Winter Vacation in the Philippines!
What comes to mind when you think of paradise? Is it a palm-tree-lined, white sand beach where you can watch a colorful sunset? Is it a mountain region with naturally gorgeous, rigid limestone cliffs decorated in foliage? Or is it, simply, a place that offers nice rum (or rhum) at $2 per 750mL bottle? No matter which you chose, the Philippines should be your next destination. Why? Because they have all of those things! And more. No matter the direction of your gaze, it is picture perfect. The delicious foreign cuisine usually goes for around $4 per meal. And you can stay in a private room ON THE BEACH for $20!!! That being said, the Philippines is a third-world country, which is what allows it's more-than-affordable prices. And that's okay! For us, this mostly just meant sleeping in a room with a box fan instead of air conditioning, in close proximity to a tiny lizard that would sing to us throughout the evening. So don't let the homes made almost completely out of bamboo and tin metal sheets phase you. In my experience, third-world-countries are not only the cheapest to travel around, but they have some of the richest cultures!
*BONUS* Almost everyone is fluent in English.
Anyway, for my first vacation since arriving in Korea, I headed to the Philippines for ten days with Michael and our friend Donna, who we met at EPIK Orientation back in October. Though the Philippines is rather large and has over 7,000 islands, we spent all of our time in the tourist-famous province of Palawan, named the "The Most Beautiful Island in the World" by Travel and Leisure magazine. (And I read a rumor that Kanye West has a house there???) Our first stop was Coron on the island of Busuanga.
Coron
After a nice two-hour sit in the airplane due to our arrival airport apparently having no tarmac room for another plane, we took off for Busuanga. Upon arrival, this issue made sense, as there was clearly only room for two planes on the tarmac. I was greeted by a woman with my name on a chalkboard, who then shuttled us to our hostel, which was a nice surprise, considering I hadn't arranged it.
The first two days were very relaxed, which was well-appreciated for the beginning of vacation. It included water-front meals, lounging in hammocks, napping, and cocktails. It wasn't until the third day that we really dove in (literally) to the adventures waiting in the Philippines. A $25, all-day "Ultimate" boat tour took us to all of the scenic points of Coron, including a marine park, lagoons, a ship wreck, a picture perfect island to sip from a coconut, and anywhere else that had water the color of a topaz gemstone.
On our fourth and final day in Coron we rented motorbikes for the day (for $10 each!!! And no lesson on how to use them...) and took a scenic two-hour ride across the small island to Ocam Ocam Beach. This huge stretch of quiet, palm-tree-lined beach was nothing short of paradise. We stayed until we got a little hungry and made the two-hour ride back to town... and got rained on along the way.
El Nido
We took the four-hour "fast ferry" (there was a different one that takes six hours) to El Nido! Though still a small town, El Nido is much more built-up than Coron, due to its higher tourist traffic. The seaside town itself is scenic, with limestone cliffs towering above, but we didn't stay here. We caught a tricycle to Calitang Nacpan Beach, where we stayed ON the beach. Though it was an hour away from a proper town, most hostels had their own restaurants with great food, and they booked tours for us, so we didn't have much of a reason to leave our private beach. And for a lot of the time, we didn't. We spent a few hours in El Nido one day and a majority of another day on a boat tour (islands, lagoons, a cave, snorkeling), but the rest of our four days in the area were spent on the beach drinking coconut water and rum & pineapples, eating squid adobo and chicken curry with rice, or just doing generally nothing.
We got the best of both worlds in the Philippines: adventuring and sightseeing, but also relaxing and doing nothing in a beautiful setting and warm climate. And that's what vacationing is all about when you have a full-time job, right?