If I'm being completely honest, the Philippines does not rank highly on my travel list. To be fair, I've only been to Manila, and that was back in 2013. Based on this I figured Manila is to the Philippines what Cairo is to Egypt, or Athens to Greece. Put simply a capital or hub, where majority of the traffic represents those on transit. Or, alternatively, it could be like Canberra for Australia; a bit of a non-event city. Anyway, the point of this is not to bad mouth those countries, but to set the scene of what would be an amazing trip.
Cue the third wedding of the year. The groom, a few years my junior also an Earlwood Public School product who I used to know back in the Earlwood Quadrangle. We parted ways after primary school and were re-introduced in adulthood much to our surprise. I still remember meeting him again. I stood there looking at this 6'3 man, thinking to myself "there was a time, he used to be smaller than me". That time was of course when I was a few growth spurts ahead of him. Due to common friends and social groups we reconnected and spent most of our young adult lives hanging out, either at his epic house parties or summer day-festivals. It would be his wedding in Boracay.
I was excited for the trip and my anticipation was a combination of the wedding but also the wedding guests expected to attend. It was a melange of close friends, family and basically everybody that I had met in my 20s. The trip from Hong Kong, to Manila, to Caticlan to Boracay, was a sample of almost all mode of modern transport. Door to door, it was a 12 hour affair consisting of planes, buses, boats, taxis and golf carts, each with the same familiar Americanised greeting "Hello, Sir!". We stayed at the amazing Asya Premier Suites in Boracay and spent the days drinking Mango Mojitos, eating club sandwiches and avoiding the vicious sun. Highlights include: The wedding, island hopping, food poisoning, catching up with friends and being obliterated by the sun (my precious skin is still susceptible to sunburn). Amazing trip.
Currently reading: "The Power of Positive Destruction"
Cue the third wedding of the year. The groom, a few years my junior also an Earlwood Public School product who I used to know back in the Earlwood Quadrangle. We parted ways after primary school and were re-introduced in adulthood much to our surprise. I still remember meeting him again. I stood there looking at this 6'3 man, thinking to myself "there was a time, he used to be smaller than me". That time was of course when I was a few growth spurts ahead of him. Due to common friends and social groups we reconnected and spent most of our young adult lives hanging out, either at his epic house parties or summer day-festivals. It would be his wedding in Boracay.
I was excited for the trip and my anticipation was a combination of the wedding but also the wedding guests expected to attend. It was a melange of close friends, family and basically everybody that I had met in my 20s. The trip from Hong Kong, to Manila, to Caticlan to Boracay, was a sample of almost all mode of modern transport. Door to door, it was a 12 hour affair consisting of planes, buses, boats, taxis and golf carts, each with the same familiar Americanised greeting "Hello, Sir!". We stayed at the amazing Asya Premier Suites in Boracay and spent the days drinking Mango Mojitos, eating club sandwiches and avoiding the vicious sun. Highlights include: The wedding, island hopping, food poisoning, catching up with friends and being obliterated by the sun (my precious skin is still susceptible to sunburn). Amazing trip.
Currently reading: "The Power of Positive Destruction"
