elle's tinker toes ♥♥♥

After 2 days of island hopping in El Nido, Bee and I decided to spend the remaining days of our trip in Puerto Princesa. It was bittersweet leaving El Nido. Sad for leaving such a wonderful place and happy at the same time for being able to witness what they call beauty at its best!

It was a more laid back island hopping for Tour B. It wasn't like the island hopping we experienced yesterday with all the swimming to and fro the hidden beach, secret beach, small lagoon, secret lagoon etc.  We availed the tour from the same person we got the Tours A & C, whom he said will give us a discount, instead of paying P800 for the tour, he offered it for P700. Bee and I were happy and thanked the person. However, upon walking around town, we learned that there are some tour agencies that offer the same "discounted" price. As usual, the tour started at 9AM. 

We decided to walk around town early in the morning. Besides, electricity in El Nido dies from 6AM-2PM so there's really no point of staying inside the room, unless your resort/hotel has generator :) There is a small pathway to the other side of the bay, near the Cabugao Lodge and Bacuit Bar & Grill Resto. from the pathway back to the bay

7 Commando Beach It was getting late. At 2 PM, we have just ended Tour C and we are still to complete Tour A. We consumed most of our time on our lunch since they still had to cook food in the beach and then for some reason, the boat's anchor got stuck underneath. One of the boatmen tried to search and swam for it for around 30 minutes to no avail.

As soon as we settled our things, we asked the Manager of the lodge if he could join us with other touring groups. He told us there's a group who will be doing a Combination A & C tour the next day. Tours A & C are the most popular ones though tours range from A to D. We really wanted to avail one tour per day to enjoy each spots, however we were strongly persuaded for a combination to save cost and a chance to avail one more tour the next day. As explained to us, tour A costs P700 and tour C costs P900, both with free lunch. Combination A & C costs P1,300 with free lunch.

For 2012, my goal is to visit the 3 famous tourist destinations in Palawan- Puerto Princesa City, Coron and El Nido. It was february when hubby and I went to Puerto Princesa City for the Underground River tour (see my entry here ) and then Coron last June for the ultimate snorkeling adventure, which you can find my posts here . So to finish the last leg of our Palawan series, we went to see why CNNGo named El Nido to have the #1 best beach in the Philippines. ♥

It was 5:30am when we left our office in Shaw Blvd that Saturday to start our 2 hour drive via a private vehicle for our team building. The other group commuted via a Jeepney with a Tanay Rizal signage. From Tanay, the group were approached by tricycle drivers offering transport service to the resort for P100 each. Pretty expensive, but really, the distance is pretty long. Travel time is 2 1/2. Thank goodness to patok jeepneys, the group arrived earlier than expected.

Our flight back to Manila via Zestair was at 11:15AM. The minute we got up our bed, we went to buy pasalubong and TShirts. We bought casuy infront of Islands View Inn, next to a lotto station, danggit and pusit in the market, keychains, ref magnet and Tshirts.

We went to CoronGaleri the same time as yesterday. We paid P950 each for this tour and this only includes one island - Malcapuya Island. Malcapuya is pretty far, located near Culion Island. Our group were called and led us to the same port. Expected travel time: 1 hour.

8AM was the time given to us by CoronGaleri. We must be in their office to join with other groups. In their office, we filled up forms and waivers and paid tour fee in advance. For Coron Island Tour (B1), we paid P650 each.There are snorkeling masks and fins for rent for P100 each. Waterproof cases for digital cameras are also available for rent. At 8:30AM, we were fetched by our boatman and led us to our boat. At 9AM, we started our tour.

After a quick rest in Coron Reef Pension , we walked towards CoronGaleri where we availed our tours. We asked people for directions and didn't have problems locating it. CoronGaleri  is one of those that offers the cheapest packages. I didn't make any reservations prior because based from what I read, CoronGaleri advises to just go to their office to make reservations right there and then.

I really wanted to stay in Princess of Coron because aside from its rave reviews, it has interesting shower cubicle :) However, 2 of my friends wanted a cheap room that would fit us all and then my hubby was neutral about it, needless to say majority won. We ended up reserving a room in Coron Reef Pension for 3 nights.

The day I fell in love with snorkeling was the day we went to Ligpo Island, Batangas for our 3rd year wedding anniversary. Since then, I couldn't help but look forward to some snorkeling trips. And where to go for an ultimate snorkeling experience? Where else but in CORON!! I was lucky I was able to book 2 tickets (travel date: June 15-18, 2012) for me and my hubby with Airphil's piso promo (Manila-Busuanga) for P676 and then Zestair's P12 promo (Busuanga-Manila) for P798. Sum it up, total amount of round trip ticket for 2 is P1473.44. Later on 2 other friends joined us.

Since I would like to visit Palaui for the second time around, here's what I am going to do better next time. ** I will ride a plane. If not, take a Florida bus. ** I will bring more friends so we can trim down expenses most especially for Island Hopping. ** I will try other options in getting to Palaui Island like:

We followed a very strict itinerary for our second day. We must be in Tumauini at around 5PM or 6PM (for personal reasons :P), then must leave Tumauini at around 9PM. Whatever time is left, we have to squeeze EVERYTHING.

My curiosity stemmed from an article I read about Palui Island being considered as the 3rd best beach in the Philippines by CNNgo, following El Nido being the 1st and Boracay the 2nd, beating other more famous beaches like Panglao in Bohol (4th), Bantayand Island in Cebu (5th), Caramoan in Camarines Sur (6th), Samal in Davao (7th), Siargao Islands in Surigao Del Norte (8th), Great Santa Cruz Island in Zamboanga (9th) and Pagudpud (Bangui) in Ilocos (10th). For a complete article, click here .  I thought, so what does Palui Island have to gain its spot?

After our visit in Manaoag Shrine, we opted to go to the Northern part of Pangasinan - Bolinao. Our plan initially was to stay overnight in San Fabian but according to a friend who visited there before, the sand isn't enticing. We left the Shrine at 10AM and followed the road heading towards Alaminos City. In Alaminos, we took a quick lunch at McDonalds and then drove again towards Bolinao.

My mom has this "panata" to visit Manaoag Shrine someday. Followers said to believe that Our Lady of Manaoag heals the sick through faith.

To complete the plan of trekking Taal , I had to look for an accommodation that's right within our budget. Fortunately, I found a discount in CashCashPinoy which I immediately grabbed.

When we went to Tagaytay for a roadtrip last year with my entire Family to visit famous tourist spots, I promised myself, I have to go back to visit Taal,  to witness the beauty of its crater everyone is bragging about. It's a must-see place but requires more time (allot half day) and energy (cardio excercise for trekking). I found an opportunity this year when I purchased a voucher from CashCashPinoy for an overnight stay in Hotel Dominique. I made a reservation for April 19-20 and planned to trek up Taal on our first day. I brought along my hubby and my 3-yr old kid.

We were all excited for this trip. The plan was to camp overnight in Anawangin then side trip in Capones Island. Our contact person, Jomar ( 09082363665 ), immediately confirmed the availability of their boat ( JennyRico).

We need to catch our plane at 9:15AM. That means arriving at the airport around 8AM. Given a very limited time, we were able to manage visiting Baywalk in the morning and coffee at Itoy's. 

KaLui is one of the best restaurant in Puerto Princesa. In fact, it is considered as one of Asia's Finest Restaurant by The Miele Guide 2011/2012. The Miele Guide showcases the top 20 restaurants in SouthEast Asia, published annually.

I never wanted to spend much money on our accommodation as we will always be out most of the time anyway. My experience in Quezon, camping in Dampalitan Island with no electricity, no running water and common rest room made me realize that I can stand very basic accommodation. 

First of all, thanks to Airphil's Piso fare last year, I was able to book 2 round trip tickets for only P1200 and made one of our dreams come true, that is to visit Palawan. Parang commercial lang! :) I was torn whether or not to DIY this trip. I would like to budget our trip as much as possible and besides, after reading some blogs who made DIY happen, it seems to be very do-able for first timers. However, according to my sissies in GirlTalk (a forum I'm a member of), since it would just be hubby & me, it would be best to avail a package. After some serious thoughts, we followed the latter.

At first, we would really like to DIY the Underground River Tour because it would only cost almost half the price compared to the package tour which is P1500 per person. Hubby and I were glad that we availed the package inclusive of van and boat transportation, 2 tour guides, permits and entrance fees and buffet lunch. We were more glad to see a coaster picked us up at 8AM. Usually it would just be vans. We were 17 in total, 14 guests, 2 tourguides and a driver. Our tourguide told us that Underground River Tour is fully booked that it's really best to avail a package and book it in advance.

Here is our budget per pax and breakdown of expenses for the tour.

It was my first time camping. Sleeping in a tent on hard soil with my bag serving as my pillow, it wasn't really comfortable at all. But it was okay, just the thought of me being close to nature is so wonderful. I remember that night while we were by the bonfire, infront of us was the calm sea water and then I laid down the sand, stared at the starts, the view are just so magnificent!!

I was thinking of a weekend getaway when the name Borawan caught my attention after reading some blogs. The name Borawan is derived from Boracay, because as they say, the sand is comparable to Boracay's white sand and Palawan's s rock formation. I just recently been to Boracay and fell in love with the beach, and this year, I am aiming to complete my Palawan Series, so just the thought of Borawan thrilled me!!

The first time I heard about Ayala Triangle Garden was from a friend who wanted to bring her boyfriend for a dinner date. Since I live in Makati, just 15-20 minutes away from Ayala Avenue, I was the first one to be asked where it is.