Borocay continues

So being out there in Borocay gave me an opportunity to learn how to enjoy myself on my own terms. There is definitely something about traveling alone, about being independent of others. It's quite freeing and I absolutely love it.....I look forward to experiencing my travels to Cambodia on my own. The one thing I continue to see though is the friendliness and helpfulness I received while out here, it's gives me hope for humanity in a way.

Anyways, the rest of the week was spent lounging by the pool.....I woke up and splurged on banana pancakes that were amazing!!! The one thing that I absolutely loved out here are their mangoes. They are so damn good....I could live on mangoes alone.

Borocay - the paradise continues....

The next day I woke up super early, 6 am....I was well rested and ready to tackle the day. I showered and got ready and made my way to the dining area of the building. My hosts provided breakfast for their guests and drinks which was pretty cool.

So June, who is the hostess and receptionist took me to the dining area near the pool and I was greeted with another beautiful day.

Guy cleaning pool...blue skies.

I had a typical Filipino breakfast of Rice, Loganiza, eggs and white vinegar. They also gave me hot sauce to add a little flavor and kick to it:

It was delicious! I had coffee and freshly squeezed mango juice as well. While I was eating, June the hostess asked me if I wanted to book any activities and I of course said yes. So she booked me for Island hoping, snorkeling, hiking and fishing. Since it was only 7 am I had some time to take a dip in the pool  as they were going to come and pick me up at 10am.

After a few laps in the pool and doing some reading on the lawn chairs, my ride was here to pick me up. They picked me up and for $20.00 I got the island hoping, snorkeling, fishing and hiking package!! I was greeted by the manager that runs the place and she set me up with a couple from Korea. We met our tour guides and were on our way:

Our mode of transportation

Our tour guide

The coast

This island is known as Crocodile island ,wonder why?

Do you see it?

Crystal Cove where we did some hiking and under ground cave swimming.

After a full morning and early afternoon of exploring (I did go fishing, but I haven't had a chance to upload the images yet, will get to it). We had lunch which was also included. After that nice meal we headed back to Station 2. 

I then decided to be brave and go parasailing and jet skiing - I have never done either and I was nervous!! 

If you see closely - those dots...parasailers. I was about to become one of those.

Parasailing was absolutely crazy...the guys that drove the boat and basically had my life in their hands, barely spoke English and I kept asking if I had to go into the water or from the boat to be launched into the sky, they just gave me a droll look and responded with  "You can do either" and then took a drag of their cigarettes (BTW, everyone basically smokes in the Philippines). I didn't feel very confident at first....and it was something I had to do on my own (Not gonna lie I took a Xanax before so I wouldn't be completely freaked out). So I took a deep breath and climbed into the harness they had waiting for me. After we reached the point where I could be 'launched' from, I got into position where they attached the Parachute to me, I was then locked into position and they waved to me "Cya" and before I could say anything else, I was up in the air. To say I was freaking out was an understatement, but kudos for me, I didn't scream like a little bitch. I just kept saying "People do this all of the time, and there are two people usually strapped in and Enjoy the view, look at the pretty blue water". The guy had quickly told me the hand motion to give them when I was ready to go down, well damn it I was determined to get my money's worth, and so I parasailed for a good 15 minutes. It was absolutely fantastic minus the little voice that kept saying 'It's water...if you fall it will be OK' even though I am not a trained diver nor do I posses the skills to make such a smooth landing. But I put away that negative voice and just enjoyed it all. I was a chicken shit for not bringing my camera or phone with me for fear I would drop it or I would be dropped. You will just have to believe me when I say the sight was amazing and I had a great time.

Trip to the Philippines 2015

Hey all, it's been quite a longtime since I have written on my blog. Multitude of reasons bottom line...life took over. Ups, downs, good times and bad times....but all well worth it. The main reason I am back on is because I was given the opportunity to travel to the Philippines for work. How awesome is that? I was scheduled to travel out from August 24th until the 18th of September.

I decided to take full advantage of this and added two more weeks to this trip - two weeks of vacation and so I have done that very thing. As I write this I am in my hotel/apartment here in Makati. It is currently 1:56 am in the morning,I have become a night owl due to my working hours, but it's sort of nice. Not too many people out at night, quiet and peace.

The first week I came out I decided to go to Borocay, Philippines. It's known for it's beach life. It's about 1.5 hours from Manila by plane.  But I digress, let me get back to my arrival.

I arrived on the 15th of August, I left on the 14th and had a pit stop in Tokyo. Unfortunately I did not have a long stay there....but I got to tour the airport in Japan and it was very cool.

The first screen shot is of the flight pattern my plane took from Newark, NJ to Tokyo. I was grateful for Xanax and for upgrading my seats. While roaming the airport, they had displays of traditional Kimonos. Beautiful!

   

 I love how Japanese do their packaging, so elegant and artful...this is a photo of one of their many stores and the candy section.

Candy!

They also had displays of different scenery's made out of paper, you know since Origami is their thing. ;)

I also ate authentic Chicken Katsu, rice and veggies. Didn't take a photo I was way too hungry since I didn't really eat on the plane as I was sleeping.  After boarding the plane to Manila via a sister airline that works with United I continued to sleep. The miracle of Xanax I guess. It was only a 5 hour flight so it wasn't too bad, especially since I had just finished doing a 15 hour flight before. 

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When I arrived to Manila, it was 9pm already on Saturday night. I had arranged to stay at an AirBNB since I was not technically working and on vacation. For those who aren't familiar witih AirBNB, I highly recommend checking out. Especially if you want to have the "local" experience and not the tourist one (https://www.airbnb.com/ ). I had downloaded Uber since my co-workers that had already done their ambassadorship suggested I do, unfortunately the WIFI signal was weak and I ended up having to take a taxi. I had to haggle and bargain with the taxi driver since apparently they are notorious for taking advantage of foreigners. I ended up paying $3.00 to get to my first ever airBNB. The location was in Makati and in a secured building, by secure I mean security guard and doorman. I entered and registered at the front desk and had the bellhop show me to the apartment I had rented for the night. I was pleasantly surprised, I mean I know the pictures show the apartment, but come on...sometimes it's not accurate. Well that was not the case. Here are some photos of the apartment the morning after my arrival, don't worry it's clean!  By the way, the taxi driver got lost and we spent an hour looking for the building....thank God for Waze. 

 Not bad for my first airBNB right? So I had to get up super early (6am) since I had to catch my flight to Borocay which was 9:15 am and I had to meet up with my co-worker. I made arrangements with him to have him keep my big luggage and backpack with my work laptop. After dropping it off to him, saying a quick hello and getting my simcard to switch my phone over to their phone/mobile service in the Philippines - Globe. I got an uber and was off to the airport.
                                      Second Stop - BOROCAY!

  After checking in, getting weighed (yes you read that right, Cebu Pacific weighs their flyers) I was all ready for my flight. I had to take a bus to the plane and while going, my small luggage handle to pull it by broke :/...yeah not fun, so I had to Macgyver the shit out of my luggage and folks...I did!! I created a pseudo pulling system so I can pull the luggage without having to bend over and have a cranky back. I don't care what the people around me were thinking....I got plenty of stares.

So after getting off the bus, there stood my transportation to paradise. A hearty plane she was.

Bus ride and the mighty jet!

While on board, I got a seat next to the emergency exit, the stewardess approached me and asked me if I was comfortable with saving everyone on the plane should anything go wrong, of course I was I did bring my super hero cape after all! Duh....so I held the key to everyone's survival should anything happen, but nothing was going to happen I was on vacation gosh darnet!! After a quick flight and paying 400 Pesos for a ticket to the boat, yes I said boat, to get to Borocay (I was landing in Caticlan, Borocay is off the coast to Caticlan) and a van to take me to my next AirBNB I disembarked the plane, telling the stewardess "your welcome" for not having to take my cape out and made my way through the small airport in Caiticlan.

Red Dot where I landed and arrow where I was going in Borocay.

Godofredo P. Ramos Airport

Once I exited the airport, they directed me to the pier (Which was right next to the airport, thank God the pilot knew what he was doing). After walking to the boat I got on and we made our way to the island of Borocay.

The boat that took us to Borocay

After about a 10 minute ride, I landed or docked? into the pier/port on Borocay. Noticed it's all 'blue' water...beautiful. I was directed to my van and was joined by a couple from Netherlands and a couple and their son from England. One couple was staying at station 2 (Party central) and the couple from England Station 1. I got to talking to both couples, the one couple was in Borocay for three days and then headed to Cebu. The couple of England was in Borocay for 1 week, just like me. Apparently the husband is out here on assignment for his company and has been living in Makati for 6 months already. So he gave me a quick overview of what to expect in Makati..which was good and fortunate for me. The couple staying in Station 2 got off first, both couples were surprised that I was not staying at any of the stations but up in the mountains and I was like " F*ck yeah I am staying up in the mountains, we are on an island" yeah, no paranoia here kids. Plus it's typhoon season. Anyways, I was the 2nd to get off the ride, wished the couple from England a safe and happy trip and was greeted by the hostess and security guard at my airBNB. The security guard took my luggage, I was handed a drink and climbed up the stairs to my new home for the week. Again, I go back to the AirBNB website and the photos, etc. You see these photos and hope to god they are what they claim to be. So far my luck was running pretty high....fortunately it continued. The luxury apartments I was staying at was absolutely lovely. The hostess guided me to the pool and I was ecstatic by the view.

BTW, these are two completely different pics below, let's see if you can find the difference.

Yup, I had landed in paradise! After showing me the place and telling me the hours of the van pickup, rules of the pool, etc...I was taken to my studio. Unfortunately I did not take photos, but you can see it here on their website: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/2369900

After settling in, changing into my bathing suit...the apartment provides a van to and from Station 2, for those that don't know about Borocay - Station 2 is where it all happens...partying, clubs, all of the shops, etc. It's also called "D'mall". It was about a 10 minute ride to D'Mall and to say I was shocked is an understatement. The amount of tourists in the area was surreal, almost insane. I could not believe how many Koreans and Chinese were there. I think the thing that made me laugh was that everyone had matching outfits with their significant other. Very cute....not. Anyways...I was hungry and hadn't had anything to eat all day. At this point it was already 10 in the morning. So I made my way to one of the many restaurants there. I ordered a pork dish that was delicious but so much food. It came with rice and a soup. The humidity and heat is pretty outrageous in Borocay....you sweat just sitting there. And they gave me soup!  I had the soup first and in a few minutes I actually felt cooler, after I finished the rest of my meal I asked the waitress why soup. She said it cools you down from the heat. Sure enough it works. I then enjoyed my first of many pina coladas. I began to explore, finally making my way to the beach. There were so many stores and places to see I was kind of in awe. They had tons and tons of souvenir shops, ice-cream shops, crepe shops...it was in essence a 'mall'. After getting to the beach, I noticed that you could not really see the beach as they had set up these bamboo stick buried into the sand with plastic stretched across it to prevent winds and sand to blow into the restaurant area.

I walked and finally saw a way to get onto the actual beach and I was so ecstatic to see that beautiful water. 

The Beach

 I found a place to sit and enjoy the beautiful view, but I was dying to get into the water. I had my small backpack with me that had my camera, towel...obviously I didn't feel comfortable leaving it there abandoned so I looked around and right next to me was this man who looked American. He too sat there and when I looked over at him he nodded in acknowledgement, he must have realized what was going on through my head as he said, "You can go ahead....I am just digesting my food and enjoying the site, I will watch your stuff" I smiled and obviously didn't trust the guy at first, but then we started to talk. His name was Steven and he is working in South Korea as an English teacher. He came out to Borocay on Holiday and is a solo traveler as well. Apparently he is from Atlanta and totally got my dilemma for being a solo traveler. After feeling more comfortable with him and taking him at his word, I got undressed, laid my towel out and made my way to the inviting water. It was absolutely deliciously warm and so clear! I could not believe it. The waves weren't bad and it was truly amazing. I spent a good 30 minutes in the water before coming out, my eye always checking in on my belongings and on Steve and both to my satisfaction were there.

After getting out of the water, I sat down and dried my face off. I continued to talk to Steve who explained to me how he got the job in South Korea. After another 15 minutes or so he decided he was going to go for a walk. I said thanks for watching my stuff and waved him goodbye.  

After sitting and enjoying the sun for a little bit, I decided to take a 'selfie'.I  think I was the only person on the beach that did not have a selfie stick and I am very much OK with that.  you will notice I am squinting, the sun is no joke out there.

After sitting there for a while a Korean couple settled in a few feet away from me and I realized the female Korean who was completely covered and hiding under an unbrella was not really going into the water I asked her to keep watch. She nodded in agreement and asked me if she could use my bag as a pillow. I said go for it! Equal opportunity here....why not. And so I took another dip in the great big ocean. The one thing I am realizing about myself here is that I felt very comfortable on my own and being on my own. It was sort of freeing, I also felt very confident in my own skin. Something I think that has taken a long time..especially since I am alway dealing with my weight. In any case....I was very much content. I enjoyed the scenery and got use to the huge number of people  walking around. If I can avoid crowds I will...but this time I enjoyed just being one of the beach goers. I sat enjoying paradise before I headed back to d'Mall for dinner.

After dinner at an "Italian" restaurant that really wasn't that good, I made my way back to the pickup location at d'Mall and waited for my ride. As soon as it came I climbed into the bank and back to my peaceful sanctuary. 

I decided to go for a swim, but before I did I caught the sunset from the pool. It was absolutely breathtaking and had such a profound meaning since I am literally alone and could enjoy it without any distractions.

not bad for my first sunset in paradise!



After a few laps in the pool I made my way back to my room , showered and got comfortable in the nice air-conditioned room. I promptly fell asleep.

I will be posting the next couple of days....the remainder of my trip. Enjoy!