The Philippines

The Philippines was another country we hadn’t actually planned to visit but was added to our trip when we changed plans and went to Bali. It made sense to come here on the way to countries in the north east of Asia which we had wanted to visit. So we didn’t really know what to expect when we got here and to be honest we didn’t expect much. All we had seen on the news about the Philippines was about Duterte and his heavy handed tactics (which by the way the people we spoke to agreed with, he is a very popular leader) and so we were slightly wary about what we might encounter. But we couldn’t have been more wrong!

Our journey into the Philippines was a long one. We flew from Bali to Kuala Lumpur, waited around for 4 hours in the airport, then got on a flight to Manila, waited around again for another 4 hours and then jumped on a domestic flight to Palawan! Our final destination was to be El Nido but our flight was to Puerto Princesa and we just didn’t have the energy to move on straight away after such a long journey. 

Puerto Princesa and the Subterranean River National Park

We stayed the night at a small hotel which we think had bed bugs (we slept inside a sleeping bag cover – good idea from Linz) and was run by a woman who all the staff seemed terrified of! The food was poor and over priced and the WiFi only worked on one side of the pool. It was a nice enough pool though and a pretty hotel. In the evenings they projected music videos onto the side of the hotel which was nice but I can’t say we would recommend the place! It was also a bit out of the main area and at night we had to walk in complete darkness through what felt like semi jungle, where all the houses had big gates and fences round them and the huts that served as shops had bars over the windows. It didn’t feel particularly safe and the armed guard outside the shopping centre did nothing to change this feeling!

After a nights well needed rest we did a day trip (3000 piso for the two of us) to an underground river which is a UNESCO world heritage site and one of the seven natural wonders of the world. We got picked up from our hotel and driven for a couple of hours to a dock where we boarded a small boat that took us down the coast (which was beautiful) to a small beach where we jumped off, had a short walk through the trees and met up with the man who would be our guide through the underground river. We got onto his even smaller boat and off we went. 

The river and caves are impressive and the guide did a good job pointing out various interestingly shaped stalagmites and stalactites while the audio tour explained how it was formed and how they protect it now. They do seem to recognise the importance of natural beauty and for various things you have to pay an environmental tax. There are loads of bats and we got warned not to open our mouths while inside the cave system or we might end up with bat droppings for lunch! After having the light on the boat turned off so we could experience the complete darkness, we head back out. The National Park the river is inside is home to monkeys and various other species of animals and we thought we might get a chance to see them but unfortunately we got ushered back to the first boat and set off back to the dock to have lunch. After lunch, which was actually pretty nice, we got taken to an area with a zip line set up and told we could pay extra to go on it or to do some walking around inside caves. By this point it had started to rain pretty hard and it didn’t seem like it would be much fun! We were also resenting the fact we had been brought somewhere that wasn’t included in the tour instead of getting the chance to explore the National Park! 

Bucana – Our private paradise

The following day we took a minibus to El Nido, which was incredibly uncomfortable with no space, small seats and no seatbelts. The roads are constant bends which meant if we fell asleep we got thrown off our seats moments later! We got talking to some French students during the drive who were on a trip from Taiwan where they are doing a semester studying engineering. It was great to hear good feedback about Taiwan as it’s our next destination! When we arrived in El Nido we needed to get a trike (a motorbike with a side seat, their version of a tuk tuk) to our guesthouse as we had heard El Nido was very touristy (it isn’t particularly) and decided to stay further out. What we didn’t realise is we were staying 18km away down what can barely be called roads in a small fishing village! Our driver couldn’t understand why we were staying there! 

As we drove into Bucana, the fishing village we would be staying in, we began to wonder if we had made the right decision. All the buildings were shanty town style huts and we felt like we were further off the beaten track than we had intended! The trike struggled to drive along the roads, with the sound of metal hitting the ground all too common as we bounced up and down over the holes in the dirt road. And then the driver, after asking a local for directions, stopped and told us we had to walk from here and pointed towards some concrete stairs. We paid him the 700 piso we had agreed and hoped we would be able to figure out where to go. The concrete stairs it turns out lead to a wooden bridge over some water. And by wooden bridge I mean the kind that sways and bounces with planks moving under your feet. What were we doing here?!

Safely across the bridge we proceeded to get lost in the village. But the feeling of dread began to pass as groups of local kids ran up to us to say hello and high five us and people who didn’t speak any English tried to point us in the right direction. The heat was beginning to get unbearable, as we walked along the beach passed pigs laying in the shade of palm trees, our backpacks feeling heavy, we suddenly spotted our destination – Bucana Beachfront Guesthouse. (It later turned out we had been sent a text offering to pick us up when we arrived at the village but our phones had no battery!)

After a shower we emerged from our room and it began to dawn on us what an amazing place we had found. The realisation hit us that we were on an untouched beach, with no tourists, no-one to hassle us to buy anything, almost nothing at all except a stunning beach with clear water that you could walk 100 metres off the beach and still only be waste deep. A few local kids played further down the beach against the backdrop of glorious mountains covered in jungle and palm trees right up against the back of the beach. It was truly a piece of paradise. Neither of us have ever been anywhere quite like it.

As if it couldn’t get any better Bucana Beachfront Guesthouse turned out to be an incredible place to stay. Joyce and Marius who run the place were the perfect hosts. We spent each night sat at the bar drinking and chatting with them until gone midnight. We played cards with their kids Mokmok and Romrom who were delightful and Joyce’s cooking was delicious! They were such lovely people and really helpful when it came to booking tours or buses. We feel really lucky to have stumbled onto a real hidden gem here and if we come back (we are already thinking about when rather than if!) we will feel like we are going to stay with friends rather than at a hotel. We can’t recommend this place enough, it was truly an amazing experience. The only downside was that we already had flights booked to leave otherwise we would have extended our stay! 

Island Hopping

One day we decided to do a day of island hopping round some of the many islands near the coast. We got up early to make sure we could get the jeepney from the village to save on the cost of a trike. Marius dropped us to the wooden bridge, which by this point was starting to feel normal and not scary, and we got into the jeepney (like a jeep, bus combination) and waited to leave. After ten minutes or so every seat is taken and there’s a handful of people sitting on the roof! It drives slowly and stops repeatedly to pick up more people. Each time we think surely no-one else can fit but somehow they clamber up onto the roof or squeeze between other passengers. A women even had several heavy bags of rice to take with her which I helped a couple of the others to load onto the roof. 

Eventually we arrive in El Nido and navigate our way to the tour office (1400-1600 piso each depending on which trip you choose). The company we went with, which was suggested by Joyce and Marius were fantastic. They explained exactly what would happen, sorted us some water shoes to wear to avoid getting hurt by any rocks and had the boat ready to leave on time. You have to walk out from the beach to the boat and water comes up to your waste so make sure your pockets are empty and you have a waterproof bag if you’re ever there! Once away from the beach our life jackets came off and we could lay on the side of the boat sunbathing or at the front with feet dangling to the water. The staff were so friendly and helpful the whole time.

Each place we stopped had something slightly different about it, but they were all astonishingly beautiful. Picturesque beaches, clear water coves, colourful fish filled reefs for snorkelling, a hidden beach that could only be reached by swimming under a small tunnel in the rocks, it was the perfect way to spend a day. Lunch was included in the tour and was a lovely BBQ cooked up and served on a beach on a tiny island with no-one else around. There was pork, chicken, vegetables, rice, a huge plate of prawns, a whole tuna fish, fruit and juice. Way too much for the handful of us who were there to eat… Though I gave it a good try! After lunch it was more beautiful Islands and then a calm ride back to El Nido, by which point everyone was sleeping in the sun, dotted around the boat, feeling very satisfied. 

Manila 

Unfortunately we had to leave this piece of tropical paradise and the wonderful people we met there and head on to Manila. We thought Manila wouldn’t be much to write about and was probably just another busy city. But it’s actually like a load of smaller, very different cities rolled into one. For example we stayed in Rockwell which was full of huge shopping malls selling every luxury brand you can think of. A Rolex store next to a Gucci store followed by Chanel and on and on it goes. The roads and walkways are good quality, there’s barely any traffic, there’s huge skyscrapers, you can’t smoke on the streets and there’s loads of options for eating out. 

Then there was the old walled city and San Augustin Church. All the architecture here is in an old colonial European style and the church is very impressive, with a cheap museum inside that is very informative about the history of the Philippines in regards to foreign settlers and invaders. It’s a lovely place to take a walk and enjoy the sights (or have someone cycle you around in a little carriage if you don’t want to walk). It was a pleasant surprise to us finding somewhere so pretty that looked so out of place in Asia! 

We also saw the busy side to Manila. We had done some research online and found that Manila is one of the cheapest places in the world for buying cameras and having seen such brilliant places so far on our trip we wanted to be able to capture these moments better than we can on a phone camera. So we decided which camera we wanted, found the name of a road with a couple of camera shops and head off. How hard could it be to find one of these shops if we knew the name of the road? As it turns out, it’s really difficult! The taxi driver didn’t have a clue and dropped us in the general area and as we weaved our way through market stalls, out of the way of people and motorbikes and followed strangers directions which seemed to lead us in circles we finally got to the point of giving up. Which is of course when we saw the sign for one of the shops hidden behind a market stall! Next door was another camera shop and I’m sure there were more along the same road! Each shop gave a similar price for the camera we wanted and refused to haggle at all (I got £1 off the price of the bag we bought for it) but it was so much cheaper to start with than we could have got it anywhere else that we bit off their hand! So we now have a proper camera, yay!

Unforgettable 

Our time in the Philippines was unplanned and lead to an unexpectedly good time. Manila is a nice city to visit and Palawan was beautiful. But the highlight was Bucana, the kind of place most people wouldn’t even think to go and that we almost didn’t, which turned out to be a place we will never forget.