It has become a sort of tradition of mine to travel to El Nido, Palawan for my birthday every year but due to Quentin Tarantino having been apparently chosen to direct this train wreck called 2020, I am stuck here in Vietnam with no way to travel anywhere let alone internationally. Don’t get me wrong, Vietnam is wonderful and there’s nowhere else I would rather be right now but more on that later.

On to the star of this story, El Nido, Palawan. I realize I may have started this whole thing a bit too aggressively and I wish I could go back and change that but I have vowed to live my life with no regrets this year so let us leave it at that.

Above: Snap from a boat in El Nido Beach; Below: Seven Commandos Beach

My yearly trip is usually a week long which is more than enough in my opinion. El Nido is more a place you go to get off the grid and relax but since I work remotely and need decent WiFi connection (seemingly an impossible thing to find and an ongoing problem of mine whenever I’m in the country) every day, I can only stay as long.

Above and below: Las Cabañas Beach, El Nido very early in the morning.

Flying to El Nido, or Puerto Prinsesa, if you choose to go that route, will immediately show you that there are a couple of tours people typically do. Tour agencies all have the same ones so take your pick. My favorite one that I take is whatever tour takes me to Seven Commandos Beach, Entalula Beach, Big and Small Lagoon, and Shimizu Island. If my memory serves me right, that is usually Tour A but if you are friendly enough with the guides, they will take you anywhere you want.

The last time I was there, I stayed in a hut near Las Cabañas Beach which was when I discovered the said beach. It ended up being my go-to and went there almost every day. I recommend (did not mean for this article to be a guide or recommendation but it looks like that’s what happened but we will go with it) renting a motorbike so you can visit Nacpan Beach. Go farther up north until you see Darocotan Island and then down to see beaches, like Santa Monica Beach, that people do not usually visit which is where that picture of a hut is taken from.

El Nido makes me feel like I’m nowhere near home despite the locals speaking a language I know only too well. Not only are the sights heavenly but the people are so incredibly lovely. So Filipino if that makes sense. I remember having an argument with a friend who asked me to haggle with the locals for the motorcycle fee which I know is already too cheap. I refused to and I felt very defensive and protective over my own people as we had money to spare and that $12 would go a long way for a family of five. That and I am too anxious to haggle.

I am grateful for El Nido for a lot of different things. This is where I have made a lot of my life’s decisions, where I began to see things clearly, where I found my peace and where I will always go to feel safe. This place feels like my mother’s embrace and a bowl of her glorious macaroni soup on a bad day. It is, in all sense of the word, a paradise. My paradise.

IR x