Boracay Summer 2013

Summer is never complete without the beach, and I already have my dose of the beach this summer - just came back from a 4-day trip to Boracay with my girlfriend last last week.

Hello, Boracay!

Highlights of the trip:

1. White sand beach. Just as advertised. Just as expected. Love it!
2. Parasailing and helmet diving. Tried these two activities for the first time. Awesome!
3. Fire dancers. Finally saw them for real, and they're great!
4. Great food! We loved the tapa at the Boracay Beach Resort, the crab at the Hampstead (though it was a bit pricey), the Jonah's shake, and especially Boracay's chori burger (we wanted to bring some to Manila, but we weren't able to).
5. Cliff diving. We went to Ariel's Point, a place featuring this activity (they have cliffs of different heights), but we weren't able to dive because we got so engrossed with snorkeling and didn't thought the tour would end earlier than we expected. :(

Sand castles in front of the Diamond Hotel, Station 1, Boracay.

Some interesting facts:

1. People in the island (and maybe the local government as well) are promoting the name Boracay. So Boracay, please, not Bora. :)
2. Generally the whole of Boracay (Stations 1 to 3) lie in a single stretch on the shore - you can walk the beach from one end to another, although I would advise not doing the Station 3 at night because there are areas with no lamp posts and are therefore dark.
3. There are many aetas in certain parts of Boracay. Some of them are asleep on the sand, with plastic glass or some sort of container beside them. Visitors and tourists would sometimes drop coins on the glasses, but I hope the local government would do something to help them.
4. And speaking of Koreans, many of the tourists when we went there were Koreans. They equal (or even outnumber) Western tourists. Yey for Philippine tourism!

In the background: Paraw boats

I won't do a detailed account here as I would reserve that post in my travel blog. If you want some guide in visiting Boracay (itinerary, budget, some pointers, etc.), you can head HERE. I'll be posting about our Boracay trip soon.

Holy Week in Bicol: Family Time

Back to the city, back to work.

And the supposedly four days of my Bicol vacation was extended to five days - there were no more bus tickets available during the day of my planned trip back here in Manila, so I had to leave the following day, which isn't a bad thing, by the way, because I was able to spend a longer time with my family.

Anyway, some of the things I planned I was able to do, but not all of them. I was not able to join any Holy Week activity; wasn't even able to visit a new place. I went out only once to see my sister in Legazpi, visit my family in Albay, and buy some stuff for our planned gathering.

Most of my vacation was spent in Pandan with my grandparents and my family during our get together to celebrate the birthday of many family members - Lolo, Papa, Mama, and two of my brothers (all March celebrants). My sister, who has been staying in a police camp since last year, was able to go out for the Easter, although for only 24 hours. That gathering was one of the few instances we're able to get together completely as a family (three families, actually).

Now that I'm away from them, it's things like this that I frequently miss. But anyway, I'll be back next month for the election. Until next time, Bicol! :)