Australia isn’t really on my list when it comes to countries to visit. It’s not that it doesn’t spark the wanderlust in me, what with the iconic Sydney Opera House—something I’ve only dreamt of seeing in person ever since taking up Architecture years back—or even Ayers Rock and the Great Barrier Reef. The list of things to see and do in that massive country cum continent are endless. My hesitation to visit Australia is their visa requirement for the Philippines. It’s something I’m not sure I would pass.

SNORKELING AT THE GREAT BARRIER REEF ~ PHOTO BY QUEENSLAND AT WTS WIKIVOYAGE

Being a full time blogger and photographer, I don’t have the usual list of essentials required by most countries for a tourist visa. First off, I don’t have an employer to establish that I am actually employed. I don’t have a ITR (income tax return), since most of my earnings are remitted from overseas.

Huffing and puffing, we took the last few steps up the steel ladders leading to the apex of the El Nido Canopy Walk. The town spread out a hundred or so meters below us, lining the shore like toy houses leading to the blue green waters of Bacuit Bay. Outrigger boats used for island hopping bob lightly along the water, hemmed in by a soaring cliff carpeted in greens on the left and a wooded hill on the right. It was a fantastic view best enjoyed alive and unscathed.

A VIEW OF EL NIDO’S BACUIT BAY FROM MOUNT TARAW

Climbing the Taraw Cliff or Mount Taraw is usually on the bucket list of most climbers visiting El Nido. Even D, one of our friends who was with us during the trip was planning to scale it, only to find it closed due to a recent accident. Apparently a guide has fallen while trying to save a climber who had just proposed to his girlfriend right on the mountain. Besides this incident, there has been other accidents and even deaths involving climbers trying to conquer Taraw’s Peak.

Everyone in the group, except M, had tried the island hopping activities in El Nido. We initially thought of passing up on it, but we considered doing it again for the sake of our friend. Well, it’s his first time on this part of Palawan and we thought we’d treat him to a combo island tour to maximize his island hopping experience.

MOTORIZED OUTRIGGER BOATS USED FOR ISLAND HOPPING IN EL NIDO

El Nido has four island hopping options grouped into Tour A, B, C, and D. The two most popular routes are Tour A and Tour C. If you have limited time like us, you can actually combine these tours—choose where you want to go and cross off those that doesn’t interest you. Already familiar with most of the islands and beaches on the list, that’s exactly what we did.

Linapacan was our second choice for our Palawan getaway. We originally planned on going to Balabac, but due to weather constraints and the threat of being eaten by crocodiles, we whole-heartedly settled for the latter. And can we be so choosy? Linapacan has been tagged as having one of the clearest waters in the world.

LINAPACAN HAS BEEN DUBBED AS HAVING ONE OF THE CLEAREST WATERS IN THE WORLD

Located between El Nido and Coron, Linapacan is actually a municipality in Palawan. It is a menagerie of islands, some of which used to belong to Coron. The town’s jump off is about an hour away from El Nido, and I’m quite puzzled as to why the boom in the region’s tourism hasn’t reached it yet.

After dropping our bags, freshening up, and finishing a cup of coffee at the Northern Hope Inn in El Nido Town, our van transfer going to the Twin Beach of Nacpan and Calitang promptly arrived (you can actually rent a tricycle going there if you’re just three in the group, it’s cheaper by a thousand pesos). We requested for the tour right after our arrival to maximize our stay in El Nido.

NACPAN BEACH IS MOSTLY FREQUENTED BY FOREIGN TOURISTS

The road to Nacpan was still as bumpy as the first two times I’ve visited it years back—granted, it’s only the latter part of the route which remains unpaved up to this day. Our driver told us that a concrete road is actually being constructed as of the moment, and indeed, we saw workers finishing up parts of the narrow dirt track.

With our hope of going to Balabac dashed, we settled for El Nido instead. From our original plan of exploring the southernmost town in Palawan, we’re now heading north. Everyone in the group had already visited El Nido more than once, except for J, but still, we’re all quite excited since we’ve set our sights on one of the lesser visited places in the area, Linapacan.

NORTHERN HOPE TOURS IN PALAWAN

From Puerto Princesa, we sought the help of Northern Hope Tours. We could’ve taken the public bus going there, but since we were a big group, we decided on taking a van (₱500.00 per person) instead—more fun for us that way. Northern Hope took care of everything, we just texted them where we were staying, and they picked us up early the next day after we had our silog breakfast.

“It’s crocodile mating season in Balabac and they’re pretty aggressive during this time” our tricycle driver shouted over the wind as we were hurled across the lantern-lit roads of Puerto Princesa. We just came from their brand-spanking new airport, backpacks in tow at the back of a tricycle, and it disheartened us to hear this news. Our host had already warned us that the weather wasn’t really favorable on our chosen date for Balabac, the southernmost town in Palawan, and now this. It definitely added to our apprehension of pushing ahead with our planned getaway.

EVENINGS AT PUERTO PRINCESA’S RIZAL AVENUE

Without a Plan B and unsure of our next move, we decided to regroup at one of the most famous and pioneering food places in Puerto Princesa, Rene’s Saigon Restaurant. It used to be that you can walk from the airport terminal to Rene’s chao longan, but the new airport terminal is now located farther away—like one tricycle ride away. Tired from the flight, we decided to recharge first before tackling the problem of where to actually go next.

A few photos I took on the provinces of Sorsogon, Masbate, Occidental Mindoro, Leyte, and Cagayan Valley, made its way to the pages of Inflight Traveler’s most recent issue.

KALANGGAMAN ISLAND AT PALOMPON, LEYTE

Still on major bookstores and select café’s, the March to May issue features the seven best campsites in the country—three of which I contributed, namely Amazona Beach in Abra de Ilog, Kalanggaman Island in Palompon, and Sibang Cove in Calayan Island—which I have yet to blog. These are all from non-sponsored trips I took during my heydays as a backpacker, lol.

Okay, I beat my previous year’s Lakad Pilipinas year-ender by almost a week! It’s now the 18th of January, and it’s actually the first time I’ve tried writing a real article since the New Year commenced. The days after the holidays always set my writing in limbo, hopefully this kickstarts it for the new year.

2017 saw me traveling outside the Philippines more than around our own island. Don’t scold me just yet, I didn’t particularly planned it that way, it just happened. Heck, I didn’t even set foot in Baguio this year, which is kinda sad since I make it a point to visit my favorite city at least once a year. I promise I’ll make it up this 2018.

And as with the previous years, C was my constant companion on almost all of these trips, with our best travel buddies, Team RH, tagging on some of them. Why travel alone when you can share the road with your friends, yeah?

It’s confirmed, we’re staying in Tokyo for another full day. A few minutes before we actually went out of our lodging in Asakusa, Enaka Central Hostel, we checked our phone for our flight schedule and found that it has been rescheduled. Instead of a midmorning flight, we’re having our flight from Tokyo to Manila via Cebu Pacific at midnight due to the typhoon that just passed Japan. We cannot be more happy with this news!

A JAPANESE FAMILY ENJOYING A VISIT TO MEIJI SHRINE

Quickly gathering our wits, we immediately formulated a plan. After visiting nearby prefectures like Nikko in Tochigi and Hakone in Kanagawa, a quick day tour of Tokyo was indeed in order. We consulted the Klook app for cheap Tokyo tours, but it was way too late to book one then. So, we did what we usually do best, do a Tokyo walk, DIY style.

It was on our last day in Japan when the rains stopped. We woke early, needing to catch our flight back to Manila via Cebu Pacific. With backpacks hoisted, we checked our flight on our mobile phone for the last time before heading out the door and, tadaaah, it was cancelled due to the recent storm and rescheduled for later that evening! You can just imagine our joy with that news; it means we suddenly have an extra full day to explore Tokyo on our own! Hurrah for cancelled flights! C went back to our dorm room, while I checked out the roof deck of our hostel—it was fully dry, at last!

ASAKUSA AT NIGHT

The previous night, we transferred to a second lodging. Coming from Wired Hotel Asakusa, our next accommodation was just a few minutes walk away, ENAKA Asakusa Central Hostel (now, Samurai Hostel Asakusa). We found this via Agoda, and it was the cheapest hostel we could find that’s within striking distance from where we were.

We mostly spent the light of days outside Tokyo. On our first day, we rested, tired from the flight from our unbelievably cheap flight from Manila to Tokyo via Cebu Pacific. But on our second day in the city, we woke early to catch a train to visit Hakone, hoping to have a glimpse of Mount Fuji amidst dreary weather. On the third, we scrambled across Asakusa for a day trip to Nikko. It’s all well and good, but how about Tokyo? Don’t we want to see Tokyo?

Of course, we did. We saw Tokyo after dark.