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The best beach in Asia?!?!.....bliss....
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After the excitement of Donsol, we headed to the island of Boracay. This was voted one of the best beaches in Asia, and from the moment you see the beach, you can see why!! Our journey involved getting a flight to the neighbouring island, then getting a small boat to Boracay. You have to wade onto the island! All very basic! No large ferry and pier! The mad thing in the Phillipeans is the number of tax you pay, on our journey from Donsol , we paid two airport taxes, a baot terminal tax and an environmental tax for the upkeep of the beach!!! We met a tout as we got off the boat, and she had recommended a few places to us. We decided to check them out. As we waited to check them out we got chatting and she wanted Marie to diagnose her skin allagies. We got chatting and she even invited us over for drinks at her house. They are so hospitable. It was so nice to be somewhere where you can communicate with all the locals, and most speak Amercianized English. The hotel was a few yards from the famous 'white beach' which streatches 4 miles along the small islands West coast. As you get to the beach, you are greeted by blinding powder white sand, and a row of palm trees, which stop a few metres from the water. The water is a turquoise green leading to a deep blue. Bliss! All along the beach there are a searies of bars and restaurant, but these are not the music blearing type you find elsewhere, instead its just the sound of the sea as the soundtrack. Total relaxation. The path along the beach is not paved, instead its just harder sand. We got our swimming stuff on, and headed to our spot. Books, towels and perfect views out to sea. Our first day we relaxed by the beach, then watched an amazing sunset, as the storm clouds closed in. Halfway through our dinner on the beach, all of a sudden, large splatters of rain began to fall, and before long the it was pi$$ing it down! We were ushered into a thatched covered seating area, and finished our meal as the whole place got drenched in rain! It felt electric, as you could hear the rain all around us. But unlike the UK it was very warm, and the rain brought an air of freshness. Very tropical. That evening we decided to explore the island's bars, and one of did a bit of a crawl from bar to bar. We saw a wedding party take place at of the bars, where the wedding party (a gang of locals) were dancing to American Hip Hop! Even the bride was giving it some! We ended up at a live music venue, where the locals were doing some rock number. They were amazing, I thought they were miming! We were surrounded by many tourists and locals alike. Some single ladies or G.R.O's as they are known locally. (Guest Relations Officers!!!). They basically sit at the bar with one beer which lasts all night, until they manage to get chatting to a male tourist! Here the ladies pull the men!!! Mainly German men! We ended the night doing out dance moved on a sand dance floor! This place rocks!
The following day, as Marie recovered from the nights partying, by getting a massage and a manicure on the beach, I headed off for my first dive as a qualified diver. The island is surrounded by dive sites, so it was a quick 15minutes to our dive spot called crocodile island! Now you may be guessing the waters re filled with them, but luckily as I did my research before signing up, the reason for the name is that it is shaped like a croc. I stuck very close to the instructor. The waters are much clearer here than Ko Phi Phi, but, there is less interesting fish. I dived to a depth of 21metres, for about 50minutes. It was nice to have had another dive so soon after qualifying. The most interesting thing was the amazing coral in these waters. That evening after another great sunset, having the largest prawn I have ever had, (the size of a lobster...I kid you not!!!) we rounded off the day with a beach side massage....the perfect paradise island day!
The following day we had planned to do an island hop, but decided to just relax and take in the amazing beach on our doorstep. Our time on Boracay came to an end far too soon. It is somewhere we will definitely come back to hopefully. Having spoken to a lot of the locals, there are meant to be many beaches in the Phillipeans similar to Boracay. We cant wait to see some of them. The country was an amazing place, so much to do, and we had only scratched the surface. The beaches were so much nicer than the world famous beaches of Thailand and Malayasia. Now that we were kind of experts ;-). The mad thing is that as you travel in South East Asia you meet o many travelers especially from the UK, but here in Boracay, it seem to have not been 'discovered' yet. So any of you wanting to get to a great Asian Beach...head this way. And make sure you allow more time than we did! We leave this amazing country with very fond memories, its people, its energy and its natural beauty!
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