Lihim Resorts, El Nido

The Secret of El Nido by Aa Patawaran of Manila Bulletin

April 26, 2023

Lihim is the name the Araw Hospitality management group has chosen for this property not because it is beautiful but because it is exactly that, as nature designed it

“Lovers find secret places inside this violent world where they make transactions with beauty,” said the 13th century Sufi poet, scholar, and mystic Rumi.

This is how I felt when I eloped into a secluded lagoon in El Nido, my heart bruised, but open to healing, and where I found myself, above the turquoise waters, whose surface was a looking glass that offered a peek into the storied underwater life of Palawan or otherwise a reflection of the bright, blue, wispy cloud-covered sky, I was in a relatively new resort beguilingly named—Lihim.

Lihim is the Tagalog word for “secret.” It ranks high on my list of Filipino words that ignite the senses, up there with gunita or its more popular synonym alaala for “memory,” pangarap or panaginip for “dream,” and pangako for “promise.”

The Secret of El Nido by Aa Patawaran of Manila Bulletin
The Secret of El Nido by Aa Patawaran of Manila Bulletin
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