El Nido 23 Dec to 26 December

Sitio Lugadia, Brgy, El Nido, Palawan, Philippines 5313 So this is where we are spending Christmas. Arrived at accomodation which was ok. The place itself is nice, but the room although big, had bugs lol. Should be used to that by now and again cold shower. When we arrived, we went for a walk thinking that we were actually in El Nido. Didn't seem what we'd imagined but the beach was nice and some nice restaurants. Not as busy as we'd thought. We booked a tour for the following day as it was time to spread our wings and go see some of these amazing islands. We got picked up at 8.30am and 5 mins along the road, we arrived in El Nido. So this was the place we had imagined. Very busy with great cafes and lots of tourists. We laughed as if we had just walked another few mins, we'd have come across the town centre. Away we went on the boat and visited helicopter island, hidden beach, secret beach and a few others. They were beautiful but the weather was a hit or a miss. Lunch on the boat and the heavens opened. It wasn't cold, well not at that point. Did lots of swimming, and the hidden beach was amazing but as we hadn't bought the water bag for camera, we couldn't take any pictures. You had to get off the boat and swim through a tiny opening in the rocks and there it was. Pictured attached courtesy of Google. You can see the hole you swim through to get here. Was a great day and finished it off by staying in town centre When we got back and having a few beers just watching the bay. Christmas day was very strange. Jack let me lie in and when I woke, there was a lovely Christmas card and a few bars of chocolate. I hadnt even thought to bring out a card so i had a lot of making up to do. We headed into town, had breakfast of cappuchino and nutella crepe, then really just had a wee stroll around. Kids were all out playing, Santa was going around the streets throwing sweets to the kids and everyone you passed was wishing us a merry Christmas. Was very different to the way we do it back home, but there's no place like home on Christmas day! At night we chilled at the place we were staying and met an unusual character called Andy from Australia. I reckon he was the guy the movie Wolf Creek was made about lol. Jack got very drunk but that's another story, all good of course. We had bought a bottle of the local rum and we have since found out that it's lethal. He survived anyway but suffered the next day, the day we were moving on to Coron. We had to fly back to Cebu to catch the bus then boat to Coron so it was going to be a long day...

Friday 21 - 23 Dec - Port Barton

Have condensed Friday, Saturday and Sunday into one blog as we've had a few very lazy days. Wandered about the small village, but really not much to see. Nothing we haven't seen before. Eat, sleep, eat, drink, sleep.. Lol. Weather not been great although we did know from weather report it was to be thunderstorms. Although it's still very warm and humid, the sun wasn't splitting the sky. Bit disappointing especially as this is a lovely place. Our next stop will be El Nido. Wanted to make sure we had something semi decent as it is for 3 nights over Christmas, with the plan to move on on the 26th to another island. We'll see what there is at El Nido and take it from there. So just back from dinner, bags packed once again and ready for an early rise and a minibus ride which should only take 4.5 hours. Hopefully we'll get good seats to be able to sleep again..I'm not getting many photos uploaded as no Internet at our hotel and apparently, this next place is worse. Some places have no electricity available from 6am til 2pm! All is good though. We're enjoying this easy, lazy life with no stresses! Except when you whatsapp your son and get no reply!! Lol... Once a worrier, always a worrier!

Thursday 20 Dec - Puerto Princesa to Port Barton

Left Puerto Princesa today. Picked up by a mini van, picked up some others from the airport who were heading straight to Port Barton rather than having a stopover here. I managed to sleep most of the way. Earphones in, music on, eyemask on, towel at my neck and woke up in Port Barton. Nothing to do with the lack of sleep through the night or the slight hangover!! We arrived around noon and headed straight to our accomodation. The place is called 'Elsas Garden' and its actually not bad. We had opted for one of the huts on the beach and although your usual basic hut, it was clean and presentable - but still cold shower. Lol. We unloaded our bags in hut and headed out to explore the area. A nice small village with bars, huts and restaurants along the beach. More the sort of thing we've been looking for. We sat and had a few drinks on beach and then walked for an hour or so around the village checking out what was on offer. Lots of backpackers here, all just relaxing and taking in the surroundings. We found ourselves in a part where people must sit, just to watch the sunset and it was lovely. You will see from our pics how nice it looks. We headed back to the foyer of our accomodation and sat, had something to eat and then bed. Wasn't too late a night as we are still catching up on sleep. Jack was out like a log, and I sat and read for an hour or so before putting my head down. Slept like a log and didnt want to get up in the morning.. something's never change... Elsas Cottage Purok Pagkakaisa, Port Barton, San Vicente, Palawan, Philippines

Wednesday 19th December - Puerto Princesa

Up at 6.30am as we were getting picked up at 7.30 for Underground River Tour. Quick breakfast and then 2hr journey along with another 9 people. The queues are usually quite long at this place so when we arrived, the tour guide booked our slot and we went on a paddle boat - The sabang Mangrove Conservation Tour It's an educational tour by boat through Sabang’s mangrove forests. It was really tranquil. We saw monkeys jumping about the trees in natural habitat, a snake wrapped round a tree branch. Thankfully we didn't see the bear that apparently lives there. There is a tribe who live deeper into the Forest. Was really good. Once we finished had lunch and then did the Underground River. Was a 45 min ride in a boat through a cave which is 8.4km long. Due to restrictions though, you are only allowed so many kilometres in, but it was also really interesting. I kept thinking of these thai boys that were trapped in the cave this year in Thailand and thought how scary it must have been!! We got back to hotel about 4.30pm and headed out for a walk and food. Had a nice Mexican meal and I had 2 cocktails. I was very tipsy - couldn't believe how they hit me. I'm such a light weight. Got back to hotel around 10pm and fell asleep straight away. Tick off another great day... NO photos attached. These will follow as I'm on 4g as no WiFi just now so I can't upload any pics.

Tuesday 18 Dec 2018 - Puerto Princesa

Had to set the alarm this morning as we had booked breakfast for 8.30am and didn't want to miss it. We wanted a morning that we could sit down and relax and work out our journey from here on.   We're now 7 days into our time here and up until now,  it's been passing the days until we got to the island of Palawan. We could have flown straight here but we did want to see Manila etc.   This is really where it all begins.  So, tomorrow we have booked for the underground river tour which is meant to be amazing and a must see.  We had only booked for 2 nights in Puerto Princesa to get us settled and make plans, so we've now booked a 3rd night with a plan to leave here on Thursday and head for Port Barton.  It's either that or head to Port Barton on Friday and have 4 nights here.  The problem is that we want to have 4 nights in Port Barton but we don't want to be travelling Christmas eve to the next destination of El Nido where we hope to be over the Christmas period.   Decisions, decisions lol. After semi organising our plans, we got a ride down to the beach to do some sunbathing.  Yes sunbathing in December!! Warm and can be cloudy but perfect for us.  The beach here is nice but not one of your tourist attractions.  We had a good walk and then made our way into a hotel area that sat right on the beach.  Had nibbles and drinks (non-alcoholic for me) and made a day of it. Left around 4pm and went to the local shopping mall to get a few essentials. One thing I haven't said too much about is the security. It's like back in Ireland 25yrs ago during the troubles. Bags are checked going into these shopping areas and also going into some of the shops within the centre. Security guards are at all the entrances and most of them carry guns!! I attached a picture of 2 guards at the mall tonight with their "pump action shotguns". Not read too much into the history behind this but we certainly haven't felt frightened or intimidated. Everyone is very friendly. Had a quick bite to eat in a chinese fast food resturant and then headed back to hotel where im sat just now finishing todaya blog. Just found out our tour picks us up at 7.30am tomo so a drink free and early night. Hope you are all keeping up here...Lol

Monday 17 Dec 18 - Manila to Puerto Princesa

Woke up at 8am. Flight to Palawan today so need to be organised. Not till 1.45pm but wanted to give ourselves plenty time. We knew that the airport was only about 20mins away so grabbed a coffee downstairs and got organised with passports etc. Just so happened to say to Jack that i thought it was strange we hadn’t heard any planes overhead considering we were so close to airport! Asked the lady who ran hostel and she said airport would take us 2 hrs to get there!! Lol. Didn’t understand as Google map said different. So downed coffee and ordered a taxi and off we went. We were there in 20 mins so she had got it wrong. Maybe she thought we were walking?! Manila is a huge airport and internet said Air Asia fly out terminal 3 so we queued for half an hour to actually get into the terminal. Security very tight here which I’m happy about. Got into terminal and couldn’t see Our Flight so after asking at help desk, we should have been in terminal 4. So headed to the bus which takes you there and we had another security check plus a 45 min wait. Finally got on the bus and it was a good drive again. Went through security 4 times before we eventually sat in departure lounge with still 1 hr to go before flight. Finally after being here since Thursday, we saw westerners. Loads of couples, travellers , all obviously heading to the islands. Hooray lol. Enjoyed a nice coffee and sandwich, and then it came up on the board that our flight was delayed!! Anyway, had enjoyable flight and arrived around 4pm to be picked up by hotel driver. 10 mins and we were at b&b. Nice wee place with excellent reviews. We couldn't get money at airport so we went straight out once we'd dropped off bags and headed for an Atm. Told the hotel owner we'd be back soon!! Story of our life! 6 hrs later we returned and I think they had been worried we had got lost. Ha ha. We had found a nice terrace bar with live music and one drink led to another and the rest is history. Hit our bed around 10.30pm and went out like a log...

Sunday 16 Dec 2018 - Manila

Had a long lie in as we are still trying to catch up. Decided that we if are booking any more hostels, then it needs to be a private room - no more sharing. In with 4 teenagers last night and they weren't the quietest although we did manage to fall asleep. We have dorm to ourselves tonight so happy days. Went for a wander when we got up and had breakfast at hostel. Jack left the day up to me so I booked a cab and we went to the shopping mall. It was a good call as it was a bit more up market although very busy. After having a look around there, we found a nice restaurant where we sat and had a few beers and for me, a few cocktails. Felt a bit tipsy! Lol. Sat there til late on just taking it all in and then got a motorbike cab back to hostel. Didn't want to have a late night as we needed to be organised in the morning as flight booked to Palawan, puerto princessa at 1.45pm. Jack is such a worrier. More so than me, so he wants to be there in plenty time and to avoid getting stuck in traffic. Today we sat and had a coffee in Costa coffee. We had 2 large coffees with 3 shots and a cake and it cost no more than £4. Our restaurant bill was £25 for 5 Heineken beers, nachos, and 2 gin cocktails, and this was an up market classy place. Off to bed now but here are the photos of the day.