Day 6: Boracay Beach
Here is a video of our last day on the beach. So beautiful. I love how the water is so clear, no bark branches or garbage. There is something calming and soothing about crashing waves. Very healing.
We are about to leave this magnificent resort and onto the fast pace of Manila and then onto the even faster pace of Tokyo. Can’t wait….shopping therapy….
ELENA:)
Day 4: Four Hour Spa Treatment
I slept for the entire night for the first time since I arrived in in the Philippines. Usually I’m up around 3 or 5am But not this night. Even with my sporadic cough, I was out….
After hanging poolside for two hours (my first sunbathing session ever) we were escorted into our spa villa for our four hour Himalayan Blue Ritual. To get the time slot we wanted, we had to booked as a couple.
In the changing room I put my housecoat on the counter as I took a steam shower. When I came out, my friend told me that she smelled something burning and she found that I had put my housecoat on an incense burner and it had burned a hole through the sleeve! Eek. We hid the evidence under a mass of towels like little girls.
After the shower, we had a Sea salt scrub on this huge heated marble stone. Note: salt and shaving do not mix. I had shaved my legs in the morning so my legs were burning. Two and half hours later, we had a red mud body mask and an avocado cucumber hair mask. Then before we knew it, we were covered with towels because the fire alarm went off (no one said we had to shut off the steam shower) – oops!
Here’s a question…when was the last time you have been naked with your friends? There is a purpose to this question… Read on. We were escorted to sit in a cool bath of water with oranges and rose petals to wash off the hot mud. There we sat not looking at each other for 15 min in our perspective corners as we ate fresh fruit. The ambiancewas rather romantic that it was funny. We thought it was funny. We laughed the whole time we were in the tub. So not spa etiquette. After showering, we had an epic massage that put both of us in comatose state and we floated back to our room.
Day 5: The beach
So I had to get my nails redone after I realized that my concoction of bug spray and sunscreen was peeling my nail polish. Yuck.
We walked to the beach from our room and for 3 hours and watched this ridiculous couple do a “photo shoot”. Each pose was done twice on a left and right angle. I couldn’t believe the guy who was side lying in the sand with one hand behind his head and his other hand caressing the sand. Later, the couple got adventurous using the surrounding rock wall to lean against and pose. We continued to watch from afar eating our Halo Halo. I had to take a picture for some evidence which i will post later.
ELENA:)
Today we checked out the town of Boracay where I had a really fresh mango shake. Normally it wouldn’t be a big deal – but this tasted like real mangoes not like some canned processed variety. So delicious.
Can I just give a shout out to all foreign grocery stores? I love them! There is something to be said about markets that sell spaghetti flavoured chips and lychee flavoured everything. Once we stocked up on food essentials at the grocery store we headed back to the secluded resort where I watched some Curtis Stone rerun (did you know he is dating Lindsay Price?) and snacked on some noodle soup. Such bliss.
Then came the bikini. Now I haven’t worn bikini ever and I thought this trip would be the perfect opportunity to spend 1.5 hours at Swimco to find one suitable black one. I found one and it made it’s debut all around the resort from sauna to spa pool. I wore it for most of the day – a very un Elena thing. But that’s what this trip is about right? Trying things I wouldn’t normally do. Expanding horizons.
At night we had a private yoga class and ended the night with some dinner. As we were leaving the spa where we had the yoga class, the receptionist asked where our boyfriends were. She said next time we should bring them. Lately, I would have indulged in the whole break up story etc etc and I would have felt angry or hurt. But after having such an amazing day, I kind of had no feeling about her comment. I actually agreed with her. Next time, it would be different. And I couldn’t wait.
ELENA:)
So my aunt made me go to church with her. Except they said everything in visayas. I just stood there pretending I knew what was going on. I was actually hungry when we got back and so I saw a loaf of bread that my aunt bought earlier in the day. It was totally sealed so i was OK. For those of you who don’t know, Filipinos make really great baked goods (among other things) so I thought why not. I took a slice and sat down to watch Filipino idol. Then I looked down at the slice and realized there were ants all over it!
Normally at home I would have had a small freak out, but I decided that I would try to handle it myself. Until I realized that the ants were inside the holes of the bread. I put the bread in a sealed bag in the garbage. Though my aunt lives in probably the most modern house in all of Sibalom (hot water shower, flushing toilets, air conditioning), there are still bugs around. Not so much,as there are lizards too. By the way just when I thought everything changes, I had a lizard spotting before church. There were two of them – so one of them has to Iggy ( I named him last time).
On the way to Boracay we stopped at the Tibiao Fish Spa where you dip our feet into a a pool of a thousand Therafish who eat the dead skin off your feet. You go from a pool of small fish, to eventually a pool of fish that are like small trouts. Very tickly.
After the 2 hour drive to Boracay, my friend and i arrived at the amazing Shangri-la resort. We spent a good few hours catching up. This is the first vacation where i have no planned a thing. I didn’t even exchange my money! Should be , interesting… As we came up from the private speed boat to the magnificent lobby I couldn’t help but to feel grateful. Is this the beginning of how my life should be?
ELENA:)