I’m back in Manila and I’m sorely missing the beach in El Nido. I’ve prepared a series of blog posts about this trip, and I hope you guys find it useful for planning your own El Nido vacation. First up is of course, the travel budget.

The perception of many is that El Nido is a very expensive place to travel to. It actually is, considering that direct flights to El Nido from Manila can cost as much as Php 13,000 per person. The cheaper alternative is to go via Puerto Princessa, but you’d have to deal with rough roads and cramped spaces inside vans or buses (or if you’re hardcore, saddled on an off-road motorcycle). The best place to stay for budget travelers is El Nido Town. There are several resorts and lodges that offer cheap accommodation to fit every budget. The same go for restaurants and shops.

El Nido’s main attraction, of course, are the spectacular limestone formations and sparkling white sand beaches of the islands in the Bacuit Archipelago. To visit these islands, you can either hire your own boat or go with a group tour. The group tour aren’t so bad, and they’re usually limited to about 8 to 10 passengers. If you’re a fairly large group (5 and up), you can try sweet talking the tour operator to let your group have the entire boat to yourselves. Tour of the islands usually start at Php 500 per person and already includes lunch.

This is certainly not my cheapest domestic trip, but considering that it’s a 5 day, 4 nights trip in one of the most amazing places in the Philippines, it’s worth every peso.
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It’s been more than 24 hours since I last used a computer. For me, that’s quite a feat. Though frankly, I think I ran up quite a bill on mobile Internet charges. It feels good to be on a holiday during a trip. Since I started travel blogging, each one of my trip started feeling like a great piece for the blog, not a vacation. I needed to take it slow and just sit back, relax and take in the beauty of the world around me. El Nido is the perfect place for that.

My workstation in El Nido.

El Nido, Palawan is in most Filipino’s dream destination. It was also part of mine, and I never really thought I would one day be here. Of course, Seair played a big part to make it happen — we were given return tickets to the island for free. Seair offers seasonal flights to El Nido, twice a week. We took the Wednesday flight out of Manila, and we’re taking the Sunday flight back.
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One of the reasons why I was having second thoughts about going to Sabah was money. I had some unexpected expenses last January and I have several trips lined up in the coming weeks, so I figured it’d be better to cut my losses at Php 1,289 (my airfare) instead of spending so much more on the trip. However, in the end I threw caution to the wind and went to have an awesome trip.

Kota Kinabalu is pretty cheap compared to other Malaysian cities. Sure, the taxi drivers are averse to using the meter, but KK is so small you can just walk anywhere (except to the Mount Kinabalu Park and other attractions because it’s FAR). I’ve had a couple of expensive meals over the weekend, and I was surprised that my end total is just Php 1,337. Shopping in Kota Kinabalu is not too exciting, except if there are sales I suppose. Some of the items sold in Peninsular Malaysia is also available in Sabah, but there are also a number of brands and products that are locally produced like teas and cigarettes.

There are a number of souvenir shops in the shopping centers, but if you’re looking to buy Sabah tea, it’s best to check the supermarket, as the prices are much cheaper. There’s also the handicraft market, or the former Pasar Filipino (Filipino market), where local souvenirs are sold (batik, wood carvings, anything and everything made with sea shells).

A final note on Sabah: if you’re bringing US dollars, make sure that they are series 2006 or more recent. Money changers do not accept dollars from earlier years, which is a real pain. There are plenty of ATMs that accept VISA and Mastercards, so you can make a cash advance if needed (some hostels, like the Lavender Lodge does not accept credit card payments).
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My friend is a mermaid. She admitted this as we were walking from that Church in Matinloc, Zambales. Yes, she has legs when she’s on land, but once she dips into that big fish tank at the Manila Ocean Park, she grows fins and flowers and floats around gracefully to a beautiful orchestaral arrangement of Abba’s Dancing Queen.

The Lakbay Norte group getting to know the creatures in the Dalampasigan

The mermaid show is one of the unique attractions that the Manila Ocean Park offers its visitors. Thanks to our mermaid connection (Hi Ida!), we were extended an invitation to tour the park.
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I’m writing this from the dining area of the Lavender Lodge in downtown Kota Kinabalu. I’ve been here since Saturday, and if it weren’t the start of the week, I probably wouldn’t be blogging this early.

I meant to write a day to day update, as I did for previous trips, but I figured I owe it to myself to have a break from blogging and to travel just for the love of it, and not because it’s a great material for my blog. The daily recaps of my travels take a lot of discipline and energy and somehow made it seem as if everyday should be interesting just so I would have something to write about. I’ve done a lot of interesting things this weekend, though I wouldn’t write about it until the coming days or weeks.
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Truth be told, my interest in attending the annual Hot Air Balloon Fiesta in Clark has waned after my hot air balloon ride in Melbourne. That doesn’t explain why on the morning of February 11, I was standing in a field inside the Clark Freeport Zone with some of the Lakbay Norte friends.

Fire in the hole! Wait, what?

Maybe it’s because of stress, boredom or just wanting to see the group again (we’re actually meeting AGAIN later) or a mix of all three. Besides, who can resist impromptu plans to drive two hours out of Manila in the middle of the night?
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We woke up that last morning earlier than our alarm. Our departure time from Holiday Inn that morning was 8:50am — the latest that we had to leave in the past 6 days.

Star Trooper, Darth Vader, Sayuri and Sabrina with the Lakbay Norte bus

We took our time getting ready and enjoying Mequeni’s breakfast buffet, and checked out of our hotel for the last time. Our activities in Clark that morning included El Kabayo and Paradise Ranch. Since there are only 6 horses available for riding, the group was split: half the group goes to Paradise Ranch on the Jeepney Juan (an airconditioned touring jeep), while the other half goes to El Kabayo on the Victory Liner Lakbay Norte bus.
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I know I said I’ll announce the winners for the contest on February 1, but I was swamped trying to wade through a week’s worth of backlog and an overly enthusiastic group of people on Facebook, Yahoo Messenger and Skype who were all suffering withdrawals and getting uneasy about staying in one place for longer than 7 hours. I miss you guys too

Enough drama, here’s some good news to three Just Wandering readers!
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