When we got to Jakarta, Rollan posted up his new indo number on Facebook so we could contect with family and friends. Oddly enough, one of his friends from Vancouver was in town for a few days and then would off to Bali at the same time as us for his wedding.

We had some really good times clubbing with Mo while in Jakarta, as well as with some of his friends as they started to come into the country.

This past Saturday we attended his wedding next to the beach at the Grand Hyatt Coconut. Amazing time, wicked location. Top notch.

Congraduations to Mo and Jess. All the best in the years to come.

One thing I've noticed here is Bali is the spicy factor of the food. Many of the dishes may look the same as the next but you may end up walking away with your mouth on fire.

This works out perfectly for me. I love hot and spicy food. Take the dish above. It doesn't look any different from any other dish. No chilli peppers or red sauce which usually gives it away. By the end of it, I couldn't breathe out of my mouth cause the air made my lips oven more hot. And, somehow even the rice was spicy.

I could really get used to this.

If any of you know Rollan and I, you know we've been wanting to go to Bali together for the longest time. Its come time in our trip and as I write this we are 45 minutes from touching down.

In our 2 weeks in Jakarta we met up with Rollan's dad. He's one hell of guy. He took us around the city to show me all the sites and give me a close look at the culture.

We also bumped into Vancouver friend who happened to be in town before his wedding in Bali. (Shout out to Mr. Mo. I'll see you at the wedding. Congrats) Here's my impression of Jakarta. Crazy amount of malls, hella traffic jams, amazing street food, the best gentlemen spas... Oh and the girls, the girls! Before I came I had been warned about so many things that I assumed I wouldn't make it out alive. I leave now with a great respect for the city.

I guarantee I'll be back to Jakarta. The question now is when.

If you've never heard of 'Padang', make a mental note now. Most of the food here in Indonesia is reasonably priced. If you eat on the street it's damn cheap.

Padang style restos/stalls are the equivilent of a buffet. There are large batchs of food prepared in the morning and present in the store front window. In most cases, they will bring small portions of everything they have to the table and once you're done they add up the bill based on what you took. Here's the part that might freak out a few people.. Whatever isn't eaten will be put back for the next customer. There are dedicated spoons to serve out of these shared dishes.. But can you ever be 100% sure nobody double dipped?

Aside from any FoodSafe concerns that may be running thru your head right now, these dishes are very delicious. And the price is right. With drinks, I've seen the price to be anywhere from $1.50 to $5 (although I'm sure it can get higher if you really try).

For those of you travelling on a budget, this is a great meal with variety lots of flavour.

I haven't been able to stay consistent with my blog posts. I either don't have the time, don't have internet access or I'm just plain lazy and tired.

Its time I start using technology to benefit. Since getting here to Jakarta, Indonesia, I've set myself up with a blackberry data package to stay more connected with work. Starting with this post, I'm going to try out the "email to post" feature of my blog platform.

I should be able to take a photo on my phone and write a quick entry wherever I am. No more excuses.

If you're reading this.. The system is working :)

Every time I told someone I was going to the Philippines, the common response was, "You have to check out Boracay!". Even the filipino's we met told us how nice it was, even though they've never been there themselves.

Ralph and Randy (our new canadian friends we met in Palawan) gave us all the nitty gritty advice for places to see, where the best happy hour places were, reasonably priced hotels and how the airport and jetty system worked. They had just spent 6 weeks there. I didn't realize how valuable the info was until we got there.

There are a few kilometres of pristine white powder-like sandy beach on the west side of the island. The water, crystal clear. It's everything they say it is. By far this is the best beach i've ever been to.

One thing most people don't tell you is the amount of restaurants, vendors and tourist there are there. There are thousands upon thousands of tourists there, mostly filipino's from Manila or that now live abroad. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but to get from point A to point B can sometimes take a little while. There are probably as many restaurants as there are people on the island. You never have to go far to find something to eat. The problem is that for the most part, they all serve the same menu. 

Rollan and I love to eat. We especially like to try the local cuisine and street food. The Philippines so far has been quite lacking in this area. Sure there are some street vendors.. but when the locals tell you that you probably shouldn't eat there, thats saying something. Many restos, offer a Filipino section to there menu… but somehow they don't seem to be able to cook the food well.

NOTE: This is not the case for all of the places we've been to. We have had some excellent meals (try Masas in Greenbelt 4, Makati City). It just seems that a large percentage of the food is just mediocre. Maybe its cause I'm too used to my mother and grandmothers homemade filipino cooking?

On the lighter side.. it still would recommend anyone to go to Boracay. It is paradise. I suggest you bring your wife/girlfriend or significant other… it can be very romantic if thats what you're looking for. You can find some great section of beach with relatively small crowds in Station 1.

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El Nido Beach Hotel

We stayed at two different hotels during our visit to El Nido. On this trip i've realized im not a budget traveller when it comes to accomodations. I prefer clean, aircon rooms. So here's a quick review of the two better hotels available.

El Nido Beach Hotel - 

All in all this was a pretty good hotel but at P4000 (about $80 CAD) per night for a double room (P3500 for a single) it could have been better. Breakfast was included with a choice of filipino or western style meals. There were a total of 3 tv stations, one of which is English. The place was clean but had a bit of an issue with ants. 

El Nido Garden Beach Resort -

It's a little pricey (I think the most expensive in town at P5300) but well worth the extra dollars. Its on the quiet side of the beach with a pool and little gym. You get a clean little cottage. There's only 10 cottage and they all surround the pool. The power in El Nido always gets shut off between 6am and 2pm but here they turn on the generator from 730 until 930 for breakfast. Its a great chance to crank your air conditioner to keep your room cool till at least 10:30.

There is only one tv channel (star movie) which seems good enough. Its not like you're on vacation to watch tv right? There is only one choice for breakfast, eggs, bacon, toast and fruit. Wi-Fi is available in the lobby whenever the power is one but they close the reception desk at 9pm which is a little strange. The staff are super friendly and great all around.

I highly recommend this hotel is you don't have a budget. 

El Nido Beach Hotel 2El Nido Garden Beach Resort 1

El Nido Garden Beach Resort 2

We decided to rent a Jeep and check out some of the surrounding island on the northern tip of Palawan. It was about 90km of rugged dirty road. 

The Jeep we had was made in the 60s and was a beast. Loud, poor steering and no doors made for quite the trip. Along the way we picked up some locals to give them a ride to a near by village. We were trying to get to a beach that was poorly marked and we figured the locals would be able to point out the right direction. Being that they were not from the main town, the their english was very poor. Needless to say, they directed us to the wrong beach. We ended up going up and down a road that probably hadn't seen vehicles in over a decade. The half way through, the road split in two with a giant crevasse which we had no choice but to go thru. Once we reach the bottom we realized we blew a tire. Luckily there was a near by tree to give us some shade to assess the situation.

After about an hour we finally put our spare tire on and decided to forget about the beach and just try to make it back to the main road. I stood at the top of the hill and guided Rollan up what we figured was the safest place. Success. We made it up and over to live another day. 

It was only about noon and we made the choice to keep going the long way around with another 60km to go. It was a beautiful trip but after the first few hours the constant bumping around was starting to take a load on our bodies. We took a pit stop at a beach where some locals offered us a beer which was needed. 

Beer heals everything.

When you're in El Nido the main activity is Island hopping. You can pretty much book an island hopping trip from every restaurant, corner store and table on the road. The whole place is geared toward getting you on a boat for the day to explore one of four different tour packages. Ralph and Randy recommended us to Martin from Ricsons. Great tour guide, good english and he has an answer or knows someone for just about everything.

If you want to take a group tour (max 6 ppl usually) its about $12 canadian. Thats for a full day on the water with a boat captain, tour guide, 4-5 islands with snorkelling, caves etc and a bbq'd lunch on one of the secluded beaches. If you'd rather a private tour for two people you're looking at 2800 pesos or about $60. Peanuts.

I did however get injured on our little trip and scraped up one of my shins on the coral. No biggie. Whats a little blood in the ocean. 

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Our first day in El Nido and we met a awesome couple from Montreal. They had been travelling in the Philippines for almost 4 months now and had a wealth of knowledge and advise for us. Ralph and Randy do it right. Golf in the summer back in Canada. Travel Asia by winter.

Almost every morning we would meet them at our hotels rest for free breakfast. Where shoot the shit for while and share info about where we've been, the people we've met, cautions for future destinations and good 'lo ranting about everything under the sun. It's nice having a real english conversation. You forget how tiring it is talking grade 4 english all the time. But at least the people here speak and try to speak english. I'm sure it going to be rough for me in Indonesia where the english with local will be limited.

Ralph and Randy, i wish you safe travels. We'll miss you.

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