Once I got to the Coron airport, the airline asked if I would be willing to give up my seat and stay an extra day. I HAD to play the birthday card. “Nope, this trip is for my birthday so I NEED to get on this flight.” (For those of you who know what’s coming, maybe this was my karma). The airline had already rescheduled the flight for two hours later, so I wasn’t going to delay it any longer. PLUS this trip had been planned for my birthday three years earlier! Yes, remember when it was going to be my 30th birthday and I had booked flights to the Philippines for April 2020?? This had been a long time coming! So I checked in and they weighed my bag, but luckily offered free checked luggage for anything over 7kg. I went through security and waited for boarding. While waiting, the flight attendants then started going up to everyone individually, and once again asked if anyone would be willing to give up their seat. It seemed like they finally found someone but when it was finally time to board, we still didn’t have a plane. And when it was finally time to leave, we STILL didn’t have a plane! I went to ask what was going on and the flight attendant said that they were just told that everyone was currently boarding in El Nido, so the plane hadn’t even left the other airport yet! Luckily the flying time is only 25 minutes, so we were able to start boarding about 40 minutes after our scheduled time. We started preparing for landing pretty much as soon as we got up in the air – they didn’t even turn the seatbelt sign off! Once I landed, I had to wait for my bag, and the bags were literally carried through the door one by one – it was pretty comical! I got a tuktuk to my accommodation, which was Rosanna’s Pension. I decided to treat myself for my birthday, and I got a beach-front room with a balcony overlooking the water. And I arrived just in time to see the last of the sunset! I went downstairs to book a tour for the following day (Tour A), and then I went for dinner. I went to a place called Maa’s Grill, and I got the Coconut Adobo Chicken with rice. I knew that this wouldn’t be gluten-free since adobo typically has soy sauce, but I decided that I needed to try it. It was good, but again I couldn’t finish it! I headed back to my room to enjoy the air conditioning, and chilled before bed.
The next day, I got up and headed to the cafe that was attached to my hotel. I got sweet meat with eggs and rice, along with a coffee. I then waited to get picked up for my tour at 8:30. There were a few other people from my hotel who were going on the same tour (a group of 5, who were Filipino or from Toronto, or a combination of the two). They were all really friendly, and were so excited when they found out that it would be my birthday the following day. We were all planning to do Tour C the next day so we could celebrate. We started off by going to Secret Lagoon. This involved swimming under the water and through holes in caves in order to check out the other side. I was a bit uneasy about it at first (and I probably wouldn’t have done it if there was a strong current), but the guides were really good at keeping us safe. The guides with this tour were the best that I’ve had so far – they were a lot of fun, and made the tour really enjoyable! Next, we went to an extremely small beach to have lunch. There was already a tour group there, and there were only a few logs to sit on, but the food was really nice!
After lunch, we headed to Big Lagoon, which is where the kayaking portion would take place. We could rent a kayak for 300 pesos, and go through the lagoon. I went with Janine, one of the Filipino girls at my hotel, and we also went with Mark, one of the tour guides. Again, the views were spectacular! There’s something about limestone cliffs against bright blue water that is truly breathtaking. And kayaking through the caves was really cool to see as well! There was a shallow sand bar in the middle of the lagoon so when we got there, we all got out of our kayaks and swam for a bit before heading back to the boat. Unfortunately, once we left the lagoon and hit open water, the waves were super choppy and I started feeling nauseous once I got back to the boat. I don’t think I was the only one because I saw one of the couples instantly start mixing up electrolytes. For the rest of the tour, I felt really off.
We stopped at the Seven Commando Beach and all I wanted to do was stay out of the sun so I found some shade, got a coke to help my stomach, and lied down. The Filipino group came and asked if I wanted to join them swimming so I did, and we hung out in the water until it was time to go.
We got back to El Nido at about 5:30 and I walked back to my hotel, feeling worse and worse as I got closer. I felt so nauseous and felt like I needed to throw up, but my stubborn self (who HATES throwing up) wouldn’t let it happen. In hindsight, I probably should have just done it because maybe I wouldn’t have struggled for so long. I felt so out of it – I was so exhausted and I felt like my mind wasn’t working. I showered just to get all of the sand off of me, and then crawled into bed. I pondered whether I should get something to eat but every time I thought about sweet meat, I felt even more nauseous (needless to say, I didn’t have anymore sweet meat for the duration of my trip!). I also pondered whether I should go downstairs and book Tour C for the following day, but once I was in bed, I didn’t want to get back up again. I checked my email and found out that my flight leaving El Nido would be delayed by two hours, which meant that I would miss my connecting flight to Manila. It was the last thing I wanted to deal with and the flight office closed at 5pm, so I’d have to wait until the next day to sort it out anyway. By 6:30pm, I had already turned off the light. I got up at 10:30pm and still felt nauseous. I hadn’t eaten dinner and wasn’t particularly hungry, but I remembered that I had a full package of rice crackers with me (that I had bought in Australia and had been carrying around for two weeks. I was getting to the point where I was about to throw them out cause I wasn’t sure if I’d ever eat them). I forced myself to eat the entire package and then I went back to bed.
I woke up at about 6:30am – it was my birthday! Still didn’t feel great.. I sat on my phone for a bit and then fell asleep again for another two hours. When I finally woke up, I just had to continue lying in bed. I tried going out to the balcony but as soon as I felt the heat, I felt more nauseous. I was running out of water and I knew I’d have to leave the hotel to go buy some more, but it took about two hours for me to finally convince myself to get up and go. I also called the airline, and they were nice enough to offer me a direct flight from El Nido to Manila, so I wouldn’t even have to transfer! I hadn’t eaten a proper meal in 24 hours (unless you count those rice crackers) and I knew I should eat something. Literally every food I thought of just made me feel sick. I figured I should just stick to a smoothie. I went to a place called Taste and got a smoothie bowl. It was good, but it took me so long to eat! I’d take a couple bites and then sit and digest for a couple minutes.
As soon as I left the restaurant and felt the heat, I instantly felt nauseous. I saw a pharmacy and went in to buy some electrolytes and then I stocked up on water. The walk to my hotel was only about 5 minutes but the more I walked, the more nauseous I felt. TMI Warning: To the point where as soon as I got to my room, I was instantly sick. So I spent the rest of the afternoon lying in bed, enjoyed reading some birthday messages, and reflected on how ironic it was that this birthday had been planned for three years and it STILL didn’t happen. Oh well, life goes on. At around 4:30, I finally started feeling hungry for the first time since the day before, which seemed to be a good sign! All I wanted was hangover food (even though I wasn’t hungover), like pizza or fries, but again, gluten-free pizza seemed to be non-existant. I went to a place called Vibes and ordered a grilled chicken kebab with fries. I ate those fries so fast, you’d think I hadn’t eaten in days (which I guess was kind of the case). The food was really good! I still didn’t feel GREAT after, but I felt better than before. The couple that I met on my tour in Coron were also in El Nido and asked if I wanted to to meet up for my birthday, but I knew I’d have to decline. I passed out early again (about 9) and woke up the next morning at 5:30.
Instantly, I already noticed a difference in just my mind! I felt so much more alert and felt way less sick. However, I was going to hold off eating for as long as I could because I was scared what would happen. I sat on the balcony until I had to go to the airport and then left the hotel at 8am. Surprisingly, they didn’t book me a shuttle or anything, but when I stepped outside, I was able to wave down a tuktuk to take me to the airport. I checked in my luggage for free again, got a coffee, and then waited to board. This flight was an hour and a half, so I got to the Manila airport at 11:30am. I requested a Grab to take me to my hostel and the driver told me about his wife, told me how beautiful I was, asked how old I was, and said he could be my personal driver around the Philippines. Quite interesting! I stayed at the same hostel that I did the last time I was in Manila (Abraham Manila), and they let me check in early! I was starving, so I searched the nearest Wendy’s, which was less than 200 metres away. I was finally able to eat my hangover food! I ate the fries so fast again, and the burger was great! The Frosty was (you can probably guess what I’m going to say) way too sweet, which may have brought my nausea back (along with me deciding to take a motorcycle ride into the city). The only thing I wanted to do that day was get drumsticks from Hard Rock Cafe, which I get from every place I travel. It was a long trip, but I finally made it there! I asked where they were (even though I already knew they’d be at the front desk), but this time, they were kept in a glass case. She handed them to me and I saw 4 numbers, but only noticed the first two: 2500. “Wait… is this the price?” I wasn’t able to do the conversion quick enough in my head but I knew it was expensive because I was only expecting to pay around 1000. “They’re very expensive!” “Yes, ma’am.” I said I might come back later, and I went to check the conversion on my phone. $70AUD! What??!!!!! Normally, they’re 25-30. How could they be more than DOUBLE here?! I decided that I’d have to skip getting drumsticks in the Philippines (and maybe everywhere if this is the new normal!). I went to Tim Horton’s to get an iced capp – again, too sweet and probably didn’t help my stomach. Then, I walked around the Mall of Asia so I could take advantage of the air-conditioning in the 42-degree weather. I tried to decide what I should do for dinner. I was craving a Greek salad, but those seemed hard to come by. I also felt like I could handle Mexican food, but most places seemed to only have wheat tortillas. The only other thing I felt like my stomach could handle was pho. Which is odd when it was so hot out, but I just needed something light and easy. I went to a place called Pho Hoa and got some chicken pho (nothing like chicken noodle soup when you’re sick!). The pho was really good, but I did start to feel nauseous again, which lasted until I went to bed. I got a message from one of the girls I met at the hostel asking if I wanted to join the rest of the room for drinks but again, I had to pass. I called a Grab to take me back to the hostel, showered and got ready for bed.
On Saturday morning, I woke up when (I think) one of the other girls came back at 6am. So I decided to get up, have some breakfast, and relax before I’d have to pack everything up. Again, couldn’t finish the breakfast – my stomach was still very picky with what it wanted to eat, and eggs wasn’t one of them. I went back to my room at about 10 to quietly pack since everyone was still sleeping, and then checked out. I requested a Grab, but it said that no drivers were available, which has never happened before. I kept requesting over and over for about 20 minutes until a driver FINALLY accepted. The traffic was so busy, so I didn’t get to the airport until just after 12pm. I had to check in so this time, I made sure that I packed my pockets so that I wouldn’t be charged for overweight fees. And they didn’t check the weight! So it seems like it’s only when I stuff my pockets that they decide not to check. And believe me, I was NOT comfortable wearing my warm clothes in such hot weather!! I got through immigration and security, and was really hungry! I found a place that served a quarter of roast chicken with some really good butter-chive roast potatoes, and I stuffed my face. My body seemed to be one extreme or the other – I’m starving and I’ll eat everything NOW, or I can’t eat that and I’m going to reject it. So hopefully it goes back to normal soon! I found a place to sit until I boarded my flight to Japan, which will be in the next post. Love always
Prairie Girl Abroad 