Blogs from El Nido, Palawan, Philippines, Asia

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Asia » Philippines » Palawan » El Nido July 12th 2019

Day 4 Up earlish for our island hopping tour, we had picked Tour A. We were told pick up would be between 8 and 9 so we went down for breakfast early. We weren't picked up until after 9.30 and were getting worried that they had forgotten us. We went by tricycle, which is a motorbike with a sidecar extension that could fit families, although not sure how, it fit us sitting opposite each other comfortably but i had seen a family of 5 in it plus the driver. It will cost you in El Nido 150 pesos ($4.20AUD) Many of the streets in El Nido are narrow and vans could not fit down them, pot holes were everywhere so the ride was bumpy. We passed lots of small stores, there seemed to be a store ... read more
Going to drown me some sailors
One of the 3000 plus islands..
Lunch is served

Asia » Philippines » Palawan » El Nido January 30th 2018

Ich weiß gar nicht so richtig wo ich anfangen soll. Wer hätte gedacht, dass Palawan zu meinem absoluten Highlight mutieren würde? Am 22.1.18 hatte ich den Flieger von Cebu City nach Puerto Princesa genommen und war spät am Abend gelandet. Die Stadt war nicht sonderlich attraktiv und ich lief im Dunkeln zu meinem Hostel. Am nächsten Morgen lernte ich 3 Malaien beim Frühstück kennen und gemeinsam fuhren wir mit Rollern durch die Stadt. Ich hatte von einem Gefängnis gelesen, in welchem die Gefangenen arbeiten und leben, aber nicht in Zellen, sondern auf dem Land. Ohne Kontrolle passierten wir den Eingang des Iwahig Prisons. Arbeitende Männer winkten uns zu, während wir mit den Rollern über die Schotterwege fuhren. Wir wurden von Insassen in Zivilkleidung, sowie einheitlichen Shirts, je nach aktuellem Sicherheitsgrad, begrüßt. Das war alles sehr imposant. ... read more
Port Barton Hostelcrew
Einsamer Strandspaziergang
ich komme wieder!

Asia » Philippines » Palawan » El Nido February 25th 2017

It's almost time to leave El Nido after being here for about a month. Tom left for Puerto Princesa yesterday and we'll be doing the same in a couple of days. I've written blogs about all of the famous boat trips, but here's all the other little things I've been wanting to write about... The Simple Life We spent most of our time staying at Morning Walsh resort on Corong Corong beach, known locally simply as "Green House." We had the luxuries of air conditioning and a hot water shower, so it wasn't a simple life in that way. However, now that we'd moved away from the hustle and bustle of El Nido town, the sound of tricycle horns and revving engines was replaced by the cock-a-doodle-doing of roosters. The kids could roam around the amazing ... read more
Jake pushing Foxy in the hammock
Kyla pushing Bun Bun in the hammock
Ning's garden

Asia » Philippines » Palawan » El Nido February 17th 2017

I already wrote a blog about Tour A. Over the course of a few weeks, we did the other three boat tours. Here's the scoop... Tour B - Caves We did this trip with Saldi as our guide again (although Tom called him Salty!) but this time it wasn't a private tour. We had a Spanish couple on board too. They seemed nice but couldn't speak a lot of English. At least Scott got to practice his Spanish! The first stop was snorkeling from the boat. Somehow we'd not gotten around to having the kids practice, so now was the time! Jake flatly refused to put his goggles on but Kyla tried it, holding her breath for a second or two to look under the water. She loved it, and kept popping her head up and ... read more
Up from her first snorkeling experience!
Climbing through into Secret Lagoon
Snake Island

Asia » Philippines » Palawan » El Nido February 7th 2017

El Nido from bucket list to reality… So a few years ago I saw a photo taken by a professional, of this place I had never heard of, called El Nido. I had to look up where it was and then it was added to the bucket list. I’ll be honest, I was put off for a while because the transport links weren’t great, having to take two flights and a six hour drive. I recently learnt that it’s now just two flights – one to Manilla and one to El Nido, and pretty quickly I had my trip booked! Being in Asia already made it quite accessible for me. The “airport” in El Nido is awesome. It’s hardly an airport to be honest! One runway and a small shack where we were greeted by singers ... read more
Kayaking in the lagoon
Coconut Shop
Scenic rearview mirror

Asia » Philippines » Palawan » El Nido February 5th 2017

Picture in your mind a perfect beach of white soft sand, swaying coconut palms and backed by the most amazingly steep cliffs jutting right up to the sky. Add to this a keyhole gap in the rock, leading into a huge lagoon surrounded by those same steep jagged cliffs. You've now got an idea of what the islands around the Bacuit archipelago look like. We'd been in El Nido almost a week when we were finally all healthy enough to head out on one of the famous boat tours. There are four tours to choose from, imaginatively named Tours A, B, C, and D. We started with tour A, dubbed the "lagoons" trip. Everywhere you go in town, there's a travel agent or guesthouse trying to sell you a tour, but most look pretty awful, cramming ... read more
Ariel the captain taking Jake out to the boat
Off we go!
The gap into Small Lagoon

Asia » Philippines » Palawan » El Nido February 3rd 2017

While the surrounding limestone karst cliffs are undeniably stunning, we were not overly impressed with El Nido town and beach. Scott was shocked and saddened by the changes he'd seen over the last eight years. The sleepy quiet town he'd known had become a loud and noisy place, a smaller version of Hat Rin in Thailand. Whereas you'd walk down the street and see a foreigner or two, now you are brushing past dozens at a time. Instead of having to actively seek out a tricycle to get to another beach, now you spend your whole time trying not to get run over by one, especially problematic when traveling with young children. Whereas island boat trips had once been about three tourists on a boat, there were now boats all over the place all packed with ... read more
Catching light beams
First night at el Nido
El Nido streets

Asia » Philippines » Palawan » El Nido January 14th 2017

Herve made a very wise decision of getting accomodation just before (rather than in) El Nido. El Nido is the final destination for many tourists and the place from which many island hopping tours depart. It is a noisy, crowded place and our experience for one night was just plain hideous (noise, dog gangs, bad food, karaoke and discos...and drunk tourists. Kind of a Filipino Kuta). But Corong Corong is great...we had serene sunsets and good accomodation (both at Desert Rose Hotel and later at Avelina cabins). We met interesting people and most importantly we went on 2 magnificent canoe rides...our own little island hopping but away from the crowds. We had secluded sandy white beaches all to ourselves and the water was the clearest, most aqua blue water. We swam at Los Cabanas which would ... read more
Swimming on our own little beach
IMG_4053
swimming in Los Cabanas

Asia » Philippines » Palawan » El Nido January 9th 2017

We arrived in El Nido after a slightly bizarre minibus journey that took about 5 hours and involved an hour of waiting and driving in circles round Puerto Princessa picking up people, then a mini revolt when the driver wanted to cram an extra 3 lads with big cases and rucksacks into an already packed van. People power won and another bus was thankfully summoned. On our bus were 4 Israelis one of whom played football for Tel Aviv and they were all super friendly, the driver drove fast and managed to make up for the lost hour at the start. The countryside was beautiful, all lush green jungle, heavily forested hills, rice fields, small thatched villages, stunning glimpses of coastlines, people working with and riding buffaloes and then as we approached El Nido it started ... read more
Coron Coron Beach
El Nido
El Nido

Asia » Philippines » Palawan » El Nido January 8th 2017

David here... The minivan from Port Barton was hot and cramped with every seat taken, as is normally the case. We arrived after a 5 hour journey into El Nido at the bus station, just outside town. Our first impression was amazement as the backdrop to the main road was a big cliff face, more like Austria or Switzerland than the Philippines. It was a short walk to our hotel which we nearly missed as it was set back a little from the road and was surrounded by building work, much like every hotel we've stayed in on this trip. The Raje Residence is a little family run place that had fairly small rooms but they were clean and had all-day electricity and air-con. The main reception area was the family living room so everytime you ... read more
El Nido Island Hopping 2
El Nido Island Hopping 4
El Nido 1




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