Siargao: Surf Camp

Another short-term bucket list item, spend time at Surf Camp. As per recommendation from a friend, Siargao, The Philippines. 90 minutes from Manila would provide perfect conditions for learning to surf. 

The best way to describe Siargao, a tiny, jungle, tear-drop shaped island. The island also happens to be the surf capital of the Philippines. Not too many photos as well, hard to take photos while a) being in the water and b) honing a new skill. I've gone surfing once or twice and it never fails to amaze me how much energy is spent paddling and fighting the waves. So what was the schedule? 3 days at Harana and 4 days Punta. All in, I ended up doing five 2 hour sessions, I probably would have gone a little more if not for the terrible sunburn 2 days in which made things particularly uncomfortable. Sessions ranged between 1500-2000 PHP/2hour session.

Highlight taking the sunrise boat out to Bumee. Still struggling with paddling and keeping the eyes forward. Much different experience surfing over reef breaks, hard on the feet and always conscious or cracking your head when you get tossed. Really enjoyed the trip, trying to get the headspace back into the right frame as I come to the end of the gardening.

This particular leg was maybe not as relaxing as I had anticipated, purely based on the fact that I was sunburnt and just couldn't sleep very well. Oh well.

Currently reading: "First 90 Days"

Boracay: Contender for Wedding of the year

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"