Manila and Boracay

We were in Manila for 4 days before we headed for Boracay. While we were there we did a little sightseeing of course and lots of wandering. Here are a few images for you to enjoy.This is Santiago Fort with good old Santiago Matamoros - Santiago the Moor Killer - shades of the Camino!

And Geordie on the bridge over to another section of the fort.
This candle rack sat outside the prison cell where Rizal, a hero of the Revolution was imprisoned before he was taken to be executed. From another cell, a set of bronze steps on the ground lead to his execution spot.

Geordie stands outside the Manila Hotel - scene of his first experience of getting money changed in the Philippines in 1959 when he was here for the Boy Scout Jamboree.

A jeepney on the streets of Manila. These modified jeep buses are still made in the Philippines and travel set routes on the streets of Manila getting people all over the city.

Dragon boaters on the sea. For our dragon boating friends in Canada.
A set of police shields outside the US embassy in Manila - I was yelled at for taking the photo, but luckily the guard didn't come over to confiscate my camera or demand that I delete the photo.

A mausoleum at the Chinese Cemetery. The cemetery is very well cared for and the ancestors are honoured by their families regularly.

An alley way within the cemetery.

A grave decorated with strips of coloured paper - November 2 is the Day of the Dead - we think there were many family visiting at that time.

Another mausoleum within the cemetery.
Flowers growing in the cemetery. A photo from us to honour all the people resting here.


Sculptures near the Ayala Museum and outside the Greenbelt Shopping Centre in Manila.

Appetisers at the Museum Cafe. The dark things in the dish are salted dried fish. The rolled things are pork skin, but fish flavoured. The thin strips are curried crispy chips and the vegetables are in a soy sauce.

Our lunch at Museum Cafe. Thai spring rolls and fish cakes - a sprig of lemon grass spears the fish cakes. The sauce is sweet chili sauce mixed with mayonnaise.

On the way to Boracay.
Our life boat suspended on the outrigger of our boat.
An idyllic view of the beach.
Kite surfer on Bulabog beach across the island from our resort.
Fisherman with their small throw nets.
Geordie in his new Maui Jim sunglasses - reflecting the beach.
Walking on White Beach in Boracay. The rocklets appear to have a bonsai on top of each one.
Orchids growing in a yard near the beach path.
A slim-hulled outrigger in the Sulu Sea.
Sunset from the beach. Glorious colour, glorious boats

Lunch at Zhu - a Chinese restaurant on the beach.

SMB - San Miguel Beer. The local standard. (I found Moosehead Beer and Molson's on a menu at the Hobbit House Restaurant but it costs about five times as much as SMB!
Art on the beach.
Kids playing.
Oh, look, a picture of Nigel on the beach too.

Suiting up for the dive - the dive belt at 7 weights. The instructor had 2!

It takes 2 to get me ready.
I'm breathing from the tank! Honest!
Into the briny!
Going under!
Back from the depths.
A celebratory beer at sunset with oil-lamp.

The dance of joy for Nigel's first Scuba adventure and his return from the deep!

Boracay Island - Food and Scuba

If anything can be said of the people of the Philippines, I think the fact that they smile all the time would be on the top of the list. It is so wonderful - Thailand calls itself the land of smiles, but certainly the Filipinos give them a big run for the money. And the vendors on the beach road here in Boracay do not bother tourists constantly as we have experienced in other countries. When we say "No, thank you", that ends the exchange. Certainly we see them again later and they ask again if we want one of their watches, the pearls, the sunglasses, the island hopping experience, snorkelling or even renting ATV's but again, a polite no and a smile is all that is needed.

Boracay is really quite wonderful. The beach area could be in terrible shape - there is a long long area of restaurants, bars, hotels, massage shops, dive shops and anything else you might think of, but they are all back lining a little sand beach path, facing a line of palms. Beyond the palms, the beach itself, with its white sand is pristine. There are no long lines of beach beds as you find in Europe, no palapas as in Mexico, just the beach and a few people frolicking in the water - it's surprising that there aren't more of them doing that, because the water is wonderful - crystal clear, turquoise blue and backed by a line of boats that also do not (and are not allowed to ) encroach on the swimming areas. They are kept in line by police I think, and if they come to close they are sent back in.

My trips for snorkelling and scuba were wonderful. The DiveGurus dive staff were wonderful and always concerned with safety. The day I went snorkelling I went with a Dutch couple who were scuba diving - along with them and three of the dive staff we had a good time, and I even snorkelled with the divers into a little cave where there were bats although I was a little too nervous to see any.

Then it was they who convinced me that I should try diving for real. So that afternoon, after we got back and I had a chance to chat with Geordie I agreed to go out. Turned out that the Dutch couple were to be our neighbours at the Hotel Isla Boracay where we moved and we spent some good times with them and another couple from Germany.

The first night we were at the hotel they invited us to dinner. We went first to a fish market where we bought 5 kilos (yes 5 kilos) of shrimp and then two small lapu-lapu (a white fish) which we then brought to a restaurant where they prepared the food for us. We had the fish with a tangy mango sauce and the shrimp with half in garlic butter and the other half in some sauce in a coconut sauce I think. Here's a picture - note the platter of shrimps is only one half of our order. You can tell Geordie liked them by the second picture. He's licking his fingers, don't worry.

(At the table on Geordie's side are Oliver and Simone from Germany, and on the other side. Inge and Martin from Holland.)






Of course you really need to see picture of my diving experience. There are photos of me suiting up, and then underwater. I've got other suiting up pictures on my camera but for now I'm using the photos that Martin (our Dutch friend) took with his underwater camera.











And of course for Nemo fans, here are pictures of the beautiful Clown Anemone Fish which is so popular thanks to the movie "Finding Nemo".




And one more of me. Just because.