We came to visit Boracay during lean season and I thought we'd have the island to ourselves because, well, it's lean season. This was my first time and I was stupid enough to think that the country's number 1 tourist spot would be crowd-less on the last week of September. But the scene in Caticlan airport showed otherwise. It didn't sink in to me that people from all over the world have heard about Boracay through various media until we reached the jetty port and boy was it pretty crowded. I checked my calendar after asking myself, is it summer yet?
I specifically picked a beach resort in station 1 (within budget, of course) because Toto, who had been to Boracay in 2008, didn't have good words to say about station 3, and so were the other netizens in the numerous Boracay threads and forums on the net. Sur Boracay has a pretty good ranking in TripAdvisor and it was also recommended to me by a good friend so we finally decided on staying there for 3 nights.
We arrived at the hotel way before check-in time so we just left our baggage in the reception area and headed straight to one of the resort's cabanas. We ordered lunch at 11am and good thing we did because we had to wait for a little bit less than eternity for the food to be served. The waiting time signaled the beginning of the major activity I enjoyed while in Boracay - people watching.
We arrived at the hotel way before check-in time so we just left our baggage in the reception area and headed straight to one of the resort's cabanas. We ordered lunch at 11am and good thing we did because we had to wait for a little bit less than eternity for the food to be served. The waiting time signaled the beginning of the major activity I enjoyed while in Boracay - people watching.
Boracay, if I may say, is a pretty normal stretch of beach. The only thing that separates it from the rest of the 7,000 islands in the country is its white sand. Very white and very fine sand. That's it. I think there's nothing spectacular about the place per se. There are no picturesque landmarks, no rock formations, etc. Even its renowned sunset is pretty ordinary, in my honest opinion. But what makes Boracay an interesting destination are the people. Tourists and locals alike add color to the island.
Koreans and Chinese make up most of the tourists. I'd boldly say of ten visitors who arrive in Boracay, 7 are Koreans. Touts even know some Korean words to lure the tourists. I was like, am I still in the Philippines? 0_0
Different personalities, different walks of life, different strokes. Of course there are tourists who visited just so they could boast about it. There are those who took pictures like there'd be no tomorrow. Those who wanted to experience the much talked about nightlife. There were those genuinely interested to see what the place could offer. Eh bakit nga ba ko nangengealam?! :D But in the end I thought it was a really good idea to spend the days lazily and just observe people. Sulitin ang binayad sa hotel! :))
If even during lean season the islands gets pretty much crowded, I can't imagine how it would be on summer months. It must be crazy! And everything's going to be ten times more expensive than they already are on rainy months. I wanted to eat Cornetto and it was freaking P100 apiece on a relatively quiet September day, how much more in March!