halfwhiteboy

I've been down for a week and have just been discharged from the hospital yesterday. Bummer, I know, but life goes on. As I'm psyching myself up for my return to work tomorrow, I'm trying to have nothing but good vibes. I'm even thinking of when I can make another trip to the beach while it's still summer (*wink wink*).

Perfect framing, right? No, not me. The cat! Found it yet? I thought I only get photo-bombed by cats at home. But of course they're all alike, so even on vacation, there's always some furball who wants to get in the frame. I should've known better.

First trip to the beach this year and my happiness cannot be contained. What to wear may be a perennial concern but instead of buying more new stuff, I rummaged through my closet to see what I can find. So, good boy!

So much ado about the crowning glory of Philippine tourism. From a high of no.2 in 2011 , to a slight dip to no.6 in 2012, now Boracay plunged several spots towards the bottom of the list at no.24 in TripAdvisor's annual listing of the world's " Top 25 Beaches ." Rabbit Beach in Lampedusa, Italy clinched the top spot. A kid displaying dexterity at skimboarding on the shores of Boracay. I'm not privy to details in regard to how the site actually comes up with the list. All I know is that it's based on the subjective opinions of TripAdvisor members worldwide. Nonetheless, it's a reflection of people's perceptions and experiences. And whether we like it or not, opinions matter.

Despite being  perennially   upset about Boracay , with its unabated over-development , with its ridiculous local ordinances , with its garbage and sewage woes, with the sea claiming more of the beach each time, with that green muck that never seems to go away, et cetera -- I still keep coming back. I just love Boracay. The beach: still lovely in spite of the monsoon waves and the dead seaweeds washed ashore. So we went there yet again on a whim just as the monsoon season started kicking in. But as luck would have it, or divine intervention if you may, we enjoyed lots of sunshine while we were there. Not a single drop of rain although the waters remained slightly rough.

Red Coconut Beach Hotel has been around for a very long time now, and I've passed by it countless times already while walking aimlessly in Boracay. But for some unexplained reason, I've always shunned it every time I look for a place to stay on the island. And I honestly don't know why. The hotel's facade, which overlooked the pool and the lovely beach beyond that. Last week, however, in a slight mode of panic brought about by a last-minute, spur-of-the-moment decision to go to Boracay, I finally succumbed to booking a room there. I availed of a package from a travel agency but all of the hotels I shortlisted were booked, and I was left with Red Coconut. Shucks, I thought. So I checked in with no expectations whatsoever. But lo and behold, I loved it there! Let me break it all down for you.

Last Sunday at a coffee shop in McKinley Hill, and after I realized that PDI had two different versions of their front page , I was stunned by a particular print ad: The print ad of an impending MEGA development in Boracay. I smudged the developer's logo on purpose. Instead of being wowed by the mega development trumpeted by this ad, I cringed at the sight of what would be  several multi-storied buildings sprawled across a vast rolling landscape in the already-fragile island of Boracay. And judging by the artist's rendition, these buildings and other structures will be spread throughout several hectares. I really won't write anything more about this development but it's going to be on the eastern side of the island, opposite to where the famed white beach is. As if this wasn't enough already:

A couple of weeks ago I read on Red Pirates Pub's Facebook page that the Mayor's office had demanded that their beach garden be chopped down. Apparently, they were conducting a sweep of the beachfront to rid it of illegal permanent structures like shacks, gazebos, wooden buildings, and the like. But plants? Red Pirates is tucked away into the far reaches of Station 3, away from the maddening crowd. It's a nice place with a laid-back vibe that it felt like I was not in Boracay at all. They have a nice little garden fronting the pub, which is a much-welcome refuge from all the chaos in the island. I don't have a proper photo of the garden but this is what a section of it looks like: Thankfully the folks at Red Pirates have managed to get copies of these ordinances, with which they argued their case. Plants and shrubbery are in no way mentioned as illegal. In fact, the related ordinance states that preservation of trees and plants is mandatory. It's j...

On my last trip to Boracay , I was inexplicably too lazy to pick up my camera and snap pictures. Maybe because Boracay has become oh so familiar to me already or I was too preoccupied with my tanning. Well that changed when I booked us a paraw  ride. I couldn't stop taking photos. I've been to the island many times already but I have to admit it was my first time on a  paraw.  Such a shame since these outrigger sailboats have long been littering the Boracay seascape as far as I can remember. I did a little research and called up Red Pirates . They were located in Angol, on the far end of Station 3. They had a bar and some tables and chairs on the beach interspersed with foliage. For a moment I actually forgot we were in Boracay. It felt like we were in some remote beach that was still largely undeveloped.

With the multitude of hotels in Boracay, it would be close to impossible to try every single one of them. For our short weekend getaway, we tried The Tides for the first time. Nestled within Boracay's D' Mall, the hotel has been around for quite some time already. Overall it was a nice experience for us. Let me start with the hotel itself and its facilities; I'll save our room for another post. Our "Tides" experience started with a minor glitch. Despite me reconfirming my booking the day before, there was no one to welcome us at the Caticlan airport. An airport staff was kind enough to ask us where we were booked so she radioed the Tides staff who was already preparing to leave. Based on the list he was given, he was only expecting two arrivals. Apparently, there was some inefficiency with their reservations team and/or maybe their front desk. But everything went on smoothly until we reached the hotel. He was a one-man show, by the way. He was there at the ...

Two weeks just seemed to fly by and tomorrow we're flying to Boracay for a short getaway. I'm excited, yes, since it's been two years since my last trip there (we decided to skip it for some places else last year). At the same time I'm also anxious -- maybe upset even -- because this island paradise seems to be on an unstoppable downward spiral. And each time I'm there, I see the accelerating decline. The last time I was in Boracay was in June 2009 post-surgery. It was like a gift to myself and My Bibe after almost two years of stress and deprivation brought about by my medical condition (that one is a long story and I guess I'll just have to blog about it separately in time). I wasn't able to swim or go on a real vacation during that period. Anyway, back to my 2009 trip, I was really thin then -- and not in a good way. One of the things that upset me about Boracay is that the beach is becoming narrower each time, as you can see in the photo below. ...

I was going through my inbox when I chanced upon a neglected email from TripAdvisor. It's about the Top 25 Beaches in the World as voted by TripAdvisor members for their 2011 Travelers' Choice Awards. So I checked and felt a sense of pride upon seeing Boracay at No. 2 - more so when no other Asian destination apart from the Maldives made it to the list. Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos Islands is No. 1. Sadly, though, the Asian list was dominated by Thai beaches. While Boracay sits at the top of the list, no other Philippine beach made it to the ranking. Beach umbrellas and sun beds along the main beach. Common, whatever you have to say about it being overdeveloped, highly commercialized and overcrowded, Boracay is still beautiful and certainly one of the best. What I call "The Rape of Boracay," an aerial view of the seemingly endless developments on the island. I am very much aware of the many issues - environmental especially - that hound Boraca...