Back to Boracay

The question I get asked most often is, “why did you choose Asia?”  The answer to that question is actually easier than most might think… the Philippines.  The Philippines is why I chose Asia.  I spent two weeks here last February and I absolutely fell in love with the country.  So, when it came down to choose a place to venture off to, there really was no decision to be made – Asia was the obvious choice.

On my way to Manila getting out of Singapore was eventful in itself.  I was stopped by security and unable to board the plane without a plane ticket out of Manila. I had only bought a one way ticket since I wasn’t sure where I was going next. Interesting to say the least, but ok, give me some Wifi and I’ll book a flight.  After running into multiple issues with WiFi and documentation I end up booking a flight back to Singapore so I could get on the plane.  Skipping ahead of the line and making a mad dash for the terminal I get there with a mere seven minutes to spare.

First stop in the Philippines is Boracay.  A place I have been and is truly too beautiful for its own good.  A nice change of pace this leg of the journey is I have a friend of mine, Cole, from Los Angeles meeting me here with two of his friends.  Landing in Boracay is a familiar place which is quite refreshing in itself.  Cole, Kevin and Jessica land and we head across the street to the trike stand to take us to the Caticlan jetty and another trike following the boat ride to take us to our hotel.  Filipino food is one of my favorites so off we go to find our first dinner on the island and between the lechon, adobo, and chicken inasal it was definitely one of our better meals.  Walking to the beach the next morning was as anticipated truly a sight to see.

No one can describe the beautiful color of the water and the gradual change from light blue, turquoise to deep blue, it is truly remarkable.  After paddle boarding and our daily intake of fresh watermelon and vodka we venture off to catch what we can of the sunset at Wahine beach club.  

Bar hopping for a few hours and the night comes to a close, definitely a great way to spend our first day in paradise!

After the night we had day two starts a little slower as we make our way to Station 2 and find a cute local restaurant to eat some breakfast.  Heading to the beach we again paddle board and lounge around until we have had our fill for the day and then it’s off to Spider Bar to see the sunset.

One thing leads to another and way too many red horse beers later and next thing you know we have gotten into the ocean on their raft just beneath the restaurant.  This night turns out to be the funnest night of the trip and was completely unplanned and unexpected!  Little did we know what we had just started by getting into the water and then groups of people climb down the 20 ft ladder to join us.  Of course they happen to be a professional ultimate frisbee team (think harlem globe trotters of frisbee) the raft now turns into a platform of tricks and debauchery.  As we make our way back to the hotel it dawns on us, we haven’t eaten since breakfast and it is 10 0’clock in the evening.  We find a local food stall and what better way to decide what to eat than to ask the locals.  They say “the number four special is the only way to go.”  Well ok then, I’ll take a number four! The dish is a chicken flavored rice soup with chicken and egg and it definitely hit the spot after the night of drinks we had just inhaled.  6 am comes way too soon and it is off to Manila to reach our next destination!

Next Stop – El Nido, Palawan