Sunday, May 18, 2008

Honeymoon Part 2

I must say, that I have never been cleaner than I was in Boracay. Sure, I would get sandy and my feet seemed to resonate dirt, but I think I showered about four or five times a day. We would go out, get some drinks, jump in the clear waters of the Philippine Sea and then head back for only a few minutes and shower. It was fine though.

So, as I said, we decided that we would go to a nightclub, but that was not the main goal of the night. We were just going to cruise around the beach, listen to tunes and have a good time being with each other. It was about 7:50 when we left the room. I knew that it was still Happy Hour at a neat bar called Hey Jude, so we went there and got a martini, Jagger bomb and some blue girly drink for 고.

We were also very hungry, so we cruised a a Mongolian restaurant that was right on the beach. I drank my two drinks quickly because I thought that we could not take them into the restaurant. We could and I got a little loopy. Here I am drinking her drink. Notice my backpack tan that looks a lot like I was wearing the world's biggest bra OR one of the gun holsters that cops used to where.

The food was pretty good. While we were there, the wind started blowing wildly and all the Koreans nearby started whining. I laughed. They always do that when faced with discomfort in nature. We finished our meal and started walking in the direction of the nightclub. On the way, 고 spotted some jewelry that was pretty unique looking and even unique for the island. As we were looking at the vendors stuff, his son named Abdul started talking to us. He was about 11 years old. Being as great with kids as I am, I told him that he looked 14 and his eye's lit up. Kids are so easy. I also have been cursed with looking a least 5 years younger than I actually am, so I know how good this compliment feels. Actually, I never got that compliment. Mine were limited to "Why do you talk like that?" or "Why is your voice so deep?", but I can imagine that it feels good. We (고) bought some stuff and I gave our new little friend a dollar. He was thrilled and immediately gave it to his father.

We went for a fruity drink at a nearby bar and our little buddy followed us. We brought a friend this time. We bought them a Sprite and a Coke and sent them on their way.

Abdul is on the far right. Again, we headed to the club and again Abdul caught up with us. He said he would walk us there. We laughed and allowed him. We knew he was after another tip, but he was nice and quite persistent for a child. Finally, we arrived at the place. We walked in and sat at the bar. It was dark and the music was actually really good ambient house.

No one was dancing yet since it was still early. Then a small group of people got up and started dancing. The second that this group started, the music went from great to super gay. It turned into awful, typical hip-hop club trash. And on top of that, the group kept on getting bigger and after we started dancing, the group surrounded us and all of a sudden Koreans were all around us, dancing in unison and being as gay as possible. We left...fast.

The night got better from there. We went and danced on the beach to great tunes and fire dancers. We sat and listened to a guy playing Cat Stevens and Lionel Richie and we went home at maybe one that morning.

The next morning was our big group tour day. We didn't want to go with all the Korean couples, but we had to. We met them all, got on a tuk-tuk and took a short drive through the city to a different beach.

This was a lagoon in the center of town. Romantic, huh?

Traffic was pretty heavy that day. While the island is not polluted, the exhaust can get thick once you're in the middle of the action.Everywhere in the world. Koreans and their food are there. The sign says "아리랑". That is pronounced "Arirang" in English and is part of the title of this blog.

We made it to the beach. First was fishing.

The guy in the left is Phol (Paul). He was great. I'm writing about him later.

Looking good.
The fishing was traditional Boracay style. Really, it was just string with a hook and a piece of shrimp. We were supposed to drop the line until it hit the bottom and then wait for a bite. The guide said the winner gets 50 bucks. We were not having any luck, so Phol came over and secretly dropped in a couple other lines and within seconds he told me to pull it up. Of course, there was a fish on it. He did this four times. We did not catch one on our own and we still lost. We had to buy fish. The exchange was interesting. They waved at a few boats, they came by, they negotiated, we bought and they left.

After that, we hopped on the banana boat. It was pretty good. I think I was the only one who was having a fun time though. The Koreans were a little stressed about the water and the speed. I was in the back and kept on giving the guy the thumbs up -the international sign for "faster".

From there, we went snorkeling. Before moving to Korea, I had a terrible fear of the ocean and specifically sharks. I got over that fear on a trip here a couple of years ago, but this time I was too confident and trying to show off a little to the Koreans WHO CAN'T SWIM (my wife included) and jumped off the boat and into water that was well over 20 meters deep. I put on my mask and took a little dive down into the blue. Sh*t!!!! It was so deep and huge and scary and I casually, but quickly swam back to the boat. We were actually getting ready to head to the official snorkeling area that was more like 5-10 meters deep.

I jumped in first and the Koreans (with life jackets) slowly dipped in minutes later.

I got an early lead.

It was so beautiful. Blue starfish, eels, clown fish and other colorful things that my limited knowledge of marine life can't identify.
The Koreans did not go more than 3 feet from the boat.
You can see my legs here as I am diving down for a closer look. I did not see that boat right next to me and when I started to come back up, all I saw a large grey object passing by. Enough said.
Manly...

After much coaxing, I returned to the boat and we headed to lunch. It was a Korean owned place, but there was not that much Korean food. We were both happy with that.



This was interesting. After we ate, we took a tuk-tuk back to our place for some rest.

What a title for cigarettes. I also saw a cigarette called "Time".
Here is our room that walked into the pool.

It was fun, sun-filled day and we had another night ahead of us and another post lies ahead of you...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Loved all the pictures, especially the fetching one of Go-won with the fan. Funny how different nationalities tend to congregate in certain exotic locales. When Carole and I were in Greece a few years ago, Santorini to be specific, there was a whole side of the island colonized by German tourists. You might as well have in Deutschland except for the beaches and the scenery.

So what is it with these Koreans and swimming anyway?

Anonymous said...

meant "have been" -- too much vin rouge!