It's more fun in the Philippines Part 5 (Palawan Trip Day 4)

Swiftlets Breakfast

We woke up from our deep slumber and jumped out of bed immediately, it was already 9am when we woke and it is also time for us to get picked up for our second day of island hopping tour. I guess we were quite tired from the previous day's activities so we did not get up with the alarm went off. The Swiftlets breakfast looked quite good and it was already on the breakfast table just outside our room. However, the same guy from Faith Agape was already there to pick us up in the tricycle, so we put the bread, egg and ham together into sandwiches and placed them into some plastic bags to takeaway.

Tall limestone rocks

At the Big Lagoon

Things went pretty much the same, except that we were doing Tour A on the second day, we were happy that the same guides and boatmen from the previous day were there. The boat was more crowded on the second day with 14 guest, and the rest were all filipinos except for me. Honestly, I enjoyed our company on the first day more, as the other 12 guys with us on the second day were all from the same group, they seemed more interested in taking pictures than enjoying the scenery around us. The guides were also exceptionally kind to us as they already knew us, felt like VIP! :)

The guide offered to take pic for us at Big Lagoon

Big Lagoon reminded me of Halong Bay with the many towering limestones. The boat stopped just outside the entrance and we jumped into the sea to snorkel around. As this is the second day of our island hopping tour, we already know the drills quite well and felt comfortable exploring the sea. 

Another bungka nearby waiting to get into Secret Lagoon

The second stop, the Secret Lagoon, is somewhat like the Secret Beach on the previous day. As we had to wade through shallow corals again, the guide put our phone into his dry bag and brought it into the lagoon so that we can take some pictures. It was still a pity as the view at the Secret Beach was nicer compared to the lagoon. 

The secret pathway to the lagoon

Just like the Secret Beach, there was a small cave that we could get through to gain access into the lagoon. Unlike the previous day when the depth of water was really deep, there were shelves of stone right at the entrance of the cave so we had to sit on it and get ourselves across. 

Selfie we took in the lagoon

Might as well take more since we brought the selfie stick

The very nice guide climbed up some rocks to help us take this 

After the very good lunch the previous day, I'm really looking forward to the fresh seafood again. This time, the spread was even bigger and better as there were more people on board. Just like the first day, we stopped at a really cool snorkeling area so that we can do more snorkeling while the guys get the lunch ready. It was nice looking out at sea while we enjoy such a good meal, I was savouring every minute of it as I reminded myself this is the final day of island hopping tour on El Nido for us, till we are back the next time, if ever.

Big spread of fruits and seafood

Very clear water at the lunch area

Weather had been really good today, as the sky was threatening to rain but it did not happen and the hot sun was hiding behind the dark clouds. When we left the lunch area to proceed to the next destination, we could see that it was pouring in the distance but the bad weather did not get to our area and we only had some light drizzle. The next area is Small Lagoon and it is the highlight of the day for us. 

Boats taking turns to rent the kayak

Dark clouds at the small lagoon but it did not really rain

Even though it is named Small Lagoon, the area we could explore was the biggest and I could see many people kayaking  or swimming around the area. When our guide gave us a choice between kayaking and snorkeling, we chose kayaking immediately as we had quite enough of snorkeling over the two days.

People swimming around the Small Lagoon

Selfie while kayaking

I was quite happy and excited for the change of activity after we embark on the kayaking exploration. It cost us 300php to rent the kayak but its quite worthwhile. After some calculation, we reckoned the kayak rental guy here must be earning big bucks from the tours as many people chose to do the kayak rental here and it is a trade monopoly.

Happy feet 

The area around the Small Lagoon reminded me of Kampong Mamam in P.Ubin as it had some meandering parts which led us into some exploration. I was glad we were on kayak as it will be tiring if we want to swim and explore the whole area.

We had enough of kayaking, went to the beach at the side and took a bit of rest and selfies (again). But we quickly left as we realised there were mozzies around the area.

Selfie time again

I was surprised to see a ice cream vendor on his boat (look at the clear water)

Went back paddling and the really nice guide helped us took some pictures

Bravo! Clear blue/green water underneath us!

We enjoyed ourselves at the Small Lagoon

After we had enough fun at the place, we ditched our kayak and went swimming around the bungka for awhile. But we got tired of that soon enough and just went up the boat to wait for the rest to come back. We also bought several ice cream from the floating vendor. It is more expensive than the ice-cream sold on mainland but he has the monopoly here so there were lots of tourists buying from him too.

The ice cream vendor stopped at our bungka to sell his stuff

The last stop for our island hopping tour A was the 7 commandos beach, but I have no idea why it was named that way. It was one of my least favourite destination during the two day tour, simply because it felt like a normal beach at Sentosa lagoon to me. It was commercialised as all the tourists stopped there to get their dessert fix, I was keen to get back to land soon but we spent over an hour just lazing on the beach. Perhaps other tourists enjoy taking a break there but it did not appeal to me.

It's more fun in the Philippines Part 5 (Palawan Trip Day 3)

We woke up for Day 3 with the air reeked of fresh rain and we realised there was some rain in the night. It had stopped so we can still go for the island hopping tour. We were still glad to get a good night's rest at Bill's, decided to get breakfast there before going back to Swiftlets to get changed for the tour. The breakfast was buffet style but food didn't look appetizing, there was corned beef and rice so P was mainly having that. I remember the reviews mentioned that we can get the staff to cook eggs for us, so P ordered two sunny-side-ups.

The tricycle that came to pick us up, this belong to the vendor Faith Agape

After breakfast, we were told that we will still stay another night at Bill's, so we left our overnight stuff with them and walked back to Swiftlets. The guy who was supposed to pick us up for the tour arrived promptly in his trike at 9am. He sent us to Marina Garden Resort where groups of people were gathering to set off for the tours. It is the shoulder season so only some of the bunkas were getting ready to leave and the beach was not too crowded. 

Many many bunkas at the seafront

We boarded the boat and realised that we were actually at the seafront just in front of Seaslugs. Now in the daylight, we could see the restaurant and its surroundings much more clearly. Unlike the previous night, not many tourists were up and having breakfast at the restaurants. 

View of Seaslugs and beachfront in the daylight

There were 9 people in total in our boat, all Filipinos except for another lady and me. The boat sped out towards the nearby island and we stopped at helicopter island first, it got its name as the whole island is shaped like a helicopter. We went up to the beach and were given 45min to snorkel around the area. We took some pictures and wade out to try our snorkels. The guides pretty much left us on our own but they took good care of two ladies in our group who were non swimmers. I reckon it's not easy to do island hopping when you don't have the water confidence, there is so much swimming to do. 

Boatmates took this for us

We took many selfies too

More selfies on Helicopter Island (before we went snorkeling)

The second place we stopped at was quite interesting. It was surrounded by tall limestone mountains and the part we disembarked was shallow with coral reefs so we were told to wear our slippers. After we went into the water, we put on our snorkels and swam along the rocks to this beach hidden among the tall mountains. I believe El Nido used to be even more amazing years back when the view under water and above water were both awesome. Now it's mostly left the top part as too many tourists step on these shallow corals daily to get to this Hidden Beach. Other than the first Helicopter Island, I counted no less than 20 boats docked at the remaining sites even at shoulder season. El Nido is still being discovered and developed into a tourist spot, I believe years later things will get worse if nothing is done to protect the environment.

Entrance to the Hidden Beach

BBQ pit set up by the guys on board

I was starting to get hungry and looking forward to lunch. Once we boarded the boat earlier, the boatmen had set up a bbq pit on one end of the boat and they put a big fish and other seafood onto the grille. As they were getting lunch ready, we stopped at this snorkeling area to do more swimming and snorkeling. When lunch was ready, I was amazed to see the spread prepared by the guys on board. The fish and prawns were really fresh and succulent, it was the best seafood we had tasted in Palawan. The fruits like mango and pineapple were sweet and tasty too. Kudos to the guys for the good seafood lunch!

Very clear water at the lunch area

Very unforgettable seafood lunch

The third destination was also interesting, we stopped at shallow corals once again, but this time we can snorkel and swim through this small hole among the rocks. With our snorkels on, we could see that it was actually hundred feet deep beneath the rocks so it was quite awesome. Beyond the rocks, it was the Secret Beach, I must say this is the most beautiful part of our two days island hopping tours. There were shallow corals all around and also a small beach area surrounded by very tall limestone cliff. Sitting on the beach, the view was magnificent. Unfortunately, we did not have a waterproof camera and did not get to take any photos at all. Nevertheless, we promised ourselves to keep this beautiful view in our memories. 

Boats in front of Matinloc Island

The smaller statue near the beach

Bigger shrine area with seats (some broken)

We had already done a lot of swimming and snorkeling for the day, so I was glad that the final destination was an island we can do some sightseeing. There were two Mother Mary statues on the island and they call this place the Matinloc Shrine. After the previous experience, we made sure we brought our selfie stick and iPhone with us to capture the view. It was not easy as we had to tread on shallow rocks and corals before getting on shore (I was holding my breath and praying hard that P will not lose his balance and drop the iPhone) but it proved to be the best thing to do as there was a spectacular view on Matinloc. Among some huge and steep rocks, some people put in some cemented steps so that we can get on top to a small viewing point. We could see the very clear blue waters surrounding the place from the height, so we took our time to get the selfies done. 

Fabulous view from the top, glad we had our selfie stick!

The shallow corals showing up under clear blue sea

After this island was done, it was time to make our way back home. The boat sped on the sea for quite some time to get us back to where we started as Tour C route went quite far. All of us were quiet, mostly enjoying the moment and a little exhausted from the day's activities. 

Left our footprints here

P reliving his childhood days

We spotted the iconic El Nido words on the beachfront and took some pics there. When we were walking to Swiftlets, we saw children running out of the village school after lessons. We stopped to get ice cream as there were several ice cream and titbits vendors waiting outside the school. We bought some freshly fried turons along the way and it was really delicious too.

Ice cream vendor on the street

Swiftlets in the day

We took our shower in Swiftlets (hot shower run on solar energy thankfully) and packed our things to go over to Bill's. P needed to catch up with his NBA series finals so I took a nap after eating some turons and surfing the Internet. I woke up again to the ringing of the phone and the staff informed me that the electricity supply has resumed at Swiftlets and we can move back if we wish too. After some discussion, we decided to move back for the night even though there was a risk of electric outage again. I felt more comfortable at Swiftlets even though the room was smaller. 

Art cafe spotted but it failed us :(

Looked nice but service was lacking

We walked back to put our stuff at Swiftlets, we were glad to see it in lights again, although we seemed to be the only ones back at the inn. It was almost 9pm, so we walked to the beachfront to look for dinner. P still preferred to have seafood for dinner, so I had been researching hard online. We passed Artcafe and Boutique on our first night and it really have good reviews in Tripadvisor (ranked 9) so we decided to give it a try. Unfortunately, things didn't go well there. There wasn't a dinner crowd by that time but the server seemed a bit nonchalant when we wanted to order. We saw that angus beef steak was the specialty on the menu, P wanted to try it although it was really pricey (900php). He's very particular about steak gravy, so he requested to try the steak gravy before ordering, but we were told there will be a charge. Next, we ordered buko shake and avocado shake and both were not available. P was fuming and looking so angry with the restaurant although we already placed a pizza order with them, I suggested canceling the order and leaving to look for another dinner place. The servers started looking anxious and convinced us to wait for the pizza, we decided to takeout and eat in our hotel room.

Back to Seaslugs again

As the shakes from Seaslugs were pretty good, we decided to get our shakes there again. Fantastic beach time in the summer goes really well with shakes! I lost count of the number of avocado shakes I had during the trip. We also nbought some balots along the way back. The nice thing about our inn was that we could use the microwave and borrow some plates from the 'kitchen area' to have our dinner. We also moved the breakfast table into the room so that we can eat and watch videos on our laptop.

The pizza from Artcafe turned out bad although some reviewers left good comments about its pizzas. The hawaiian pizza had big pieces of tomatoes? and pineapples on it and I could not even taste the ham, luckily we left the place or P would have thrown the pizza on their faces.

It's more fun in the Philippines Part 5 (Palawan Trip Day 2)

The motel staff woke us up at 2.20am, I thought they will just give us a sandwich or something for breakfast. In fact, I was surprised that breakfast starts as early as 2am. We struggled to wake up at this odd hour, and were directed to a Chinese restaurant next door for breakfast. The breakfast was nothing much to shout about but at least it's a hot meal at this hour. We did some quick packing and were really to leave at 3.15am. Another plus point of the motel was that the free shuttle is operational at wee hours too. 

Initially I was wondering if it was necessary to go to the airport more than 2h ahead of flight as it is so near. P said it will be crowded even at wee hours and he was right. There was already a lot of traffic at this time, jeepneys already on the road and when we reached the domestic terminal, there were long queues to clear the security scans. Manila is the capital city of this very populated country, thus it never sleep!

Finally boarding

The check in queue was considered short as we were served immediately, after that there was almost an hour left before boarding. Finally, our onward journey to PPS! I'm crossing my fingers that our remaining vacation will be smooth and problems free. When I was booking the flight just the previous day, it looked quite empty and there were a lot of seats, However, we were surprised again that the waiting area was full of sleepy commuters. I'm so glad that we're able to get on board at such reasonable fare. 

Simple fare on board but still better than Cebu Pacific

A week before we set off for the trip, we had booked a private van to send us to El Nido from PPS. This part of the journey is the most dreaded as it is a 5h ride on bumpy roads. We chose a private van as I had read that it is faster than the public Ro Ro or Cherry bus. A shared van will be even more ideal as the cost will be shared between 10-12 passengers. However, as our initial flight will only reach PPS at 6.15pm, which is later than the latest shared van scheduled timing at 6pm, we decided to splurge and spent on a private van (6.5k) to get to our destination fast. Now that we missed the flight, it's a waste of money as we can just take a shared van in the morning. Even though we knew the money already paid and it is quite unlikely we can get a refund, P still tried his luck and asked them. Much to our delight, they agreed to refund part of the payment and convert the rest of the sum to payment for 2-way shared van. We're eventually happier to know that we spent less than we had thought (100+ SGD) to resolve the missed flight problems. 

At the rustic airport

We look tired, but definitely happy to finally be here

Landing at PPS is so cool, it's like arriving in the middle of a rice field. There is vegetation everywhere and low huts in the villages nearby. We are glad to have finally arrived at PPS after this mishaps on the previous day. It is hardly 7am so we waiting around for the scheduled shared van to turn up at 7.30am, P finally spotted someone holding a piece of paper with his name and we followed the guy to a nearby Eulen Joy office where there were several people waiting for the van. However, there was more waiting and we only boarded the van when it was close to 8am. A shared van is 10x cheaper but there was also a lot of waiting, the van stopped at picked up people at several points until it was full. I was amazed when the driver hopped to the top of the van and placed some luggage right on top to save space. After a English guy grumbled about being picked up at 8.15am when he booked a 9am ride, all of us realised that we actually booked our ride at different timing, some as early as 6.30am! I guess they really want to utilise the petrol used so they combined a few bookings into one, and it could even be different agencies! 

The private/shared vans

It was almost 9am when we finally left PPS town proper, and as I rode in the van, I surprised myself by falling asleep almost immediately when we hit the straighter road up north. It felt like a long time as my butt hurt when i was awake again, I had to shift my weight around to relief the ache. I woke up and look at the time, it was only 10.30am. Shortly after that, the van stopped at a small roadside cafeteria for a break, and all of us filed out to eat something. We were famished after the early breakfast at 3am, so we ordered two dishes and some fruits. The weather was really warm so I was glad that we could hide in the air con van once lunch was done.

My luggage was one of the lucky ones chosen to go on top

The van only stopped once more at Taytay for some of us to visit the washroom, and finally pulled into El Nido bus terminal at about 2pm. Including the lunch break, it really took us about 5h to make the journey, luckily most of it was concrete roads and smooth so there was no need to worry about motion sickness at all. Nevertheless, I was really glad we finally arrived at our home for the next 4 nights. The bus terminal is just a very small and dusty one, I do not see that many foreigners around so I guess this place is even more rustic than Bohol, a paradise that is not easy to reach. Even though the inn was said to be just 3min away, we decided to pay 50php to take a trike to our inn since it is hard to carry our luggage all the way there on the uneven road. 

Our luggage on the trike (different design at different parts of ph)

I was happy to see that the inn is new and clean as reviewed by other travelers. Among the rows of huts, the white brick walls of the inn stood out. The owners were nice and helpful, P talked to them and they agreed to refund us the amount for the previous night. We decided to book the tours with them in return. We were given the top floor (Rm 7) initially, but P asked for a room at 2nd floor as it is a hassle to climb up and down. The view from the top was just the rows of coconut trees and limestone mountain across the small road. The area around the inn is still under renovation so there's awkward pile of stuff at odd places.

View from the room (3rd floor)

We paid $60 SGD for a night stay by booking through Agoda (redeemed my points) so it was not too bad for a basic and comfortable room. When I was looking for a hotel, I realised that things are not cheap here in El Nido, rooms with mixed reviews and just the basics can be quite expensive. I decided not to expect too much and book one with the best reviews within our budget. I was delighted to see that there's a bathtub in the room, so I took my time to take a long bath and soaked in the bathtub. P was already asleep when I was done, I updated my blog while waiting for my hair to dry and took a nap as well. I heard a loud sound around 5.30pm while I was in my dreams and realised there was a power outage, the TV and the air-con went out but we continued our nap. It seemed quite common to experience that here in El Nido, therefore many shops and guesthouses have their own generator to provide their own electricity in such situation. When we finally woke up at 6.30pm, the sky was already falling and the power did not come back on. I peered out and saw that the houses next to us were also using candles to light up their place so I guess there's power outage in the whole area.

Free flow coffee, tea and milo at the inn

We went out to explore the place and get our dinner. It was just a short 10min walk from the inn to the main beach area. The stretch just next to our inn was also in darkness, and many lit up their shops using candles or torchlight. Most of the shops along the street were small and selling basic stuff like titbits, there were no fast food outlets in this small town, another sign that it had not become too touristy. Most of the bigger restaurants are opened by foreigners, who chanced upon this place and see its potential in attracting tourist business. 

This is the only bakery in town and its popular, we only bought this once

The beach front area is somewhat like boracay but the number of shops along the stretch were not as many and there was no proper footpath. Most of the sea facing bars have an area for people to drink and chill out by the sea. We saw quite a few eateries and Seaslugs caught my eye, I remember reading some reviews about it so I was telling P we can just eat here if we can't find other places. We walked further down and it was just a few shops with only a few customers so we turned back to Seaslugs. It was brimming with people but I could see that service was slow and many people were waiting for their food with an impatient or bored look. P was keen to try their seafood so he was undeterred, we managed to get a nice table on the beach with candlelights and sand under our feet. 

Nice setting and ambience 

We waiting for abt 10-15min and our food started to get served. I could hear the staff telling the next table that they had stopped accepting orders for 10min to clear the piling food orders, so we were considered lucky. 

Very nice shakes and we came back for more

The drinks came first and I'm happy with the quality of the shakes. It cost the same as Jonah's shake in Boracay. P ordered prawns with tomato sauce and crabs, I felt that the prawns are not that fresh although it tasted fine. The crabs, unlike those we normally have in SG, were smaller mud crabs so there was a muddy taste. But P was happy with the food and he finished most of the crabs. Later on I realised that I read mostly negative reviews about the place but I forgot all about it.

Two servings of these, I didnt like it but P enjoyed it

After we walked back to the inn, it was still in darkness and the inn owner told us that the area electricity supply will not resume as the transformer is damaged, therefore they will relocate us to another inn down the street. We just packed our stuff for the night and they sent us there in a trike. It's quite an inconvenience but since the owner and staff were really nice, we assured them that we were fine with the arrangement. It turned out to be a bigger and more expensive Bill Tourist Inn, we were even allotted a superior room with a jacuzzi style bathtub and big sofa. However, for comfort and cleanliness, I still prefer Swiftlets.

Superior room with big sofa (bed)

At Bill's for the night