Boracay

  Boracay, Visayas, Philippines
Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Boracay – meant to be one of the top ten beaches in the world. It was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I arrived in time for another tropical depression and it rained full pelt for two days solid. I was just out of season and you could really tell as they were building huge bamboo barriers between the sea and the shops and restaurants. I did luck out with my room though; Boracay as you can imagine is an expensive place to stay and I booked a dorm room but I was given a two floor family bungalow with cable tv and wifi as they were quiet so sitting out the storm was not too depressing.

Once the storm passed I had two nice days before the next storm hit. That was a big one – the one that killed my iphone! Anyway in between the storms a Chinese guy also moved into MY bungalow. I had just started to practise some Mandarin and it was a great help to be able to practise my tones and say something that sounded close to what is was meant to sound like. (Li Tun thanks for your help I have a Chinese number now will post of FB later for you.)

Whilst it was nice we had a wander around the island and explored a bit. There seems a serious sandcastle building obsession in Boracay with huge detailed affairs being build, destroyed by storms, then rebuilt. The beach was really nice though and I can imagine in season it will be a lot nicer place to be although I imagine packed to the rafters.

After the second storm I was wandering along the beach surveying the damage thinking it was time to move on when I bumped in Toy. I met Toy in Panglao, he lives in Boracay but was travelling around the Philippines at the time. I thought he was in Europe so it was a nice surprise to bump into him. He was around for a couple of days before he flew I ended up staying for a few more days, enjoyed a Boracay full moon party and then headed off before I was grounded by another storm.