Philippines' Boracay! Better than Hawaii?

We spent two nights and three days on the island of Boracay last week.















Boracay, the number 2 tourist destination in Asia, second only to Bali in Indonesia, is one of several islands comprising the province of Aklan in the Visayas.

Was it breathtaking? Yes! Was it idyllic? Yes!

According to Toots and Cesar, who were with us visiting from Arizona, Boracay is better than Hawaii.

Where we stayed, at Station 2, the beach had the



finest white sand your bare feet could stand on. The shoreline of Boracay is long and pristine. The waters are of an


amazing aqua blue. And the sun was friendly when we were there.

We stayed at La Soleil, a Mediterrenean-inspired hotel, fronting the beach. Buffet breakfast was included in our package, but we opted out of dinner because we wanted to savour the different cuisines along the resort. There were Filipino buffets heavy on grilled seafood, Mongolian, Chinese, Japanese, Greek, Italian and Korean food everywhere.

Fresh fruit shakes, buko juice, and wines of varying vintages, and of course, beer were sold and consumed along the many restaurants and bars dotting the beaches. Cocomangas, an institution in Boracay is still in operation, so is Charly's and the always full Nigi Nigi which is patronized mainly by international tourists.

The frontage of Boracay Regency at night was full of locals who were trying to catch the live performances of a nightly band. We saw fire dancing and by the waters, there was a group lighting lanterns and letting the night air carry the contraptions. It was lovely!

RIGHT ABOVE, Crystal Cove, one of the islands featured in an island hopping package.

There was a quarter moon hovering when we were there.

Booking a vacation to Boracay seemed difficult at the start. While still in Canada, a sister queried if we'd like to join them for a vacation. She arranged everything and quoted me a price, which to me seemed steeped. Then much later, she told me it was sold out and I should book it myself.

When we finally decided to tag along to Boracay, I turned to the Internet searching for good deals and packages. WOW Philippines proved to be a dud; it had an enticing internet ad but when I called its sales office whom I specifically asked for a particular hotel, (La Carmela), I was made to wait for one full day, (with emails back and forth; calls mainly initiated by me) and at the end of the day, being told that my booking was for another hotel.

Of course I abandoned this lousy travel agency, and searched other package providers. Then I decided to book the airlines first and then the hotel afterwards. Booking the flight was another story.

ABOVE, hats - everywhere you go.
There were tons of internet sites which would tell you of airline sales, but I decided to book directly and on-line with airphil express. Its sales office (via telephone) would charge a higher fee. It's better to do it on line.

Next comes the hotel. Whenever I found a hotel, I checked the customer reviews. For instance, I found out that several hotels which carry the names of franchise-hotels had no connection whatsoever with the international chains, such as the Boracay Peninsula.

I decided to book La Soleil because that's where my other companions were staying. My sister's agent told her it was sold out. Through tedious searching, I found a travel agency which had La Soleil rooms available at much lower prices, even lower than the Hotel's own website prices. The agency is called asia travel.

But the cautious, cynical soul in me started to work, especially after I saw news about a local travel agency
which duped several vacationers out of amazing Palawan vacation packages which proved to be fake.

I started to call airphil and La Soleil (checked whether asia travel was legit).

Finally there was the thing about transportation transfer, from Caticlan to the hotel and back. Searching again, I found there were providers like Southwest, which charge about 800 - 900 pesos per passenger, and take you through all the transfers, from airport to Jetty Port to your hotel, which includes baggage handling. And there were tons of blogs telling about independent transport transfers which would cost much less.

On the whole, the flight was okay with minor delay, the transfer to hotel was uneventful, the check in was quick.


RIGHT ABOVE, Cocomangas, an institution in Boracay. It's featured in the Magic Sing karaoke.

On our second day, we took the island hopping package which included the 16-foot deep immersion to see underwater creatures, the brief snorkeling experience and the trip to the Crystal Cove which was magnificent.

Any vacation would not be complete without dancing, so we tried the La Soleil Disco, but soon found out the younger crowd were content drinking their beer and wine, listening to music and talking/texting. But these did not prevent us from taking the dance floor no matter how briefly it was.

At the end, everyone had a tan - the youth among our group, and the more matured folks - all the same flavours and hues of the Boracay sun.

















Right, Pearls of Boracay. Peddlers of pearls will tell you they're licensed.








RIGHT, a hardworking Pinoy selling ice cream and popsicles, in the middle of the sea.
















ABOVE, the clear, green and blue waters of Boracay display this school of small fish.