TBK Travels in the Philippines- part one

 

The prettiest security guard in El Nido with Dainsy and Ritchelle

I gave Palawan a miss in 2016 and 2017. I just felt it would not be the same without Drew at my side so I  headed off on an adventure to Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam to get Palawan out of my system. It did not work! I returned, alone, in 2018.This time, as El Nido was getting too overcrowded I decided to explore further afield and went to Nacpan beach and Sibaltan. 

The new larger SWIFT air planes had replaced the older smaller ITI ones

When I arrived, in the new bigger Swift air plane, and the new enlarged El Nido Airport ( Lio) I was welcomed by a familiar face, Ritchelle, with the driver and one of the OJT's working on reception. There were gifts from her two boys Kobe and JP waiting in my room, together with Tee shirts from Sir Marco, who later came to visit. I stayed in the Forest rooms again and soon settled into my routine of reading, walking, swimming and sleeping!

No littering- these signs were all over El Nido, but completely ignored by locals and Tourists alike

One of the first things I noticed was the increase in litter on the beach, bottles, used nappies ( diapers) and take away food containers, plus broken glass and cigarette butts. My friend Mama Jam , who was back home in El Nido wrote a blog about it as his family have cottages on the town beach and every morning he had to pick up bottles left by late night revelers and put them in the bin. 

When every computer user in the world has a picture of your favourite place on their screen you know the peace is shattered

El Nido, thanks to the demise and closure of Boracay, had become the most popular tourist resort in the Philippines, and Palawan was voted the second best Island ( to Sri Lanka) in the Conde Nast and other influential traveler polls three years running. The day I turned on my laptop in Bahrain and saw El Nido was the Microsoft background picture I knew the resort was doomed.

The beach at Lio

 A few kilometers down the beach from the peaceful Cove, the sound of building works could be heard as the owners of Swift Air, El Nido Cove , Lio Airport and the El Nido Resort hotels decided the time was right for expansion. They had quietly purchased acres of land in the forest adjoining a 8 km stretch of beach next to the airport. They extended the pier to take vehicles to transport their customers from the airport to the boats to the resort islands and started to build new hotels , shops and restaurants . So the Lio Beach Estate was born and marketed worldwide. 

The new hotels at Lio

The hotels and restaurants were built on the edge of the beach and the forest to make out they were environmentally friendly

Trees were moved, and some of the original trees were left, to give the place a natural feel

With all the investment into Lio the old hotel at El Nido Cove was left behind. The plumbing started to break down, the equipment did not work, the drawers would not close, and the sloppy seconds from the resorts were placed in the rooms at Cove. I used to enjoy the peace and tranquility of no TV's in the rooms but in 2018 they all had TV's added. Sir Marco came to visit and showed me around the new Lio hotels . As we sat and chatted at Cove I went to open the window behind us, and it fell out!

I gave Sir Marco my 2018 Recipe calendar , and then opened the windows behind us and they fell out

To be fair they did refurbish the garden rooms, but that was all. One would not mind staying in an old run down hotel if the prices reflected that ( as in the Heritage hotel at Pasay, Manila or the Crowne Plaza in Salalah, Oman) but Ayala put the prices at Cove UP every year. I told Marco that 2019 would be my last visit to Cove. 

One of Ran's team building sessions

Whilst the building deteriorated Marco's hand picked staff went from strength to strength thanks to Ran's regular team building sessions in the grounds, and events at Lio to encourage cross selling of the properties.

The lovely ladies on reception at Cove, Ritchelle , Dainsey and Marnella

Marco introduced me to a new restaurant in town that was run by several former Cove employees called Amos and I had many enjoyable meals there.

The busy Amos Restaurant in El Nido town , serving traditional Pinoy food

Some things did not change like the amazing sunsets every night at Cove , the perfect backdrop to dinner, underneath the big tree at the front of the hotel. The beach remained deserted, in spite of all the people staying at Lio, a 5 km beach walk away. I managed two or three walks each day in the sun and the occasional swim, and lots of photos!

The deserted beach at El Nido Cove

The bar and loungers set out for the fabulous sunset

 

The beautiful sunsets at Cove

I also visited the other beaches in the area like Nacpan, Vanilla beach ( what a name for a beach, it means non kinky sex in UK Gay slang!)  , Las Cabanas, and Sibaltan where Marz had set up her mew massage business. Another favourite was the lovely resort hotel at Cadlao where the manicured gardens and pool and the lovely restaurant overlooking Bacuit bay was another evening haunt of mine.

( Not me!) Wandering in the grounds at Cadlao

All in all it was a very relaxing vacation and I was able to help my friend Mama Jam with his charity work ( HOPE) which I shall write more about in another blog.


I decided to return to El Nido one more time in 2019 ... and I will tell you all about it in part 2


Until then - Ingat, Kita Kits xxx