Philippines, located in Southeast Asia comprises over 7000 islands and the capital is Manila. Whilst the entire country is rich and diverse with beautiful beaches, wildlife, volcanoes, mountains, happening nightlife, cultural heritage etc.. the prettiest set of islands are the Palawan Islands. Palawan has three main islands - Puerto Princesa, El Nido & Coron. We covered these 3 islands & Manila. If you are covering Palawan, make sure to bring plenty of sun screen, a hat & swim wear. You will enjoy a great deal if you are a swimmer and a beach lover :)
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| Playing Quidditch in El Nido |
Day 01 - Arrive in Manila
We arrived in Manila in the afternoon so we checked into the hotel and relaxed a bit. We were facing some jet lag issues so had a nice nap and then went out for dinner. Manila, is a lively city especially at night with many restaurants, street food, night clubs and heavy traffic! We had some authentic Philippines food including the famous dessert - Halo Halo. Halo - Halo is a mixture of shaved ice & evaporated milk to which various ingredients are added, including boiled sweet beans, coconut, sago, gulaman, tubers, fruits and yam ice cream.
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| Halo - Halo |
Day 02 - Visit Taal Volcano
We woke up early in the morning, had our breakfast and drove to Tagatay to see the Taal Volcano. Taal Volcano is located on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. It is the second most active volcano in the Philippines with 33 historical eruptions. The fascinating thing about this Volcano is the fact that the entire island is a volcano surrounded by the Taal Lake and there is another pond in the crater of the volcano. So literally, its an island within a lake. It is a full day tour from Manila and you have to do a boat trip from the main island to get to this volcano. After reaching at the island, you have to climb the volcano and you end up at the crater with a breath taking view. The effort is fully worth!
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| Coral Reefs of Palawan Islands |
Day 03 - Puerto Princesa
On the 3rd day, we relaxed and did some shopping in Manila in the morning and then headed to the domestic airport since our flight to Puerto Princesa was at 1:50 pm. Puerto Princesa is the main island of the Palawan region and we arrived there at around 4:00 pm. We took a tuk tuk and checked into the hotel. It is less crowded compared to the main island of Philippines and less developed.
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| Puerto Princesa Underground river |
Day 04 - Puerto Princesa River
The highlight of Puerto Princesa is its world famous underground river. The 8.2-kilometer river, said to be the longest navigable underground river in the world, winds its way underneath a mountain range, through the St. Paul Underground River Cave, and then goes out into the South China Sea. The journey through the cave system alone is 24 kilometers long. The picture above shows the entrance of the river. Since the national park is a bit away from the city, we left early in the morning and then arrived at the river. This massive cave is pitch dark so you need to carry torches to see inside. Some areas actually look like massive cathedrals whereas some areas are so narrow that you have to bend to slide through the cave. The cave has snakes as well (we saw a few) :D In the evening, we started our tour to El Nido by a van and arrived at midnight.
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| El Nido Beaches |
Day 05 - Island Hopping
El Nido is famous for its pretty beaches. Hence, we started our Island Hopping tour early in the morning. We selected the tour C from a domestic tour guide since it covers the main beaches. Tour C covers Secret Beach, Hidden Beach, Matinloc Shrine, helicopter Island and Talisay Beach. Its a full day island hopping tour where you travel by a speed boat to different islands and you can enjoy the beach and do activities like snorkeling.
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| Chilling in 7th Commando Beach |
Day 06 - Island Hopping
On the 6th day, we repeated the same routine but with different beaches and islands. We selected the tour A which covers a set of different islands and beaches. This tour covers Snorkel Tour around Small Lagoon, Big Lagoon, Secret Lagoon, Simizu Island, 7th Commando Beach. Ah! I have to warn you that to witness some of these beaches, you have to swim for a few meters in the deep sea and then you arrive at these beautiful wonders of nature :)
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| Secret Beach |
Day 07 - Coron Island
On day 7, we left El Nido early in the morning after having an authentic Philippines breakfast and headed to Coron Island via boat. The route to Coron is a bit rough hence majority of the passengers got sea sick. Remember to take some medication if you suffer from sea sickness. The boat is quite big and has plenty of space to put luggage etc but the journey may not be smooth. Coron is the third-largest island in the Calamian Islands in northern Palawan in the Philippines. The maximum length of the island is approximately 20 KMs. We arrived at Coron Island at around 3:00pm and checked in to the hotel and did a small city tour in the evening via a tuk tuk. Make sure to climb Mt. Tapyas which is the highest point in Coron. The summit gives you an amazing view of the island and the sleeping giant mountain. Try to climb the summit during the sunset.
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| Authentic breakfast with this view |
Day 08 - Island Hopping
We woke up early in the morning and got in to the boat to do a full day island hopping tour. The tour covered Kayangan Lake, Twin Lagoon, Atuwayan Beach, CYC Beach, Atuwayan Coral Garden, and Skeleton Wreck. Skeleton Wreck is a ship wreck and you can barely see the structure of the ship if you do snorkeling. To get a good view, I suggest scuba diving. The hike to Kayangan lake gives you a breath taking view of the sea and other islands.
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| View from Kayangan Lake |
Day 09 - Leave Philippines
Time has come for us to say good bye to Philippines. Our domestic flight from Coron to Manila was at 8:20am so we left early with memories of this beautiful paradise on earth.
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| Snorkeling in Coron Island |
Lovely
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