Beach | Back in Seoul

December 9, 2012August 8, 2018

Trip to Philippines: El Nido

Finally some free time to catch up with the blog! This post is about one of the best trips I have made in my life. Not only because of the place we visited but because of the people I went with: my sister, sister’s boyfriend (now her husband), and my brother came all the way from Spain to visit me in Seoul. After one week in Seoul, we decided to fly to the Philippines and visit El Nido.

From left to right, Javier, Ana and Curro in Manila.

Although its islands are among the most beautiful in the world, the capital of the Philippines, Manila, is quite an underdeveloped capital, with much poverty and not so many nice places. Fort Wayne is one of its few tourist attractions.

From Manila, there are two airlines that fly to El Nido: ITI and Seair. These flights are quite expensive (around 6,700 PHP) and not recommended for people afraid of flying, as the airplane looks quite weak and it will bounce a lot during the flight. The other option (much cheaper) to get to El Nido is to fly to Puerto Princesa and from there take a long bus ride to El Nido most of the time on unpaved roads (not recommendable for a family trip).

The plane that would take us from Manila to El Nido. It is operated by Seair and can only fit around 15 passengers. There are only 2 (or 3) flights a day.

Inside of the aircraft.

Doing the ckeck-in to El Nido.

This is the airport at El Nido. The best way to go from there to the resorts is by tuk-tuk. You will have to bargain the price with the drivers though.

With Javi on the tuk-tuk.

El Nido is a very small town that lives mostly of tourists, fishing and agriculture.

Art Cafe’s main entrance. Art Cafe is the main meeting point for tourists in El Nido. There you can have a refreshment, a meal, or even book your flight back to Manila, like we did. There is also free wifi available.

Some of the views that you can enjoy in El Nido.

Diving is another activity that you should not miss if you have the chance to visit this place.

It is amazing how clear the water is here…

No Photoshop here. This is just how water looks in El Nido.

The Hidden Lagoon can be visited on one of the many organized trips around the nearby islands. Totally recommended.

Nothing like this beautiful sunset to say goodbye (or better, see you later) to this beautiful country 🙂

March 5, 2011August 8, 2018

Trip to Boracay

Recently, taking the chance given by the Lunar New Year holidays, we decided to spend some days in what (some say) is one of the best beaches in the world, the White Beach of Boracay. Truth be said, we weren’t disappointed at all.

There are not so many places in the world where you can enjoy 2.5 miles of white sand and glassy-smooth water. Undoubtedly one of the best beaches in the world.

Jairo and Alvaro. The weather was not so nice, quite cloudy most of the time and even it rained for a while. Neither this, nor the cold that had me in bed for almost two of the days could not spoil this trip 🙂

One of the few negative points of this beach is that sometimes it can be a bit stressing to see so many people around, specially when you are supposed to be getting a rest. This is specially true when you compare Boracay to other beaches I had been to in the Philippines like Camotes or Bohol.

Being Lunar New Year, it was obvious that we would see many Koreans and Chinese people in Boracay. We were not wrong. In this picture you can see a group of Koreans, hard to miss, with their sun hats and hooded jackets protecting them from sunlight.

We had some great seafood for dinner. Boracay is not as cheap as other places in the Philippines, but it’s still worth to eat some fresh seafood for quite a reasonable price.

Another advantage of Boracay is that, as opposed to other places in the Philippines, there are many things you can do at night apart from sleeping. A henna tattoo, a massage, or having some drinks in a pub are some of those. All in all, an island with an excellent nightlife.

April 11, 2009August 8, 2018

Oido

Oido is on the South Korean west coast, near Incheon Airport and at one hour and a half from Seoul by subway. The west coast of Korea is known because it doesn’t have beaches where you can swim. Instead, this coast is mostly composed of mud.

You can get to Oido by subway (line 4, last stop). If you go out of the subway station (there is only one exit), you have to take the 30-2 bus (at the bus stop before crossing the street), and you have to get off when you see the red lighthouse. It’s about one hour subway ride plus 20 minutes by bus, but it’s worth it, specially if you like shells.

And, what’s there in Oido? Shells. In all kinds and sizes.

Jiwon and the pale sky I told you about in the last post.

This is how this coast looks like. What is between the boats is not water, but mud. [[Cuando sube la marea]] the mud is covered by the sea, allowing the boats to move.