Philippines . . .

After an eye opening, jaw dropping 3 weeks in Nepal, it was time to pack up our trekking boots and pull out the bikinis and head to the most tropical destination of the trip. El Nido, Palawan in the Philippines.

Now, this would have been ideal and the most 'relaxing' part of the trip, however Jono and I managed to pick up Gastroenteritis from Nepal. Not that hard considering how dirty the water is there.
The day we woke up in Kuala Lumpur was the first day the sickness struck. We both had to fight over who needed the toilet first. It was not pretty and definitely not a good way to wake up.
By the time we got to Manila, after a delayed flight, we had gotten even worse which resulted in us missing our morning flight down to Puerto Princessa. To cut a long story short, and to get the gross parts out of the way, we spent the entire 11 days being sick and found it hard to enjoy the sights and what El Nido had to offer. But I'm only going to talk about the good stuff now. One definite pro of being sick was losing 6kg...

When we arrived in El Nido, we took a tuk tuk past what I initially thought to be the most beautiful beach I had ever seen, to our amazing cottage accommodation. Bamboo huts with hanging white shades we were already in paradise and hadn't even ventured anywhere.
Being an exhausting 2 days we spent that arvo in bed sleeping off our sickness. Not wanting to waste a minute, we forced ourselves out of bed and took ourselves down to the beach to find tiki torch line shores with beautiful restaurants decked out with crazy Asian handcrafted furniture and live music.
It was so blissful and only into day 1!

Over the next couple of days we hired a bike and rode out to the middle of nowhere, got a local guide to take us 30 minutes through the rain forest to a waterfall and swimming hole. It was deep enough to climb up onto the rocks and jump in. When in Rome!

We rode out to 4km beach. Now I thought the beach we saw earlier was pretty special, but actually looks quite scummy and dull compared to this beach. The WHITEST of white sand, and CLEAREST blue crystal water. Lined with gigantic curved palm trees, and dropped coconuts this place was another form of heaven.
Relaxing under the sun in a woven hammock, we tried to forget about how horrible we felt inside and enjoy soaking up the salt and sand, bronzing up.

For sunset, it was known amongst locals to go to Los Cabanos beach, about 20 minute ride south. They weren't wrong, and I'm not exaggerating or lying when I say it was the most insane sunset Ive ever seen in my life.
Blue, pink and purples filled the sky in a way id never seen and probably wont ever see again.

Kayaking out to part of Cadlao island, we found a private beach with nothing but ourselves and a few palm trees. We baked, we played, we snorkeled, we found Nemo! We made the word PARADISE out of rocks and coral. Looking back on our time in Philippines it was like a dream. No place is THAT amazing.

After a few more days of waterfalls, stunning beaches and swimming (and vomiting and toilet runs) it was time for our final night. No better way to send us off than having 'the best pizza I've tasted', a $7 bottle of Malibu rum, some great company (the locals, and the hotel staff), beach bonfire and some drunken karaoke.
Back in Kuala Lumpur we reminisced with photos and videos and forever Paradise - Coldplay will remind me of El Nido.

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