Thursday, March 5, 2015

Philippines

I have unfortunately learned that Taiwan does not give many days off work.  While out students enjoyed almost a month off school for Chinese New Year, English teachers were given four days.  So I decided to make the most of those days and went to the Philippines.  The first stop was an overnight in Manila.  We waited close to an hour for a taxi, because drivers will try to rip you off without a meter.  We met a couple at our hotel that wasn't aware of this.. they paid about 1200 pesos ($27) for a 150 peso ride.... always go with a metered cab!

When we finally made it to the hotel, it was already getting late.  We decided to check out a night market we saw across the street.  After walking around for a few minutes, we noticed an armored truck.  Looking closer, we realized it was a SWAT team.  They were fully armed, but I guess they were just making their presence known.  We decided to turn back, and saw more armed guards at every building.  Manila is really ready for anything.

Our flight left the next morning, and we arrived to Kalibo airport, probably the smallest airport I have ever been to.  After a little confusion with our transport, we were finally on the bus for our two hour ride.  Next stop was a boat transport.. this really seemed like the never ending journey.  Yet once we made it to Boracay it was all worth it!  Our hotel was under construction, but we were upgraded to an ocean view and had a private beach.  Once the hotel is completed it will definitely be out of our price range!

The first night we saw an amazing fire dancing show, along with beach front fireworks.  The next morning we were up bright and early to go zip lining.   Following zip lining we went Paraw sailing.  This special boat is all over Boracay and it was an exciting trip!  We were on our way to cliff jump, and saw looks of panic on our captains faces. It was then that they asked if we could turn around because of the weather.  We were still able to snorkel and eat fresh coconuts on a secluded beach.  We also managed to fit a pub-crawl in that night where we tried balut eggs.  For those of you that haven't heard of this delicacy, it is fertilized eggs that contain partially developed duck embryos.  I will admit I did not eat the entire egg, but it was interesting to try!

The rest of the vacation was spent beach front, with an amazing ocean side massage.  I loved Boracay, the people were amazing, and I would love to go back!