To Puerta Princessa in Palawan we went, with no plan we decided upon arrival to book a minibus straight to El Nido at the northern tip of the island. On the bus we met a brother and sister duo that were to be our travelling companions for the following 5 days. El Nido did not disappoint, perhaps without exaggeration the best destination of our entire trip. The white sand beaches of Thailand, the rising sea towers of Halong Bay, the hospitality of Myanmar at the cost of Indonesia. This was paradise and no mistake. Our only regret was not having longer and we were not far off stopping that regret all together. We spent lazy hours on the beach and lively nights amongst the festivals in the town. We went island hoping discovering hidden beaches and deep lagoons, we swam with baby turtles and had barbecues on beaches. Of course the stay would not be complete without a dive or two and what a dive it was going to be. A cave/ tunnel dive through the naturally hollowed out corner of an island. It was a uniquely incredible but slightly terrifying experience at the same time and was to regrettably end in tragedy for Emily when exiting the water she crushed her little finger between the boat and the ladder resulting in 6 very painful and very amateurishly done stitches in local clinic.

Having said goodbye to our new found friends we made our way back to Puerta Princessa and spent the remainder of our time before our very early morning flight in a 24 hour McDonalds being entertained by the comings and goings of the local prostitutes and gay staff. Safely back on a plane we ended up full circle back in Kota Kinabalu where we headed to the local pub to celebrate the day of all days, St Patricks Day!!! A raised glass to the Philippines, a power ballad listening, bakery obsessed, life loving country, Slante!!