Manila and El Nido

I arrived into Manila late afternoon and made my way to Pink Manila Hostel where I planned to stay. On the way I found that like Vietnam, the roads were wild, with cars constantly straddling two lanes and bikes weaving through the gaps. There was an increase in four wheeled vehicles compared with Vietnam, with cars, trucks, buses and Jeepneys (old American army vehicle converted into a bus) in a constant battle to keep their place.

After some difficulty with directions my taxi driver arrived at the entrance to the hostel, which looked like an underground car park with a metal gate attached to the front. I began to panic wondering where I would stay if this place wasn’t actually a hostel as I had seen nowhere nearby that looked like it had wifi, and the taxi driver was in the middle of telling me what I bad area I was in! Luckily at that moment a guy walked up, asked if I was staying in the hostel and promptly walked with me to the back of the bottom floor to a lift, and up to the hostel.

Things ran a lot more smoothly from there. Over the next two days I had three great evenings at the hostel, watching the sun rise twice, swinging in hammocks on the rooftop until the early hours. I took a walk around some of the city, caught a Jeepney and got a tricycle tour of the Intermuros district. There was a strange feel off animated life around the city, with the Jeepneys, enthusiastic advertising and brightly decorated architecture.

On the second day I went on a tour to Taal Volcano, the closest volcano to the city which you have to access by boat across a lake.

The day after this I set off to El Nido on Palawan Island to enjoy what I had been promised had a great beach and backpacker island vibe. The mini bus from the airport was a long 7 hour journey, though while it was still light there was a terrific landscape to see. All of the colours seemed more intense than anywhere I had ever been, the grass greener, the sky bluer and the sea the most amazing turquoise littered with darker spots from the coral reefs below. By the time we arrived at El Nido it was dark. Thankfully I had befriended two Spanish guys during the bus ride and was able to share a tricycle with them to the hostel. This was a motorised tricycle which is a strange contraption of a motorbike with a large metal side car fitted around it, also creating a roof over the motorbike, and is the main taxi source on the island. I had not booked the hostel in advance, it turned out to be fully booked for the next few days, but by some stroke of luck three beds were available for one night due to a cancellation, so planning to search for a more permanent arrangement in the morning we agreed to stay that night.

While I had been informed the electricity was not available in the town between 6am and 2pm daily, and thus the fans would stop working at this hour, I was not prepared for the cockerels and dripping water on a tin roof right outside the window when I first woke up, which was of course at 6am. To follow this, I was in for a more stressful day than I had prepared for while trying to search for a new hostel. I struggled to find anything that was reasonably priced, not fully booked but not empty, and that was a decent standard. Even trying to get my laundry done was becoming a trial. To top things off although the beach was nice, it was nothing like the white sandy dream people had been sharing and I could feel nothing special about the island. I was beginning to wonder why I had bothered going.

Things did start to improve later in the afternoon, I found a nice place to stay, a little more expensive than I had hoped but including breakfast, I had met a German girl in the hostel I went for food with, we bumped into the Spanish guys and all ended the night with a drink in a reggae bar on the beach with a live band. I had also booked myself in for scuba diving the following day so has something to look forward to.

I was not disappointed, the scuba day was great. The first dive was in very shallow water and was skills based, so we could learn the basic techniques needed. I did have serious reservations during the first attempt breathing underwater as my mask kept leaking water around my nose and my brain couldn’t cope trying to breathe while this was happening! After getting a new mask I was still a little nervous but plowed on and felt like I’d made good progress. I felt really confident by the end of the third dive, and the feeling was improved all the more by the amazing sights I had seen below. These included two breeds of turtle, parrot fish, clown fish and a huge area of cabbage coral.

The following day I paid to go on a lagoon tour, which takes you on a boat to five different spots on remote islands surrounding El Nido. My fellow companions on this tour were five Chinese who didn’t really speak any English, and coincidentally, an American woman who could speak Chinese.

The water was calm and salty in nearly every destination we visited, I could float flat on my front and just use a slight push of my arms if I wanted to move. So with goggles on, I floated slowly through the water enjoying the sea life below. At one point I even had a staring contest with a fish, we both just floated face to face watching each other.

I finally understood after this day why everyone had found El Nido so amazing. By this time I had enjoyed the small laid back night life they have scattered along their beach front, and now I had discovered the white sand beaches and crystal clear water.

Yesterday I travelled to Bohol where I plan to earn my Open Water Scuba Certificate which means I could dive to 18m (they took us 12m on the previous dive day I paid for). The journey was mostly problem free, except for the taxi driver from Cebu airport who was trying to convince me I had missed all ferries today and I think was trying to suggest somewhere for me to stay (probably his brother’s hostel!) Luckily I had spoken to two people who had already been to Bohol and was aware of later journeys, and I am also getting more wise to their cons!