Beautiful Boracay 长滩岛之旅

Boracay, Philippines. 长滩岛， 菲律宾.

24th to 27th October 2014

What a wonderful trip with my mum, sis and aunty Elaine.

My first time to Philippines. Not much people know about Boracay, especially Malaysian. When I told my friends I was going to Boracay for vacation, they would get shocked and asked me where is it and even asked me WHY would I wanted to go Philippines? From the photos below, you would probably tempted and understand WHY. Moreover, Philippines can speak English, even though they might not be fluent but communication would not be a problem. So of their words are similar to Bahasa Malaysia, for example, Murah (same meaning).

From Kuala Lumpur to Kalibo International Airport, it took about 4 hours. Yes, if you wanted to go Boracay, Kalibo is the place where you're flying to. So far only Air Asia is flying there from Malaysia and it's a new destination for them too. There's only one flight each day from and back to KLIA2-Kalibo. The airport is smallest airport I've ever seen For Now. Well, I didn't really flying much, just saying that from my own personal perspective. I thought Langkawi airport is very small, apparently Kalibo has defeated it. The airport is right next to a paddy field. There's lots and lots of paddy field in Kalibo anyway. 

**Reminder: For Malaysian, you have to pay P500 for terminal fee when you return to Malaysia at Kalibo Airport. 

You can see lots of vans are available to Caticlan Jetty where take you to Boracay Island. P250 which including the boat. From Kalibo airport to Caticlan Jetty took about 2.5 to 3 hours. If you take van, they only start going when the van is full. If you're rushing while going back, to the airport, do choose the van carefully, take the one which almost full seat.

On the journey from Kalibo airport to Caticlan Jetty.

When you reach the jetty, you have to pay terminal (P100) and environmental and admission fee (P75 / P60 for students and senior citizen, do bring along your id card for verification). 

Sunrise and sunset in Boracay is earlier than Malaysia. It's around 5.30pm. When we taking boat from Caticlan Jetty to Boracay Island, the timing is just perfect, it's sunset time! :)

From the jetty to another jetty is just about 15min journey. 

Once you reach Boracay, you'll see lots of Tuk Tuk (similar to Thailand's Tuk Tuk aka Tricycle Taxi). From the jetty to Station 2 and 3 is about the same price, P100. 

We stay at Station 2, Island Nook Boutique Hotel. It's cheap, good location and the staffs are friendly, they even invited us to go to pub on our last night in Boracay. The location is just nice, it's near to White Beach and D'Mall. You can shop and eat in D'Mall. 

You can buy souvenir from the shops in D'Mall, but D'Talipapa (in or near Station 3, I forgotten) is much cheaper than D'Mall. D'Mall is much crowded than D'Talipapa, that's why D'Talipapa would be cheaper. D'Talipapa has seafood market, wet market. Btw, the local told us that they don't fishing in Boracay, all of the seafood are imported from other places of Philippines. That's why the price of seafood is expensive in Boracay. Weird right? I thought island should have lots of seafood and it must be cheaper than in the city. 

We had our first meal in Boracay at Andok's. It's a famous fastfood chain store in Philippine. This outlet is everywhere. I personally think it's just so so. 

Supper at Halowich

You must try! It's famous over there too.

They have one big bowl of ice which is Family Size (for 4-6 persons) costs P399.

It's night, instead of trying the Family Size, we chose their popular choice, Mango something something. LOL. SUPERB! 

The first day is perfect for you to walk around and get familiar with the place.

DAY 2

Island Hopping (Including Cliff Jumping and Snorkelling)

We were planning to go Ariel Point (about P2,000) but it's under maintenance, island hopping would be much cheaper than going to Ariel Point, because the price is negotiable. Of course, request to check their license and stuffs like it, beware of con. We successfully negotiated the price to only P1,300 each person! :)

Depart in the morning around 9.30. The whole island hopping journey takes about 4 hours including lunch. It is shorter than the duration of Ariel Point but cheaper. We don't even got a choice cause Ariel Point wasn't available. 

First destination: Magic Island

An island design to have Cliff Jumping!

Higher cliff that I wouldn't dare to try.

This is me jumping off the cliff. It looks short but seriously it's higher than it looks like. There would be a staff standing by, when you jump off from the cliff, they'll pull you out from the water. If you're a good swimmer, they would probably just rest and let you take care of yourself. I wasn't a good swimmer and I afraid of height. I jumped twice. At least I tried, NO REGRET! It was FUN! Even though it was pretty scared the hell out of me. 

After cliff jumping, we went for snorkelling. Sorry that I wasn't able to take photos and videos during snorkelling. The sea wasn't calm, pretty wavy. I even got a bit headache and dizziness after snorkelling. Well, it was my first attempt of snorkelling. Saw lots of fishes under the water. I couldn't touch them, they swim away from me. -_- 

What an unforgettable experience!

In the afternoon, we rest awhile and off to Mount Luho.

Our tour guide, NONO from island hopping, bring us there by van.

We went up to Mount Luho by riding ATV and Buggy. 

It was cool! My first time either. Easy to ride, no worries. 

Groupfie at Mount Luho

A place than you could see the whole Boracay Island. You can even see Kalibo.

It was almost sunset but too bad we can't wait for it to goes down. They have time limit on the ATV and buggy. When you reach there, they usually give you about 15min to enjoy the 360 degree view of Boracay. 

It's consider a sunset shot. :P

Nono, our tour guide gave us a free ride of skycycle. Once again, scared the hell out of me. I risked my life of taking this photo. Erm, KIND OF risking my life. LOL

It was a busy day and so we decided to get a Body Massage and Stone Massage before dinner.

We had our dinner at D'Mall again. The restaurant called, SMOKE. 

Nono recommended us. Cheap and local. Nice!

Philippine rice is much sticky. They like to put a lot of water to cooked the rice, I assumed. I like the normal rice we eat here, in Malaysia. :/ 

Day 3

Relaxing Day and Shopping Day.

We woke up early for sunrise at Bulabog Beach. Less light pollution in Boracay and it was New Moon, you can clearly see the stars shining above you. 

The hidden sunrise. Too bad there's too much clouds. We were not the only one who wait for the sunrise. We even met some photography enthusiasts from Manila.

Waking up early is pretty tiring, especially a day before was busy and exhausting.

We decided to take a nap first before we have our breakfast in hotel and go to White Beach!

Panorama View of White Beach in Station 2. 

Lunch at Inasal. It's similar to Andok's. Famous and crowded. 

They really have lots of roasted chicken in Boracay. 

See the rice? It was what I talking about, kinda sticky. 

Desserts Time! Crazy Crepes in D'Mall.

Sand Art in Station 1. Created by kids and teens there. They'll ask you pay if you wanted to take photos with their sand art. Sand art is art, art is not free. 

We tried Jonah's in Station 1, beach side. Mango Banana Shake is their famous shake! It was superb! One glass ain't small. They do sell in bottle too. I advice you not to try their special Halo. It's similar to ABC in Malaysia, but the thing is, ABC in Malaysia is much BETTER!

When sunset met Waxing Crescent. :)

We had our buffet dinner at Bamboo, somewhere between Station 2 and 3. Cheap but honestly, you pay what you get. Food is edible of course but I would not try another time and definitely won't recommend others. People come just simply because it is cheap.

You'll see fire dance at the beach, it's street performance.

Oh I almost forgotten, I read a book about Boracay which stated that they celebrate Halloween on the last Sunday in October. IT WASN'T TRUE. The local told us they celebrate on 1st November.

My sister and I went to pub with the locals on our last night. 

My mum and aunt were too tired to join us.

If you ask them which beer is nice, the first beer comes into their mind would be San Miguel Light! 

I don't really fancy beer, I prefer something sweet and they recommended me, Tanduay Ice. It taste so much better than bitter beer, I love it!

This is our "tour guide" - NONO. Who gave us a cheap price of island hopping. :)

We met him at the beach side, Station 2. Friendly and funny guy, he even taught us some simple Filipino. Our last day in Boracay, I really hate to leave this beautiful island.

I bought a dreamcatcher bracelet in Boracay. 

Apparently Dream Catcher is kind of a thing over there.

Street View while taking tuk tuk to jetty. That's a tuk tuk, tricycle.

That's the end of my Boracay Trip.

I spent almost RM1,200 for the whole journey (including flight and lodging). 

How was my trip? HEAVENLY.

I would go there again, someday!