During the Tet holiday in January, I traveled with my friend Dave to the Philippines. I’d been once before, but this trip was to El Nido, Palawan, known for its natural beauty and cluster of islands.
Inspired by this magnificence, and the current English unit at school about non-rhyming poetry, I’ve decided to tell the tales of my adventure in El Nido, Palawan, in acrostic form.
So, here’s to you, El Nido!
E: Experience
When people ask me where is the most beautiful place I’ve been, it’s difficult to choose just one. But I think if I really had to choose, I would say the Philippines, and feel confident in my answer. Of course, there are plenty of places I haven’t been, and plenty of places in the Philippines, but the parts that I’ve seen...there is no comparison!
The people are friendly, the food is delicious, the views are beyond words. It just feels good to be there.
So if I can give you a bit of unsolicited advice: Go EXPERIENCE the Philippines!!
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| Our first glimpse of Palawan from the plane |
L: Landscapes
I mentioned the views are beyond words, and really, it’s true. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. The first beach we visited was in El Nido town. Not a great beach for sunbathing, but clean nonetheless. The whole strip is lined with hotels and restaurants, but it was surprisingly quiet when we were there.
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| The bay at El Nido |
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| El Nido |
One afternoon, we rented a motorbike and drove out through the country to a beach called Nacpan. About halfway there, the paved road ran out, and we rode the rest of the way down gravel roads full of potholes and across tiny bridges made of rotting logs. But we got to see this!!
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| Rural Palawan |
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| Country road, DON'T take me home! |
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| Nacpan Beach Paradise?? |
After eating some possibly dodgy seafood, Dave and I both got food poisoning. It was a bonding experience. There is no way to un-hear someone puking their guts out through the thin bathroom wall.
To recover from our nastiness, we spent an afternoon lounging on a nearby beach called Las Cabanas. I mostly laid in the shade, sipping a coconut to replenish my electrolytes. But if you’re going to “waste” a day in paradise, this ain’t a bad way to do it.
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| Las Cabanas Beach |
N: Natural
Our hotel, Island Front Cottages, made it very clear when we booked that electricity is a privilege, not a right, on Palawan. The power only operated for certain hours of the day. Most of the businesses ran generators during the outage hours, though. We had to time our showers to allow for the hot water heater, or pay an icy price.
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| Our hotel beach at low tide |
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| No power lines |
On our last day on the island, it rained. It rained all day. All day. And because most people had traveled to El Nido to go scuba diving, island hopping, and sunbathing, the entire tourist population was trapped in the restaurants and bars along the one little road through town. We, of course, found friends in a bar to spend the time with, drinking and playing cards. Ahhh, the simple life.
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| El Nido town |
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| If I lived here, I'd see this every day... |
I: Island hopping
El Nido is part of the Bacuit Archipelago, which consists of 45 islands scattered around the South China Sea. This makes for an excellent day of island hopping on a banca boat. Dave an I packed our sunscreen and booked ourselves some fun in the sun with Art Cafe’s famous Tour C.
The tour took us to such mystical places as Hidden Beach, Secret Beach, Matinloc Shrine, and Helicopter Island. The scenery cannot be rivaled, and again I think I should just let the pictures speak for themselves.
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| Hidden Beach |
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| Dave swims through the tunnel to reach Secret Beach |
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| Matinloc Shrine |
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| Matinloc Island Look at that clear water!! |
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| Lunch break |
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| Island hoppers |
On the tour, we got to snorkel at several locations, and the water was so clear and full of life, it put an other snorkeling I’ve done to shame. I even saw an octopus!!
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| OoooOooo, a collage! |
D: Diving
When I learned to SCUBA dive in Thailand back in October, I thought diving was the most amazing thing ever invented. Little did I know it could get BETTER! Because El Nido is so well-preserved, the diving is beautiful. We were lucky and had good weather conditions for excellent visibility and plenty of sea life.
I don’t have an underwater camera, and Dave’s isn’t safe to use at diving depths, so I don’t have any pictures of diving. But let me just say this: we went on nine dives over the course of the week, and never once were we disappointed in what we saw. I saw tons of clown fish in sea anemones, trumpet fish, giant clams, sea cucumbers, and countless jellyfish. I swam through a school of yellow snapper. And I watched a sea turtle eating coral. I mean, come on!!
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| I'm not as terrified as I look |
O: OMG when can I go back??
The one bad thing about a spectacular vacation is that it only makes you want to go back. I don’t see how the pristine beaches and sensational diving could get old any time soon. But maybe I should branch out and see other places? Get another stamp in the ol’ passport? Try some new cuisine?
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