Chasing summer’s final days
Summer is officially over and the rains are back, but for most
Pinoy families, summer is never really complete without a trip to the beach. For some reason, our beach vacation was shelved twice but we happily managed to catch the last trip for this summer before the month of May ended. Our Boracay trip was finally going to be realized.
We went via Caticlan which was a far more convenient option for the family which included my loving wife, Babes, our son
Wee and his wife Kaycee and our very cute grandchild, Bella. I have been to Boracay quite a number of times in the past, but this was going to be a first for little Bella, so we wanted a real vacation. Daughter Tin ( DJ Suzy to her followers) was also there for a hosting job for Fox TV.
Nothing much has changed for Boracay over the years since I first visited over 20 years ago except that there are now more hotels and resorts crowding each other on both sides of the very narrow main road behind the row of hotels and resorts. More kiosks and booths occupy the sidewalks too, cramping the space even more. Nothing much can be done to change the road infrastructure of this premier tourist destination—we cannot possibly widen the main road behind the row of hotels because the property owners will never budge from their space, seeing how tourism has grown, but we can at least reroute the traffic for a smoother flow.
Perhaps we can make the main road behind “hotel row” one way, aside from being well-paved and cleared of obstruction like a strict “no parking zone.”. A circumferential road can be constructed farther from the beach to allow a complete turn around travel. To allow easy access from the main road behind
“hotel row” and the circumferential road and vice versa, perpendincular one-way streets can be opened. It sounds a lot simple than how it can be done, but that’s precisely how things get done — by keeping the doing simple. Also, the small side streets that access the main road behind
“hotel row” from the beach and vice versa have to be paved and kept clean and cleared of obstruction because in Boracay, tourists walk a lot all over.
If you want to travel, the only mode of transport is the trusty, rusty tricyles which can accommodate four to five grown-ups. For a very short distance from Station 1 to Station 2 we paid
P60 one way for the four of us with a child, which is not much for anyone on vacation in Boracay. Riding a tricycle can actually be fun. However, the condition of the tricycles needs much to be desired, even for locals like us. E-trikes would be the best alternative as these are not noisy. They are newer, more spacious and cleaner. They would present a more pleasant sight for tourists, and best of all these are environment-friendly. E-trikes could be painted in bright, fun colors to reflect our national tagline:
“It’s more fun in the Philippines.” What can be done is to declare a total ban on conventional tricycles with a two to three year moratorium. This can be enough time for the local government to initiate efforts to ecourage the shift to E-trikes through tax incentives and even financing to form “E-trike cooperatives.”
We were happy to see quite a number of foreigners on the beach, (seemingly more Asians than Americans or Europeans) validating the island’s claim as still the No. 1 tourist destination in the country. However, with the poor infrastructure and compromised sanitation and cleanliness, it was a pleasant surprise to see these foreigners still happy to be in Boracay. Our home for the long weekend was the Boracay Mandarin
Island Hotel, rated 5-star and rightly so. It sits on a prime 3,000 sq. meter beach front lot, charming because it does not have the cold façade of a tall building. The Boracay Mandarin Island
Hotel actually looks like a mansion, grand, well-appointed and elegant with two pools in the middle, a kiddie pool and a much larger one, a lap pool with three or four water spouts on each side for an added feature of a “water massage.” It was so strategically located that the rooms on the ground floor all face the pool and are literally just a few steps away.
Our rooms ( de luxe Sea Breeze) were located on the ground floor which was excellent for everyone. Daily breakfast was at the Don Vito Ristorante Italiano, part of Boracay Mandarin
Island Hotel actually and located literally beside our room, another convenience for us. The breakfast buffet here was 5-star: there was always an overdose of good smoky bacon everyday which was replenished as quickly as it was demolished. The Pinoy section featured adobo, danggit, tocino, longganiza,
daing na bangus. There was always hot lugaw: congee or arroz caldo, a fresh salad station, an assortment of bread, cheese and jams, and noodles. Fresh fruits were available every day and the coffee was always freshly brewed.
Lunch would find us scouring the island for new dining places. My son, Wee suggested the Talipapa which functions much like our Dampa here in Manila – you buy the fresh seafood in the talipapa and had them cooked for a fee however way you want by the nearby restaurants. Lobsters in the fresh market went for P2,200/ kilo which was a steal that we did not go for. Three small live crabs cost us P600, a kilo of medium-sized prawns P700. With these and a few pieces of fish, we were off to a good lunch. However, the restaurant servers told us we were short-changed by the vendors by several grams. My son went to complain and came back with seven more pieces of prawns. The next day, a restaurant near our hotel set up a table outside with fresh giant lobsters, crabs and prawns on ice. The lobsters were sold at P1,400/ kilo, and cooking was free—lesson learned.
Needless to say, mornings at the hotel were spent swimming, either in the pool or the beach, after a good breakfast at Don
Vito. Come dinner time, the beach front of the different hotels set up tables on the beach for drinks and dinner. The Boracay
Mandarin Island Hotel always has a good crowd in front as the hotel invested in good entertainment to complement dinner. There was always good live music, thankfully not the loud earsplitting type. One evening they even had fire dancing in front of an enthralled crowd. We sipped our piña colada and frozen
margaritas with our pasta and anchovy pizza while enjoying the music. On nearby tables, the foreigners clearly enjoyed their
paella and beer. The air is always festive, alive, and this will always be the enduring character of Boracay. We enjoyed Boracay and our stay at the Boracay Mandarin
Island Hotel. What really made our stay in the hotel quite special is the excellent service of the hotel staff and the restaurant staff. We met Ms. Lily Go of the family that owns the hotel. She is the hotel manager, a very hands-on one and when she spoke of how proud she was of their service-oriented staff, she wasn’t exaggerating. The hotel service is what sets them apart from all the rest, apart from the excellent amenities, the very comfortable and spacious rooms, the lovely pool, and the delicious breakfast buffet, of course. Which means just about every thing.
Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be a Filipino.