Travel Diary: Boracay, Philippines

View from our hotel

I am fascinated by South East Asia and to visit all the countries on this side of the globe is on my long term agenda. This time it was Boracay, Philippines. We had made the flight tickets to Boracay atleast 6 months in advance .The flight tickets are quite cheap when made much before the travel date. However, it can backfire sometimes. As for this one, we had connecting flights and the last minute the 1st airline delayed by a few hours so we would have missed the remaining flights. I am not getting into details of this, but as the saying goes - All well that ends well. We made it to Boracay.

Station 1

It’s a tiny island, just 7 kms. in length. It is not a very easy destination to reach though. We landed at the Kalibo international airport, then took a taxi for 77 kms across a picturesque hilly region to reach the Catilan Jetty, then a 15 min. boat ride (There are numerous islands these boats go to. Do remember to get onto the correct boat) to reach Boracay Jetty point and then a tricycle (Autos as it’s called in India) from there, he dropped us off approx. 600 meters from our hotel, The last leg of the journey was literally with our legs, we had to walk with our luggage to the hotel as the roads were very narrow. From the Kalibo Airport to reach the hotel took us more than 6 hours. But the travel was worth what was in store for us.

Station 2

Boracay is divided into 3 Stations, Station 1 has the more expensive and luxurious resorts , station 2 has hotels which are lighter on the wallet, very crowded, packed with pubs and eating joints, good for partying , station 3 is mid-range hotels with less crowd, the atmosphere is calmer here.

Our hotel was on the beach in Station 3. What immediately caught my eye about Boracay is, tourist outnumber the locals. I would like to point out that Boracay is buzzing with people throughout the day and night. It’s not for people who like quiet secluded beaches. Unless you do manage to find some secluded spot. I found it to be an island for the party goer and for people interested in sports. I went in the month of January, that’s the season time. Off season could be alot less crowded.

Station 3

Next day went in exploring the stations on foot. Walking is the best way to check out the stations and get a feel of the island. In the morning there is a laidback crowd, in the evenings the scenes change, all shops, restaurants and pubs get lit up, Musical groups crop out everywhere, groups doing fire stunts, barmen trying to lure us to their joints, tourists partying away like there is no tomorrow, small massage joints everywhere. Try the massage, they are not very expensive but you’ll be lucky if you get a trained one to do it.

Kitesurfing in Bulabog Beach

There are numerous activities here to give an adrenaline rush, we tried out Scuba diving, Paddle boat, Zip line- The view was out of the world and for the 1^st time we tried out kite surfing on Bulabog Beach, This sport is a lot about balance so if you have a knack for it, give it a try. However there were alot more activities like cliff diving, parasailing, helmet diving to name a few. We didn’t try them due to various reasons like fear, weather conditions, lack of time and budget constraints

A day went in going around the island on a tricycle, Mount Luho is worth mentioning as it’s the highest peak in Boracay and the entire island is visible from there. The view is breathtaking.

Zipline

As we were leaving, even though I thoroughly enjoyed this small yet beautiful island. I could have been a bit more adventurous in terms of food and sporting activities. When a chance is offered don’t miss it because it might be your only chance.

It’s a beautiful island, even with the crowd of tourists everywhere there is a sense of tranquility.

Scuba Diving

For the Foodie: I am not a foodie, this is just a brief note of what I found interesting there. I tried a local specialty called Balut- It’s a fertilized duck egg, boiled/steam and eaten from the shell, you need to try it for yourself to find out the taste, I wouldn’t ever try it out again. I stuck to my bread and butter and cup ‘o ‘noodles. But there are a large number of international joints, like American, Italians, Japanese and Korean. In fact we came across an Indian Punjabi joint too. If you want to try Filipino food, then try seafood curry, adobo and lechon and lumpia These are some favorite local dishes. The milk shakes were quite good. Mango was my personal favorite.

Do Note: Weather in this tropical country is very unpredictable, expect the rain anytime. Luckily for us it rained only on the day we were getting into the island.