Boracay 2023

 I made a promise to my nephew that I would take him to Boracay in March 2020. I had booked the tickets and reserved the hotel. Sadly, the covid pandemic happened. Airasia had extended our tickets for 2 more years but i forgot to use them and they expired. Undeterred, i bought new tickets for us and for his parents, too. I would have just gone with Alex but I worried that something might happen to our one and only big bata. Anyway, Twinx was assigned with our land and boat transfers and where to eat. I was worried because our airlines had become notorious for cancellations and delayed flights. I was also afraid we’d get bad weather because it was the rainy season.  

When we got to the airport, i admit i had forgotten what to do but we stumbled along and eventually got to our gate, 2 hours early, but the flight even arrived 24minutes earlier than the scheduled 11:40 arrival  in Boracay. We didn’t have a window seat but our co-passenger let alex have her seat. Though, it took some time to fill up our boat, so we finally arrived at Jony’s boutique hotel at 1pm. Luckily, they still honored my reservation from 3 years ago and while they didn’t have the triple room at the beachfront hotel i booked before, they found us 2 double rooms at their sister hotel. Jony’s boutique was lovely and their staff is so pleasant. The rooms are spacious and clean and looks new. I loved how they thought of everything a guest could need, like beach mats and beach towels so you’ll have someplace to put your stuff , and umbrellas, so you could walk around in the sun or rain. The only downside was that our windows faced the next door bank’s wall. 

For lunch we went to nearby Mon’s La Paz batchoy and ordered one plate of butter garlic shrimps for ₱290, batchoy, and hotsilog for Alex. It took a long while and while the food was ok, it was bitin (not enough) and we didn’t want to wait again so Omeng just ordered 2fried eggs. 

After resting, we went to the beach and explored. Of course Omeng and Alex went to Willy’s rock, then we had some leftover corned beef sandwiches Jonah’s shakes and were told by beach police that eating was not allowed on the beach. Also sandcastles, massages and fire dances were disallowed. While i love how this cleared the beach, i was also sad to see a lot of houses or hotels that were demolished. Luckily, Bans beach resort survived but their nipa huts have been converted to generic cement apartments. 

But Alex marveled at the white sand and clear water. We fed the fishies and stayed till sundown. Alex said it was one of the best days ever. When we got back to the hotel, we didn’t notice the hose outside to wash our feet so we tracked sand inside and had to remove a lot of it in the shower.

For dinner we went to Jasper’s tapsilog, as recommended by some youtube vloggers. But aside from my tinola and alex’s burge, the inasal was bland and the hamburger steak full of extenders. Then we had to rush hime because Alexhad to poop.

Alex was my roommate and he kept tossing and turning and when i asked him why, he said the aircon was too cold and he couldn’t go under the blanket because it was wrapped too tightly to the bed. I told him he should have told me because I thought he liked the cold. 

I just had to remember to always make time to use my ear drops 3 times a day for my ear infection and to wear ear plugs when i swam.

Breakfast was included at Pig out, Jony’s restaurant. We had the beef tapa or chorizo, while alex had the English breakfast with 2 eggs and bacon. We would have loved to eat lunch there for Alex’s birthday to get a free crème brûlée but meals were kinda expensive. 

So we swam some more till lunch time. Then we walked to Bolsbog beach where we had pizza and pasta at Mr D La Bettola. Mr D is Mr Daisuki, but they made really good food at reasonable prices. Alex loved it so much. Too bad tiramisu wasn’t available. We bought cakes at Dolce Baker but again, the silvana and carrot cake were not good. The chocolate mousee and chocolate caramel cake were ok, though. 

Then it was back to the beach where we saw more fish andalex would play a game with the globe beach ball i bought. He’d look for a country and challenge is to find it. When it was his turn, he’d say “ Ang daya! Bata lang ako!” ( It’s not fair! I’m just a child!)

For dinner, we were supposed to eat at Aquafresh, which was recommended by blogs, but it was fully-packed. So we wandered around till we got to Station X, which was a mall and hotel. We thought it was suspicious that there was no one at the food court but we took our chances at Plato D’Boracay and surprise! It was good. We had a big bowl of sinigang, chili crab and grilled squid. But the highlight for alex was playing foosball with all of us. It got really competitive. Then we went to D’Mall to shop for souvenirs. Then we walked back to the hotel, passing through the night life of White Beach.

On our last day, we decided not to risk it and we didn’t swim anymore. We just showered and waited till 9:30 to check out and go to the airport. They didn’t have a lot of food choices and no water dispenser. And due to a lack of buses, our flight was delayed. But it’s ok, my promise was fulfilled and we had a great time.