Things to Know About Boracay

• As far as beaches go – it’s a winner. The shades of turquoise blues than fade all the way into rich navies will blow you away. You will always be snap happy here. The beach is also pleasantly litter free and so soft and white it feels like water…. it also gets white hot after midday so pack those flip flops.
• Filipino people, at least in Boracay, hate tourists. I really do understand this since we’ve barged into their beautiful home bringing Mc Donald’s, Starbucks, selfie sticks and all manner of pointless things with us. (Sorry Starbucks…you know I still love you). Everyone we’ve met has smiles that don’t quite reach their eyes and a look that says ‘buy my shit you filthy foreigner’. I realise this is such an un-fair statement since we were only on the island for a week and it was the end of a long busy season, in which we tourists probably earned everything we got. Also, that this may just be the case in Boracay . I especially know this to be true since I have met tons of Filipino people outside of the island in the UK, Saudi Arabia and in Korea who have been the loveliest, nicest, funniest people I’ve met. It was just a bit of a shock to the system when we arrived. It is good to know before docking on the island. Maybe tourist’s excessive demands for wifi, cheap cocktails, fresh towels, and burgers have something to do with their mood – Nah! *Since writing this we have visited both Bohol and El Nido in Palawan and the Filipino people have the loveliest, friendliest and happiest people around. This is definitely just a Boracay thing.
• It’s HOT – ‘No , on a tropical island it’s hot?’ I hear you all sarcastically cry, first touche and secondly we are talking ‘sweating your ping pongs off’ hot, which incidentally is the official term used on the weather channel here – I imagine.
• Red Horse is lethal – this is the local STRONG beer. It’s is cheap but not cheerful. For me it made evening’s disappear. A night of drinking these (and some sneaky day time cocktails) had my poor friend having to constantly remind me I’d told her the same store before, about 3 minutes ago…oh jeez.
• Pick pockets rule the roost – watch your bags. This is the same in every country but we had some particularly sneaky thieves lighten our pockets in Boracay. They were helped by the restaurant staff who distracted us so they could get in our bags. They luckily only managed to steal a few dollars from us…..and our pride.
  
  

  Fanta is called Royal in the Philippines
  
  
  
  

  D’Mall is the central shopping area in Boracay with lots of night life
• A fun drinking game is a shot for every seller trying to sell you something. Only kidding, please never play this game. You will die….I’m not being ironic. Don’t play this game…you will never wake up.
• Filipino food is DELICIOUS – I hadn’t heard good things but we love it. Its lots of meaty dishes in thick stocks and gravy. The pork adobo is a particular favourite. Seriously it’s worth coming just for the food. Try everything. *Since writing this Lee unfortunately had a bad case of food poisoning from a restaurant that looked really nice. It was a beef dish which is weirdly one of the hardest meats to get here so I’d stick to the pork, chicken nor seafood.
• So much delicious cheap fruit – In the same vein as the last point. Eat alllllll the mangoes. Fresh pineapple, mango and coconuts are abundant. Juice, breakfast, lunch and dinner should be as packed with these goodies as possible.
• Even though it’s a hot place, they love dairy. There is so much cheese here. This excitement may just be from living a cheese free life in Korea where it was so expensive that only birthdays and Christmases warranted a purchase. I wanted to order cheese burgers and hold the meat.

These are obviously all just quick, silly observations after a week in Boracay . I can’t wait to see more of this country because I love it more and more each day. We are on our way to Bohol now for Tarsiers and Chocolate hills. After that we have what Huffington post named ‘last paradise on earth’, Palawan which we can’t wait for. Bring on those islands!