “believe in the light”, or to bring them closer to heaven.

 

Next stop: El Nido, Palawan!

MellowYellow rating: 💛💛💛💛💛

Travelers tips: I stayed at OMP (Our Melting Pot) in Manila, really enjoyed my stay and the staff are super helpful (free walking tours, pub crawls, helped me reserve my bus to Banaue). We stayed at Banaue Homestay and booked the guide with them, highly recommended. In Sagada we stayed at Sagada Homestay, nice place as well.