Saturday, May 21, 2016

Boracay Trip May 2016



Flight
Our flight was Airasia flight and our actual flight was on Sunday but Airasia had postponed our flight to Monday as their Sunday flight had been cancelled, but they have informed us few months earlier before we depart so we just followed what Airasia has changed for us as we thank to god that we not book any hotel yet at that moment. The flight to Kalibo airport is around 4 hours.

Our Flight Round trip : RM1217/ 2 pax, around RM608 per pax including luggage check in and seat picked ( You can skip the expenses of seat by not choosing any flight seat during your booking)


The airport is very "BIG" in Kalibo airport, and therefore it wasted much of the time on having a long queue to do the so called "stamped on your passport". The toilet in Philippines is not called as "Toilet" but called as "Comfort Room".






I realized that their electricity wiring installed is almost similar with Thailand one which is super messy though. 


Transportation
Once you stepped out from the airport gate, you will find that there are lots of people offering the price for fetching you to the jetty terminal, I saw the price is almost same among them but choose the one which is only 200 peso for van instead of 250 peso for van and ferry. We picked ferry and van package by paying 250 peso and end up when we reached the jetty, the another person served us and told us to pay for ferry again. WTF. The road journey took around 2 hours to reach the jetty and the ferry took around 15 mins to reach Boracay island.

Go : Van 250 peso (RM23) + Ferry 100 peso + Environment fees 75 peso (RM15) =RM38
Back : Van 150 peso (RM13) + Ferry + Environment Fees (RM15) = 28



We met a music band of Philippine new friends while we sat in the ferry and they are super kind that they willing to help us by asking us to sit with them on the motorcar which we always called "tuk tuk" in Thailand. They paid the transportation fees for us too, my heart felt warm by their friendly act on us.

If you asked me whether Boracay is hot or not, let me tell you definitely yes, it is super hot and it is melting me.


SimCard
Don't buy the Sim card at the airport as it cost more expensive than in Boracay and many people are queuing up for the Simcard at the airport which you might waste a lot of time on it.
I bought the Simcard behind the Dmall which is facing the busy main road and there are two famous brand of Simcard in Boracay which are Smart Telco and Globe.
I chose Smart Telco with the package provided 300 peso for 5 days.

Simcard : 300 peso (RM28)


Hotel
The hotel I stayed was Bpod Hotel situated at Station 3. The reason I chose Station 3 is because it is the most quiet beach among others and yes I really enjoyed my stay although it was quite a distance from the Station 2 area which located the majority of restaurants, markets and shopping shops at there but still, you can walk to there also or else you can take tricycle from Station 3 where the locals will park their tricycle at the beach side and you can ask for the price anytime you want.


The view is awesome and I have booked the hotel which is without the sea view as sea view is cost much higher and I don't think is value for price so I change my mind to no view room. But the breakfast view did amazed me. 




I can direct run to the beach anytime I want after my awesome breakfast and you can find that there is not much people at the beach as I said just because of Station 3 is a super quiet beach and the green algae grow in the sea is not as much terrible than Station 2 and Station 1. You will definitely not happy when you see the crowded people at the Station 2 beach. 


 Breakfast is included in my payment and well the breakfast is ordered by menu choice and I am satisfied with my breakfast as the locals allowed me to switched the meat to eggs as I am vegetarian and the breakfast do make me feeling full and energized every morning.


The room I stayed is value for money as this hotel is built facing the beach and I understand that the price is definitely higher compare to others hotel which is not facing the sea.

The room is good and comfortable and providing fridge and security box too.

 Water heater is functioning super good, toilet is clean and looks new.


The TV programme did provide a channel where all movies are Hong Kong 90-an movies and English movies channel such as Pirates of Carribean, Thors, Godzilla which will not fail you in entertainment part. 

I like this big mirror by the way for my OOTD capture. LOL

Hotel stayed : RM284/night x 3 nights + Agoda service tax = RM1057 for 2 pax
For 1 pax = RM529


Food
You must bear in mind that having meal in Boracay is quite expensive especially the restaurants along the station 1,2 and 3 unless you chose the restaurants which is along the main road where many tuk tuk and local people walked along, but you definitely wont like the place as it is full of locals and you can't have such a nice environment to have your dinner without facing the beach.

The first night we almost give up on finding food as every restaurants famous in providing buffet style or else they said they can't custom made vegetarian for us. But thank god we met this restaurant.

Titos Restaurant
The every dish I ordered here taste delicious and especially the soup, it did appetize me !The environment is awesome and staff is super friendly to us. I love this restaurant so much. It is situated at Station 2 where more likely near to Station 1. The mango shake is quite famous in Boracay and I've tried others mango shake at others restaurants and I found that Titos mango shake is the best so far.


Bill: 4 dishes + 2 mango shakes = 1200 peso (RM100)








Niggi Niggi Restaurant and Bars
The second day I have did some research about vegetarian foods in Boracay and that's why we tried the food here and yes it really very convenient for me to have my vegetarian meal here, a lot of choices for vegetarian and this restaurant is the one that always full of people at late night compare to others. After 8pm, we can enjoy the music live band at here and yes, the music live band is the one that we met on the first day in the ferry and helped us. The food is above the average to me as their soup which called Tomyang soup is too salty for me but the curry vege and philippine local food aubergine taste delicious for us. Niggi Niggi is located at Station 2 but nearer to Station 3 side instead of Station 1,

3 dishes free 1 salad appetizer and 1 rice + 2 rice + mango shake = 1500 peso (RM130)















Aria Restaurants
The last night in Boracay, we entered the restaurants randomly especially we wish to eat what we aim in their food menu. Aria restaurant provided mainly on western food whereby they did provide vegetarian food choices for vegetarian like us too. But somehow, we were quite full at that moment and we ordered one special dish that hardly be found on every restaurants which is called as Parmigiana with the ingredients of aubergine, tomatoes, mozarella, parmesian cheese and basil leaves. They served the dish with a free side dish to choose such as rice, baked potatoes and salads.

The environment is super awesome as I sat beside the beach and enjoyed watching the people playing with their night activies at the beach and looking at those couples walking passed by, such a peaceful day for me to enjoy here. It is located at centre of Station 2 and D mall entrance side.

1 dish + discounted by 10% of VIP privilege card = 300 peso (RM28)



The last restaurant we tried after Aria restaurant was..I can't remember the name of the restaurant as their restaurant name is not attractive to me, and we just simply walked in and have our last  dinner meal. The restaurants attractive part was we sit on the beach and have our meal instead of sitting on chair. The food is average to me but come with small portion and of course the price is cheap too compare to others restaurants. It is situated at Station 2 thou but near to Station 3 that side.

2 dishes + 2 rice + 1 lemon tea = 480 peso (RM46)





Spider House Restaurants and Bar
Spider House is not located at the main tourist area like where we stayed at Station 1, 2 or 3 but it situated far from it and the area is super quiet and peaceful. It is a hotel where they famous with their super nice sea view with affordable price compare to others hotel built beside it. I went there as the local friend told me that Spider house is worth to visit and here I come, there is no any spiders exists but only the beautiful and mesmerizing seaview that able to make you stunned for few hours,

The price of the food menu is considered affordable as it is almost same with the price with Station 2 restaurants. The only way to reach Spider house is by tuk tuk and the cost will be around 150 peso (RM13) for one way. I just can guaranteed that you will not regret especially choosing the right seat. We are lucky enough to able to get the seat of sitting above the sea. 

1 Carbonara + 1 mango shake with 10% VIP priviledge discount = 500 peso (RM48)
















Get VIP Card 
Obtain Boracay VIP Card from the counter of jetty when you obtaining the map tour of Boracay, this card will be attached along with the map tour brochure and don't throw it, many restaurants did accept this card for getting discount or free dessert offered. 





Activities to do in Boracay
We are lucky enough to meet the locals called Mike, he offered us 4500 peso per pax (RM430) for the activities such as private tour island hopping, parasailing, sunset sailing, ATV and helmet diving. The whole tour took 2 days to complete and no meal in included in this and I think it is worth for price as he really helped us a lot in cost saving and bargain time. We really enjoyed and willing to let him earn as he accompanied us the whole day and help us take picture and carry our belongings too. 




Private Tour Island Hopping
The first activities to do was island hopping and I am super happy to have private tour for island hopping. Can u imagine that you not need to watch your time and keep worry on you might missed the boat if you play out of time? Private tour island hopping did make us enjoy to the max, and we not need wait for other tourists to on board too.


Crocodile Island
As the same with others tourists, our island hopping include snorkelling at the Crocodile Island and yes Mike did provide the snorkelling equipments for us. In boracay, I able to see the alive coral beneath the sea but the fish is quite less. 


Magic Island
Although Ariel's point is the famous location for water jumping but somehow Mike told us that it takes 2 hours of boat to reach there and Magic Island available for water jumping also and yes I challenged myself to jump the highest one at last which was 10 metre jump. It was super scary but the moment you accomplished the mission, you felt satisfied on what you have did. An entrance fee of 120 peso (RM10) per pax was charged before enter here. We can jump from 3m, 5m, 7m, 8m, 9m and 10m height. If you afraid you might drown, then you have to inform the life guard to standby down there for you.






Crystal Cove Island
Crystal Cove Island is the island that I think is the most normal island for me but many bloggers said it is beautiful and nice, so I think I missed something maybe ? But the tourists entered to park is not much. An entrance fee of 200 peso required to enter it. (RM18)











Helmet Diving
Basically, we will been sent to somewhere station in middle of the sea. The tour guide did not brief us about how this acitivy run but it provide us a card board, which given intruction and also the water risk. The helmet weight is about 5kg on the ground and about 2kg when in the sea, but somehow I still think that the helmet is heavy as my shoulder get bruises after the helmet diving.

I think I am phobia to helmet diving after this as because my ear is super pain and suffering like going to burst when I start going into the sea as the pressure in the sea causing my ear pressure level imbalance.  They should let me suit with the pressure when on the way going down to the bottom level of sea instead of straight bring me down to the bottom. My ear pain like hell.




Parasailing
For those who haven try this , my suggestion is... TRY it at least once!! It was very nice experience for me and do not worry about the risk of the game as because the precaution and safety of the cable, life jacket and even parasailing is all full equiped. When flying above the sea level, everything I saw was small and I did felt relaxed as on the top there, it was super quiet and peaceful.




ATV
The next day, we departed from the hotel at 9am by taking tuk tuk to the game location. We have been given a short brief about the safety precaution. Don't worry about scare to drive as they did provide an area to practise until you are confident enough to drive on the road and there will be a guide driving infront of you to make sure you are not speeding or driving in the correct direction.

From the training field to the mountain will took us about 15min under the hot sun and we are only allowed to drive around 10-15km/h. After 15 mins of drive, we followed the guide to stop at the peak of the mountain and climbed up the stairs and enjoyed the whole view of Boracay.
 




3D Art Musuem
The ATV game location is located inside a fun fair place where there is a 3D art museum for us to take picture and having fun on it without any surcharges. It is free for the entrance fees, but the museum is small enough where you can finish your visit within 20 minutes. Since it is free, why not ?




Zipline
This is the additional activities that we added on last minutes where Mike offered us 850 peso per pax( RM 83). If you come with a whole gang of friends, they will offered you a better price than me as their business is considered poor during May as they said is low season for them while January until April is peak season. Zipline is not scary at all especially by their safety precaution they did. If have tried flying fox in Malaysia or somewhere else, I can sure that you won't be afraid of zipline at all but zipline is another new experience for me as we fly like a bird. We came back to the station by cable car as picture below.





Sunset Sailing
It sounds like sailing at the middle of the sea for the sunset view but the point is I can't see any sun appeared in the evening, end up we enjoyed the sailing for around 30 minutes for the round trip without sunset view but the nice and peaceful boracay view, I would love to have this again next time as it did relaxing and look what I sit on during sailing ? My leg can even touch the sea water, it is so fun to have this nice experience ! The local is expert in adjusting the sail to control the direction without any motor engine to run it.






Swimming
As the hotel which provide with swimming pool is over budget to me, you can have a swim in the sea whenever you want as the beach is so clean except the green algae thing, but it is okay for me since the green algae is not serious in Station 3 beach. In Station 2, every where is people even the middle of the beach also full of sailing boat.




The whole journey I spend was around RM2000 for 4 days 3 nights including flight and hotel but excluded shopping for souvenirs expenditure.
You can even save RM500 if you book a cheaper flight ticket and stay a cheaper hotel.

But somehow, I have experienced a lot of sea activities where many people might skipped it just to maintain their budget. Well, it all depends on you and do whatever you want during your travel or else you might regret when you leave Boracay.


Thanks for reading my blog, you are welcome to leave your message to ask me anything further related to this trip through comment or my FB inbox.

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