Its more fun in the Philippines Part 4 (Boracay Trip Day 1)

After a traditional filipino breakfast at the Kabayan Hotel (I chose longaniza and corned beef), we got ready and set off for Manila International Airport at 9am. We booked for airport transfer through the hotel, it cost us 480Php, P felt that its a bit too expensive but I thought the price is quite okay since it is a private car and we got to the airport well ahead of time. Luckily there were no traffic jams along the way. I was still scarred by the human jam in and around Manila the previous day, so anywhere in the city without jam is really lucky for us.

Simple filipino breakfast before setting off

After we reached the airport, I finally realised why P had avoided flying to SG and anywhere from Manila, it was simply chaotic. First of all, even before getting into the airport, all our belongings had to be scanned and there was a long queue forming outside the entrance for the domestic flight area. We queued patiently and finally cleared the scanning of belongings. After entering the airport, there was a big crowd haphazardly standing everywhere with their trolleys and belongings, waiting to do the check in at self-service counter. There were flights going to many different places of the Philippines, and it was just oh-so-crowded at the waiting area, with super long queues at the counters. Our flight was at noon and we waited for awhile before it was 10am and we could start to queue and do the check-in. 

The luggage allowance thingy had been a stressful issue for us since the beginning of the trip, we grossly underestimated the amount of things we needed for the trips when we booked the tickets a few months ago, now we wish that we had just paid slightly more to get this burden off our shoulders. To cut the long story short, we did not get any luggage allowance for Boracay as I thought that 7kg for our carry-on should be sufficient. But I was wrong. Our individual backpacks (with a laptop each) was already 4kg-5kg and the luggage holding our clothing for the 4 nights was 10kg, so in total we had more than 5kg of overweight luggage. Anyway, I made a mental note to add on 5kg to whatever estimation of luggage space I need in future, if i'm traveling on budget airlines again, which is very likely. 

There was also a miscommunication as P was the one handling all the communication with service staff since this is his turf. After we did the self service check-in (with the help of a friendly staff), we did not get our boarding passes. I thought that this was due to the fact that our luggage was overweight and we need to do a check-in, so I told P we will just check-in the luggage. We queued for quite sometime at the very long queues forming at the counters to drop off the luggages, I can just say that the queues are really horrendous and I was starting to get stressed. It was at this moment that P realised that something was wrong and he went back to the first 'friendly staff' to enquire again. After he came back, we moved to another queue for 'check-in' but I felt that something is really wrong as we've already done the self service checked-in. I could see was that he was running to the different counters to check and confirm where we should go and I got really stressed. Looking at the long queues at each counter, waiting at the wrong places will really waste a lot of time. Finally, he pulled us out of all the long queues and we got to the very last counter for body weighing, where there was nobody queueing. I was really suspicious. Before we did the body weighing, we stood at a corner to repack our stuff, making sure that our luggage is not more than 7kg. What's stranger after that was we stepped on the weighing scale instead of the luggage itself, and the staff issued the boarding passes to us! Phew!

After we cleared the immigration, the mystery was solved. The airline staff were more concerned about our bodyweight than the luggage weight as we were flying to Caticlan in a very small aircraft and measuring each passenger bodyweight is standard SOP. This is a first for me, thus I misinterpreted the reason we did not get our boarding passes in the first place. Sigh…

Comfort drinks from Mrs Fields

To reward ourselves for being early and as a comfort after the stressful morning, we stopped at Mrs Fields for some hot drinks. I tried ensaymada again (no idea why I have craving for it whenever i see it in the display window), once again its quite oily but still delicious. The hot chocolate was also quite good. We went to the boarding gate on time and once again Cebu Pacific proved to be a really stressful airlines to fly with as the waiting area was crowded with people. Trust me, crowded is an understatement. The boarding time was slightly delayed and we had to stand and wait since there was no seats and there were also a lot of people roaming around. When it was our turn, only a small group of people formed at the gate since the aircraft was smal. I could not resist taking a picture of it as the flight of stairs leading to boarding is so cute and short, it's also been a long time since I sat in an propeller aircraft (think the last time was the trip to Koh Samui).

Our cute little aircraft

The flight was delayed after boarding and I fell asleep while waiting, I almost thought that we had reached our destination when the  pilots announced that it was finally time to takeoff. Luckily, the flight was only an hour and I finished reading the e-book by Oatmeal by the time we reached. 

Finally! Boracay! I was honestly happy to see the sign stating 'Boracay Airport' but its so near yet so far… We found the guy the hotel arranged to pick us, just got slightly comfortable in the car and it was time to get off again. To get to Boracay from Boracay airport Caticlan, we still had to take a boat after the short car ride. It was really squeezy inside the small boat, P was balancing the luggague on his knees and the few foreigners next to him had their backpacks on their legs as well. On a side note, I must say that filipinos are really good at squeezing and making space on public transport, proven so many times when we took the jeepney, the MRT around Manila, now on the boat and later on in the tricycles around Boracay.

Super happy us when we finally landed on the island

It was just a short boat ride, almost the same as the bumboat ride we take to P.Ubin from Changi, or maybe shorter. When we approached the clear blue water surrounding Boracay at long last, my heart was shouting with happiness and relief. The transport arrangement we had was already waiting to pick us up from the jetty, it was another private van. Along the way, I saw some of the places I've read and researched about from forums and blogs, and I was wondering why D'mall, Station 2 etc were lined along the road like Langkawi. But later I found out that I was wrong, the side at the beachfront was where the stuff are happening, the other side is quieter but cheaper if you need to go for a basic meal.

Willy's Beach Hotel... Our home for next three nights

Finally, I'm in Boracay, breathing in the air of BBQ stuff and the sea! Our hotel Willy's Beach Hotel was not my first choice but I loved it so much once I see the view in front of the hotel. I couldn't help but started taking lots of pictures, the view is super picturesque and many of the sea view pictures did not need any filters to look like one in the travel magazines. Back to Willy's Beach Hotel, I'm glad that we've reserved this place over Boracay Beach Club (my choice last year) even though the latter was just across the street and looked really clean and neat. The main reason is the location, we were just sitting at the reception area and the beach/sea is out there in front of us, with tourists roaming past, swimming, surfing, sun-bathing… It's fun to people-watch there. The room is also the best out of the few hotels we've stayed in, when we were traveling around the Philippines. It's spacious enough, with an extra bed for us to put our things and dirty clothes or sandy bodies. Although we did not have a sea view, the sea is quite accessible as we were just on the second floor. The big plus point was that the staff are really friendly, always serving us with a smile and greeting us whenever we meet them along the corridors. 

Nice beads for the room key and the staff presented a welcome gift made of shells

Of course, the famous Jonah's fruitshake is just two shops away from our hotel, so I could drink as many milkshake as I wanted to during our stay there. I am not usually a great fan of fruit shakes as I'm pretty sure it's loaded with sugar, but I just couldn't resist as it's Jonah's. After we put our things down, we immediately went next door to get the milkshake. The unfortunate thing was the avocado and strawberry shakes were not in stock for all the four days we were there. Initially I thought it's just the first day we arrived too late, but the next two mornings we went right after breakfast and it was still the same, so I guessed avocados and strawberries are simply not in season. For a start, I chose Banana choc milkshake and it tasted really good, unlike some other shakes which tasted too icy or bland, the taste of banana and choc was really strong. Come to think of it, it's not cheap as it cost 120php each, almost like our popular bubble tea back on the island.

Jonah's fruitshake was just next door!

After we got the fruits shakes, we were just roaming around and taking pictures in front of the hotel near Willy's rock, and touters started to approach us to get us to take up the activities they had to offer. I had some activities in mind which I've wanted to do, so I asked P to check the price with those people. For others selling hats, sunnies and other stuff, it was easy to fend them away with a slight shaking of head and looking uninterested.

First Jonah's fruitshakes: Banana Choc and Melon

We saw some sand art just further down the beach and we went over to take pictures as its a perfect memorabilia for our stay in Boracay. One of the kids started talking to P and we realised that they are doing the sand art to earn extra pocket money, so we got them to do it with personalised with our names. I started to pity these kids who had to get their hands dirty just to earn those 150php from us. While we were waiting for them to complete the work (they are quite fast, just took 15min), a few more tourist couples came over and also got the same kids to do theirs on the beach since it looked good in pictures and did not cost a lot. We did some calculations and decided that it's quite a good way for them to earn extra pocket money, even getting 300php a day for a kid is considered a lot to spend. The sun was setting while we were busy taking pictures, and it looked even more beautiful with the sunset.

Nice creation by the kids

Our names with the sunset and Willy's Rock behind :)

Palabok from Inasal Mang

In the Philippines, the sunset is earlier, it is complete darkness by 6pm (more than an hour earlier than SG). We went back to the hotel, showered and get some rest before heading out for dinner. As we only had breakfast in Manila earlier, and of course the fruit shake after arriving at Boracay, we were hungry. We took a tricycle to D'mall to hunt for food. Its convenient to get around Boracay on these public and communal transport, which is also commonly seen in many parts of the Philippines. The tricycles in Boracay were much bigger than the ones we always take around Tarlac, and it will just stop along the roads as long as there's space (one tricycle can take up to 7 passengers) so most of the times we are charged for a sitting space in the tricycle (about 10php each from our hotel to D'mall) as we share with others. 

We did not go to any speciality food haunts in Boracay, we ended up in a local fast food chain 'Inasal Mang' as P had a craving for BBQ stuff. We had a satisfying meal even though it was just at a crowded fast food chain, P had his favourite sisig with rice and I had palabok.

 Palabok is a special filipino noodles dish served with a special sauce on top, and as a noodles person, I crave for the dish at times. After the meal, we walked through D'mall and got to the beachfront where there were a lot of tourists partying at the bars or just walking along the pavements. Being the most famous tourist destination in the country, Boracay is one of the rare places in the Philippines where I'll see more tourists than locals. I must say that I enjoy the place a lot more than other beach holiday destinations like Phuket and Langkawi as we really get to walk along the whole stretch of beach when hunting for food and activities. The weather was also nice and cooling, it was really romantic to stroll and experience the place with loved ones.

Saw this interesting sign outside one of the bars

Happy to see Crazy Crepes

I was so excited when I saw Starbucks, I made a beeline there to get my Boracay mug, another Starbucks mug for my collection! We saw Crazy Crepes and we stopped again since I was missing the crepes in Tokyo. I ordered a large "Banana Choco Vanilla" flavoured crepe, its not difficult to see that I loved the banana and chocolate combination a lot. There were famous chains such as Gerry's grill, Macdonald's, Yellow Cab Pizza and big hotels names along the buzzing Station 2, the whole place is definitely more touristy than Bohol, another beach destination in the Philippines I visited two years ago. I'm just glad that I managed to visit Boracay before it gets too expensive and crowded, it will definitely lose its beauty then.

The display window is exactly like the ones we saw in Harajuku

As it was our first night there, we were not familiar with the place. After walking to one end of Station 2 (the new Astoria Hotel) from D'mall, we thought that we had to turn back, so we ended up walking to Station 3 instead of Station 1 where our hotel was. I felt tired by all the walking (P was always wondering how I could complete a marathon but still get so tired from walking after a short while) so we took a tricycle back to our hotel. P was looking forward to a massage since most of the spas were just asking for 350php for an hour of massage, even cheaper than the massage we had a few days ago, so we headed out again just after a short rest. The area just outside our hotel was much quieter compared to Station 2 and Station 3, which is nicer if we just wanted to chill. 

Yummy crepe!

We ended up at a spa next to our hotel. Like most beachfront spa area, it was just a open air hut where we could lie down and listen to the waves beating against the shore during the massage so it was quite therapeutic. However, both P and I regretted the experience as we did not get a chance to wash up after we left Manila, and a swedish massage mixed with the fine sand of Boracay left us oily and sandy at the same time, so it was quite uncomfortable. It was also the first time a male (later I found out that he was a gay so I felt better) did a swedish massage for me, coupled with the fact that I was lying half naked in the open area where anyone could look in, I felt really awkward. Luckily it was already 11pm and Station 1 was also relatively quiet, so I did not just die from embarrassment there and then. 

After we went back to the hotel feeling oily and sandy and dying to shower, we discovered the first flaw of staying there, the water took at least ten minutes to warm up! P still felt uncomfortable and oily after the shower, but I felt so much better, I fell into deep sleep soon after my head touched the pillow.