TBK Travels to Nacpan beach, Palawan , Philippines

 
         

                         The view from my beach cottage at Nacpan beach

When I got up at 6am in my beach cottage at Nacpan on 25.4.22 I saw a van load of Filipinos (is that better Brian?) arrive and run down to the sea. After a short swim they started taking selfies, group photos with a phone on a stand, selfies and finally the traditional Jump shot! Then one lady in a dress ran backwards down the beach twirling her dress as her Jowa took a video of her. This is the “Pinoy vacation”. From small kids (Bata), through teenagers (Bagets) to adults, they all love to be by the sea.

                                The busy restaurant at Angkla Beach Club

For the Foreigners it’s just the same and they have a dream of strolling hand in hand with a lover on a long white sand beach, watching the sun set and sipping cocktails in a beach bar.

              The "I love Nacpan" sign next to Sunmai- an Instagram lovers spot!

Nacpan has something for everyone and over the last 8 years I have seen in develop from a small sleepy beach down a log bumpy track with just one small restaurant (Sunmai). Now it has a high-end Boutique resort called Angkla, and 2 other hotels. There is an expensive Air B N B and the huge Nacpan Glamping site (all owned by the same owners as Sunmai). I later found out the Sunmai owner also has two hotels in Town currently being built, called H and S.

                        Angkla Beach club and Boutique resort , in the rain

Kuya Ran kindly me got me a small beach cottage for 1,500 pesos a night as I really could not afford to stay at Angkla (24,000 peso a night  - that’s £366,  1,689 AED or 173 BHD) . I had arranged to meet Rodel at 8 am for a walk at Sunmai on my first day there but he did not turn up. I had coffee and Orange Juice (my first Orange Juice in Palawan) and then wandered down to Angkla, at the end of the beach. I had arranged to meet Ran at 9 am so when I arrived early the staff apologised and said he was in the daily briefing. I had coffee and caught up on my messages (Angkla has a great Wi-Fi).

I was given a very warm welcome by Arnel and Ran, when they came down from their meeting. Sadly, I had not seen them since 2020, due to COV 19.  Before long I was eating Meryenda (a beautiful Touron with ice lollies) and later my lunch. I had the Gambas Al Ajillo that Johann at Huni had recommended and the Australian Rack of Lamb.

     On my second visit my Pork Sinigang was served with my Lobster Bisque

In many restaurants in the Philippines the starter, main course and dessert are served at the same time, but Angkla excelled by delivering the main course before the starter! Only the barman had his eye on the customers and told the waiting staff to bring me extra cutlery, a menu, serviettes etc. I even had to collect my Mango shake from the bar! Not the kind of service you expect from a Boutique hotel, especially when you are paying 2068 pesos for a starter and main course! (That's 15 BHD, 145 AED, £32) . After lunch Ran gave me the hotel tour – it is very neatly shoehorned into a small space with a tree lined avenue to the car park.  There is a small private pool for residents only and 18 spacious glass fronted rooms ( 9 down and 9 up) looking in on the pool. This gives their many VIP guests like Mikey Bustos ( Canadian Pinoy You Tube star ) a degree of privacy.

You can see Mikey's vlog about his stay at Angkla here Mikey Bustos stays at Angkla

The beach club at the front of the hotel attracts a young upmarket trendy crowd with the infinity pool, showers, restaurant and bar. The restaurant hosts many big families who stay at Lio and come to Angkla to dine. So as a lone single diner I was largely ignored by the staff.

               The sunbeds for hire on Nacpan beach in front of Sunmai

After lunch, and my tour, Ran and his OJT from Manila, Rai, took me to my beach cottage. By then it was 1 pm and the sand was so hot I burnt my feet. It was only sometime later that I put shoes on and went in search of the shoes I had left near Sunmai at 7 am! In the afternoon I met up with Rhoda at the Glamping and finally, when the sun started to set, Grecil appeared with Kit and we had a walk on the beach. We stopped at Sunmai for Meryenda after we walked out of the Angkla restaurant when they told us, after we ordered, that the Fruit bowls we wanted were out of stock!

                                            Sunset photo at Nacpan by Grecil

At Sunmai they not only had no fruit bowls, but no Mango dishes and no Shrimp Tempura. In the end I had Orange Juice and Lemonade (my first in the Philippines this year) and we shared Calamari and a Shrimp dish. I taught Kit and Grecil how to use my camera and in due course (when we get back to Puerto and have a Wi-Fi signal) we will send the videos to Chester to make a vlog which he will post to You Tube in August. Make sure you log on to our You Tube account, like and subscribe, and hit the notification bell so you do not miss their footage of the sunset at Nacpan.

The next two days flew by. I went to El Nido with Rhoda and her daughter Matilda. She is 6 now and so confident and speaks fluent Tagalog and English (with some help from her lovely Cuyunon mother (Rodel’s sister). I had several meals at Sunmai, where the service is awful and the food great (seems to be a common theme at Nacpan). Rodel reappeared on Tuesday and went to El Nido to get me an adaptor so I could finally charge my laptop.

                         My beautifully presented Fresh Orange Juice at Sunmai

On Tuesday night we had Grecil’s first birthday dinner at Sunmai but only Rodel and I turned up as there was a party for a local girl, who just turned 18, further down the beach. Rodel put together the HAPPY BIRTHDAY banner and everyone tried to blow up the 2 and 1 balloons from Marz enterprises, but with no luck (refund please Marz!). Eventually Kit turned up and later Ran and Ariel, and Rhoda appeared briefly before going back to the other party. When I asked to pay they gave me the online bill (they use one tablet for all the orders and payments) . I paid (they do not take card so I had to use up the last of my cash) and we left. The staff them came running after us as they had forgotten to charge us for Kit’s, Arnell’s and Ran’s meals. As none of us had any cash (8000 peso spent on food at Angkla and Sunmai in 2 days) , and as their wi-fi was not working again, Ran promised to pay online when he got back to Angkla.

                       Sunset on Nacpan beach by Kit

Eventually the disco at the 18-year old’s birthday fell silent around 10 pm and I fell asleep, waking up at 5 am to finish my packing, load the car and clean my cottage. Then I went for a walk along the beach. After updating this blog off line I walked to Sunmai for my final Nacpan breakfast. At 10 am Grecil joined me and we drove off to Puerto Princessa dropping off Rodel in Barutaan and collecting Kit and Chalsee outside Barutaan Elementary school. We stopped in Taytay for lunch and Roxas for Coca Cola and Buko pie and arrived in Puerto at 6 pm. 

I had a very enjoyable and relaxing 3 days at Nacpan and it was great to catch up with Ran, Arnel, Grecil , Rhoda, Rodel and Matilda who I have not seen for 3 years. Next stop, Microtel Puerto Princessa for Grecil’s second Birthday dinner.