Philippines – Palawan – El Nido – An Old Lady with a Backpack

2017 May —–

Monday, 8 May

Anthony gave us a ride to the domestic terminal 4 for our flight to El Nido, Palawan. The traffic was super slow due to the toll booths. It gave us a good opportunity to see just how packed the local commuter buses are during rush hour. There was standing room only. Passengers were squashed in right beside the driver.

A note about the domestic terminal. SwiftAir gave us a bagged breakfast. There were also plenty of food kiosks to choose from. The terminal had a Kiddie Travellers Lounge, a breastfeeding station, and a big statue of the Virgin Mary – conspicuously located right beside the boarding gate. A security guard looked almost terrorist with a full head mask.

Most people going to El Nido, Palawan fly into Puerto Princessa and take the 6 hour bus ride north to this remote gem of a town. We chose to pay extra to fly directly from Manila to El Nido in order to save precious time. On the flight, the pilot pointed out Taal Volcano and the Bacuit Archipelago. Both beautiful from the air. An interesting thing on the airplane was that in case of a change in cabin pressure, the oxygen masks do NOT automatically drop down. They had to be manually opened with a special tool supplied by the flight attendant. Not very reassuring!

El Nido airport was tiny. A group of ladies singing a traditional song greeted us as we deplaned. The luggage was a roped off corner of the small arrivals room. We simply pointed to our luggage, they confirmed it was ours by comparing tags, then we headed outside to catch a trike into town.

First impression of El Nido – jungly. The 10 minute ride into town was lined with jungle, small huts peeking out of the forest, half naked kids playing along the road, and roadside vendors. We just knew we were going to like it here!

The Dragonfly Inn was about a kilometre from town and located on a private road (one lane trail) built by the larger resorts located along it. Only certain trikes were allowed to use the road. El Nido used to have a big problem with rabid dogs. When the resorts began to build they hired veterinarians to come and vaccinate the dogs. Rabid dogs were bad for business.

Someone from the Inn came to collect us. The Inn was small and quaint, with bamboo walls and ceiling. We had a small balcony. The WiFi turned out to be slow and sporadic. Breakfast was included, which was generally coffee, tea and juice, eggs however you liked them, pancakes, and fruit. Ahhh the fruit! Fresh mango, pineapple, and red, orange, yellow, or white watermelon. Who knew watermelon came in various colours!? The lighter colours taste exactly like red watermelon but are not as watery. The breakfast area was where the owner’s kids would sleep on the tables and nap in the afternoon. Cute. Utensils all over the Philippines were the cheap pressed metal kind. It was east to cut a lip on a ragged edge.

After settling in we walked the 10 minutes back into town. We passed a couple of big new resorts. We passed an abandoned school. We passed a cemetery and a farm. But we could not walk past the Makulay Lodge and Restaurant. There was a covered deck nestled into the hillside with comfy couches and beanbag chairs overlooking the bay. The view was gorgeous! Cafe del Mar type music was playing. We stopped for a drink before continuing into town. Although the prices were rather steep for El Nido, the food, music, and ambiance were really what we paid for. We ended up frequenting Makulay during our 9 day stay, often having a drink at their beach bar in the evening.

The town of El Nido was very small. One was never more than a 10 minute walk from anywhere. El Nido was “discovered” in 1979 when a dive boat with a disabled propeller had to drop anchor in the middle of the night. The next morning the divers woke up to the skyscraping dark cliffs, thick green forest, white sand beach and sparkling water. A dive station was established in 1983. And a scuba divers haven was born! (The town had about 10 dive shops.) Today the town struggles to keep up with the infrastructure to support the influx of tourists.

El Nido is sandwiched between the steep cliffs and the beach. There were hotels, restaurants and dive shops all fronting the beach. Back from the beach, there was shop after shop selling beach and water gear. Quite a few miniature dining establishments were scattered in between. CB Cafe was the best! Awesome food, cheap prices, freshly brewed coffee, friendly service, and fast WiFi. It seemed every establishment offered island hopping tours. Tour A and C seemed to be the most popular and most talked about. Booze was for sale in the pharmacy. One lone hardware store had everything from corrugated tin to motorcycle tires in a space the size of a small North American house. Deliveries were made between 17:00-19:00, right when most tourists were on the streets; but probably because the trucks had to come in from Puerto Princessa – 6 hours away.

Tuesday, 9 May

We walked down a path past our guesthouse in the opposite direction from town to see if there were any good beaches nearby. The path seemed to lead further and further into the jungle. Although we saw houses tucked in further back, we didn’t want to venture too much further as the path seemed to go nowhere. We went back to explore the town some more. Irene booked three days of diving with Palawan divers. Three days with three dives per day. WooHoo! A 200 Php Eco pass was required which helps fund Eco Tourism Development.

Wednesday, 10 May

Irene spent all day scuba diving. There were so much fish and aquatic life that she had only ever seen in a book. The highlights being an ornate pipe ghostfish, frogfish, blue spotted stingray, electric clam, nudibranchs, colourful flower-like anemone, giant sea clams, unicorn fish, hawksbill turtle, clownfish, and squid.

Ed found a nice place to snorkel. We were both very tired at the end of the day.

Thursday, 11 May

Irene spent another day of diving that was even better than the day before! There was a professional ocean photographer on board to take photos of the divers. She said she had to go to university for three years to get a degree in ocean photography. I didn’t realize it was a whole university degree program.

That evening we ate at one of the many beach restaurants in town. Some of the restaurants had trays of freshly caught fish to choose from. It was magical to watch the fishing and tour boats come in with the setting sun. Children were playing in the water and jumping off the outriggers of the anchored boats. It was apparent this has been the evening playground for kids for generations.

A thunderstorm was brewing and back at the guesthouse, the power went out. They had a generator that kept the lights and water working, but it was not strong enough to keep the air conditioning going. It was stifling hot in the room. We tried to open the door to let in some air, but that only let the mosquitoes in. Thank goodness we had our resident gecko to help get rid of them.

Friday, 12 May

Irene did not take any antihistamine prior to diving and consequently had a hard time equalizing. An American doctor was one of the fellow divers and said a cheap way of clearing out the salt and any greeblies in the ear after diving is to put a bit of vodka into the ear canal. He said ear drops and medical attention are not always available, but vodka is.

That night we took a trike to Corong Corong to go to Bella Vita restaurant. Our hosts at the Dragonfly were Italian and they highly recommended this Italian restaurant. We weren’t sure if Corong Corong was a different town or a different area of El Nido. It was located on the other side of the monolith wall of rock that Ed Nido was built beside.

When we returned to the guesthouse after our day of adventures we were greeted by the smell of raw sewage. Our hosts said that the resort across the road dumps their sewage on their grounds to fertilize their trees. Gross. Whether it was the lack of antihistamine or the raw sewage, Irene had a super sore throat, ear ache, and a puffy right eye. To top it off, the power was out again.

Saturday, 13 May

We were planning on going on Tour C, but it was raining quite hard and the trip was canceled. Just as well because Irene’s ear ache was so bad we decided to go to the medical centre. The doctor prescribed some strong antihistamine and pain killers. The doctor felt the puffy eye was simply an irritation and not to worry about.

Post Script: Later that year Irene had extensive tests done on the painful right ear. An MRI found an 11 mm schwannoma. It is a benign tumour of the tissue that covers the nerve sheath. The pressure of the dives was causing the pain. Taking antihistamine alleviates that.

The rain cleared off by lunch time but we were content to download some movies from Netflix and stay in to let the meds kick in. We also confirmed our reservation with the Kabayan Hotel in Manila and airport pickup.

Sunday, 14 May

Mothers Day. Irene got greetings from UK, Morocco, Saudi, and Canada. It was very touching for Momma to hear from her little ducklings scattered all over the world.

The weather was nice so we finally went on Tour C. The tours are all labelled by which islands they take in. There were ten of us on this boat. We stopped at Hidden Beach, so named because it was behind a rock wall and not visible from the ocean. Then we stopped at Secret Beach, so named because we had to swim through a small tunnel and through millions of baby jellyfish to enter. This was not so much a beach, but a tiny bay totally enclosed by steep rock. The baby jellyfish were too tiny to sting.

We stopped for lunch at on small beach where we snorkelled for nearly an hour. There was lots of baby jellyfish again but nice coral, clown fish, Christmas tree worms, starfish, and giant sea clams in the shallow water. We didn’t go far from the lunch spot when the guide said he spotted a turtle. He stopped the boat and everyone jumped in to see if we could see it. We didn’t see the turtle, but some guy popped out of the water bragging how he had grabbed it!!! Number one rule of diving (and snorkeling) – NEVER touch the wildlife. It has been rumoured that if a turtle is grabbed, it gets so scared that it fails to come up for air and drowns itself. Whether or not this is fact is unknown. The point is, Never Touch The Wildlife!

Our last stop was Helicopter Island. We were told a season of Survivor was filmed there. Not so. A season was filmed in the Philippines, but not on this island. It is private property though. There was a nice beach with a roped off area for snorkeling. We saw lots more interesting aquatic life.

Even though we had pre-paid to stop at Miniloc Shrine, the guide didn’t take us there. He said it would cost extra. The bugger simply pocketed the 100 Php that each person paid. None of us realized this was why this particular tour cost more until after we got back to the mainland. We registered a complaint with our guesthouse because they were the ones who organized the tour. They just shrugged their shoulders.

That night we had dinner at Makulay…. again.

Monday, 15 May

Irene’s ear was still very sore so we went back to the doctor. The doctor assured us that it was fine and to just give it more time. A few days later she proved correct.

It was a blisteringly hot day so we didn’t want to be walking around much. We bought a couple of cheap dry sacks at a shop and then headed back to our air conditioned room after stopping at the CB Cafe for lunch.

Tuesday, 16 May

Ed was not feeling well and decided to stay in and rest. A couple, Sam & Katherine, that were also staying at the Dragonfly and who had been on Tour C with us, invited Irene to join them on their trip to Nacpan Beach. It was about an hour away by trike.

It was a beautiful beach, long and curved. Sam and Katherine walked one way down the beach and Irene walked the opposite way to let them have privacy. There was a small fishing village about a kilometre from where we were dropped off. There was a group of young children playing in the water and jumping off a boat anchored a short distance from the shore. They wanted their pictures taken and were showing off a bit as well. Irene found a gorgeous seashell about the size of a small egg. It was black on the bottom and slowly turned a bright brick colour toward the rounded top. Unfortunately, no shells were allowed off the island and it had to be relinquished at the airport. Boohoo!

It started to rain and we eventually all found each other at the dining shack. We all ordered a small lunch, which had to be prepared in a kitchen about 100 meters away. We had no sooner started eating when a bunch of dogs from the nearby village showed looking for scraps. The proprietors tried in vain to shoo the dogs away and said this is a problem every day at lunch time.

We had had about enough of the beach, especially with the light rain making beach time miserable. We found our trike driver gambling with some other trike drivers. He did not seem happy to have to quit in order to take us to the zip lines.

Not five minutes after leaving the beach it started to rain so hard the road was a flooding mess. It seemed to suit the water buffaloes just fine, as we saw many relaxing in the streams as we passed above on the bridges.

It was a long steep climb up to the zip lines. Irene didn’t want to participate so she took pictures and watched Sam and Katherine’s bags while they zipped across the water to a small island. They had to walk on a sandbar back to the mainland then along the beach for a kilometre or more before finding Irene waiting at a beach front bar. We all had a few calamansi and coconut drinks. Coconut rum, coconut water, mini lime (calamansi) and brown sugar. Yummy! Then we had to tear our driver away from more gambling in order to take us back to town.

It was a nice day with new friends.

Wednesday, 17 May

Our last morning on El Nido was spent at the CB Cafe for Ed to download movies for the flight home. Irene bought black pearl earrings for herself and friend Jan, a pearl necklace for friend Carrie, a fan, and tote bags and t-shirts for granddaughters Chandler and Parker.

The flight to Manila left 1/2 hour early, therefore, arrived 1/2 hour early. There was no hotel shuttle waiting for us in Manila. We waited for a half hour but when there was still no car we called them. They had obviously forgotten our arrangement because arrived an hour later blaming traffic. It was a fifteen minute drive back to the hotel. Then they tried to charge us 500Php for the service. The normal taxi price is 150 Php. Ed was furious. We argued and demanded to see the manager. He waived the charge.

When we got to our room it was no bigger than a janitor room (21′ x 6’6”), which included the 66” x 33” bathroom. We had to squeeze in under the sink in order to sit on the toilet. The shower was 28” x 32”. (Measurements were taken with Irene walking toe to heal then later measuring her foot length.) We had poor WiFi and no hot water. Ed was more furious!

Thursday, 18 May

Buffet breakfast was included with our stay. First of all, we had to bus our own table. There didn’t appear to be any staff cleaning up after people. Then we had to pour coffee in cereal bowls because there were no clean cups. The food was cold, even the over easy eggs and the rice. The only redeeming thing about the Kabayan Hotel was that it was close to the airport. We decided to eat at the airport. We checked out and took the fifteen minute, 150 Php ride to the airport 5 hours before our departure time.

Manila International Airport

The airport is not very big; it is smaller than Edmonton. All luggage was x-rayed at the entrance to the building. After check in it was x-rayed again at security. It turns out our decision to eat at the airport was not a wise one. We assumed that the international terminal would have more food kiosks than the domestic terminal. We were wrong.

We wandered the entire length of the airport in under 10 minutes, hoping to see some interesting shops or more food kiosks. We were disappointed on both fronts. We finally settled onto some benches near security. There was a plugin nearby where Ed could charge his tablet and still keep an eye on it.

It was an interesting place to sit. We watched people coming through security with some having their bags opened for closer inspection. It was like the real life Border Security TV show. One fellow had his bag opened for closer inspection and the security guard pulled out a roll of wide Scotch tape. She tossed it in the garbage bin. Curious. When the people had left the area and the guard was not busy we asked why the tape was not allowed. We were told that someone could use the tape to bind someone on board the airplane. Weird. Ed made the comment, “What about my boot laces then?”

PA systems in airports are always difficult to understand. More so in Manila. They speak half English and half Filipino and not the same thing in both languages. We were never sure if they are announcing arrivals or departures.

About two hours prior to our boarding time we decided to eat something as we were not sure when they would serve food on the plane. Remember, I said Philippine Air food was good so we just wanted something small. We bought something and proceeded to eat it in the boarding area. We had barely begun eating when a security guard was telling everyone to depart the boarding area and queue up for a final document check. This is common but none the less annoying as we had already been through two security checks.

Irene proceeded to continue eating her lunch. No! Everyone must depart that area, now! The lunch was wolfed down while walking. There were about 300 people in a queue for the document check. We figured we may as well go to the bathroom instead of just standing in a lineup. About 20 other women had the same idea. The bathroom for the entire terminal had only three stalls. An attendant decided this would be a good time to clean it. She was literally on her hands and knees cleaning out one stall at a time. Needless to say, those doing the pee-pee dance were not impressed.

Back in the document check queue, we had our bags x-rayed yet again. We had to toss any water we had bought a mere 20 feet away. Once past the document check, we were herded back into the area we were just told to leave. A guard stood making sure no one left the now secure roped off boarding area – even those who did not go to the bathroom before.

There was an inordinate amount of wheelchairs in the airport. Finally, the flight attendants announced pre-boarding for those needing assistance and families. The wheelchair brigade charged forward followed closely by the families with children. All of a sudden there was a lot of shouting as the flight attendants were turning the families away saying that this was executive boarding even though there were no executives trying to board. People started yelling to let the families go. It was mayhem. A Filipino lady who now lives in Canada said it is always this chaotic at the airport and she hates coming back to visit.

The airport reminded us, again, of India. People shoving their way regardless of a queue system. No reasoning behind some of the rules.

Our return flight caught the trade winds and was only 10+ hours back to Vancouver. We left at 16:30 on Thursday, the 18^th and arrived in Vancouver at around 13:00 – also on the 18^th. We gained a day!

GENERAL NOTES

We were encouraged to eat by hand but given a napkin the size and thickness of a sheet of toilet paper. I swear I saw perforations at the edges.

There were lots of Toyota in Manila. They cost 600,000Php on average. About $20,000 CDN.

There were religious icons all over. It was common to see names of districts, businesses, and transportation such as Rosary Hill, Joseph & Mary Construction, Blessed Virgin Express, Mercy Grace Express.

There were lots of trike shells beside the road in El Nido. Men were constantly fixing motorcycles everywhere.