Philippines Tour - Boracay
The journey to Boracay wasn't too bad, it only took us 3 hours instead of 4 in the van however, our flight was delayed by 3 hours, so spent 7 hours in the airport. Obviously, you eat when bored so between us we had 2 bananas, banana bread, cheese and ham toastie, noodles, sweet and sour chicken and rice, wonton soup, prawn crackers, a sesame paste ball and Jollibee chicken and rice.
Boracay airport was the smallest airport we have ever been to, our bags didn't even have a conveyer, they were just unloaded by van onto a table for us to pick up, although this was surprisingly efficient! We got a 10 minute van (with bags on the roof), a 15 minute ferry then a 10 minute van to the hotel, walking up the beach for the last part. The hotel was fairly basic but right on the beach so we were happy! We got some dinner at Epic: pork bao buns, fish tacos and wedges and went home.
These pics were taken from inside the hotel, we were right on the beach! The sunsets here were incredible, probably the best we will see on our travels!
The following day, we had free time until the early evening so we spent some time planning our onward travel in Bangkok. We had a view of the sea from our 'desk' though so it wasn't too tiresome. As breakfast was included with our room, we went out for a smoothie bowl for lunch to gear us up for paddleboarding!
Alison on our tour is a paddleboard instructor in Brighton so she said if we hired some paddleboards, she would give us a lesson. It was really fun and easier than we thought it would be especially as it was on the sea. However, about 2 minutes after the photos of Dan were taken, he fell off his board into the sea. Managing to save his sunglasses, he realised ten seconds later that his paddle was no longer in his hand and nowhere to be seen. We looked for it, as did the men who we had rented the paddleboards from but it was never seen again. Dan got some good practice of swimming lying on a board though, which will come in handy if we go surfing!
We then had a go at Paraw sailing which is local type of boat. It involved very little effort from us and it was very relaxing chilling on the edge of a boat watching the sun set and the world go by!
The waterproof phone case made for blurry photos as it got hot!
We got ready for dinner, had a couple of drinks at the bar and watched the sun set before dinner. After BBQ skewers which weren't that great, we paid an extortionate amount (1000 pesos/£14), to get into a club with some of the group but it was a lot of fun and we both had a good dance. We showed a lot of Koreans how the Macarena is done in the UK.
Again, we had the morning free so decided to get breakfast at the hotel, spend some more time planning our next steps on the trip and then go out for lunch at Nonies, a place we had found on Google Maps. Another person from the tour, Ellie, joined us who is also travelling over the next few months so we exchanged tips and recommendations on where to go/stay!
Dan had a chicken salad the size of his head and Lauryn had vegan pandan pancakes with pineapple and dulce de leche sauce! The pancakes were amazing, but needed Ellie and Dan to help finish them!
Then was our last activity with the tour: a boat party! We drank, played games, danced, made a fool of ourselves and jumped in the water! It was such good fun and a perfect way to end the tour! In the evening, we played cards against humanity, went for dinner and a drink at the hotel bar afterwards.
The following day, some were leaving at varying points of the day, but a few of us went back to Nonies after our rave review. We'd had breakfast in the hotel already but went along anyway for second breakfast.
Cappuccino, tumeric and cinnamon oat latte and banana heart bruschetta. Wouldn't order the bruschetta again
We decided to book two more nights in the same hotel to give us some time to explore more of Boracay and relax before the next leg of our travels. We had to change rooms but were happy because the room was getting rather sandy. We spent the afternoon walking down the beach to find a coconut ice cream place, watching the sunset and eating the most delicious tacos.
The humidity means Lauryn constantly had 'Monica hair'
We had a fish taco, cauliflower taco, pork taco and three birria tacos. The birria tacos especially were phenomenal.
The following day we walked down to a windsurfing/kitesurfing beach to watch the world go by and the kitesurfers performing tricks. We also made a friend on the beach who was more than happy to take a selfie with Lauryn. On the way, we came across these mangroves too which we walked around and on the way back, saw the side of Boracay where locals live which was starkly different to that on the beach front.
Our last beer in Boracay at the hotel bar at sunset - how is this our life?!
Our last dinner on Boracay was back at Nonies as Lauryn needed to try the bao buns before we left - one pork, one kimchi and beef and one tempeh. Dan had bistek tagalog (Filipino beef stew with mash and onion gravy). For pud we had Cebuano-style mango sticky rice, which was very different to the Thai version and honestly, not quite as good but still yummy.
The next day, it was time to fly to Manila. We had organised an airport transfer with the hotel for 9:30am, which gave us time to get packed and have breakfast. We got a special visit from Chubbs, the hotel puppy who insisted on a cuddle before we left too!
The airport transfer was a van, speedboat (!), van. We felt very James Bond getting a speedboat to the airport! As suspected, there wasn't much there so was glad we got breakfast!
Dan enjoyed the airport, a big shed + tent at one end of the runway for departures, and another building at the other end for arrivals. No taxiways, so a few local coaches drive you down the runway to the apron at the other end!
Next stop: Manila!
