After spending a day and a half in Manila, we were off to the beautiful island of Boracay. (Yes, this was a year ago. Yes, I am just now getting around to finishing writing about it.)
I didn’t keep a journal while in Boracay and seeing as it was my first proper vacation in years, didn’t do much besides drink coffee, lounge around the beach and walk around looking for food. As such, this will mostly be a photo entry. Enjoy!
After an hour long flight from Manila to Caticlan, we took a boat to the resort island of Boracay.
Covid testing facility in the Philippines for our unvaccinated friendwhen you see a Cinnabon, you eat a Cinnabontrash can reading “The Juan Effect”, “Juan Small Act… Juan Big Effect”/the play on words here is top-tierwaiting for a ferry to the islandour boat has arrivedand it was a tiny boatloved the bright colors of the boatview from the boat
We arrived to our hotel and had dinner before bed.
I ordered a side of mashed potatoes and somehow my friends let me do thisoverpriced, underwhelming burgerhotel buffet breakfast, small because they charge you for any leftover food on your plate to discourage food wasteview from my room; my friends shared a room but I got one all to myselfalley scenesomeone waiting outside a restaurantlots of chicken restaurants herethe nature was beautiful heresmall white car reading “Malay MPS Pulisya” or policebeach sceneshops along the beachview of the seaCoke can in the white sand beach of Boracaygliders can be seen in the distance over the seafirst Jollibee experience!he’s cute… but I didn’t like the food, sorrybeach at sunset
The name “Boracay” has several purported origins, from the indigenous Ati people to the Spanish colonizers. All seem to have one concept in common, though: “white.” The white sand beaches of Boracay were absolutely stunning and nice to walk on with bare feet.
In addition to lots of fancy, probably over-priced resorts (goodness knows it took me a while to pay down my credit card), there’s a kind of inner city full of shops and restaurants. Surprisingly, a number of them were catered to Korean tourists–from Korean markets to restaurants offering free kimchi.
street of Boracayhandwritten sign offering “free chicken soup and unlimited kimchi radish”Korean restaurant named “Chopstick”, with its name written in Hangeul pronunciation of “chopstick”a broken (?) ferris wheelsmall shop offering “Korean CornDog”basketball shooting game standsmall shop featuring lots of beaded jewelry, patterned bags and shirts“Hungry Monkey” hamburger and hot dog restauranttattoo and barber shopshop advertising “99% Aklan products,” Aklan being the province Boracay is located in“Super Sub” restaurant with a ceramic submarine diver in frontshop selling inflatable toysFalafel shop with a sign out front with Hebrew, Korean, Hindi, and Arabicsign in a store that reads “For hygienic reasons, please DO NOT FIT SWIMWEAR IF YOU HAVE YOUR MONTHLY PERIOD Thank you for your cooperation”milk tea and noodle bar served from a food truckthe Golden ArchesRonald McDonald standing guard outside the Golden ArchesMcDonald’s menu… yes, that is McSpaghetti“Sip Happens” wine bar and brewery signTaiwanese tea shoppeople sitting outside a restaurant called “Smoke”shop selling local producevegetable close-upanother vegetable close-up that no one asked forKorean Mart… how much is that Choco-pie in the window…HaloMangoTree ice creammango and lemon shopfresh fish on ice with a few fruits dotted around them for color“IHeartBackyard BBQ” restaurant, and as with most restaurants, the seating is largely outsideclose-up of the I Heart BBQ signI don’t remember what this dish wasI think this was crispy pork bellyI don’t remember what this dish was either, but it was all pretty gooddragonfruit-designed dragon outside a shop where the server was dressed in a very skimpy outfit selling fruity drinksGratitude cafeJammer’s Beach Shackisland ice delivery by handcartNigi Nigi Nu Noos e Nu Nu Noos Beach Resort and Sports Bar
I really don’t have a lot of photos of us actually doing things on the island because it really was a resort island, where you go to relax on the beach. So here’s a few more photos.
morning on the beachhandcut, overprice coconut waterwalking to a cafe I foundI love the small distance transportation of different countries–here a bright green rickshaw waits alongside a bright blue buildingsign outside a shop selling “6 Years of Korea Red Ginseng” featuring photos of famous actors and actresses promoting red ginseng productsalley scenebest mojito on the island, apparentlyanother Korean restaurantItalian restaurantred origami rabbit and red money envelope for Lunar New Year at our resorta proper Italian restaurant, featuring real bread, and prosciutto wrapped mango sliceschicken parm and a saladBoracay night lifePares Hilton restaurant and cafe/beef pares is a Filipino dishCafe Maruja aka Mermaid Cafebeachfront cafeseashell decor against a bright blue wooden walltables along the beachsome sort of caramel coffee drinksome sort of fruity ade with edible glitter in itclub sandwichbeach viewvolunteer asking a tourist questionsmore beachmannequin outside a shopTres Amigos Mexican Cantina menu covertacos al pastorvarious water toys at a shopalley full of shopssame alley, shot in .5another .5 alley shotthe infamous frog purses, a taxidermy cane frog (or “bullfrog”) first introduced to the Philippines in the 1930s to control pests on sugarcane plantations, but they quickly became a pest themselvesman using a homemade wood carver to carve some handmade name keychains for us
I’m not exactly the resort kind of vacationer. I remember being at a resort in Thailand after spending three weeks in the mountains in India and having my professor say that it would be nice to go there and write a book, but I don’t think I could write a book from the lap of luxury, unless it was specifically about the resort/island/etc. There’s so much we don’t see as tourists when we travel, such as: who are the local people? How were they pushed out? The people who work here, do they live here or do they travel here every morning? (The women who walked around McLeod Ganj scamming tourists out of money for “milk for baby” often took the same bus to the town as I did. And I should note that these women were victims of a scam themselves.)
It was nice seeing another country, with beautiful white beaches, and spending time with my friends. Let’s meet again soon!
I got front-seat to the boatCaticlan airportCaticlan airport… yes, it was this small… but it had a Starbucks…… and it was like every Starbucks anywhereit’s a good thing I don’t collect Starbucks mugs… because I would have wanted all of themGate 4we were up close and personal to the runwayboarding a plane like this always makes me feel famousI wanted to stop at the Wendy’s in the Manila airport but we didn’t have time… little did I know we would go almost an entire day without a proper meal
Koffee & Kpop 
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