Blogs from Boracay, Philippines, Asia

Carabao A notre arrivée dans les Philippines, 7h du matin, dès la descente de l'avion, c'est le bordel (pardon, le capharnaüm): les règles de circulations sont complètementent inexistante (ou ignorées), c'est soit le bon sens, soit la loi du plus fort, ou plus gros, ou plus rapide. On a aterri dans la petite ville de Caticlan d'où de nombreux touristes partent pour l'île de Boracay, tout près et réputée pour une ambiance de folie et des fêtes toute la nuit. C'est là qu'on devait se rendre pour assister au mariage d'une amie de Corinne, mais on avait encore quelques jours et il n'était pas question qu'on les passe sur une île bondée de touristes! Sauf que pour les locaux, un blanc qui aterri à Manay mais ne va pas à Boracay, et surtout qui se déplace ... read more

26 February - 5 March The name Boracay conjures up dreamscapes of talcum powder white sand beaches, crystal clear sapphire waters, swaying palm trees and relaxation. The reality is quite different. I think this will be the great disappointment of Andrew's Asia trip. He has always wanted to visit this island which has been touted as having the most beautiful beaches in the world. It regularly gets awarded such accolades as "island of tranquility" " whitest beaches and clearest water in the world" "worlds best beach" etc. etc. by travel magazines and agencies. But this turns out to be a marketing fraud. To put it bluntly, Boracay is a cesspool - literally!! The oxymoron that is beautiful Boracay:Rampant and unbridled over-development has left what must once have been a paradise in a state of abject decay. ... read more

When telling fellow travellers who we have met along the way in recent weeks that we were going to the Philippines, most ilicited the same response, 'You have to go to Boracay', and so many times we have looked at pictures and thought 'we really must go there, it looks amazing' etc, yet it was with mixed feelings that we made the long journey to our final destination of this Philippines sojourn. Why mixed feelings when we had heard so many positive things about the place? Well, if our time here has taught us anything, it's that we love to find secluded beaches and our own little paradises, we enjoy undeveloped places and peace and quiet, we like to mingle with locals, eat authentic food, not get ripped off by tuk-tuk drivers and not actually see ... read more

KM 675 This is truly the Island Tour. On my first riding day from Costa Aguada Island Resort, I effectively travelled through three of them. It only ended up being a 40 km day by bike, but a lot more when I include the boat rides. I will have to take ferries eight times on this trip to visit the seven islands on my itinerary. They vary from the small canoe like boats (called bangkas) to car ferries (called RORO (roll-on roll-off)) . Iloilo was my first stop and my introduction to the island of Panay. Iloilo is the biggest city on the island with about 500,000 people. Like many of the other places I have visited to date in the Philippines, there is a quite the contrast between the old and new parts of town. ... read more

I do realize that we said we mostly wanted to see the less-touristy places but we could not help to wonder what, considered by many ‘the most beautiful' beach in the Philippines would look like, so we decided to check it out. The flight was comparably expensive as they only use the small charter planes to go Caticalan but we booked it either way. When we arrived at the island we decided to walk to the Station 3 area where all the budget accommodation was and somehow (even though people were saying it was impossible in Boracay) we managed to find a nice bungalow for 500P only (Bora Bora Inn). We already got the impression that this place was simply spoiled by tourism as we could not even walk for a minute without being stopped by ... read more