Saturday, February 20, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
President's Day in Borocay
President's day in the US! I'm up and doing my hour's walk by 6:30 AM. It is gorgeous and hot already, and the hills are killing me! I'm a flatlander at heart! I love sitting on the balcony for my morning coffee and pineapple. K & C just left for a truck trip to the beach for their morning walk. Ch and A are still sleeping, but we will go for breakfast before 10 AM.
What a treat! K brought me back a REAL coffee...yes, the ubiquitous Starbuck's is on the beach. We're hanging about until 1 PM when the truck will take us to the glass-bottomed boat tour. Someone who had gone snorkeling said there was little to see, so we 5 chose to take the boat instead. It was a 2 hour ride over coral reefs to a spot where you could jump off the boat and snorkel. We found Nemo and lots of baby Nemos and Dories, too. ..brilliant blue starfish were exceptionally beautiful. K, C, and A all put on life jackets and jumped in the water to snorkel. Ch and I stayed on board and took pictures...the coast was gorgeous, and we saw "Crocodile Island," a rock shaped like a crocodile that stuck out from our island paradise.
Before we boarded, we shopped at a small stand where we bought crystal necklaces and a shell ankle bracelet for A. The owner made many more ankle bracelets during our boat trip, and we left the beach with ankle bracelets for us and friends.
We actually ate Mexi food on the beach for dinner, "OK" when you are far from TX and desperate. The Mango Margaritas are beneficial for your health, too!
Forced family fun...F cubed...is becoming too much for this loner at heart. I think I must take a break away during the upcoming days...don't forget to view the boat adventure pictures!
What a treat! K brought me back a REAL coffee...yes, the ubiquitous Starbuck's is on the beach. We're hanging about until 1 PM when the truck will take us to the glass-bottomed boat tour. Someone who had gone snorkeling said there was little to see, so we 5 chose to take the boat instead. It was a 2 hour ride over coral reefs to a spot where you could jump off the boat and snorkel. We found Nemo and lots of baby Nemos and Dories, too. ..brilliant blue starfish were exceptionally beautiful. K, C, and A all put on life jackets and jumped in the water to snorkel. Ch and I stayed on board and took pictures...the coast was gorgeous, and we saw "Crocodile Island," a rock shaped like a crocodile that stuck out from our island paradise.
Before we boarded, we shopped at a small stand where we bought crystal necklaces and a shell ankle bracelet for A. The owner made many more ankle bracelets during our boat trip, and we left the beach with ankle bracelets for us and friends.
We actually ate Mexi food on the beach for dinner, "OK" when you are far from TX and desperate. The Mango Margaritas are beneficial for your health, too!
Forced family fun...F cubed...is becoming too much for this loner at heart. I think I must take a break away during the upcoming days...don't forget to view the boat adventure pictures!
CNY: Our first day at the beach
Buses leave on the hour from 7AM-11PM for D'Mall; pickups @ 20 after each hour for returns. We plan to hit the beach and eat seafood @ a restaurant recommended by someone who had just returned from Borocay. Pick your dinner from the market, then sit down until it is delivered cooked as you ordered to your table. Hmmmm...lobster, scallops, shrimp, all await us after our day in the sun. We are all planning messages ($7 per hour on the beach), body scrubs (1 hour = $20), and facials (45 minutes = $16).
I put on my uniform of the week--a bathing suit and cover-up---after having coffee on the balcony. Down to the beach we go in trucks. Pick your spot--lounges and chairs, palm trees and umbrellas--and stay the day. The sand is "white," the outriggers are sailing,people are playing and sand castles are being built while swimmers float by in their rings and on their rafts. The water is waist high, clear green, with some chartreuse sea weed floating in it. I don't do salt water, but everyone else floats for four hours. I have veggie curry and a mango milkshake for lunch (I will grow addicted to the mango milkshake ..."little milk, little sugar"...available with pineapple or banana everywhere on the beach). I tire of sitting alone in the sun...morning sun is about all I can take anyway...and leave for home., a shower, a read. Back to the beach in time for closing down the family beach spots, and walking to the fish market and Shebaba, the restaurant that will cook our selections. We choose lobster, scallops, shrimp both large and small, 2 white fish, and veggies. All are cooked too bland for us chili eaters. Lobster and scallops taste like sea water...kids like the chicken better! We decided we would all go back for the giant shrimp, but not for any other of the seafoods we ordered. I did have fun walking through the stalls next to the fish market, and bought plastic lanterns (you will have to come see them strung on the oak tree in my back yard in CC), 3 small woven summer wrist purses, a cloth and bamboo wind chime, and a fresh pineapple, peeled, for my breakfast ( I am not doing the hotel's breakfast buffets...many stories to tell about the dining room again!).
Home on the bus...what a cluster...and some loud mouth man is commandeering buses and shoving his family on them. People were fighting for trucks...not enough trucks...UGLY! Sorry, but some of the travel groups are notoriously rude and loud! And for a very good reason!!!!
Back at the hotel, kids swim to get the sand off. We close out the pool, and finish the day with showers and a bit of the Olympics...biathlon skiing and shooting...not much interest here! Time to upload the pictures of our first day in Borocay...
I put on my uniform of the week--a bathing suit and cover-up---after having coffee on the balcony. Down to the beach we go in trucks. Pick your spot--lounges and chairs, palm trees and umbrellas--and stay the day. The sand is "white," the outriggers are sailing,people are playing and sand castles are being built while swimmers float by in their rings and on their rafts. The water is waist high, clear green, with some chartreuse sea weed floating in it. I don't do salt water, but everyone else floats for four hours. I have veggie curry and a mango milkshake for lunch (I will grow addicted to the mango milkshake ..."little milk, little sugar"...available with pineapple or banana everywhere on the beach). I tire of sitting alone in the sun...morning sun is about all I can take anyway...and leave for home., a shower, a read. Back to the beach in time for closing down the family beach spots, and walking to the fish market and Shebaba, the restaurant that will cook our selections. We choose lobster, scallops, shrimp both large and small, 2 white fish, and veggies. All are cooked too bland for us chili eaters. Lobster and scallops taste like sea water...kids like the chicken better! We decided we would all go back for the giant shrimp, but not for any other of the seafoods we ordered. I did have fun walking through the stalls next to the fish market, and bought plastic lanterns (you will have to come see them strung on the oak tree in my back yard in CC), 3 small woven summer wrist purses, a cloth and bamboo wind chime, and a fresh pineapple, peeled, for my breakfast ( I am not doing the hotel's breakfast buffets...many stories to tell about the dining room again!).
Home on the bus...what a cluster...and some loud mouth man is commandeering buses and shoving his family on them. People were fighting for trucks...not enough trucks...UGLY! Sorry, but some of the travel groups are notoriously rude and loud! And for a very good reason!!!!
Back at the hotel, kids swim to get the sand off. We close out the pool, and finish the day with showers and a bit of the Olympics...biathlon skiing and shooting...not much interest here! Time to upload the pictures of our first day in Borocay...
Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day Celebrations at the Alta Vista
Visitors from a Chinese High School entertained with Lion Dances on CNY. They are to start at 7 AM, but I finished my walk and started my coffee before I hear the drums at 8 AM...Filipino time, lah. I go tearing back to the lobby to get some pictures. They actually danced more than three different times as people came down to breakfast. The women service personnel 
had on beautiful red Chinese tops. Valentine's Dinner was served in the dining room.
had on beautiful red Chinese tops. Valentine's Dinner was served in the dining room.
Day 1: The Views from our room at the Alta Vista
The view from the loft ...then from the balcony
It was a shock to look out and see the kampongs again...just like our hillside home in Singapore...roosters crow all day and night, smoke is rising from the cooking fires, kids are playing and laughing, people are working all hours of the day and night, a real throwback in time...yet you also see the new buildings and the golfcourse...
Travel Day Lines:
Tawain line
Manila line
Kalibo line
Boraquay Pier
Loading up for the Alta Vista: Section 1
Manila line
Kalibo line
Boraquay Pier
Loading up for the Alta Vista: Section 1
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