Puerto Princesa - El Nido

I didn’t sleep very well at all last night, waking up every ten minutes or so with back pain. I guess the number of cocktails we had yesterday evening probably didn’t help.

I pre-ordered a Healthy Breakfast last night for this morning: homemade yogurt, muesli, bananas, and nuts. While David ordered an American Breakfast, he too receives a Healthy Breakfast.

We leave the hotel at 07:00 today for the journey to El Nido. The first thing we encounter is a cavalcade for an election campaign to select a new local leader. The motorcade started at 00:01 today, for legal reasons, and will go on for nine days, after which there will be no more campaigning. The voting is on the 30th of this month (today is the 19th).

Once we pass the cavalcade, the road is clear.

Apart from the odd buffalo.

Ocean View Beach Bar

At a small bar overlooking the sea, we stop for drinks (and for Frankie, the driver, to have his breakfast).

Later we stop for petrol, and I am bemused by the locals trying to get a motorbike into the luggage compartment of a bus.

They made it!

Taytay

This area is known as the fishbowl of the province.

As we get closer to El Nido, there is more traffic on the road.

Huni Lio Hotel, El Nido

The approach road to the hotel is amazing, driving on wooden boardwalks zigzagging through the forest.

The hotel itself is modern and categorised as four stars.

The reception area

Checking in

Welcome drink of lemon grass and calamansi (a small lime)

The rooms are in two-storey blocks arranged around a swimming pool.

Our very nice room has a balcony facing away from the pool.

Lunch

The restaurant has inside and outside seating, separated by folding glass doors. We choose the inside to take advantage of the A/C.

We both order build-your-own pizzas, mine is Margherita with pepperoni and sweet ham

David chooses cheese, bacon, and onion

Beach

The hotel has a fabulous setting, right on the beach, with seating shaded under trees.

I try sending the drone up, but it is automatically brought back down to the ground after ten seconds because we are in a restricted area - ie. in the proximity of a small airport.

When we go to charge the drone batteries, we discover the bag of spare batteries is missing. We message the WhatsApp group which includes a few of the office-based Filipino agent staff to see if it was left behind in the van when we got out. Andrew, our guide who was with us yesterday and also accompanied us for our transfer today, calls to say that, yes, he has found the bag, and will send it down with a courier tomorrow.

Dinner

As we are shown to our table, we ask for the cocktail menu. After what seems like an age, the menu hasn’t appeared, and neither have any members of staff, so David goes up to rummage around where the menus are kept and brings a couple back to the table.

When someone finally comes to take our order, I ask for a White Russian. The server doesn’t seem to know what I am talking about until I point it out on their menu. “It’s not available,” she says without even checking with the barman. I order a Cuba Libre instead.

The Crispy Fish Sandwich I order for my main course, is very nice, however, and not too big.

On the other hand, our desserts of Frozen Tiramisu and Mango Madness, are both just OK.

Tiramisu

Mango Madness

When the waitress came to take the order for dessert, she did just that, without taking away the dirty plates, and even when she brought out the desserts, she still didn’t collect the plates. As we were the only patrons in the restaurant at that time, there is absolutely no excuse for such lack of service.

This amazing trip was arranged by Undiscovered Destinations.