The final destination of my trip was the Philippines, where
my experiences were fascinating, relaxing, and often just plain fun. After a
short layover in Macau, I proceeded to Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International
Airport and arrived by late afternoon on Wednesday, May 1. Originally, I had no
strong desire to visit Manila because this last portion of my trip was purely
meant for relaxing on the beach. But since limited flights forced me to stay in
the city for one night, I booked a hotel room and used the opportunity to
explore the area a little.
For that one night, I stayed at a nice hotel that was ironically located
in a poor area—a reminder of the stark contrast between rich and poor that’s
prevalent in the country. Yet as I exited the hotel and walked down the streets, the atmosphere seemed particularly lively. Kids wearing ragged
shorts were happily kicking a soccer ball around. Older women were sitting in ripped-up
lawn chairs, chatting away. Others scurried about as if they were preparing for
something. As it turned out, I happened to be there during Labor Day (Araw ng mga Manggagawà, in Tagalog), one of
the most popular holidays in the Philippines.
As I continued down the roads, I spotted some sort of large
complex called Ocean Park. I walked over and made a brief stop at a small
hamburger stand where I bought two cheeseburgers for the equivalent of $0.50 USD each. The neighboring stand sold fantastic fresh mango smoothies so I was
sure to grab one of those too. I could hear a music concert underway within the
walls of Ocean Park, but it didn’t sound like anything special so I decided to
keep walking. What I didn't know at the time is that it’s a world-class marine theme park; so unfortunately I missed out on it. However,
I did randomly stumble upon a spectacular water, light, and music show at a
massive nearby public park.
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| Awesome light, water, music show at a local park in Manila |
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| Cute little girl at the park |
I starting snapping photos and sat down on a ledge
for a rest when a half-dozen young children came running over to me. They had
gleeful smiles on their faces and began asking me questions in their native
language, Tagalog. I couldn’t understand what they were saying, but it was
clear that they were excited. A young teenage girl then walked over and started
talking to me in English. Seeing the way the kids reacted to her, I curiously
asked if she was the mother of these kids as she chuckled and said, “No, of
course not.” But just as I began to feel reassured she turned her head towards
one of the children and in a straight face said, “but he’s mine!” The young girl
was 14 years old; the boy was 4 years old.
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| Group of kids at the park |
Over the course of the next hour, two-dozen kids had
gravitated to me and it was fun but becoming a little overwhelming. A young
woman also approached me and asked if I was looking for some fun. No thanks. I
decided to call it a night and I headed back to the hotel. A couple blocks away
from the hotel I started to see bright lights and loud sounds. It was a outdoor
movie! The locals whom I had seen earlier had set up a fairly impressive movie
night in a tiny park there. I thought it was really cool; it looked like the
local community had just set this us for the night and all of the people I saw
earlier were crammed in this little area, whether it was on benches, standing,
sitting atop cars, whatever, they were there watching “Battleship” together.
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| Local neighborhood outdoor movie night near my hotel |
The next morning I took a taxi to the airport, where I’d fly
to Caticlan Airport on my way to Boracay. Traffic was horrendous but I left
early so I figured it would be fine. I simply told the driver I needed to go to
the domestic terminal. Once there, I went through security and looked for the
check-in counter for my flight on Air Philippines. But I didn’t see it. It wasn’t there. Confused, I asked at the information desk about where I needed
to check in. I was absolutely caught off guard to hear that the only flights
from that terminal are on ‘Philippine Airlines’, not ‘Air Philippines’. My
flight would be departing from the other domestic terminal, a totally separate
building located 20 minutes away by taxi. I’m not sure how I could have known
this earlier, as nothing about it was printed on my tickets or booking
information. Thankfully, I still managed to catch my flight, albeit just barely.
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| From Manila to Boracay - by plane, motor tricycle, and boat |
From Caticlan Aiport, I took a couple motor tricycles
(trikes) and a ferry to get to the small, beautiful island of Boracay. I checked
into my budget hotel, changed my clothes, and went directly to the beach. I
stayed at a place on White Beach, which is considered to be the prime area on
the island, where everything is located on a long beautiful stretch of white
sand. After a quick swim in the crystal clear water, I watched a breath-taking
sunset and then headed down the beach to where more of the action was taking
place.
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| Incredible sunset in Boracay |
I stopped at a great Mexican restaurant on the beach and sat down to eat
some crunchy tacos. I met a cool couple from Australia who were also there and
we shared some fun stories about our travels over a couple of cheap beers. A
quick stroll from there, I checked out an outdoor dance club, also right on the
beach. While walking to this area earlier, I had been swarmed by solicitors trying
to sell island tours and water sports packages. So when a young Filipino man
came up to me and asked where I was from, I skeptically asked what he was
trying to sell. Although he wasn’t actually selling anything, I still thought
he was a little strange so I was a bit unfriendly towards him. As he followed
me and as we continued chatting, I just kept thinking that he had some agenda.
Even when he later asked if he could take a picture with me, I declined. Later
I did warm up to him a little, and we went to a few different bars and clubs.
But looking back at that night, I realize that he truly just wanted to be my
friend. Frankly, I feel a little badly about the way I treated him because it's unlike me to be so cynical (another lesson learned). Nonetheless, I enjoyed my first night and the next few days were only going to
get better.
My vision of vacation in the Philippines consistently made
me think of relaxing on the beach during the day and enjoying some nightlife in
the evening. And I’m happy to say, that’s exactly what I did. Every morning I
woke up whenever I felt like it, ate breakfast, then went for a swim in the
ocean. I took photos, explored the island a little, drank delicious fruit
smoothies, ate lunch, took a nap on the beach, went swimming again, and watched
the sunset. Afterwards, I’d stop at the hotel for a nice shower then head out
for the nightlife. I did the same thing in various combinations through my days
here, and I loved it. If I was traveling with friends I would have liked to do
island hopping or more water sports, but I was content with taking it easy as I
was there solo.
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| Enjoying the beach! |
My second night in Boracay was on Friday. I ate a big,
fat, juicy burger then went to a club in station 1. There, I met a group of
super nice, mid-20’s Filipinos with whom I hung out with for most of the night
and had a super fun time. As the club heated up--literally and figuratively, the dj pulled out a hose and sprayed everyone in the crowd as everyone shouted and jumped up and down with the beats. Needless to say, it was a really fun atmosphere. As the night progressed we also went to a couple more clubs. By the end of the night we ended up at Epic, one of the
most popular clubs on White Beach. At some point in the night, I felt like taking
a nap on the beach. I woke up a few hours later, lying in the sand as the sun
was rising and the waves were gently hitting the shore. I know it sounds pretty funny, but it was in fact a stunningly
peaceful way to start the day.
Saturday night was probably my best night in Boracay as I
got to see both Zedd at Club Paraw and Swanky Tunes at Epic, dj live. Club
Paraw built a large custom addition to their existing club for the exclusive
event. Tickets were extremely limited and I didn’t have any. But I was
fortunate to met a young man and his friends right before the show who let me
go with them since they had an extra ticket. Just standing in the line to get in was absolutely
crazy. Once we finally got in, we danced our way to the stage, right in front of the DJ.
The music was pounding, the lights were blazing, the crowd was electric,
singing and dancing to every song. It was an amazing experience for me. Zedd
finished his set around 2:30 A.M., and then we walked over to Epic where we got
to see Swanky Tunes dj until sunrise.
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| Zedd live at Club Paraw, Boracay (screen capture from video) |
For my fourth and final night in Boracay, I took it easy and
didn’t drink or party. Instead, I found a quiet section of the beach and
watched the stars for several hours. Stargazing there was spectacular since it’s
so dark over the ocean and there are no major cities nearby. I really enjoyed
this, and even managed to see a few stunning shooting stars. Later I took a stroll and met a group of nice Taiwanese students while ordering a mango smoothie. I also made my way over to some fire
performers and watched that for a while, as well as to take a couple photos with
them.
Lastly, I loved the tacos so much from my first night that I had to get them again before returning to the hotel for a good night of sleep. Ironically, I had a
terrible nightmare that I was in a deadly plane crash so I can't say it was all that good of sleep.
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| Fire poi performers |
Indeed, the next day I had to take four separate
flights to get back home in Aomori. Two of those flights, happened to have bad
turbulence. But alas, I made it back safely. I'll admit, there were a few unpleasant aspects to Boracay; I grew so exhausted of the hundreds of solicitors calling to me, "hey, my friend.... jet skiing, parasailing, boat tours... I'll give you good price!". Dude--I'm not your friend, stop calling me that. And nightly I was was randomly approached by... various individuals who, "just want to have fun". But my experience there was so amazing that it's really easy to look past these negatives. Ultimately I absolutely loved my trip of my tropical excursion in the Philippines immensely and I really hope I can make it back there soon!
