off the beaten path: El Nido

El Nido

El Nido was the ultimate highlight of my Palawan trip. After Sabang, Port Barton, and Estrella, it was fitting that i conclude my travels in Palawan in El Nido - supposedly the last frontier of the Philippines.

The Bus ride from Puerto Princesa took about 6 hours and i travelled with Vicky from the UK who i met at the local guesthouse in Puerto Princesa.

Upon arrival, we then started to look for accommodations and stumbled across La Banane which charged Php 350 for a dorm room / night. After booking the dorm, I found out that my friend Brenda had a resort called Entalula in El Nido as well.

Entalula Resort

Vicky hung out with local travellers for drinks on the beach and became acquainted with each other very quickly. Stories about each other's travels and where we were from ensued long into the night.

Ironically, i was the only Filipino in the group aside from the locals and we were about 30 travellers total from all over the world. Meg, my fellow traveller from Estrella, caught up with us in El Nido as we all decided to go on an island hopping / camping trip the following day.

The song pure shores from the movie "The Beach" kept playing over and over in my head and I had truly found Paradise.

It was quite a fun bunch of people, about 12 total that went on the camping trip the following morning to the islands.

Matinloc, Miniloc, Lagen, Helicopter Island, Shimizu (our camping ground), were just some of the names of the numerous islands in El Nido.

Hidden Beach, Secret beach, small lagoon, big lagoon, were some of the many lagoons that we had to swim thru a small hole in the rocks only to find an enclosure of a hidden beach inside.

No words can describe the experience that was El Nido. The Sun on my face and the saltwater on my skin was the best feeling and i felt rejuvenated.