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slightly astray

an honest look at life on the road

March 2015 travel re-cap: beach bumming on Boracay

It feels like that these months are just flying by. I swear I just wrote a recap post, and now I’m sitting here writing another one.

The thing with this month is… we’ve pretty much just been sitting on a tiny island. We’ve barely ventured 2 miles from our front door the entire time. So there’s really not too much to report. Island life definitely moves at a slower, more relaxed pace. And yet, the month passed by in the blink of an eye. How is it that we found ourselves packing up our bags once again?

We stayed at the end of Station 3, a much quieter, less populated area with none of the loud music and parties of Stations 1 & 2. It suited us perfectly. Our apartment building (airbnb here) was right on the sand. When we first arrived, I excitedly announced that I was going to go to the beach everyday, watch the sunset every evening, and try as many water activities as possible.

Casa Camila

our apartment building where we stayed!

 

the beach at Station 3

the beach at Station 3

But as it turns out: we are too cheap to splurge for the typical island activities (yeah, I know… we’re lame). The water was quite disappointing and not very swimmable (more on that in another post, I promise!). And the novelty of laying on the beach wears off eventually and life quickly settles into… well, normal life.

For the first three weeks, we did absolutely nothing. The only places we went to are the beach right in front of our building, the market, and a few restaurants in our area. It was glorious.

And speaking of restaurants… Boracay is not a foodie destination. No one goes there for the food scene or to experience a good representation of local cuisine. The majority of the restaurants are touristy and Western (we kinda expected this). But there was one place we loved eating at: the D’Talipapa seafood market.

D'Talipapa collage

Seriously, this place is crazy! Aggressive vendors all trying to tempt you with buckets of shrimp, piles of fish, tanks of lobsters, mountains of shellfish… I’ve never been to a market like it! It has the distinct honor of being the place I most hated to go to, but the place I loved eating at the most. It definitely deserves its own post so I can take you guys on a virtual tour with me!

The general lack of good food was actually fine with us because we used our time here to continue with the 4-hour body diet. I have a sneaky suspicion that I won’t want to be on a diet for the next few months, so we got in a few more weeks of fat-cutting while we can. One thing I gotta say: at least it was easy (and somewhat affordable) to eat out and still stick to the diet. We appreciated that.

But pigging out on cheat days was even better!

Boracay cheat day collage

Our last week on the island, as if we needed to make up for lost time, we did everything as much as possible. We swam in the un-swimmable water, we watched the sunset every night, we visited another beach on the other side, and we booked a sailing trip to a couple of the smaller nearby islands.

cliff jumping on Magic island (I was too wimpy to jump)

cliff jumping on Magic island (I was too wimpy to jump)

Even though there were things I disliked about Boracay, in the end, I was still sad to pack up my bags and leave. I didn’t want to say goodbye to such a pretty place (D on the other hand, was eager to get back to a land of fast internet). Some places, I enjoyed but didn’t feel inspired by. Boracay has its faults, it’s true, but it inspired me. I felt alive. I wrote more than ever while there because I felt inspired to share my experience. I still have so much I want to talk about so expect more in depth posts over the next few weeks!

Oh, one last thing. I can’t believe I almost forgot to mention this: we suffered the worst travel mishap yet this past month. For a moment there, I was seriously looking up plane ticket prices to get off the island sooner. Come back Monday for the story (yes, cliff hanger…. mwhahahaha)!

What’s going on in April

We just arrived in Taipei! D visited Taipei for only a couple of days a few years ago, and he’s been pining for a return ever since. He says Taipei is one of his favorite cities for eating. So we’re staying for 2 weeks and hopefully that will be enough time to eat everything! (As for the diet… we may have to put that on hold for a bit.)

After Taipei, we are flying to Beijing, China to meet up with my mom! Every year, she takes a trip to Beijing to see her parents and family. Over the years, I’ve been able to go with her 3 times, but it’s been 4 years again since the last time. I’m really excited to see my relatives and to hang out with my mom in Beijing again. I will also be introducing D to everyone, so it should be interesting to hear him attempt to speak Mandarin!

How was your March? What are your plans for April?

Comments

  1. I would be way too chicken to cliff jump! I’m excited for you to see your mom and family. Sounds like a great month ahead. April is going to be pretty uneventful for us but in May we have visitors and several trips planned.

    • Ooh visitors! It’s always so exciting to have visitors or to meet up with other people. It’s nice to not be just the two of us! I’ll be so fun in Beijing to see my family and introduce D to them. I hope it goes well. :D

  2. Loved reading this to learn a bit more about island life! I think I’d also say that I’d go to the beach everyday, then in reality wouldn’t. Also, 100% agree about not jumping off the cliff – I’d be waaaaay too scared for that! Exciting adventures ahead :)

    • Haha I know! The novelty really wears off fast… and plus i don’t want to deal with putting on sunscreen and getting my hair all tangled everyday! I’m too much of a wimp to jump off too… the older I get, the more of a scaredy cat I am!

  3. I can’t imagine anything making you want to pack up and leave. After all, you have even survived the roaches! I can’t wait to read what you have in store next!

  4. That island looks so dreamy! Finding a place that inspires you can feel so fulfilling. I’m glad you got to experience that for so long! Although now I’m dying to know what this epic travel mishap entailed…

    I hope this upcoming month is just as memorable! Enjoy eating your way through Taipei – I’ll be drooling over your photos as always :)

  5. I do like to hear about travel mishaps, not because I like your misfortune, but because I like… misfortune. Um, yup.

    Hope you’re enjoying Taipei so far!

  6. I can relate to the part about sinking into a daily routine even while in a typical beach holiday location. When we traveled through Mexico last year we spent 3 months in Puerto Vallarta and 3 months in Playa del Carmen and we honestly only made it to the beach a couple of times a week. When you slow travel you have the luxury of time so there is less panic to squeeze everything in. Of course we also work online so that takes many of our daylight hours. Friends and family think our life is one long vacation, they’d be very disappointed to see how ‘normal’ our daily life is. :)

    • We only went into the water maybe 2 times a week too, despite it being right out front. That’s what I love about traveling more slowly! We can spread out activities over time, and spend more time doing just normal day-to-day stuff. It’s so true… long term travel is definitely not vacationing!

  7. Intrigued to hear what the travel mishap was and why the water was unswimmable, I’m not sure if we will go to Boracay when I am in the Philippines as we only have one month and there are so many islands I want to go to

    • Katie, while I did like Boracay (because honestly, it is pretty and I like the island life in general), I’m sure there are much better islands in the Philippines! Boracay is overdeveloped and I think the water is getting more polluted because of all the people who visit. I can’t wait to hear about the islands that you’ve picked to visit!

  8. That sounds kind of disappointing but a few weeks of doing not much also sounds great. I want to hear more about the water now and what made it unswimmable?

    • I think it was the time of the year that we went, because it was full of green algae, like so thick that it looks black. The locals say it happens every year like this but I also read that it grows like that because of more pollution due to all the people visiting now. I can’t believe I haven’t read another blog mentioning it! Maybe other people don’t think it’s such a big deal, but it was gross to me!

  9. Hahaha, does he know much Mandarin? And I’m curious how the 4-hour body diet is going for you! I think I tried it for a couple of weeks in college, but we all know how unsustainable anything in college is.

    • He can understand and can speak it a little, but is shy about it! Hehe I think we’re done with the diet now because the food in Taipei is just soooooo yummy! I’m not going to waste my 2 weeks here eating beans when there are dumplings and noodles to be had! I was really pleased with my results after 2 months (I lost 1″ on my waist and 1″ on my thighs) but I”m afraid that I’m gaining all of that back now! :(