We’ve continued to move around the islands of the Philippines since our last blog. So far it’s been the most challenging country to travel, with several flights needed to move on, which in turn makes it quite expensive. However, we’ve seen some truly beautiful things that make it worth it, and the cost of things once you’re on land is very cheap. Here are some unique things we’ve noticed about the Philippines:

● Christmas: now I know this might be an odd one to mention in September, but even as I write this, I can hear Christmas songs somewhere. There are also huge Christmas displays in shops, and Christmas trees are out available to buy. I’m now going to have “Here Comes Santa Claus” in my head all day.

● American Influences: this is more in the language, but there are a lot of fast food restaurants that look like they belong in the States. For those that speak English, they often have an American twang to their accent, and they may use mannerisms more suited to Americans.

● Christianity: the Philippines has been the first country where Christianity is the main religion (other places, the people have either been mainly Buddhist or Islamic). It was weird at first to see so many churches, as well as hear a mass in Cebu. During one of our day trips, we were even made to say grace by the group before we had lunch.

📍 Cebu, Philippines 🇵🇭

After Boracay we flew over to Cebu Island. We had some very impressive rain during our stay on Cebu, which was a sight to behold. It did mean that we didn’t get up to as much as we normally do, but actually it was quite nice to enjoy some down time.

Cebu was quiet and we were once again some of the only tourists we saw. However, whilst we like doing the popular tourist spots, we have also discovered that we enjoy staying in places less well-known. We have been able to see another side of the countries and experience their cultures in another way. The English can be limited (and of course you get stared at), but you can get a whole new experience.

📍 Puerto Princesa (Palawan), Philippines 🇵🇭

One of the biggest highlights of our trip so far was when we went to the Underground River, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The River is completely natural and runs through a limestone cave, as well as being the world’s longest navigable underground river.

We booked the trip to get there through a TripAdvisor tour, and I’m glad we did as it is not easy to get to. You have to be registered before you get on a boat that takes you to the entry point, but luckily our guide arranged this for us.

After crossing the sea for around 20 minutes, you reach an opening in the forest. It’s basically a small beach area but as it’s a National Park you’re not allowed to swim, so feels strange to refer to it as a beach. Then there is a small walk through the forest, before reaching the river.

From there you move onto a smaller boat to go through the cave, and are given a helmet and an audio guide. The driver of the boat was amazing at steering through the darkness with only one head light to see with, and I had a real “pinch me” moment. It was a really wonderful experience.

📍 El Nido (Palawan), Philippines 🇵🇭

It was a 6 hour drive up to El Nido in a van transfer that we arranged through the landlady of our hotel in PP. It was a rough journey – 13 people in a van with weak air conditioning, and a driver who was hell bent on driving as quickly as he could, even around corners. We made it in one piece though, and were dropped directly at our new accommodation.

El Nido is known for the lagoons you can visit which are only accessible by boat, and there are 4 different tours that run to take tourists to a variety of spots. There are small shops on every street that offer these tours to people, all at the same prices, but we arranged our trip through our accommodation. We chose “Tour A” as out of the 4 tours, this one appealed the most.

Due to the weather, the tour was slightly different to how it’s normally ran. It rained all day but that didn’t stop the sheer beauty of the locations being apparent. At El Nido, we boarded a boat and were introduced to the guides and boat captain. There were hundreds of similar boats all lined up along the shore front, all waiting for their groups going off on the different tours.

Our first stop was 7 Commando Beach, which is a small strip of sand surrounded by limestone cliffs. We were given half an hour to enjoy some time on the beach, but because it was raining so hard, we stuck to swimming. It was a great experience to be swimming in a sea that was still so warm, despite the cold rain. Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures of the beach, but I did capture this one from a distance:

We battled the waves and then moved onto Payong Payong Beach for snorkeling and lunch. The sea was crystal clear, which meant we were lucky enough to see some beautiful fish and coral.

Lastly, we went onto Big Lagoon. There was the option to kayak here, however there was an extra charge for this. As we had already paid for the tour, we decided to miss the kayaking and swam instead. Due to the rain, it would have been difficult to see anything as well, so we don’t regret that decision. There’s something amazing about swimming in the rain.

The rain in El Nido was unbelievable. When we got off the boat after the tour we walked back to our accommodation as it poured down on us. It came up higher than my ankles. Coming from England, I never thought I’d be amazed by rainfall, but I was wrong. I guess it should be expected however, seeing as a typhoon was passing through.

That’s all from us for now. We’re currently still in Palawan but will be going over to Manila soon! We hope everyone is well at home, and we look forward to sharing more with you soon. Lots of love,

Caitlin and Luke