Philippines Video

Photos didn't even begin to capture the beautiful of El Nido.
Maybe this short video will help show our journey through the Philippines a little better.

Enjoy!

Jestine and Bobby

Days 4-7 in the Philippines

Tuesday, September 17th, 2013 // ALL DAY

It seemed like every morning we "woke up" at 6am sharp, no matter what time we went to bed or how much fun we had the night before. I am not sure if this had to do with the loud roosters outside or because that is the time the electricity (and our fan) goes off. Nonetheless, we were all up early this morning, but no one could complain. The view from our rooms were amazing. While everyone got ready, Bobby ran up and down the beach talking with the locals we had met to find an available boat. Although his work was admirable, he ended up discovering the boat chartered by our hotel was up for grabs. Once Bobby got our plans lined up, we all met on the patio, drank a cup of coffee, and talked about how excited we were for the day.

Even though it was cloudy and the weather forecast said to expect some rain showers, it was plenty warm and we felt ready adventure around some islands. El Nido offers 4 tours: A, B,C, and D. Some offer you private beaches and amazing snorkeling, while others take you into caves. After asking some people and doing our research, we decided to book tour A.

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A little after 9 in the morning we all boarded this boat.

A man named James was our captain and our tour guide was Brian. Below is our tour guide pushing us away from shore.

Captain James and I.

As soon as we turned the bend, all of our jaws dropped. These limestone rocks were absolutely beautiful, especially next to the teal water.

Our first stop on the tour was the Big Lagoon. Here we did some amazing snorkeling. The water was so clean you could see down almost 30 feet.

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After swimming around for about 45 minutes we all loaded back on the boat and we were on our way to Shimizu Island. This would be where they would cook us lunch. I'm not just talking about slapped together PB and J's and a bag of potato chips. We were served freshly caught local fish cooked over a handmade fire with veggies, fruit and rice! (pictures below)

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The tour guides making lunch.

Ta-Da! Our delicious lunch served to us on the beach!

Not too bad with a view like this!

After lunch we utilized our full bellies to do some more snorkeling and swimming.

Next stop: Small lagoon for even more snorkeling and breathtaking views of limestone cliffs. 

While snorkeling around the lagoon, I was able to play with a small family of clown fish, which our tour guides referred to as "nemos."

This small lagoon was ridiculous and the weather was perfect. I couldn't have been happier. We continuously stopped each other to take note of how truly lucky and grateful we were.

Last stop: 7 Commando

Our final destination was equipped with a resort, volleyball nets, and a beach bar. For better or worse, there were many tourists enjoying the amenities. The six of us all treated ourselves to a refreshing drink and relaxed, tired after the long day of swimming and beauty.

Bobby and I drank some fresh young coconut juice.

I can't truly describe how beautiful this tour was. Yes of course it would have probably been prettier if there were blue skies instead of grey clouds, but the truth is, we were happy to have it not too hot. Our virgin skin tone wouldn't handle all that, It was the perfect day for us.

After our trek, we were all tired and hungry. Bobby, Charlie, Sabrina and I decided to treat ourselves to a inexcusable $8 hour long full body massage before going out for happy hour/wifi party!

After happy hour/checking our emails and Facebook, we made our way to Jean's Resto Bar for dinner. The owner, Ali (who was born during the Thrilla in Manilla) was an extremely welcoming, kind man. Bobby told Ali his Philippines bucket list: eat Balut (a developing duck embryo that is boiled alive and eaten in the shell), climb a coconut tree and drink fresh coconut, and catch this own fish and eat it. Within 5 minutes, Ali flagged down a local girl selling Balut on the beach and treated us to 4 "eggs." The girls (and Matt) weren't feeling that adventurous, but Charlie and Bobby went all in with Ali. First you peel the shell like you would a normal hard boiled egg. Then you dip it in a vinegar chile sauce and sea salt that the girl carried with her. I've seen pictures of the inside of this egg online.. it looks like a baby duck on the inside.. but the eggs that the boys ate just looked brown and peach in color. Charlie put on a show and acted like it was gross, while Bobby played cool and said it was actually good-just like a normal hard boiled egg.. since he was so convincing, I tried a nibble and yes it did actually taste normal. Ali said Balut is good for your knees. Our knees are still feeling great!

Eat Balut: CHECK!

After our appetizer of sorts was finished, we all ordered our food.

On the beach in front of the restaurant there was a BBQ and a table full of freshly caught fish. Bobby and I ordered swordfish.

Within ten minutes, we had steaming hot plates in front of us full of BBQ fish, sautéed veggies and garlic rice (SOOO GOOD). Of course we all had a San Miguel to wash it all down. All this for the low low price of $5. Can you believe the deals here?!

All of that plus A GREAT VIEW!

After dinner we walked down the beach to a waterfront establishment called Raga Bar to enjoy some live Reggae music. We got a seat outside on the sand. Just as we were putting in our order, a relentless downpour began. Luckily, we were trained in Seattle. We were instantly soaked and laughing. They quickly made room for us under the canopy and the boys popped up their umbrellas to shield us girls from the rain. Sweet guys huh? Within a few minutes we were enjoying our drinks.

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As you can see, Charlie is soaked. =)

Wednesday, September 18th, 2013 // ALL DAY

This morning we chose to visit an all you can eat breakfast buffet at a local fancy hotel that actually had electricity during the day. How could we say no at the price of $4.50! Yeah... we spend the big bucks! 

Here are some more pictures from our walk to breakfast.

   The night before when we were eating at Jean's Restbar and Bobby told Ali he wanted to catch his own fish and eat it, Ali replied, "No problem. I have a boat. I can take you out tomorrow to catch your own fish." 

   Oh yea? We can bring kayaks too? You're on! 

   "Tell me what you want for lunch, anything you want, you got!" 

   Heck yea! We were stoked not only to go see more of the islands, but to have our new friend Ali show them to us in such a tailored approach was beyond exciting.

First stop: Helicopter Island for some snorkeling. 

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 Second stop: Hidden Lagoon 

This location can only be visited during low tide and during ideal weather, plus it can be tricky to leave.

Time to break out the kayaks.

After a good hour racing around on the kayaks, we headed for Pasonigon Beach for lunch. This beach is owned by the local mayor, but welcome to anyone.

As soon as we got there, Bobby saw all these palm trees and asked if he could climb one and grab a coconut. Ali recommended that he didn't since they were privately owned. After looking up them, they didn't have many coconuts on them anyways.

However, Ali saw some fresh coconuts on the ground and showed us how to crack them open.

After a few hard rock hits and some grunting the guys got the coconut open and we were all enjoying fresh coconut milk and eating the meat. Life hasn't been much better.

While we were busy playing frisbee and exploring the island Alan (the driver of the boat) and Ali started to prepare our lunch.

The protein: a local fish called Bongus (milk fish)

A personally requested an avocado dessert that I had heard about. It is made with an avocado and a little condensed milk (the avocados were so big that I didn't even recognize them). We also enjoyed a fresh cucumber tomato salad with a spicy soy sauce/red onion dip for the fish.

After lunch the clouds parted and we saw blue skies for the first time the whole trip. Needless to say,  we were thrilled and most of us got burned.

Our last stop was a small island not on the tour schedules (I'm not sure of the name) half way back to El Nido. This is a spot Ali frequents to go fishing.

Within a few minutes, the boys were out with a speargun trying to get some dinner for us girls. Bobby shot an octopus. It got big and turned black (trying hard to look scary) and managed to shapeshift and disappear under the coral. However, we didn't leave empty handed. The boys got over a dozen shell fish and an extra large clam.

That night we all went back to Ali's restaurant and enjoyed a variety of fish and our freshly caught shell fish. As you can see, the food was so good that Bobby couldn't even put it down for a photo! 

Thanks to Ali, Bobby got pretty much everything marked off his Philippines bucket list, if you count the coconut that was on the ground instead of climbing a tree. Thanks Ali, you're the man!

The hot heads in our group ate some incredibly hot peppers and then made some silly faces.

These are the only pictures I have for the rest of this night, our last night in town. I think you can tell, we had a wonderful time.

 Thursday, September 19th, 2013 // ALL DAY

Well this is the end. Our trip to El Nido came and went in the blink of an eye. This morning we woke up, took a cold shower (ahh our last cold shower, I'm not sad about that one), packed up and went to get our last Filippino breakfast on the beach.

After hugs and sendoffs to Matt and Nicky, we made our way to our transportation for the rest of the day back to Puerto Princessa (it looks similar to this van below). We thought when we booked this that it would only be the four of us and maybe a couple more in the van.. but we should have known that wouldn't be the case. We squeezed 11 adults and a kid into this thing. Maybe it would have been ok if all the roads were paved.. but the first hour and a half is full of dirt roads, huge pot holes, and random dogs and chickens running across the road. Lets just say our heads hit the windows and celling more than once. It was all apart of the adventure of El Nido.

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Below are some photos I got off the internet of what we saw during this 6 hour ride. It was extremely eye opening to see these things with our own eyes. We saw some pretty poor living conditions, but seeming some of the happiest people smiling from their homes. 

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We had the van drop us off at our hotel for the night: Dallas Inn. This is a very popular spot for foreigners and we even added our tack to the mix.

Since today (September 19th) was Chu-sok in Korea and Moon Festival in Taiwan we knew we had to celebrate. We made our way to the recommended Tiki Bar in downtown Puerto Princessa. 

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Bobby's dad has pressed a few times how badly he wanted Bobby to try Tamilok, or shipworm, and of course Charlie was down to try it with him!

That night we played some pool and then went back to our hotel, exhausted. 

Friday, September 20th, 2013 // 8:00 am

Time to get up and start making our way back home to continue our adventure in Korea. We truly enjoyed the Philippines and would recommend anyone to go to El Nido. I challenge you to meet nicer people. Furthermore, the food and scenery is lovely. There will always be a happy place in our hearts for the Philippines but more specifically, El Nido.

-Jestine and Bobby

**Many of the pictures above were taken from our friend Sabrina, who had her iphone out more than we had our camera out. Thanks Sabrina!