With all my travels, it never occurred to me that stuff like this can ever happen to someone like me. I check in really early, always at least 2 hours in advance. During my business trip to Shanghai, China, I did not only made a web check-in, I was in the airport for more than 3 hours in advance. You might say I was quite an early bird, and also because leaving on a Sunday, I figured, it is best to have a hassle-free trip before the entire business engagement begins. It is for an entire week and I was preparing myself for the grind by having a laid back flight. I was wrong.
I waited and waited at the conveyor. Just when everybody has taken their bags, and all that are left behind are bags that are not in any way the same as my black american tourister luggage (no not even the color), I quickly went to the luggage information counter. The lady told me to write everything down in the paper report then she told me that I will be notified at my hotel. She told me to proceed to my hotel and they will arrange for delivery.
My hotel is 90 minutes away form the airport. I quickly connected with my sister from Manila and asked her if she can arrange with PAL from Manila to locate my bag. As I did not connect my mobile phone to roaming, I quickly realized that I can connect with my sister through viber and whatsapp, but no google (all sorts of google) and no facebook. Instagram is possible though, but quite limiting to talk by way of pics :-P
So to cut it short, my sister finds out that PAL sent my luggage to Riyadh. Somehow they threw it in the conveyor going to Riyadh while I was checked in for the flight to Shanghai. Wow.
The following day, PAL Riyadh forgot to place my luggage for the flight back to Manila. Then the next day, it does arrive in Manila, but only to have missed another day because every wednesdays, there is no flight from Manila to Shanghai. Thursday my luggage arrives to Shanghai Airport. And it stays there for an entire day because PAL Manila thinks they have already done their part (what?)... Okay so my hotel (oh don't get me wrong, the hotel I stayed in was awesome and really really offers tremendous service! Shout out to you Crowne Plaza Shanghai Xiayang Lake -- your staff and the hotel are really awesome!!!!!) is 90 minutes away from Pudong Shanghai Airport, and as PAL Shanghai said they will send it to my hotel, why did they not even bother to tell me that hey you need to go get it yourself? Okay so Friday, PAL Shanghai tells me they are arranging for my luggage to be sent to my hotel. Saturday 3AM my luggage is sent to my room. I requested the front desk to wake me up in case my one and only little luggage arrives.
For all this, PAL decides to give me PhP12,000. Actually they were thinking of handing me only USD100. I mean what? This lady manager of the baggage department says they are only following Philippine laws by handing me at most PhP12,000. I mean, fine, follow the laws, but do you really need to be inefficient that it took Sunday to Saturday to send me my luggage? And so no one takes ownership for this mistake? I mean... imagine how cool was it that it was a business trip, I entered our Shanghai office on a Monday wearing my chuck taylors. Hahahaha thanks Philippine Airlines. Thank you so much.
Just as the waters of Coron in September 2013 made me realize that snorkeling is a wonderful (and cheaper) way to hit the deep waters of the Philippines, I booked a flight to Puerto Princesa so I can check out what the fuss is all about in El Nido.
My verdict: I loved it! It has that combination of the night life of Boracay and the snorkeling tours of Coron, Palawan, Philippines, that despite the fact that it takes you 5 to 6 hours by land trip to get there from the airport, it is just so worth it!
Hey I am not the type who would recommend long road trips (I love long road trips with friends sure, but I do not recommend them for other people because the liking varies). I like places that are easily accessible from the airports, at a maximum of 2 hours drive (this is why Coron is very famous, you can get there in an hour and comfortably!). My van ride from Puerto Princesa airport to El Nido was comfortable, don't get me wrong, but it almost takes forever to get there...
I booked my flight in February, a promo flight from Manila to Puerto Princesa. A couple of days before my flight in 10 July 2014, I booked a van who will pick me up from Puerto Princesa Airport (Fortwally Shuttle: Evelyn +639172762875 or email fortwallytransport@yahoo.com, PhP500 if you book directly with Evelyn). I connected with them by email first and I got the mobile number in response. The van was quick to pick me up from the airport, however, the promised 10AM departure became 11:30AM, so expect delays. Internet searches will tell you their departure is indeed scheduled at 11AM, yet during the phone conversation before leaving Manila, Evelyn told me that the van will leave puerto princesa by 10AM. I was so glad to know that because I was arriving at 9:30AM in Puerto Princesa, and a 30-minute wait for my luggage is more than enough. I expected an early arrival to El Nido, but I was wrong. As mentioned, delays delays delays - be prepared for them.
I arrived approximately 5PM in El Nido. I was able to get a very cheap room in a place called Arkitel (Carissa +639351575943, this girl is very accommodating and very very nice). This is a newly built, 2 month-old dorm-type place, with shared bathroom --which I totally did not mind because it was low season. Apart from the place itself being clean, the bed is also new and I never suffered any bedbug bites at all. The room was airconditioned and has ample closet space for your stuff. The only problem could be that the windows are not fully sealed so the airconditioning does not reach a good cold temperature. Also, the door can only be locked by the knob - not too secure. In any case, I never left any valuables in the room. I always brought my snorkel gear, my camera, my phone, and all my cash with me. They charge PhP 700 per night --I have no complaints!
Speaking of cash, make no mistake: bring as much as you can. While El Nido is a tourist area, it does not have automatic teller machines, and credit cards are rarely accepted. I had to make sure I paid everything in advance or else I will run out of cash for the more important things!
What are the important things for me?
Snorkel Tours - I don't really go for beach tours because my intention was to snorkel
Dinner - A high-activity day deserves a full dinner!
Breakfast - Start your day right!
Room Payment - I wouldn't want to be sleeping in the beach
Drinks at night - Why not?
If you take any tours, just bring a small bottle of water. The tour guides will be feeding you with some awesome lunch anyways and they also bring (safe) drinking water. No need to bring snacks or any type of food.
After I have checked in at Arkitel, I quickly found nice places to check out. Arkitel is just a 3-minute walk to the beach shore, and upon seeing a deck, I quickly pulled out my camera and took a photo of the water.. Unfortunately, there are no sunset views in El Nido beach during that month. I also heard that if ever there would be sunset views, it will be during summer (April-May) and you have to visit a different beach resort to see it. Anyways, here is the view on my first night:
Awesome margarita served at Og's Resto Bar along the beach front
Okay who would say a glass of red wine along the beach front is not awesome? This shot was taken at Atmosphere Bar along the El Nido beach front.
Carissa of Arkitel arranged for my Tour A (PhP1,200) the following day. This is a snorkel tour with the final island being a beach. I still snorkeled in that beach though :-P Check out the lunch spread that was served for us!
LUNCH!!!!
Hello lover!
Final destination for Tour A: Seven Commando Beach
Not a beer drinker but the beach is just the best place to drink beer...
So since the Mezzanine offers a very relaxing ambience and the view of the beach is also perfect, I came back here for dinner. I was rushing so I can take advantage of their happy hour which runs from 4PM-6PM. During this period, the cocktails are offered at buy 1 take 1 for PhP200. Awesome! I tried many combinations!
The following day, I did Tour C (PhP1,400), and the views were even more awesome!!!
Helicopter Island, I love this shot. No filter, no special effects. Just my Olympus PEN Lite E-PL5
Docking at the Helicopter Island
Lunch!!!
Probably the best view in the tours: Matinloc Shrine
You guessed it! Drinks again before the happy hour ends at the Mezzanine!
Try the PhP99 choco banana crepes near the beach front of El Nido.
Also, try the PhP 99 breakfast buffet at Austria's Place. Pancakes all you can. No complaints for that price!
The following day was a very early shuttle ride back to Puerto Princesa. This time I took the van services of Eulen Joy. Arkitel arranged it for me for PhP600. Now I do not know if they are indeed more on time than FortWally because I mentioned with the Eulen Joy driver that I am timing them. We left at PhP530AM, even if I arrived at 4:45AM, again delays are normal in this part of the world.
I arrived at Puerto Princesa by 11AM. The drop off point is at the airport but since I checked googlemaps and I saw that Tres Pension House is very near the North Road, I asked to be dropped off at an ATM station along North Road. Yes, running outta cash! From there, the tricycle ride to Tres Pension, aided by google maps, is only PhP30 maximum. Check in time at Tres Pension is at 12noon so I left my stufdf and had lunch at Robinsons Mall first.
Tres Pension House is a really nice place. It was pretty rainy in El Nido so I thought of taking a much cheaper fan room from Tres Pension (PhP800 per night) than an aircon room (PhP1,200/night) and see for myself if the fan room is acceptable. Yes it was! I took photos of the place because not only is it affordable, the rooms are spacious and clean, has its own bathroom, the place has its own restaurant, serves breakfast, and also has its own bar. Done and done!
This is where they served my breakfast before I left Puerto Princesa. Tres Pension offers free transportation going to Puerto Princesa Airport.
Here's my half day city tour of Puerto Princesa:
Cotton Candies...
Definitely going back to Puerto Princesa to try their own snorkel tour! In my experience, the underwater colors in Coron were more vibrant, but there is just something with El Nido's happy night life that charms me! Coron was pretty much silent come night time...but more accessible from the airport. In the end, it is all about how willing you are to travel by land and how much time you have for the trip. I will always find time for a snorkel tour, and if that is the only intention, easy peasy decision will be to visit Coron. But if I have the luxury of time and I want the chance to be able to have fun after the day tours, I will visit El Nido of course.
I have been waiting for this Project Pie branch to open because I have heard that you can actually put as many types of toppings as you please, in whatever combinations you want. I have always been disappointed that my favorite meaty pizzas do not come with pineapple options, or if I want to add some, my friends won't agree to it. Also I seem to be just the only one person who usually love anchovies, pineapples, and olives in my pizza. I mean, I want all those flavorful stuff! Maybe not in just one go, but at least I want my combinations without the discomfort of alienating my friends' request in that one pie. Now I am very glad to know that Project Pie exists! Luckily, I was able to try it last 24 July 2014 at around 5PM. What did I order?
Sauce: Red
Meat: Prosciutto, Pepperoni, Bacon (Yes I'm a meat lover!)
Cheese: Mozarella, Ricotta
Others: Pineapple, Mushroom, Green Bell Pepper
My Pizza says: How do I look?
The verdict? I will definitely come back! The pie is approximately 8 inches, thin crust, and tastes good. Although the taste will definitely vary based on the combination of toppings, they sure have a lot of suggested combinations for those who are not very familiar with all the ingredients. But as for me, the point of this experience is to make your own pizza. Why not build your own pizza and put all your cravings in that thin crust? :)
Get to know more about this cool store by visiting https://www.projectpie.com/story
This was my first time to attend something like a “Coachella”
type of event (http://www.coachella.com/), and what’s more enticing was the fact that it is a 3-day event
on the beach! Wow! So me and my friend booked in February. After paying online,
I thought maybe I would get the option to choose our accommodations, but I only
received a receipt in my email. I quickly sent Travel Factor an email asking
about the details of the event. They responded promptly, a good sign, saying
the travel itinerary and accommodations will be sent 3 days before the
festival. I figured, hey as long as nothing goes wrong, and I can get a
hassle-free beach getaway, a 3-day notice is fine. I was wrong.
I will try to be as detailed as possible lest I be misinterpreted. But simply put, this is a review about how disgruntled I am about this event hahaha...
First of all, the promised communication came in late at
night, for the itinerary only. The email about our accommodations came in 2
days before the event. We also found out we are having 2 other roommates and
that we cannot change things. Now for our bus, we were the only ones with
roommates, and true enough we cannot change things, it is only 2 days before we
hit the beach! Okay okay, fine, let’s be considerate to the organizers.
Call time for the bus ride was 3AM and will leave at 4:30AM
sharp. Good that the waiting time was a long one since we arrived at 3:45AM. We
did leave at 4:30AM, no worries. We had one pit stop which was the NLEX
gasoline station and after this, the ride went straight to Crystal Beach
Resort.
We reached Crystal Beach in San Narciso, Zambales at around
9:30am. It took a while before we can hit the beach because the electric wires
were in the way of the buses. I was thinking to myself: did they not know about
vertical and horizontal clearances when they made their ocular inspection as
well as video teaser?
So it was clearly stated in the itinerary that we will have
a “free time” at the beach prior to check in. We were told by our bus leader
that we are to meet at the front of Crystal Beach by 1:45pm so we can be
transported to our accommodations for check in. We were quite unluckily booked
by Travel Factor at San Antonio, a 30-minute ride away from San Narciso. Okay
we were told to loiter from 10:30AM to 1:45PM, sounds agreeable since we really
want to check out the concert grounds of Crystal Beach anyways. Hey what could
go wrong?
1:30PM, we went to the meeting spot. I even called the
assistant bus leader to check on the time. So I was told that the buses won’t
fit on the road leading to Crystal Beach so we will be picked up by
vans/shuttles to take us to San Antonio. 2PM still no sign of logistics.
2:30PM, nothing. I called the assistant bus leader (I was not able to save the
number of the bus leader) to ask about the situation. I even told her they have
no respect for our time, that being told to have this much free-time is bad
enough (as if we were kids told to play on the sandbox while the adults setup
their booths), why can’t they afford to be on time? So she apologized and I
asked her if she can send me SMS when the shuttles are taking the Bus #8 team
to San Antonio. The agreed (adjusted) time was 3:30PM but I had to make sure
they do not leave us because we had to grab something cold to drink inside Crystal
Beach so I asked her to send me SMS. Waiting while standing outside the resort
can be dehydrating too, you know.
By 3:30 PM, even without receiving any SMS from the bus
leaders, we went straight to the front. We were able to catch the last shuttle,
and after our names were confirmed, we were able to hit the road on our way to
San Antonio. We checked in around 4-4:30PM. We took turns showering, since
there were 4 of us in the room. Then we all snoozed. So tired and sleepy. We got drained of the entire transport system.
My friend and I woke up at 8PM. By then, our roommates were
already out. We were quite lucky that our accommodations (Megan’s Room) had a
really nice caretaker and the place had a tricycle terminal outside. It was
indicated in the primer that the tricycle can take us to Crystal Beach for
100PhP per head one way, so we thought it was fairly priced for a 30-minute
ride. Whoah we were charged 400 PhP, for the 2 of us. We tried to negotiate and
finally we paid the tricycle owner PhP350. I hate haggling for these things so
I settled with that price, also I had a hunch that with the chaos of the day’s
logistics, that maybe the communication on tricycle pricing might have been
wrong all along. I reported this to Travel Factor on their booth at the
entrance. The Asst. Bus Leader for Bus#8 was there, and she was dead sure the
price should have been PhP100/head. Alright, next time we will be adamant about
just giving PhP200 for the 2 of us. We asked to sign up for the jeepney ride on
the way home which only charge Php40 going straight to each of the San Antonio
accommodations reserved for Travel Factor. We were the first to sign up for the
12:30AM ride and we even had stubs.
Pardon my amateur video :-P
The concert on night #1 was awesome because of Franco and Up
Dharma Down. The stage setup was really nicely done, and lights are great. Forget
about the DJ’s mixes. Although I must say the DJ that was mixing the sounds
after the Zombettes were a lot better than the ones mixing during our daytime
“loiter” period along Crystal Beach. Forget about the Zombettes too. Our
roommates told us that the Zombettes had a totally different mix for that night
that they were also shocked to hear not-so-awesome sounds on night #1.
We tried to reach the schedule of the jeepney and shocked to
see that it was so full! No one was at the Travel Factor booth so no one took
our stubs. We were 2 girls who sat at the steps of the jeepney. Yes, right
there even before you get inside. We ate a lotta space dust! :-P Especially on the dusty dusty road leading to Punta de Uian, one of the accommodations for Travel Factor. The following day we learned that there was
only one jeepney and driver that transported everyone back to San Antonio. No
wonder the 12:30AM batch was so full until the roof! Yes, the guys were riding
on top of the jeepney.
Day 2: we went to Crystal Beach with our roommates
at 2:30PM. They saved the mobile number of the tricycle driver who brought them
to Crystal Beach the night before, so we were fetched by two tricycles. Well
after much discussion, as expected they were supposed to charge us additional PhP
50 for each of us. But we were in defensive mode so they finally agreed to just
PhP200 per tricycle one way. You see it is no longer about the amount you pay, but the
fact that they had the habit of catching you off guard with the price. It just
feels like being ripped off and certainly on Day 2, you kinda get annoyed already that you do not let things slide anymore.
That afternoon at Crystal Beach was awesome, alcohol was
being served at the beach front. The sounds and the activities (Acro Yoga and
fire dances) were nice, the kind of beach lounging that I imagined in my head when
I booked to pay for Summer Siren Festival. The DJ who was mixing on day 2
around 3:30-4:30PM was awesome. But then it was followed by 2 girl-DJ’s who
seemed like what they were playing were mixed and recorded the day before, with
so-so mixes that were not fancy, not engaging, and I was even thinking how hard
is it really to make a nice beach-type mix? Travel Factor should make a good
screening of DJ’s if they plan to have a next time.
Yoga
So here we go with concert night #2. Honestly we only stayed
outside the concert grounds, using the bean bags as our beds and staring at a
few stars and the clouds. Oh by the way, the concert area is a fenced portion
along the beach front. You cannot bring in food or alcoholic drinks.
That far out place after the quicksilver booths is the fenced concert area.
But on
Night#2, they also disapproved bringing water and juices in the fenced concert area since they started
selling those inside too.
The beer was sold at PhP50 per plastic cup. This is
barely a bottle of San Miguel Light, mind you. The first night I was served
with a plastic cup with more bubbles than beer. The following night, there’s
this one barista girl who has perfected transferring the beer on the plastic
cup with less bubbles, but still there would be about 3 gulps of beer left on
the bottle. During Concert night #2, I was surprised to be asked by the barista
that I can finish whatever was left in the bottle before taking my cup to watch the concert. Hah, if
only they did the same thing on concert night #1 and our afternoon beach
lounging on Day #2! I mean I felt ripped off. The vodka and jaeger mixes were
also sold expensively at PhP 150 for 1/3 of the plastic cup. And oh, need I say
that Travel Factor had the time to print the Summer Siren logo on the plastic
cups??? Yes they had the time to do such things on plastic. They could have
invested a portion of the event budget on seamless transportation for the
guests rather than worry about that logo on the plastic cup, which were by the
way thrown away for every use! I would be impressed if they encouraged using
the cups again in exchange for a little discount on beer!
The jeepney ride back home made us meet some of those in Bus
#8. We were sharing the same sentiments on delayed and poor transportation
arrangements by Travel Factor. We told them we met someone from Bus#2 and she
told us they were doing fine, no delays, and they were booked at a walking
distance accommodation near Crystal Beach. Why should it be any different with
us? I honestly believe that despite the First-Come-First-Served basis of the
event, we paid in full with what we reserved for, so we should not be
shortchanged in terms of handling. There was not even an assurance of safety!
The roads leading to our accommodations are not well lit, with no houses
visible, so you would really be mindful about taking a tricycle after the
concert at midnight or so.
Our Day 3 was decided: we bumped off visiting Crystal Beach
and we rather resorted to island hopping with our roommates. The island hopping
was arranged by Megan’s Room. We were able to visit 3 islands including Capones
and Anawangin. We quickly came back by 10AM since the agreed schedule of pick
up by Travel Factor was 11:30AM. You would think they would have stepped up a
little on Day 3? After all promises that they would make up for it on day 3 by
arranging that our group will go first in being transported back to the buses,
you would think they could at least have the decency to arrive on time. 12:30PM,
still no Travel Factor. I think we were able to check out around 12:45-1PM. So
much for 11:30AM call time and all apologies…hehehe
There was no festive mood at all in Bus #8. Forget it.
Everybody just wanted to go home. We even thought the bus had a malfunction
somehow, somewhere along the way back to Manila. Luckily, we arrived back at
the Podium area around 6:30PM if I am not mistaken. I really do not care
anymore as long as I am out of hands of Travel Factor. Everything that can go
wrong or be miscommunicated seems possible with them.
Overall, the event was a mess. Poor planning and poor
handling. Travel Factor, this one was a mess on your part really. And all your
apologies on SMS could not save your faces at all. The least you can do was be
on time on Day 3, or at least buy all of us a bottle of buko juice each, hey
whatever token you can give! Sheesh.
Overall, not much fun except that we had
nice lucky pick roommates who also knew how to party despite the circumstances :) Of course the beach itself saved Travel Factor. Crystal Beach lends a natural
appeal and had a wide enough space to accommodate all delegates. I would
however recommend that if they ever plan to have another Summer Siren Festival,
pick a spot with ample accommodations nearby for everyone, beef up the
logistics, and ensure that everyone’s time is treated with respect. Because after all the hoolabaloo that has
happened, I really stopped caring about how the accommodations looked as long
as the sheets are clean and the shower and toilet are working fine, and that we
can be safe wherever we are checked in. Oh I forgot to add that maybe the DJ
choices can do better. Hey, I am not asking for Avicci or David Guetta, I am
sure Travel Factor cannot arrange for that seamlessly. There are many great
DJ’s in the Philippines, and a little screening and orientation on how the
sounds should be engaging can really help. Seriously.
We were adults who expected to have a hassle-free
vacation. Travel Factor obviously
overlooked that portion.
And here’s to Bus #8: A toast to all of us who managed to
have fun. I am sure I will hear and read similar reviews from you too J
