Blogs from El Nido, Palawan, Philippines, Asia - page 4

Palawan, officially the Province of Palawan, is an island province of the Philippines that is located in the MIMAROPA region or Region 4. Its capital is Puerto Princesa City, and it is the largest province in the country in terms of total area of jurisdiction. The islands of Palawan stretch from Mindoro in the northeast to Borneo in the southwest. It lies between the South China Sea and the Sulu Sea. The province is named after its largest island, Palawan Island (09°30′N 118°30′E), measuring 450 kilometres (280 mi) long, and 50 kilometres (31 mi) wide. Unlike most of the Philippines, Palawan is bio-geographically part of Sundaland, with a fauna and flora related to that found in Borneo. El Nido (officially the Municipality of El Nido) is a first class municipality and managed resource protected area in ... read more

The small town of El Nido, famous for it's stunning surrounding islands and idyllic beaches, is a place we had been looking forward to seeing since we were last in the Philippines, and after the last week of trekking we couldn't wait to top up our tans and relax, but we had to get there first. After over 24 hours without much sleep we were both looking forward to an early night in Puerto Princesa (PP) and as such had reserved a room at a decent sounding guesthouse in the city so we had somewhere to go to straight from the airport. Just what you want after an overnight bus, a hot day in busy Manila and then a flight is to arrive at said guesthouse only to discover it is in a sketchy area in ... read more

El Nido was a great place. We stayed in a small hotel owned by a French guy named David and a Swedish guy called Tommy. The restaurant/bar had amazing view over the beach. Our first night we sat at the bar chatting with Tommy and David when we found out they make there own rum shots... And unfortunately for us we had to try them. They tasted good but didn't feel to good the next day. We also met a great Philippine couple that night that ware also on holiday and it was really interesting to talk and see how our life's are different when growing up in the European countries or here in the Philippines. Our room in El Nido did not have an air condition and as I am no fan of them and ... read more

We finally left Hong Kong yesterday and I say finally as we're not big fans. Nice to have seen it but not somewhere we have to go again. We tried to go over from Hong Kong Island to The main island on Tuesday but when we ware about to go over with the ferry it started pouring rain. Instead we walked through tunnels and shopping malls around the city to avoid the rain. Katrin managed to lose her jacket she is going to through away after the trip the day before so when the rain stopped we went to the bar we thought she forgot it at. And guess what it was still there and the staff was waiting for us to come back to get it. So we had a few coronas before going back ... read more

After a five hours ride in a packed minivan with our wedding cloths/bags on our laps, a couple of tourists with the rest locals we finally arrived to our honeymoon destination. The road getting to El Nido is half sealed and the minivan fly’s along stopping occasionally along the road to drop off and pick up more people. When we finally arrived it was a pitch black village where we could hardly see each other and the driver informed us that it is our last stop. The locals just disappeared into the darkness on the small village paths leaving us wondering what to do. Our eyes finally adjusted to the candle light when we saw some tricycles and the friendly drivers offering us a ride to our hotel which was a big relief for us and ... read more