The Philippines is a collection of thousands of islands, and I fell in love with a tiny town on one of them. To get there, you have to fly from Manila to Palawan's main city, Puerto Princesa. Then take a 5 hour ride on unpaved roads, squished in a van with 12+ people, strapping your bags to the roof of the car. An alternative was riding on a packed bus for 8 hours, where your seat might be on top of the bus with luggage, live fish, and bags of rice.
The people of El Nido look different - more native. (I'm pretty sure I had a crush on every guy that said hi or good morning to me). They look like a mix of Korean and Filipino. Their dialect sounds crazy fast. Everyone here is amazingly fit! But as my friend pointed out, there isn't a Jollibee's around.
Naoko is our host. She's a handful! You take what she gives you and that's that. She's got a lot of energy and spunk, and an "oh well" attitude. Here at El Nido, electricity shuts off from 6am-2pm. "Primitive", Naoko describes it, but "oh well".
She's from Tokyo and has lived in Bangkok, NY, Manila for 7 years, and now El Nido for 7 years. She has a husband, 4 grown kids, about 7 people working for her, 3 turkeys, the b&b, and a garden with koi ponds. She has parties in this garden. She said, "All I've ever wanted was my own garden. Now that I have one, I can die at any time."
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