Blogs from Boracay, Philippines, Asia - page 7

So, here I am again :) I've been fairly quite since my last 7 months trip in SE Asia, but I went for a few short vacations since then: Egypt - Sharm El Shaikh and Croatia - The Plitvice Lakes and Rovinj just to name a few. Here's a quick update from the Philippines where I spent 3 weeks in March 2010. My base was Boracay Island and then I flew to Cebu and ventured further to the wilderness of other islands to see fluffy big eyed tarsiers, famous Chocolate Hills and lot's of other amazing sights Philippines has to offer. I won't have the time to post all the pictures right now, so at least a few...... read more

Today started off our last week in Boracay. We organized going on an 'island hopping'/snorkelling trip around the island as we havent really explored much. We struggled up early and jimi ran to the dive shop to buy us an underwater camera. Our guide John met us from where we are staying,Ocean Breeze, and we walked to d talipapa (the local open market) to meet 2 Korean girls that we were to share our boat with. (both of which were incredibly beautiful and looked no older than us..when we asked how young they were they said they were 27 and on holiday from banking in Seoul!) We got on a tricycle and headed towards another part of the island where our boat awaited us. There, we met a couple from england (the first english people we've ... read more

Boracay was the last destination for us in the Philippines and we stayed there for 9 days. This was a mistake on our part as Boracay is a touristy island. We had planned to go for only 2-3 days to see the beautiful beaches then go to Palawan for the rest of our time. Unfortunately we forgot to book the flight to Palawan until later and by that time the prices had soared and it was no longer affordable. Still, Boracay was great, and although it was touristy, we were there in low season so it wasn’t crowded at all. We flew into Caticlan airport on September 28 and took the 15 minute ferry to Boracay Island. We had reservations at Trafalger Cottages at 600 pesos per night, including private bathroom, fan and ants. From the ... read more

Boracay is a small island with a huge reputation. The famous white beach on the west coast of the island is often shortlisted as one of the best beaches in the world. Thanks to its long stretch (just under 2 miles) of super fine white sand flanked by crystal clear warm waters on one side and coconut trees on the other. Because of this, plus easy and relatively cheap transportation access from Manila, this island is one of the top tourist destinations of the Philippines and has been inundated by tourists for over 15 years. We spent the past 3 days here and fortunately for us, we were too far south to be affected by the typhoon that hit Luzon. We did get a few showers and it was cloudy for the first 2 days but ... read more

Fun Filipino Facts: 1) There is a standard conversation formula for talking to foreigners. It is as regular as the 1st year college freshman introduction (What's your name?; Where are you from?; What's your major?). If you ever find yourself in the body of a Filipino man here is how it goes: "Where are you from?" "Are you single?" "Have you had any good prostitutes lately?" If the questioner is a woman, replace the 3rd query with "Are you looking for a wife/girlfriend?" 2) No One knows shit about shit. "I dont know" isn't in the Filipino dialect. Small problems can balloon when the correct answer to "Is this the way to the airport?" is "I don't know". Or "Where is 'x' hotel?" answered with "That hotel shut down a few years ago" (wrong). You can ... read more