Although I told myself I would avoid as many early wake-ups as possible on this Philippines trip, I knew there would be certain days I would have no choice but to wake up at dawn. Today was one such day. Janet and I had to leave together at 6am. I had to be at NAIA Terminal 2 for my 11:45am PAL Express flight to Boracay, and Janet had to be in office by 7:30am.
Once we reached Manila, Janet and I took the MRT to Pasay.
Wow.
The morning rush. I barely had any space to stand, and was squeezed in an awkward position for much of the journey. I was sweating and just hoping Pasay would reach soon. When we did, I got out and stretched for a while to ease my aching back. Then I thanked Janet for hosting me and we said our goodbyes. She took a jeepney to office and I took a jeepney going to the airport.
I checked in and hung around upstairs as I still had plenty of timeWhen it was time to board the flight, I realized I would be flying one of these — a Bombardier DHC 8-300The take off was a bit rattlingBut the flight smoothed out laterPhilippines looks beautiful above ground just as it does down belowI played around with the camera’s shutter speedThis is shot at 1/8000th of a second 🙂I love island spottingIt’s barely an hour-long flight to Aklan provinceI was excited to visit Boracay
PAL Express lands at Caticlan airport, which is the airport closest to Boracay island. There is another airport in Kalibo, which is where my return journey would be from when leaving Boracay in 3 days time.From the airport, you have to take a tricycle taxi to get to the boat terminal
There’s all sorts of fees visitors to Boracay have to pay before even arriving at the actual island. A sum total of ₱75+25+50+100 is what I paid for everything including the environment fee, boat ride to Cagban jetty (on Boracay island), terminal fee, and trike ride to the boat terminal.
‘Walked the plank’ to get on the transfer boatIt’s a short rideThe tourists were a good mix of Filipinos as well as foreignersThen from the jetty, it’s another tricycle taxi ride to the hotelI was staying near White Beach, Boracay’s biggest and most popular beach. For the sake of geographical convenience, the nearly 4km long White Beach is split into Station 1, Station 2 (center) and Station 3 — because these used to be points where boats would dock.
When I was researching on where to stay, Station 1 was described as the most expensive and the most crowded spot was around Station 2. I chose a place that was kind of in between Stations 1 and 2, because it had all the conveniences I needed within walking distance, but was away from the noise.
I had reservations at a “hostel” / “resort” (Why both are in quotes, you’ll see in a bit)The trike dropped me at a sign for Frendz Resort. From the Beach Road, it was easy to find the hotel a few metres away (heading towards the beach).The reviews online were quite nice and I was happy to find the place quite like how it was describedI checked in after paying the balance 90% due from my Hostels.com reservationAnd this is what ₱600 a night gets you around Station 1 in Boracay. I chose the corner bed.
Is ₱600 (Rs. 850/$13/€10) a night a bit high for a bed on the floor? Sure, but this is what you get on this side of Boracay. And Boracay – in general – is expensive!
Otherwise Frendz Resort was quite nice. The staff were helpful and the only irk I had was the wi-fi signal being very weak in my room. They had a lounge area with wi-fi books, board games, music, pool table, and a restaurant and bar (which was priced quite high). Most of the guests were European backpackers.After dumping my bags, I decided to hit the beachWhite Beach is only a minutes’ walk from Frendz ResortI wasn’t at the absolute north end of White Beach or anything, but I was happy with the location overall. And yes, that’s a South Korean couple. They take matching couple clothing very seriously 🙂This part of White Beach has enough and more restaurants, bars and generally, more buzz. (This was an Andok’s)D’mall was very close by as well. It’s a strip with plenty of shops, currency exchange centres and more eateries.Not that I planned to do much shoppingYou can walk through D’mall to get to the main roadLike I said, staying on the Station 1-2 side has a lot of conveniencesAfter checking out a few menus, I ended up sitting here for lunch. I only wanted to eat seafood the next 3 days, but it was disappointing to see just how expensive seafood was here. (Something you’ll see me complaining about for the rest of my journey across Philippines)A sumptuous fish fillet sandwich and a beer cost me ₱327 (Rs. 450/$7/€5)Post lunch, I walked around some moreFootbikini?Both the sand and the waters on White Beach feel splendidWhite Beach is really long and I intended to walk it all before leavingI was feeling a bit sleepy after lunch, so I decided to head back to my roomOh Koreans 🙂
After a short nap, I did some work. Yes, my freelancing gigs mean working a little even while I travel. It’s the compromise I made when I decided not to join a fixed job at a corporate office for a while. Anyway, I did step out again later at night for dinner.
For all the hype Boracay gets as a party island, I didn’t find a whole lot of partying going on after sunset. Sure, there are live bands playing at fancy beachfront restaurants, but they largely catered to a family crowd, and played your usual cover songs. The nightclubs seemed few.
This was an empty nightclub on Station 1
Disappointed by the lack of thumping music, I had a quiet dinner at a Greek restaurant called Cyro’s. I don’t know where the photo I took at Cyro’s went, but did make a note of eating something that cost ₱380.
After dinner, I booked an island tour for tomorrow morning. There was little else to do, so I went back to my room and did some more work before going to sleep.
Escape Hunter
17/01/2014Boracay is a dream place 🙂
Sravan Rajnayan
09/10/2014Hey Mithun,
Pretty cool insights, and I love the way you write.
Maybe I can be your travel buddy the next time you decide to go somewhere.
Cheers to you…
travel
29/07/2015I always spent my half an hour to read this web site’s articles or reviews
daily along with a mug of coffee.