Posted on

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.

DSC00499
From left to right, Javier, Ana and Curro in Manila.

DSC00486Although 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).

DSC00526
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.

DSC00553
Inside of the aircraft.

DSC00520
Doing the ckeck-in to El Nido.

DSC00561
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.

DSC00564
With Javi on the tuk-tuk.

DSC00577
El Nido is a very small town that lives mostly of tourists, fishing and agriculture.

DSC00578
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.

DSC00836
Some of the views that you can enjoy in El Nido.

DSC00817Diving is another activity that you should not miss if you have the chance to visit this place.

DSC00918
It is amazing how clear the water is here…

DSC00898
No Photoshop here. This is just how water looks in El Nido.

DSC00875
The Hidden Lagoon can be visited on one of the many organized trips around the nearby islands. Totally recommended.

DSC00989
Nothing like this beautiful sunset to say goodbye (or better, see you later) to this beautiful country 🙂

Posted on

Trip to Malaysia

Lately I am traveling a lot… which means I don’t have much time to update my blog, study Korean, or keeping in touch with friends.

Anyways, this trip’s goal was basically diving in Sipadan, which we couldn’t because we didn’t know that there is a one-month waiting list to dive there. But at least we got to dive in other closer islands and we finally got our PADI Open Water Diver License.

We decided to stay at Semporna, a town on the east coast of Sabah, in Borneo. From there, you can take a boat to many small nearby islands which are pretty good for diving. There is not much to see in this town, though. Most tourists here come solely to dive.

IMG_3050
With Alex, ready for some snorkeling.

P8130101
That’s me, diving.

P8130154
And that’s me with my friends, diving.

IMG_3084
This is what I call paradise 😀

IMG_3123
Sunset in Semporna.

IMG_3148
Floating houses. Many people in Semporna live on the sea… literally.

Once we got sick of diving, we flu back to Kuala Lumpur, and spend a couple of days there. The city isn’t one of my favorites, but I liked the mix of cultures and religions that you can see on the streets (Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.). We decided to pay for a guided tour, which probably was a good idea because it was raining most of the day and it felt quite nice to move around by car instead of walking.

IMG_3216
Main gate of the Royal Palace, Kuala Lumpur.

IMG_3210
Partying with Marcos in Kuala Lumpur.

IMG_3247
In front of the Petronas Twin Towers. One of the least original pictures to be taken in KL. By the way, according to Wikipedia, the second tower was built by the Korean company Samsung Engineering and Construction.

We spent the last day of the trip in Malacca, a very nice colonial town two hours and a half drive south from Kuala Lumpur. This city was colonized by the Portuguese, Dutch, and British. Therefore, Malacca seems anything but an Asian city.

IMG_3295
There are these tuk-tuks decorated with flowers everywhere around Malacca taking tourists around.

IMG_3293
Christ Church, at the Dutch Square in Malacca.

On the way back to the airport, we stopped at Putrajaya, a kind of artificial city where the government is moving most of its official buildings. There is a big mosque and selling of alcohol is forbidden in the whole city.

IMG_3325
In front of the Prime Minister’s office, in Putrajaya.

IMG_3339
View of the Putra Mosque at night.

Posted on

Trip to Thailand

Sawatdee!!

Here are some pictures of our trip to Thailand. All of the ICEX interns in Seoul have spent six days relaxing in paradise-like beaches, from the pool to the beach and from the beach to the pool, drinking shakes for less than a dollar, and besides, Alex and I, got our diving license (the PADI Scuba Diver) 😀

Overall, the trip was great, although it was so hot and humid all the time. I imagined Thailand much more “Asian”. Sometimes I thought I was in South or Central America instead of in Asia.. I guess it must be because of the tropical weather;)

IMG_2349
The six ICEX interns, on the Thai Airways airplane.

IMG_2363
Taking the boat to Ton Sai Bay.

IMG_2377
Alex and Ciro on the kayak.

P1070496
InPhra Nang Bay, a beach near Ton Say Bay, where we went by kayak (here is a map).

P1070724
After Ton Sai Bay, we decided to move to a resort in Phi Phi Islands. Here’s a view of our island, Ko Phi Phi Don (picture by Jairo).

IMG_2427
This is a good summary of our trip.

IMG_2487
In front of Ko Phi Phi Lee, the island where the movie “The Beach” was filmed.

IMG_2490
With Carlos at the same beach. The sign is kind of scary, isn’t it?

IMG_2519
On the boat going to do diving.

IMG_2520
With Alex and two Koreans we met diving.

IMG_2531
We were lucky that it only rained one day. Anyway, the temperature was still like Malaga in august.

IMG_2526
Fire show on the beach.

IMG_2556
Back in Bangkok, the same heat but no beach. Here we are at the Grand Palace.

IMG_2559
Buddhist figure at the Grand Palace.

IMG_2588
We had Mirinda in Spain long time ago, but they stopped selling it. In Thailand they still have it 😛

IMG_2598
On a Tuk-Tuk, a kind of motorcycle with three wheels quite common in Southeast Asia.

IMG_2625
Jairo playing Takraw with some locals.

IMG_2631
Sunset at the Khao San Road market.

IMG_2633
Back in Seoul, with a three-hour sleep and ready to work. On the bus, Alex and Jairo looked kind of tired:P

And if you want to see more pictures, all of them are here.