I don't exactly know what I expected from Boracay... beautiful beaches, quiet, relaxing. Boy, oh boy was I wrong... but first, let's start at the beginning.
Several of my friends have been to the Philippines and just rave about how amazing it is, so naturally, I jumped on the chance to spend Spring Break in Boracay with two of my girl friends - Nirada and Brandi. We ended up on different flights and I ended up with a night lay over in Manila first, a city I was less than thrilled to be visiting alone, but I thought I would make the best of it anyway. I arrived late, so I went straight to my hotel and tucked in for the night. The next morning, I got up, had breakfast and walked around the city. I wasn't really in a great area so I wasn't impressed, but I didn't get to see a whole lot. Early that afternoon, I was heading to the airport to catch a small [and I mean, really small] plane over to Cataclan Island. That was when things got a bit tricky...
I flew from Manila, into Cataclan, grabbed a tuktuk outside the airport (if you could even call the one-room building an airport) and asked him to take me to my bungalows. Two minutes later, he dropped me at a ferry station and told me I needed to get on to a ferry to go to Boracay Island (What? Maybe I should have done more research). So I bought a ticket outside and went through the long line at security only to be stopped before getting onto the ferry because I did not purchase the tax and reservation tickets, so I had to go back outside, purchase, and back through security before boarding the boat. This would not have been a big deal if I wasn't hot, tired and carrying bags. So anyway, I get on the boat and take the 20 minute ride to Boracay Island (I hope) and get into yet another tuktuk. We drive down a very busy and crowded road - the only main road on the whole island - before he drops me at some random alley and insists my bungalow is "that way". I walk 5 minutes down the alley before the beach party appears before me. Now, when I say beach party, I really mean a party. The beach front was lined with restaurants, hotels, bungalows, tables, and stages. There were people everywhere running around in their bikinis, and I knew immediately that we were going to have fun!
Bamboo Bungalow was right on the beach front, and we were lucky enough to get a room with a large balcony, hammock and a view of the ocean (through the dense palm trees). It was perfect! The girls were already in the room when I arrived and burnt from the day spent in the sun. The first night was the calm before the storm. I freshened up, cracked a San Miguel on the balcony before we headed out for dinner at a seafood place on the beach (everything was on the beach). While we were enjoying fish, shrimp, calamari and fresh veggies, fire dancers began dancing around us and performing in the middle of the tables. Then, as they walked around, they swing their balls of fire around our heads - SCARY! That night, we called it in early.
The next day was rather low key as well. The girls were a little bit afraid of the sun after getting burnt so we took the day to walk around the little alley ways and do some shopping. We ate more seafood and enjoyed local Filipino food for dinner. That night was our first night at Bombom, a local reggae bar next to our bungalow. We kicked back a couple beers, made friends with the local waiter, Roland, and eventually ended up at the local beach club, Epic. It started off uneventful until Brandi made friends with a lesbian hanging out in the VIP area and invited us all to join them. There were just two people in the VIP area and completely surrounded by body guards and bar security so we were curious to know why they were so important, but whenever we asked, they would just laugh and say, "I don't know." After the bar closed down and we were kicked to the beach at 4:00 am, we came up with our own story that they were some kind of Asian Royalty.
The next day, we walked to Station 1 of the beach (we were staying in Station 2) and spent the day laying out, hanging out at a delicious Mediterranean restaurant. That night, the sun had warn me out and we had to convince ourselves to leave our hotel just to get some dinner and not go to sleep at 7:00 pm. We were absolutely exhausted, but we put on some dresses and made our way to Bombom Bar for some calamari and happy hour drinks. We were sitting quietly, listening to the live music when three guys approached us asked, "Hey, do you mind if we join you?" Although they seemed harmless, we all looked at each other with hesitation - I normally love meeting people on holiday, but I wasn't in the mood to entertain, but we let them sit down anyway. This was the beginning of the rest of our vacation.
Three guys: Kory and Justin from Canada, and Stephan originally from Bulgaria with a Canadian passport, but all currently living in Hong Kong as pilots. We all hit it off right away and were never short on conversation (or rum). We eventually got our second wind and perked up! Our two happy hour margaritas turned into many, many margaritas and soon enough, we were dancing our way down to Epic. This was of course after Kory called Nirada "Jackie Chan" (the only token Asian of our group), thought he offended her, so bought her a Boracay bracelet and made a scene proposing to her in the middle of the bar. Anyway, Kory loved drunk dancing just as much as me so we had our fun on the dance floor. That night, we all exchanged numbers and agreed to meet up again.
The next day, the girls and I decided to go island hopping and snorkeling. The day before, I met a random local on the beach with a boat and offered us a good price, so that afternoon, we jumped on his sailboat. We really had no idea what we were getting ourselves into but it ended up being amazing! We were each sitting on the "wings" of the boat on no more than a fish net keeping up from the water. When we crashed into the waves, the water poured over our bodies. After an hour or so of sailing, we anchored off the shore near Crocodile Island (named for its shape, not its infestation) and jumped in for snorkeling. Quickly, the tide rushed us far away from the boat and after only a couple minutes, we all started panicking about not being able to get back to the boat. I started swimming (and I mean SWIMMING) my hardest to make it back, but Nirada really started panicking about not being able to swim (with the life jacket on) and not being able to breathe through the mask. By the time I made it back to the boat, Nirada and Brandi were being rescued by the Sea Ranger and being pulled back to our boat. I know it probably doesn't seem very funny, but it was actually an hilarious series of event that had us laughing for the rest of our trip. Only Nirada would nearly drown herself in the ocean while wearing a life vest. After the near-death experience, we did a bit more sailing before they dropped us off on Puka Beach - one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. It's a remote beach on Boracay Island sans all the hotels, houses and bars. It can only be reached by boat or motorcycle. It was nothing but white sand, crystal clear water and a handful of sailboats.
It wasn't long before we heard from Kory and made plans to meet up with them again for dinner. Dinner, of course, led to more drinking at Bombom Bar and another Epic night of rum and dancing. Each night that we hung out at BomBom, we acquired new friends. I attribute it mostly to Kory (who could befriend a tree) and Justin who was in search of girls, girls and more girls. That night, we made friends with a German girl named Rikki, and we had an awesome time singing along to the live band, dancing kicking back bottled of Bacardi like it was our job!
The next morning, the girls were feeling very hung over, but I was wide awake at 8:00 per usual, so I met up with the boys again and hung out at their fancy resort pool. Eventually the girls made their way to the pool and we spent the day in the sun just hanging out, ordering food, drinking beers. By mid day, we decided to go jetskiing. The girls were skeptical at first, but the boys talked us into it, thankfully because we had a blast! It was a bit of a strange set up... we had to get onto a sped boat that took us to a large dock. We got the jetskis there and were instructed to only follow in a circle around a trail of bobs. Nonetheless, it was so fun! Kory and I were on one - he let me drive the whole time because he knew I was a little scared of letting him drive me. Justin and Nirada were together and Brandi and Stephen were lost somewhere because we never saw them!
That afternoon, we parted ways to rest up for the evening - it was Stephen's last night so we had to give him a proper good-bye! Of course, we met the boys at Bombom and started poppin bottled like ballers. Our problem this night was that we did not have a good dinner, so it got drunk out pretty fast! Again, our group of 6 soon became 8 as our friend Rikki and her friend Sebastian joined us. Then the boys made new friends with a couple nurses from the UK on an internship in the Philippines. Next thing we new, we were a group of 20, taking over the bar with our shenanigans. As we were dancing/singing the night away, it suddenly began to down pour, which only made for more fun! We eventually moved from Bombom to Epic and Kory worked a deal with the bouncer about getting all 20 of us in for free... after all, we had spent 4 nights in a row at their establishment and we were bringing our posse with us.
Naturally, as the night came to a close, the best idea we could come up with was a midnight swim back at the boy's resort. Somewhere along the way, Nirada picked up a coconut and stuffed it in her shirt as if she were pregnant. When we got to the pool, the coconut baby was stolen and thrown in the pool.I was thrown in the pool repeatedly by Kory who wore my purse as personal protection from retaliation. Somehow Justin got lost along the way, and Stephen insisted on showing us his best belly flop. I'll try to draw a visual picture of what happened next because it was hilarious.
There was a swim up bar in the pool. Nirada and Stephan stood on the bar top near the pool stools looking for the coconut that Nirada lost. Brandi snuck up behind them to push them in, and I snuck up behind Brandi to push her in. However, after Brandi pushed them in (both fully clothed with a smartphone on hand), she turned to run but slipped on the bar top and fell 5 feet into the empty bar well. I really don't know how she did not get hurt, but she lie in the floor of the bar with her feet in the air, laughing hysterically.
The night came to a close around 5:00 am, and left us sleeping until 1:00 the next day, our last day in Boracay. Needless to say, we were in need of some recovering on that last day. We agreed to meet up again that day and we took a walk to the other side of the island (only about a ten minute walk) and walked down the beach. Eventually, we found a spot to sit near a bunch of local Filipino kids flying kites and digging for clams. By this time, I was physically and mentally exhausted. Thankfully I was never hung over (don't ask me how), but exhausted from lack of sleep and over socialization. I mean, I live alone and I am used to having plenty of Melissa time... having to be with people, entertain people, and talk constantly was taking a toll on my mental state and I spent that last afternoon introverted. I wasn't sad or mad, just in need of quiet time.
Although it was our last night in Boracay, it was a relatively quiet one, compared to the other nights. I had an extremely early flight (I had to leave around 5:00 am) and was determined to get to bed early. After having dinner on the beach during one last sunset, we meet back at Bombom to finish off two bottles from the night before. I was the bartender, but wasn't drinking very much. We still had fun, made friends, sang, danced, etc, but the night came to a close pretty early. I wanted to head to bed around 11:00 but was convinced to stay out just a little bit later. Nirada had gotten so drunk that she put herself to bed around 10:00 (very odd for Nirada), and when I was ready to go to bed at midnight, the party broke up.
I really don't know what I was expecting out of Boracay, but I definitely did not anticipate the epic amount of fun we had, nor did I expect to strengthen my relationships with Brandi and Nirada, or make new friends that we would continue to stay in contact and travel with. I also did not expect Kory, but he blew me away during our world wind holiday romance, and we are going to try to make it work. After all, Hong Kong is only a hop down south.
Several of my friends have been to the Philippines and just rave about how amazing it is, so naturally, I jumped on the chance to spend Spring Break in Boracay with two of my girl friends - Nirada and Brandi. We ended up on different flights and I ended up with a night lay over in Manila first, a city I was less than thrilled to be visiting alone, but I thought I would make the best of it anyway. I arrived late, so I went straight to my hotel and tucked in for the night. The next morning, I got up, had breakfast and walked around the city. I wasn't really in a great area so I wasn't impressed, but I didn't get to see a whole lot. Early that afternoon, I was heading to the airport to catch a small [and I mean, really small] plane over to Cataclan Island. That was when things got a bit tricky...
I flew from Manila, into Cataclan, grabbed a tuktuk outside the airport (if you could even call the one-room building an airport) and asked him to take me to my bungalows. Two minutes later, he dropped me at a ferry station and told me I needed to get on to a ferry to go to Boracay Island (What? Maybe I should have done more research). So I bought a ticket outside and went through the long line at security only to be stopped before getting onto the ferry because I did not purchase the tax and reservation tickets, so I had to go back outside, purchase, and back through security before boarding the boat. This would not have been a big deal if I wasn't hot, tired and carrying bags. So anyway, I get on the boat and take the 20 minute ride to Boracay Island (I hope) and get into yet another tuktuk. We drive down a very busy and crowded road - the only main road on the whole island - before he drops me at some random alley and insists my bungalow is "that way". I walk 5 minutes down the alley before the beach party appears before me. Now, when I say beach party, I really mean a party. The beach front was lined with restaurants, hotels, bungalows, tables, and stages. There were people everywhere running around in their bikinis, and I knew immediately that we were going to have fun!
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| view from our balcony |
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| our bungalow from the beach |
Bamboo Bungalow was right on the beach front, and we were lucky enough to get a room with a large balcony, hammock and a view of the ocean (through the dense palm trees). It was perfect! The girls were already in the room when I arrived and burnt from the day spent in the sun. The first night was the calm before the storm. I freshened up, cracked a San Miguel on the balcony before we headed out for dinner at a seafood place on the beach (everything was on the beach). While we were enjoying fish, shrimp, calamari and fresh veggies, fire dancers began dancing around us and performing in the middle of the tables. Then, as they walked around, they swing their balls of fire around our heads - SCARY! That night, we called it in early.
The next day was rather low key as well. The girls were a little bit afraid of the sun after getting burnt so we took the day to walk around the little alley ways and do some shopping. We ate more seafood and enjoyed local Filipino food for dinner. That night was our first night at Bombom, a local reggae bar next to our bungalow. We kicked back a couple beers, made friends with the local waiter, Roland, and eventually ended up at the local beach club, Epic. It started off uneventful until Brandi made friends with a lesbian hanging out in the VIP area and invited us all to join them. There were just two people in the VIP area and completely surrounded by body guards and bar security so we were curious to know why they were so important, but whenever we asked, they would just laugh and say, "I don't know." After the bar closed down and we were kicked to the beach at 4:00 am, we came up with our own story that they were some kind of Asian Royalty.
how beautiful is this place...
The next day, we walked to Station 1 of the beach (we were staying in Station 2) and spent the day laying out, hanging out at a delicious Mediterranean restaurant. That night, the sun had warn me out and we had to convince ourselves to leave our hotel just to get some dinner and not go to sleep at 7:00 pm. We were absolutely exhausted, but we put on some dresses and made our way to Bombom Bar for some calamari and happy hour drinks. We were sitting quietly, listening to the live music when three guys approached us asked, "Hey, do you mind if we join you?" Although they seemed harmless, we all looked at each other with hesitation - I normally love meeting people on holiday, but I wasn't in the mood to entertain, but we let them sit down anyway. This was the beginning of the rest of our vacation.
Three guys: Kory and Justin from Canada, and Stephan originally from Bulgaria with a Canadian passport, but all currently living in Hong Kong as pilots. We all hit it off right away and were never short on conversation (or rum). We eventually got our second wind and perked up! Our two happy hour margaritas turned into many, many margaritas and soon enough, we were dancing our way down to Epic. This was of course after Kory called Nirada "Jackie Chan" (the only token Asian of our group), thought he offended her, so bought her a Boracay bracelet and made a scene proposing to her in the middle of the bar. Anyway, Kory loved drunk dancing just as much as me so we had our fun on the dance floor. That night, we all exchanged numbers and agreed to meet up again.
The next day, the girls and I decided to go island hopping and snorkeling. The day before, I met a random local on the beach with a boat and offered us a good price, so that afternoon, we jumped on his sailboat. We really had no idea what we were getting ourselves into but it ended up being amazing! We were each sitting on the "wings" of the boat on no more than a fish net keeping up from the water. When we crashed into the waves, the water poured over our bodies. After an hour or so of sailing, we anchored off the shore near Crocodile Island (named for its shape, not its infestation) and jumped in for snorkeling. Quickly, the tide rushed us far away from the boat and after only a couple minutes, we all started panicking about not being able to get back to the boat. I started swimming (and I mean SWIMMING) my hardest to make it back, but Nirada really started panicking about not being able to swim (with the life jacket on) and not being able to breathe through the mask. By the time I made it back to the boat, Nirada and Brandi were being rescued by the Sea Ranger and being pulled back to our boat. I know it probably doesn't seem very funny, but it was actually an hilarious series of event that had us laughing for the rest of our trip. Only Nirada would nearly drown herself in the ocean while wearing a life vest. After the near-death experience, we did a bit more sailing before they dropped us off on Puka Beach - one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. It's a remote beach on Boracay Island sans all the hotels, houses and bars. It can only be reached by boat or motorcycle. It was nothing but white sand, crystal clear water and a handful of sailboats.
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| Justin, Brandi, Nirada, Kory, Roland, me and Stephen |
The next morning, the girls were feeling very hung over, but I was wide awake at 8:00 per usual, so I met up with the boys again and hung out at their fancy resort pool. Eventually the girls made their way to the pool and we spent the day in the sun just hanging out, ordering food, drinking beers. By mid day, we decided to go jetskiing. The girls were skeptical at first, but the boys talked us into it, thankfully because we had a blast! It was a bit of a strange set up... we had to get onto a sped boat that took us to a large dock. We got the jetskis there and were instructed to only follow in a circle around a trail of bobs. Nonetheless, it was so fun! Kory and I were on one - he let me drive the whole time because he knew I was a little scared of letting him drive me. Justin and Nirada were together and Brandi and Stephen were lost somewhere because we never saw them!
That afternoon, we parted ways to rest up for the evening - it was Stephen's last night so we had to give him a proper good-bye! Of course, we met the boys at Bombom and started poppin bottled like ballers. Our problem this night was that we did not have a good dinner, so it got drunk out pretty fast! Again, our group of 6 soon became 8 as our friend Rikki and her friend Sebastian joined us. Then the boys made new friends with a couple nurses from the UK on an internship in the Philippines. Next thing we new, we were a group of 20, taking over the bar with our shenanigans. As we were dancing/singing the night away, it suddenly began to down pour, which only made for more fun! We eventually moved from Bombom to Epic and Kory worked a deal with the bouncer about getting all 20 of us in for free... after all, we had spent 4 nights in a row at their establishment and we were bringing our posse with us.
Naturally, as the night came to a close, the best idea we could come up with was a midnight swim back at the boy's resort. Somewhere along the way, Nirada picked up a coconut and stuffed it in her shirt as if she were pregnant. When we got to the pool, the coconut baby was stolen and thrown in the pool.I was thrown in the pool repeatedly by Kory who wore my purse as personal protection from retaliation. Somehow Justin got lost along the way, and Stephen insisted on showing us his best belly flop. I'll try to draw a visual picture of what happened next because it was hilarious.
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| our friend Rikki |
The night came to a close around 5:00 am, and left us sleeping until 1:00 the next day, our last day in Boracay. Needless to say, we were in need of some recovering on that last day. We agreed to meet up again that day and we took a walk to the other side of the island (only about a ten minute walk) and walked down the beach. Eventually, we found a spot to sit near a bunch of local Filipino kids flying kites and digging for clams. By this time, I was physically and mentally exhausted. Thankfully I was never hung over (don't ask me how), but exhausted from lack of sleep and over socialization. I mean, I live alone and I am used to having plenty of Melissa time... having to be with people, entertain people, and talk constantly was taking a toll on my mental state and I spent that last afternoon introverted. I wasn't sad or mad, just in need of quiet time.
I really don't know what I was expecting out of Boracay, but I definitely did not anticipate the epic amount of fun we had, nor did I expect to strengthen my relationships with Brandi and Nirada, or make new friends that we would continue to stay in contact and travel with. I also did not expect Kory, but he blew me away during our world wind holiday romance, and we are going to try to make it work. After all, Hong Kong is only a hop down south.
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