A Newfound Love in El Nido, Palawan



Known for its white sand beaches, coral reefs, limestone cliffs---El Nido is definitely one of the island destinations people, locals and foreigners alike, couldn't get enough of. There are many magical places in the country that offer the same, but every time people ask me what's the best in my experience, El Nido is always the answer. Nothing else. It really is beautiful beyond words. Sometimes I would like to say Amanpulo, but not until I can set foot on the powdery white sands of the island and swim in its pristine crystal clear waters.

Since the first time I was in El Nido back in 2014, the urge to go back years after had always been there. Four years later, 2018, I made the comeback happen. It all started when Paloma Zobel and her mother Bea Zobel Jr. graced the cover of Town & Country (Philippine edition) magazine in May 2018. It featured Paloma's fashion brand Pio Pio, famous for using locally made textiles, and Lio Tourism Estate, a vast Ayala Land development that aims to offer an ecologically sustainable kind of tourism. 

The estate "reveals a beachside enclave of resorts, boutique hotels, and communities guided by principles of sustainability – building a strong relationship with the local community with the least impact on the environment. Nature, culture, and leisure unite in sublime harmony within a unique and immersive breathtaking locale." 


Paloma Zobel and her mum, Bea Zobel Jr. both scions of the Zobel de Ayala clan. 


After browsing through the pages of the magazine, I knew in my heart I had to book the flight. I even messaged Paloma on her Instagram account. To my delight, I got a response from her, which drove me even more to make the trip a reality. Fast forward less than two months later, I flew to Puerto Princessa, took a van from there to El Nido, and braved the six-hour land travel with two of my agents. I know from the time I invited people to join me that the supposed solo trip would become a party. 


NEVER AN EASY ROUTE

This one isn't rocket science! 

The usual route is via Puerto Princesa then van ride from there to the town of El Nido. From Manila, I took Cebu Pacific while my agents took Air Asia. From the provincial capital, a van can be booked separately or through the hotel. In our case, we coordinated with Mad Monkey. Aside from taking the Puerto Princesa route, one can also take a plane ride straight to El Nido, but for a more expensive cost. The plane also lands directly to Lio Airport, which is very convenient. 

We took the grueling option, obviously, but as they say, there's no easy way to things that matter!

The Puerto Princess airport has improved a lot. It used to be very small a few years ago, small in size for being the gateway to majestic destinations as El Nido. 


MAD MONKEY HOSTEL

I really had a great experience in the Bangkok hostel (Mile Map Hostel) I stayed in 2017 so I gave hostel experience another try for this trip. I booked Mad Monkey Hostel through Hostel World. Don't expect too much from this place in terms of comfort. I stayed in a room that accommodates almost 20 people. There's no A/C, but each bed has its own electric fan. The toilet and bathroom are shared unless you get your own room. However, I was not there for comfort. I was there for the experience. I was there to have fun and meet people.

We were the only Filipinos in the hostel aside from the staff, which I really liked. The connection we made with many of the guests was really a surprise. The proximity of the place though is quite far from the town proper. If you rented a motorbike, that would be more convenient. Your can take public transport too e.g. pedicab, which we did a couple of times. Or you can also have it arranged by the hostel taking a big van shared with other tourists from the hostel or other nearby resorts. This option though is quite pricey, but convenient for us because it rained every day; the only downside to this trip. 

View of the place from the beach when the weather is good. Photo grabbed from Hostel World. 

The place is known as a party place at night that even visitors from the town proper come to the hostel to party. I had the best island party experience here. During the first night, the hostel had their annual Mr. and Miss Mad Monkey. I also met a lot of other tourists from UK, Australia, India, US, Spain, etc. And I "adopted two or three" of them.

The accommodation I booked, which is Php 500.00 per night, more or less. 

View of the beach from the two-story bar of the hostel. Photo from Trip Advisor.

The place hosts different activities per day e.g. island hopping, clean up drive, drinking session, etc. During our visit, not all of the planned activities happened because of the weather condition so I made our own itinerary. Photo from Trip Advisor.


PARTYING LIKE A MAD MONKEY

The monkey was not mad. The monkey was amazing. We partied until dawn for two nights. It was during the World Cup season so all eyes were on the TV as football/ soccer game was going on. I forgot, which countries were competing, but everyone was so indulged. There was screaming, drinks overflowed, and the dancing was nonstop. 

When it was time to stop the music for the neighborhood to be able to sleep, we continued the drinking downstairs, at the bar fronting the beach. It was too dark except for the little light the resort kept lit while we continued the fun. There our Italian and Indian friend joined us plus a group of young Spanish lads, some of them being naughty. And I'll keep my mouth shut from here. 

By time this photo was taken, Sadiq and his comedic Italian friend have already left the scene. 


FINDING NEW LOVE

Lio Tourism Estate is the very reason why I wanted to go back to El Nido. This new nest in the middle of a nest is slowly taking its form as a prime destination in  El Nido, which means "The Nest" in English. It was still probably at its infancy back 5 years ago or possibly not conceived yet, but from the looks of it, there's a lot to look forward to. Quite a few resorts within the estate have erected and some are being developed while preserving nature.

Screenshot of resorts taken from Lio Tourism Website. Visit the actual site here for more information. 

Shops at Lio!

Something I need to experience in my next El Nido trip. 

Reffered to as Tulay Suhai. Not sure what Suhai means, but Tulay is Bridge in English.

The estate provides free transportation within the vicinity and it passes through this bridge. 

Tulay Suhai is the first spot that I looked for when we arrived having seen this in the magazine. This is where the electronic jeepney found us as well. 

The courtyard in Kaley Artisano.

Kalye Artisano is the area where handicrafts and other goods are displayed made by local artisans. 

Me at Lio Beach. Lio holds a lot of activities as seen on the estate's Instagram account. Sadly, the weather was not cooperating when we were there so the beach was in its peaceful state. 

This is where the boats dock. You can walk all the way to the tip and I bet, if it were sunny, the view would be gorgeous.

You can see the airport form this area. Planes descending is a usual view from this point.

On our way to Lio. Our hostel arranged our transportation, which was a bit expensive. Php 200.00 per trip, per head. They also took care of our trip from Nacpan back to Puerto Princesa, which was about Php 600.00 to Php 700.00 per person.

Here with Janice and Eunice, my two agents. Together with us are the kids we adopted from UK. 

We met Tom (left) and Ben (right) at the party in the our hostel bar during our first night. I invited them to join us. We did not have specific plans either besides the visit to the estate and island hopping the next day. Our group was so bonded that we traveled together back to Puerto Princesa, stayed in the same hostel, partied in the city, and waited for our flights together (Janice and Eunice had an earlier flight though).

And that did not stop there. Tom and Ben flew to Bohol then Manila, stayed in my place and we continued hanging out and partying with Janice and Eunice back in the picture. As I said in my Instagram post, what was meant to be a solo trip turned out to be a party and that I could write a movie script with everything that happened. 


Tom and Ben who have already graduated from university as I write this blog.

With Jessica this time in Puerto Princesa.

I noticed this lady in the van who seemed to be traveling alone. She also stayed in Mad Monkey and took the same vehicle as us en route to Puerto Princesa. When I spoke to her, she did not know where to stay yet so I decided to invite her to the hostel I was booking. She's Jessica, a newfound friend from Spain, but based in Australia that time. Then once we were all settled, we decided to explore the area a little bit and went to a club, drank, and danced. Very memorable!


SEAS THE DAY

Island hopping is always a must-do when in El Nido. The tour I had back in 2014 was much better though (El Nido De Amor). There were only four of us on the boat, shared with a Japanese couple and the islands we visited were prettier than what we hopped on this time. It was sunny as well and there weren't many people sharing the food. We were also collected from our resort. The current one was a bit of a chaos. We had to go to the town as all boats are there now, the weather was quite bad, and the tour did not start on time. But the good thing was that everyone was able to eat and the islands we visited were worth the inconvenience too. I still wish though that Tom, Ben, Eunice and Janice had a better island hopping experience. 






Megan from New York and her two Australian friends.

Not much photos taken during the island hopping. The experience was something I really wanted to savor. Also, I was at that point in my life where I got tired of posting photos on my social media channels. If you visit my Instagram account now, my last post was way back November of last year, 2018. I might post more soon, I might, having traveled to Hanoi recently. Honestly though, being absent from Instagram was quite therapeutic. No number of likes to stress about. No less engagement to dishearten me. When the new Instagram rule (no more number of likes displayed) takes place, I might just give myself and everyone a surprise post! Hahaha :-D


One of the resorts at Lio. Photo credits to the Lio Tourism Estate website. 

I knew the first time that I was not done with El Nido yet. In fact, I never will be. It will always be my favorite beach destination in the country. The one I tirelessly recommend. The one I will always yearn for. 

Lio is my newfound, and  El Nido is my always! 



XoXo, 


Red Eye



P.S. I originally booked three nights at Mad Monkey, but on the third night, our group decided to just travel to Puerto Princesa in order not to miss our flight the next day. Luckily for me though, there was one French tourist who just arrived and did not book a room for himself ahead of time so I sold my bed to him at a discounted rate. 

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