El Nido: a paradise and a promise

(I didn’t really want to break my Backpacking South East Asia series but really, really want to share my recent trip in El Nido while the memories are still as clear as its waters. This post is dedicate for the soul-searching part of the trip. Actual itinerary and photo overload will be in another post.)

Payong Payong Beach, El Nido, Palawan

My heart really felt heavy when I left El Nido. And I am not saying this cause I’m being cheesy or anything. Truly, El Nido has captured my heart that morning as I walked on the beach, just basking in the calmness of the sea. The islands had such an effect on me that I just couldn’t stop myself from gazing in awe. To top it all, meeting people from different places and seeing cultures blend seamlessly right before your eyes is but an icing on the cake for a memorable El Nido trip.

Backpacking South East Asia: Brunei – Getting In, Around and Out of Kampong Ayer

Day 4: Bandar Seri Begawan walkabout and actual Kampong Ayer exploration (part 3)

Note: The delayed Part 2 is on Yayasan and surrounding areas, Part 4 is inside the Kampong Ayer Cultural and Tourism Gallery, Part 5 will be the Royal regalia Museum and the Masjid Jame’ Asri Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah. Please bear with my slow writing and uploads!

After having breakfast and doing some walkabout and shopping at Yayasan (it’s raining so I had to stay indoors), I decided to go around the complex (actually get lost is a better term) and its nearby landmarks. After which, I noticed that a lot of time has already passed and so I really need to go to Kampong Ayer or else miss my chance of seeing the water villages.

Water Taxi Terminal (Kampong Ayer a few seconds away!)

I’m not really a nature tripping fanatic so though it interested me to see the proboscis monkey, I opted to just spend my time inside the water village. So, since the Ates (Pinay!) from the souvenir shop, already informed me of the things I need to remember when going to the village, I hopped on to one of the water taxis waiting near Yayasan. I asked the driver how much it would cost and he said that it’s BND1 (PhP35). I knew that the fare should only be 50Sen but I was willing to let it slide. However, a passenger about to board the same boat said, “It’s only 50Sen.” Yun na! Hahaha

My travel blogging for 2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 3,000 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 50 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Backpacking South East Asia: Brunei – Masjid Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien (SOAS Mosque)

Day 4: Bandar Seri Begawan walkabout and Kampong Ayer actual exploration (Part 1)
Warning: You are about to have a Masjid overload

I had a great night with Zaza and her friends Narissa and Amal. There’s so many things I wish to share with you for my couchsurfing experience but that would have to wait a little while longer. Now, I wish to take you on a walking tour of Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital city of Negara Brunei Darussalam.  The day began by Zaza, after checking her young ones’ class attendance, taking me around the city center and showing me the places where I might want to visit. We agreed to meet after my walkabout, at around 2pm in Coffee Bean. I won’t have a way to contact her directly since I did not get a Bruneian SIM card. So, with that settled and her dropping me off at the SOAS Mosque, my six-hour walkabout began.

Sultan Omar 'Ali Saifuddien Mosque: First shot at first glance

Backpacking South East Asia: Onward from Kota Kinabalu to Brunei

Day 3: Kota Kinabalu-Labuan-Brunei via Ferry (the route most traveled)

Room 99 awaits!

After a great day and evening spent with Zuldee and Sally, I spent some more time chatting with the other guests at Sensi Backpackers. The Shanghai family is scheduled to leave the day after, just like me. We spent some more hours just chatting and me trying to convince them to come here in the Philippines. After that, my eyes and body finally gave in to the strong pull of the comfortable bed.

I woke up at about 6am and readied my stuff. I grabbed some breakfast too, and got myself some baon fruits (an apple and an orange), free! :p Before I left, I bade Sally goodbye (she told me to wake her) and promised that I’d see if I can come back to Kota Kinabalu before she returns to London (December 18). Unfortunately, I did not hold future at my hands and as much as I wanted to return and visit the Kota Kinabalu National Park, I no longer can. (If you are reading this Sally, I’m sorry! Come visit me instead! Hehe)

Anyway, if my camera time tag is correct, I am still having my bread toasted at 6:45am. The ferry that would take me from Kota Kinabalu to Brunei, passing through Labuan Federal Territory of Malaysia, is set to leave at 8am. Meaning, I should have been on my way at that time already instead of having two toasted bread with butter (more of margarine actually), strawberry jam and orange marmalade. So, I had to rely on my long legs and even longer strides to get me there before the departure time. I even made some stops actually, taking snaps here and there (I think I ended up erasing those here and there snaps when I ran out of memory somewhere in Vietnam).

One of the snaps here and there that survived the cut!

I think it took me about 20 minutes walking from Sensi to Jesselton. It probably helped that I have been to Jesselton the day before for my Sapi Island Hopping Half-day Tour. I bought my ticket (sorry, I’ll try to juggle my memory to remember from which counter it was purchased) and paid the terminal fee. I asked for the cheapest ticket available (economy ticket), priced at RM53 + RM 3.6 for the terminal fee at Jesselton.

Off to Labuan!

I figured, we’d all get there anyway. Besides, it’s an air-conditioned cabin whether you choose first-class or economy. Perhaps they got a better view though. Or they would be served a meal or something. I really didn’t know and I didn’t care so much. What mattered to me at that time was that I can save some bucks. :p