travelswithalice

February 06, 2008

Boracay

Wednesday, 1.40 p.m.

At the Fairways & Blue Water Resort Golf & Country Club

The room must be very clean by now.

We arrive at 11, our room is still being cleaned; so straight to lunch on the veranda. Goodness, Roy the captain waiter should have warned us that 2 blue marlins and a bagoong-less pinakbet would feed a family of 10. It’s all good though so we have the left-overs packed for microwaving in the villa later, perhaps with a bottle of wine.

This is a great place to wait for anything. The sea spread out before us, thickly wooded hills in the distance, the odd sailboat drifting by, royal blue sails catching the cool breeze.

A new planeload has just arrived. Eighty percent Korean. Wonderful! Great for business. On a macro level (Philippine tourism), and a newly hatched micro level. Stuart and I are about to open our first English Language School. We are relying on these planeloads to find their way to our school.

Earlier:

The SeaAir plane is a Dornier 328 32-seater propeller type. Bright young Korean things are practically popping out of 90 percent of the seats, can’t wait to get there, smiling and flashing “PEACE” signs at each other’s cameras.

The 30 minute flight couldn’t be smoother.

We are whisked into the smart Fairways lounge. Soon our bags arrive, and we are shuttled to the pier where our boat awaits. The tide is in so it’s either wet shoes or I get hoisted bodily onto the boat.

I now regret declining the old world gallantry on offer. Imagine the lost photo op! Rolled up pants and shoes in hand don’t make it on film.

So it’s 30 minutes on the plane, 3 minutes in the van, 10 minutes on the boat, and finally, 15 minutes in the jeepney. There’s a song in there somewhere.

Meanwhile, the recent planeload has taken over paradise. I'm getting fumigated by non-stop smoking at tables on either side of me. A girl beside me slurps mightily at her smoothie. Another

bangs her fork on the table to get herself heard above the din of food orders. Heady pizza smells confuse my efforts at learning a new language.

It's time to inspect the room.

Day 2, the Strip.