Golden Week!

We headed to Taipei and the Philippines for Golden Week.  It was awesome and a much needed break.  Henry was probably in Taipei more than he was in Tokyo for the month of April since he had two business trips during the month to Taipei and we went back together for Golden Week.  While in Taipei this time, we visited Taipei 101 with our friend who lives in Taipei but had never been up to the observation tower before.

It was a nice day to gaze out upon Taipei .  We went to the outdoor observation deck as well and it was pretty windy up there.  It freaked me out when I looked up and it seemed that the tower was swaying in the breeze.

Another cool thing we did was go up to Yang Ming San for tea at night.  You can see the twinkling lights of Taipei below you…even Taipei 101.

Speaking of tea, I think I had at least 1 bubble tea drink everyday…many times more than 1.  And of course, I could go into all the yummy cheap food we ate and the fun I had shopping but that’s pretty much the norm for our trips to Taiwan.

After Taipei , we went to the Philippines.  It was supposed to be a brief stop in Manila to catch our regional plane to Caticlan where we would take a short ferry ride to Boracay, a small island 200 miles south of Manila.  We made it to Manila with time to spare but let’s just say I picked the wrong airline to fly to Boracay.  NEVER fly Cebu Pacific Airlines if you can help it.  The drama began when we tried to check in for our flight.  The had to cancel the flight because of the sunset – there were apparently no lights on the airfield with which to land.  You would think they should know when the sun set before they made these flight timetables.  They moved us to a flight that landed an hour away but would bus us to our destination which was ok but then that flight was delayed and ultimately canceled as well!  No good explanation given.  UG!  Everyone booked for that flight complained and harassed the manager.  Then, when we were collecting our luggage, one of our checked luggage didn’t come out!  How is it possible to lose our luggage when it shouldn’t have even left the airport!  Luckily, they found it in a back office because the destination luggage tag had fallen off.  We spent the night at a Manila hotel near the airport with free dinner and breakfast buffet.  Both buffets were not good.  We had to get up early to catch a shuttle to the airport for our flight to Caticlan.  To get from the terminal to the plane, we took a shuttle bus – a very old shuttle bus, whose doors did not close!  I felt like we could be in the movie Speed or something.  This time, the flight actually took off and we made it to Caticlan.

Our Philippine island vacation finally started when we arrived in Boracay after taking a slightly rickety ferry from Caticlan.

Even though I booked a Garden Suite room (basic modern hotel-like room), the resort we were staying at upgraded us to an Oceanview Suite.  SCORE!  It had a daybed in the living room which looked out toward the beach and ocean.  Beautiful.

We had breakfast included in the price so every morning we had breakfast in the café which also looked out toward the beach and ocean.  Fresh mango every morning!  Yum!  And let me tell you, those Philippine mangos are delish!  For the most part, very little fibrous strings, creamy and sweet.

I had lots of mango fruit shakes while we were in Boracay.

The resort also had reserved lounge chairs for guests under the palm trees.  The first day, we admired our suite, walked along the beach…I don’t think we ever made it all the way up and down the beach.  White Beach is over 4 km long afterall, miles of beautiful fine white sand.  And the best part was there was enough sand to have restaurants, bars and resorts right on the beachfront with plenty of sand to spare for lounging and sun bathing.

We got an in-room massage before our dinner reservations at Friday’s Resort.  The massage with tip cost us 550 Philippine Pesos at a conversion rate of 47 Pesos/1 USD we paid about $11USD for an hour long massage!  Awesome!  Friday’s was OK.  There was a beachfront wedding going on but the highlight was that the wedding included fireworks from a boat not far from the beach.  It was like getting our own fireworks show!  I was a bit jealous for a moment that I couldn’t have fireworks at our wedding – what a great idea.  Granted, those fireworks probably didn’t require any sort of permits either.  Being a tropical island, it rained as we walked back to the resort, we passed several clubs and parties that were anxiously waiting for the rain to stop.

The next day, we took a snorkeling/sailing trip around the island.  Sailing was fantastic.  The snorkeling was ok, because it was a sailing outrigger, we had to snorkel from the beach and it appears that a storm had damaged much of the coral but it was slowly coming back.

We stopped by Crystal Cove, a kind of tourist trap, to explore the little island while our guides prepared a bbq seafood and pork lunch.

Did a little more sailing and returned to the resort.  Sailing was very relaxing and a great way to see the sights.  Before dinner we took a tricycle – not the kind you’re thinking but a regular mode of transportation on the island, a converted motorcycle of sorts, since there are no regular cars and only vans and converted trucks – to Puka Beach where we relaxed and Henry took a swim in the ocean.

That night, dinner was at Nami Resort in a cove on the same side of the island.  Dinner was yummy and we were practically the only ones in the restaurant on a cliff overlooking the cove.  To get up there, we took a crazy elevator ride – think industrial elevator instead of passenger elevator.

Towards the end of dinner, there was a power outage across the island and the Caticlan island.  While the Nami resort had its own generator and while White Beach was still active and partying, it took almost 2 hours it seemed for the residents of Caticlan to get their power back.  We ended the night at on the beach (in beanbags) enjoying the sound of the surf, a drink and live music.

On our last full day on Boracay, we took a horseback ride up to Mount Luho (the highest point on the island) to get a panoramic view.  The horseback ride wasn’t exactly what we were expecting.  Instead of riding through jungle to get to the top of the mountain, we took a paved road to the top.  Ha ha!  The views were nice though and at least we didn’t have to walk all the way up.

We had another fruit shake and a yummy Filipino lunch.  Afterwards, Henry took a kiteboarding lesson and I went to the famous Mandala Spa in the hills above the beach.  Spas usually fall into 2 categories, the modern spas with conveniences that range from whirlpool hot tubs to saunas and the more holistic, natural spas.  Mandala Spa is definitely a natural spa.  They had flowers everywhere…even inside the lockers…and a very natural and relaxed feel.

The treatments took place in native huts with thatched roofs and bamboo flooring.  In addition to the usual relaxing spa soundtrack, I got to hear birds and insects in the jungle right outside the hut.  Instead of the usual spa robe, I had a colorful, lightweight sarong.  I chose a 4 hour package with foot bath, pineapple-papaya body wrap in banana leaves (I smelled really fruity after that), floral bath, hour long massage and natural facial – all for about $175.  I was really relaxed after that…and they even gave me the sarong to keep.

We had a crab and Filipino dinner at a local place at D*Mall (the local shopping and hangout place) before strolling the beach, listening to more live music on the beach and getting another fruit shake.  We relaxed on the beach and played in the ocean before cleaning up and packing up for a flight back to Manila .  After a 2 hour delay, we arrived in Manila and took a taxi to our hotel in Makati City , the apparently nice part of Manila with two gigantic high-end shopping malls.  Had a nice Filipino dinner (and one last mango shake) before calling it a night so we could wake up early and catch out flight back to Tokyo (through Taipei).

Just a few observations about the Philippines , for the most part, the country is pretty poor.  We saw lots of shacks on our flight into Manila , usually near the rivers.  The local “bus” is called a Jeepney and looks like an elongated short school bus but totally open.

On Boracay the main transportation was provided by trikes or tricycles – converted motorcyles kind of a tuk tuk like vehicle.  Philippine mangos are awesome!  Filipinos can definitely sing and have a good time.  We watched a female group entertain a hotel crowd the first night in Manila and they were pretty good, as well as a few other live music acts on the beach in Boracay.  The Philippines has SO many islands.  Overall, a fun vacay and maybe one day we’ll be back to check out another island in the Philippines.