Guidebooks may be useful but for some accurate advice but I have always found it better to speak to a traveler who has recently come from the area. So when we were given the advice to call ahead and book somewhere in El Nido, Palawan, we didn’t want to waste time. We were due to fly out the following day and arrive in El Nido a few days later but after phoning the handful of hotels recommended to us, we had not bettered our situation. Some searching online came up with a large list of just about every accommodation option in El Nido and a frustrating full day spent calling each one was in vain as none had any rooms. We were faced with a tough decision, cancel our flights and reroute, or risk arriving with no where to go. Chinese New Year really seems to bring in the hordes of tourists to the Philippines and since El Nido is a place we required accommodation for over a week, we knew our chances weren’t good and regrettably had to cancel our flights.

With Cebu City’s grime and chaos getting to us we needed not to linger and decided to head out to a peaceful place to rethink our plans. 4 ½ hours on a bus and an hour long bangka ride brought us to Malapascua Island which had been recommended to us by some friends we met in Sri Lanka.