Thank you for your comment, Sarah! I am following in your footsteps, albeit a couple years after you!
Palawan is a jaw dropping place. The beaches and the karst formations (they are karst, aren’t they?) make a beautiful backdrop for just about every scene here. El Nido is just a blast. It is a dusty, jumping, broken concrete, eclectic conglomeration of people, shops, trikes, dogs and cafes with a moderate amount of tourists and a lot of friendly (english speaking! Yeah!) locals. And a long fairly clean beach! With a sphynx-like island brooding on the horizon. Yeah, I know the locals call it Cadlao, but there is a certain resemblance…
Anyway, I did absolutely nothing but walk, take photos, talk, eat, walk, sleep, no boat trips, no mountain trips, just hung out. And it was a very good time. I stayed at Cecilia’s (ok but too concrete’y), Sea Cocoon (very nice, comfortable, ocean view is a waste of money.) and Angel Nido (small set of stacked bungalows with a great little waterfront area). All of the staffs were outstanding, very outgoing and friendly, and Sea Cocoon had a great rooftop breakfast while Angel Nido had an Italian Parma sandwich that was excellent.
Clifford’s was recommended to me by a couple people and I again managed to order poorly. I really need to decide what to order BEFORE i go somewhere, because when I order on a whim, I do so poorly. So I had the Beef Bulalo Stew the first day and the Fried Chicken the second day. And the stew was tough/cold while the chicken was like Church’s on a good day. Good, not great. And they had no sauces, just ketchup and a sweet “duck” sauce. Argh…
I did better at Centrale for breakfast. They have a three choice Silog special so I got sausage, beef and milkfish and all were good. I thereafter got breakfast at Sea Cocoon or I would have gone back. I am still in need of remedial fish picking. I am leaving way too much fish on the carcass while covering myself in grease.
I got a pretty good Seafood Sizzle (their title, not mine) at Angel Wish and a pasta dish that will remain nameless to avoid shaming the chef.
Here is one of the Sea Cocoon breakfasts. They were all rather good. View was outstanding from the 6th floor, my room on the 4th floor had an obstructed view. 5th floor appears to be super secret and private.
Then I went astray and ordered Skydeck Royal Pizza (not bad after I ate the shrimp separately!) at Skydeck and Massaman Gai at Big Bad Thai. When in the Philippines I ought to be eating Filipino food more, but those dishes pulled me in like a culinary magnet.
Anyway, I really enjoyed el Nido, it reminds me of Thailand in the late 1990’s, kind of raw and unpolished but outgoing and friendly, not fake. And it has a natural beauty that they seem to be working to hold on to, for the most part. Do not get me started on setbacks, density patterns and stray canine care… LOL!
Side ramble. El Nido was a town long before it became a destination and the layout reminds you of that. The church (well attended) and the elementary school (ditto) are right in the center of the tourist mashup and it is kind of sweet how everything just works cheek by jowl. One of my first impressions of el Nido was seeing the elementary girls karate class beating up on their sensei’s glove/pad. Followed very shortly by tiny Filipino ladies carrying “hot dishes” into the church, like I was near a Lutheran church in Minnesota. It just made me smile.
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