Long Weekends...I've Missed You So! Well...I've Missed Weekends in General.

One of the best things about being back in Toronto is that after 7 years, I once again have a 2 day weekend!!! To have a long weekend is a rare thing indeed and so I really enjoyed it!

To kick off the long weekend, Fanny, Cola, Gary and I had dinner on the patio of this fantastic restaurant called Gusto. I had no problem ordering my drink. Alcohol please. The Peroni was quite good and a pretty good deal at $6 for 335ml. The house white wine was also very good and was only $1 per ounce. After going back and forth between some items on the menu, ( I thought about ordering the mushroom pasta, but decided against it after C told me that the mushrooms were a bit overwhelming and the sauce a bit heavy.) I finally settled on the Hambuger al Gusto, which G tells me is what they're famous for and boy was I glad I did. The fries were ok, but the burger, oh boy it was really delicious. It looked a bit small when it arrived, but it was very filling. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. C ordered the mushroom pizza and I think she finished it all by herself, so it must have been good!

My yummy hamburger. I want to eat you again. 

Enjoying the patio weather. G's trying to look cool in his Ray Ban's. Remember I said I liked your glasses? LOL. More on that later.

That beer glass looks huge!

We were then supposed to meet Su at Yorkday to watch Star Trek, but since we had some time to kill, we went to C and G's house to chill for an hour, but then an hour became like 4 hours. Oops. Sorry we bailed on you Su. Star Trek another time? My sister said it was really, really, good. Like really.

Tien came over, and because he was 4 minutes late, we decided to punish him by asking him 4 questions; 1 for each minute that he was late. Muahahaha....Fun times. Somehow as time passed, the trolling for fun became a heated debate with FF and T on opposite sides. Neither would concede and in the end, we just decided to agree on disagreeing. The topic that almost ruined a friendship? If you had to choose between a baby you just had and a child you had just adopted, which one would you choose to keep? LOL Talk about being skewed and unrealistic. The best was afterwards when T said he and FF should join a debate club and debate on the same team. They'd end up yelling at each other. Awesome!

Well, we did consume this many bottles of beer. (Pic courtesy of Gary Shew.)

As we were leaving, I told G that he had nice glasses (referring to the ones we drank the beer in) and he said ya, they're pretty hipster (referring to his prescription glasses.) I clarified that by telling him not the ones on his face and somehow that made everyone laugh. I didn't say that purposely to make fun of him. ><

Proof:

C&G's glasses look like these. Pretty cool, right? And to be fair, I was holding one up as I said that. Too bad G had already walked into the kitchen. 

On Saturday, the K bug bit us and we all headed to Encore for a session of karaoke. What fun times we had and oh, the pictures that somehow ended on my camera! At first, it was pretty lame because T decided to introduce the guys to a dice game that involved math. I don't know about you, but any "game" that involves math, just isn't a game to me. It's just waaaay too much work to be fun and boy did it move slowly.

Not surprisingly, things eventually winded up like this. I really wish I had a picture of the guys all staring at the dice, like they were trying to move them with their minds. *Yawn!*

In the end, we had a grand ol' time. We always do, don't we? (More details of our K adventures will be emailed to those who were there because they are of the mm geen duc gwong-can't see the light of day variety. Just joking. They were that bad, but there were a few pretty embarrassing ones.)

Update: On account of complaints, I have decided to include the best picture taken that night. Presenting, the Tienasaurus.

Best picture ever!

On Sunday, it was a beautiful day so we took advantage of it and went to Sherwood park. Click here for a review of it from Gary. Pretty much, if you have dogs and you want to take them to an off-leash park without making the trip all the way to High Park, this is a very good alternative.

Kiki baby chilling in the car with Auntie Cola and Uncle Gary, waiting for her mommy to come back from using the washroom at Starbucks.

LOL...after spending a whole afternoon with babies and their parents, Fanny got to spend the rest of her day with dogs and their parents. Talk about a double whammy for someone who is pretty much adverse to both!

You could never tell from these pictures though that FF is afraid of dogs. Kiki and Comet are having a field day!

Comet is such a cutie! She is a big dog, but so shy. Once she got off leash though, she'd make a mad dash to any dogs that were smaller than her. A few times, she started to run at a dog in the distance, but once she got  a bit closer, she was like, ummm...they're bigger than I thought, retreat! At one point, we thought she was going to surprise another little dog, but instead she just went right up to the owner and sat in front of her, asking to be petted! So adorable! Kiki was in heaven and as G put it, she went on a smelling spree. She zip-zagged here and there trying to sniff as many things, people and dogs that she could. She's so dirty right now. I need to give her a shower after this post.

See? Sniffed everything in sight.

Lovely day for a stroll around the park.

Girl pic! All the female dogs and the female humans. (Courtesy of Gary Shew)

Kiki thoroughly enjoying Comet's water while Comet refuses to drink it, but finally succumbs to mommy's demands. 

On Monday, it was my mom's birthday and we went to Yellowtail for all you can eat sushi! For a review of it, visit my yelp page here.

It's the first time in 7 years that I've celebrated my mom's birthday with her in Toronto. Last year, she was in TW for her birthday so that was nice.

Happy Birthday, Mom! I love you!

It's really so good to be back. I know I've said it before, but I really mean it so I'll say it again. I'm extremely happy to be back. I love you all and have missed you all dearly.

How did you spend your long weekend?

Would love you hear from you,
Mel

My Welcome Back Chili Bash!

Thank you everyone for coming to my welcome back chili bash! It was really nice seeing you all. A special thank you to my youngest sister, Hay for hosting. She did a fantastic job cooking everything, but don't forget, I helped grate the cheese...and then, I took a nap.

Chili station with hot dogs, pasta, fries, chips and baked potatoes. Can you say YUM?

After a bit of persuading-because Chinese people are so "hak hei" (polite), everyone dug into the food and declared it delicious!

Maggie was even able to convince Athan to eat this time!

I had a great time catching up with some old friends-especially with Ken whom I haven't seen in who knows how long?

Kiki is so sneaky.

Before Ren and her family left, we just had to take some pictures with the kids!

Athan and Fanny are wearing leather jackets. So cool!

And of course we had to take a picture with just the Henry girls.

<3

Kiki was so popular! The next day, she was really exhausted from all the attention she got and all she did was sleep. Can you believe it? It's not like she did anything besides getting petted. =p

Old pals from TW.

After my sisters went to Walmart to get some ping pong balls, I guess you can say that's when the party really started.

Beer pong! G will later get his cheat on.

Hanging out with my awesome sisters. Thanks Hay for hosting and thanks Yit for coming even though you didn't know anyone. =D

And of course I had to get a group picture with my fantastic girls. Thanks Mon for the eye shadow palette. I love it!

Ying and Kiki are certainly enjoying themselves.

Don't forget about T-Chat with SpongeBob!

Fun times!

I have the best friends in the world!

G looks really tall for some reason.

Now for the silly pose.

This is why I love ya'll!

Thanks everyone for making my day special and for welcoming me back! It's been an adventurous 7 years and as much as I enjoyed it, there really is no place like home.

For a complete set of the pictures, click here and ask me for the password.

Lots of love,

Mel

P.S. We found the cell, G! YAAY!!! Whew...what a relief!

High Park-A Not So Hidden Gem In The City, But Still A Gem Nonetheless.

This past Saturday, I woke up at 9am to get ready for my first outing to High Park at noon with R, her kids and M. I put myself in charge of makings the sandwiches (something I would later regret), so that R wouldn't have to take care of that on top of everything else one has to deal with when they have kids.

So why did I regret volunteering to make those sandwiches? I had this grand idea of making turkey, lettuce, cheese and avocado sandwiches. Sounds simple enough, right? The problem was that, that was my first time making sandwiches for kids. I had so many questions, do they eat avocados? Should I toast the bread? Do they eat mayonnaise? On top of that, I had no idea how to prepare an avocado. They were not popular before I had left for Taiwan, and they weren't popular when I was in Taiwan, but boy are they popular here now. So I had to call my sister Y for instructions. Thank goodness she helped me out although she did ridicule me for being so avocado-preparing-clueless. Oh well.

After getting a bit lost on the way there, we found some parking on a little side street a few blocks from the park. Just after entering the park, we saw a small cluster of Cherry Blossom trees and decided to procure a spot and declare it ours. R then proceeded to whip out two blankets and a little tiger tent and we made ourselves at home.

Our little picnic spot under the Cherry Blossoms.

I was so relieved when M took a bite of a sandwich and proclaimed that it was really good. All my efforts didn't go to waste. However, the kids were so interested in everything around that they didn't really eat. Can't blame them though. There really was a lot going on and more interesting things to do rather than eat.

Like hanging out in the little tiger tent.

We even saw a guy up on a tree playing the guitar!

That's actually quite romantic. Wonder who he was playing that for.

I guess the tiger tent really was fun because after awhile, mommy decided to join her kids.

Move over, kiddies.

After trying to feed the kids again and again without much success, we took some more group pics. Unfortunately, we had a super hard time getting A2 to sit down. He would only come over with the promise of "zi choi" (dried seaweed) but after M had tried to lure him a few times with an empty promise, he decided to ignore her altogether. Smart boy! Then A1 started getting silly too.

The pictures getting progressively worse.

In the middle of taking one picture, A1 decided she'd had enough and decided to show us just what she thought about the impromptu photo session.

Take that! Now, can we go to the playground?

M tried her very best to make the kids eat.

Trying to explain the facts of life to A1. If you don't eat, you'll die. (Not her exact words.)

Whatever M said to A1, it pretty much didn't work. However, when A2 tried to feed her some sandwich, lo and behold, she ate it like it was the tastiest thing on Earth! (Not to be conceited, but it was rather tasty.)

Little brother feeding older sister. It's a miracle! What's even more of a miracle is that when A1 didn't want anymore, A2 actually started feeding himself!

You're eating my sandwich! Yay!

The humans weren't the only ones enjoying themselves. Kiki got her fair share of attention from random people. Our favourite was the little boy wearing sunglasses.

Kiki spots some four-legged friends.

Not to be outdone, A1 put on her sunglasses as well!

And immediately strikes a pose.

After R gets A2 to put on his jacket...

He puts his sunglasses on as well.

Wow, very "yow ying."

I guess M thought so as well because she tried to kiss him.

Not sure if she succeeded, but she was super happy nonetheless.

After packing up our things and making sure to pick up our garbage, we headed to this really amazing playground. It's too bad I forgot to take a picture of it. Upon entering the playground, you'll see Arthur's sword in stone. That was a really cool detail. Click on this link for photos of the playground. The story behind it is that in 2012, someone intentionally torched the playground and immediately, the community responded by donating money to rebuild it. Children were asked what their dream playground would look like and the end product was derived from their descriptions. Mike Holmes along with the help of the community undertook the project to rebuild the park, and they did a wonderful job.

As we walked into the playground, we were enveloped by the shouts and laughter of children having a grand ol' time. Had I been a child, I would've gone bonkers too! Being adventurous, we took the little kiddies to the big kids slide, and they made it down in one piece. =D

A1 made sure to have a tight grip on her little brother.

After leaving, we passed an ice cream truck. A1 really wanted some ice cream, but after taking one look at the line, we decided to pass.

Were they handing them out for free or something?

It was the first time M and I had gone out with the kiddies, and we had a hard time steering the stroller. It was pretty massive, with all the bags hanging off the side, but R had no trouble with it at all.

R is supermom.

At the zoo, we saw all kinds of strange and smelly animals, like emus, yaks, wallabys, llamas etc...It a great little zoo that's free for everybody, but is struggling to remain open because of a change in the City Council's budget and is now relying on donations to stay open. The zoo has been opened for 112 years, and it would be a pity if it closed down. If you have change to spare, click on this link to donate.

At the zoo, we bumped into C and G. It was a planned meeting and I got to meet their dog Comet! She is so cute, but so shy. She and Kiki haven't hit it off yet, but they are definitely going to get to know each other more whether they like it or not! Kiki tried to sniff Comet's bum when she wasn't paying attention. haha...

Now, this is the part where my day at High Park got weird. So there we were standing with our dogs and chatting, when a lady just goes over to Comet, pets her without asking, gives her a big kiss and then jogs away! It was as if we weren't even there. Then another girl comes along and asks me if she can "pet" Kiki and I say yes, she immediately scoops her up and starts petting her explaining to me that she also has a Maltese blah blah blah, which was ok, but then she almost drops Kiki! OMG!!! I almost had a heart attack! Like G said, why have my days back been riddled with weird occurrences? Nonetheless, I don't regret having moved back.
Anyways, afterwards, C and G took Comet to the off-leash park. I really wanted to take Kiki there, but we didn't have time. That's ok-this gives me an excuse to go there again!

After we left the zoo, A1 decided that she wanted to walk Kiki herself, and she did a great job!

Do you like her hat? I bought it for her. Yup, little things make me proud.

In the last picture, she A1 bent down to pose with Kiki. How adorable!

On the walk back to the car, guess what we saw? A popsicle cart that didn't have a ginormous line up in front of it. Guess who was as happy as a clam?

That's right, our little princess.

The same couldn't be said for her little brother who apparently doesn't like anything cold so the cookie sandwich mommy bought for him was a waste, but mommy ate it so it wasn't really a waste, just a waste of his time, I guess. haha...

Afterwards, we headed home and got a bit lost on the way back. Yup, all in a days work.

Thanks R, M, kids and Kiki for such a lovely afternoon. I can't think of a better way to have spent that Saturday afternoon.

When's our next outing going to be?

Tips by Mel (I just copied this from my Yelp review. Click here to see it.):
1) If you can't find a spot in the parking lot, try parking on the side streets outside.
2) Make sure you have tissues to bring to the washroom.
3) Go early to avoid massive line ups to pretty much everything. We were there from 2-6 and there were line ups for the washrooms, ice cream truck, hot dog stand etc...
4) Bring your own food, drinks and a blanket so you have something to eat, drink and a place to relax!


Thank you for reading and please leave a comment for me. =D

Mel

Boracay! Worth a Second Visit?

We loved Boracay so much that we decided to visit again. Was it as amazing as the first time around? Not exactly, but that was mostly due to the less than perfect weather and that couldn't be controlled. We still had a fun time though and I was very happy to have been able to spend time with my sisters and D. =D

After Chinese New Year, I, my sisters and our respective other halves went to Boracay! We took CebuAir and although we had no trouble with them going to Boracay, it was a whole other matter returning to TW with them. There was a big delay because of heavy rains and we were stuck in Manila for a night. What a scary city! Or at least the place we stayed at was.

Ok, back to Boracay.

Look who we saw at Manila airport on our way to Boracay - Evander Holyfield!

Ya, D and I pretty much photo-bombed this picture even though we actually know the person in it. LOL

Just a tip, if you are ever leaving from Hong Kong for a trip anywhere do NOT exchange money at that airport. It is a real rip off. We got ripped off during this trip, and my father got ripped off on a subsequent trip. Better deals were to be had at Manila airport and even at Boracay itself! Grrr...

This time going to Boracay, I knew that we wanted to stay close to White Sand Beach because that was pretty much where everything was. Instead of paying an arm and a leg for a beachfront hotel, we opted to stay at Milflores De Boracay which was pretty much just a 2 minute walk to the beach. It was very affordable because we had booked it way in advance. They have a special where they price a few of their rooms at P2600 year-round. That's about $64 CAD for a very spacious and clean room with 2 queen size beds. Could NOT have asked for more especially compared to The Lazy Dog Bed and Breakfast which was the place we stayed at the last time we came and it cost about the same.

As you can see, very spacious and clean. Please excuse the wrinkled corner as the first thing D did was climb into bed in his dirty clothes. Thereafter, that bed became known as the "chilling bed."

Lots of room for storage. There were also books and CDs in case we got bored. We didn't make use of those. Instead, D and I discovered our love for Monopoly Deal. We also whiled away the time by trying to make sense of what the people were saying on Geordie Shore. After some debate, we finally had to Google to find out exactly what a "worldie bird" was. lol

The bathroom was clean, but did have some ants crawling about, but that's to be expected. At least there weren't any cockroaches. Yikes! Note of caution: Soap and shampoo is provided, but they are quite harsh. You might want to bring your own or better yet, buy some soap at one of the many stores that sell homemade soaps. We bought a bunch of Gloria's Handmade Soap located in D'Talipapa.

Our first stop after settling into our rooms was to, of course, visit Jonah's Fruit Shake & Snack Bar. The shakes there are to die for. I especially loved the Fresh Strawberry Shake (it was more expensive than the others, but worth a try) and the Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Milkshake. We came back practically everyday since it was across the street from where we were staying.

The expression says it all. YUM!

Afterwards, we grabbed a beach towel from our hotel and headed to the beach. The weather wasn't ideal as it was quite cloudy, but at least it wasn't raining.

Still the beautiful beach I remember from last year. Wow, H and A got really fit, really fast!

Up and down the pathway next to the beach are stalls and restaurants. You really do have it all here. Beach, shopping, eating...can't ask for more!

 Our first taste of Boracay's Chori Burger which is sliced and grilled chorizo (pork sausage) sandwiched between grilled bread. Quite good, but oh so fattening.

What else did we see as we strolled along the path? A huge lobster; corncobs on the beach and huge slabs of steak. They were handing out free samples that would eventually lure us into eating dinner there later that night. But first...

Sunset Happy Hour at Nigi Nigi Noo Noo's (ya, we had a good laugh at the name also.) So...what does happy hour entail at Nigi's? It's buy one get one free, so we each ordered a drink thinking that I'd pay for one drink and then someone else in our party would get one drink free. NOT the case! Everyone got two of what they ordered! So let's just say that everyone pretty much left happy hour quite happily.

Great place for happy hour. Tables are on the beach!

Since it was Valentine's Day, we had originally intended to find a romantic place to have dinner, but like I mentioned before, we were suckered by that free sample of steak and ended up there instead. It wasn't the most romantic place, and the food wasn't the best, but it was pretty decent, and the steak really was delicious!

There was a wide selection. My favourites were the steak and the mashed potatoes. YUM!

The next day, we woke up bright and early and had the breakfast included at the hotel. D and I ordered the Filipino breakfast and they were pretty good albeit a bit heavy compared to what we're used to.

D had the beef on the top right and I had the pork on the bottom right. 

 After eating breakfast, we headed back to the main island for some paddle-boarding. Although, it was quite an experience, I would not really recommend doing it here. The amount of time it took to get from Boracay Island  to the lake was just not worth it.

In the beginning, it was all fun and games until we started falling into the dirty water and our arms started to feel as if there were dead weights attached to them. Not to mention the sunburn I got in the shape of hands. HAHA...I still have that.

Luckily in the middle of our journey, we spotted a man selling coconuts so we stopped for awhile and had some coconut juice to refresh ourselves for the rest of the journey. Some of us accidentally paddled past the coconut man and had a super hard time coming back. haha...

Then we used the coconuts as hats. Stylish? Yes! Practical? Umm...not so much.

Just as my arms felt as if they were going to fall off, we made it to the bridge which marked the end point. We were all a bit exhausted and sunburned. Somewhere along the way, I turned around to find D with a pink shirt tied around his neck. When I asked him where he had gotten it, he said that he "bought" it from someone as he was paddle-boarding. Ya right! Turns out, he found it discarded along the riverbank and decided to drape it on his back to block the sun. I swear, he really grosses me out at times.

After all that paddling, we were famished and glad to just be able to sit down and fill our stomachs with food.

Ok, looks like we mostly just had watermelon, but we had chicken too and it was pretty tasty.

After that little adventure, it was time to go back to the hotel and rest. Just kidding! It was time to watch the sunset from the "booze cruise." All you can drink rum and beer gave us the courage to jump off the side of the boat.

D  just jumped without any warning so I wasn't able to get a shot of him in mid air.

There was also some "entertainment" on the upper deck for us. One of the staff just started pole dancing out of the blue!

Enjoying the sunset and the impromptu "live entertainment."

The fire dancer that performed was very impressive.

Don't let those smiles fool you. We were pretty nervous to be so close to the fire-at least I was.

That night we went to D'Talipapa and bought a whole bunch of seafood at the wet market (mostly clams) and had a delicious seafood feast that didn't burn a hole in our wallets. Although, it did give
D a rash, but did that stop him from eating more seafood the following night? Nope! But to be fair, we didn't know it was due to seafood allergies. Warning: the following pictures will make you green with envy.

We bought all the seafood and veggies at the wet market and then went over to one of the many restaurants to have them cook the food for us. Our restaurant of choice? Plato D'Boracay. I would highly recommend this restaurant. Everything was cooked to perfection and all for the low price of about $12CAD per person. That's including the food and the cooking fee!

As we walked through the market to get back to our hotel, D insisted that I take a picture here.

Can you spot why?

The next morning, my sisters and I woke up bright and early because H and I wanted to get our hair braided.

Getting our braids on. NOW, we're vacationing on a tropical island!

Originally, we had booked an island hopping tour to go snorkeling at various spots, but because it was so windy out, we weren't able to go to Crystal Cove which was a pity because that was the place I was most looking forward to visiting on the tour. Oh well...So we got onto the boat and took an extremely rough ride to another island and had a poor excuse of a buffet. At least DK had fun annihilating the crab with the wooden stick.

 We then jumped off the boat to go snorkeling. It was actually quite fun until we got closer to some island and the water became infested with seaweed. Somehow D swam though it and was running around the beach trying to chuck seaweed at us, but I decided to call it a day and headed back to the boat. I wasn't going to plow through the water with my face submerged in seaweed infested water!

After getting back to the main island, we just chilled on the beach, had a fantastic strawberry margarita, and that's right, played Monopoly Deal.

The Strawberry Margarita at the Red Pirates Pub at station 3 is fantastic!

This way to Canada!

The next day, we were off again on yet another adventure. This time, cliff diving at Ariel's Point which is rated as the number 1 tourist spot in Boracay.

We all got matching sun hats. Even D. hahaha...

The first thing we did when we got there was to go snorkeling.

We were having a grand ol' time, that is until we were attacked by jellyfish. We then promptly made a mad dash back to safety, as depicted in that last picture. Yes, you'd think that I would've learned my lesson after last year's incident, but I was hoping that it was just a one time occurrence. Guess not.

After that nasty scare, it was time for our buffet lunch.

Those red things aren't potatoes, you know? lol

Ariel's point has expanded quite a lot since last year, and it seems as though they have plans to continue expanding.. Although there are more seating areas, the diving boards are still in the same places so those areas were quite crowded. As a result, it wasn't as fun because you had to share the space with so many people.

After lunch, the braver few of the bunch (D and Y) took the plunge. I think I used up all my courage on the jump off the boat that first day.

On the boat ride back, we decided to try and get a group-selfie. I must say, it was difficult!

I think you got the creepy look down in the first pic, A. Well done!

What's for dinner, you ask? Well, since the seafood at D'Talipapa's was such a huge hit, we decided to give it another whirl!

Seafood extravaganza part II. This time we got some shrimp, crab, squid and oysters. I forgot the name of this restaurant and do not recommend it at all. The food was only ok. I regret not having insisted on going back to Plato D'Boracay. The bowl in the middle is crab meat that H de-shelled for D. He ate it with gusto even though he had that rash from the seafood we had earlier. hahaha...Also, DK had some oysters raw. Let's just say that he lived to regret that. Double hahaha...

As we were walking home through D'Talipapa, we noticed something we had not noticed previously...dried frog purses. What do they look like, you ask? Exactly what it sounds like! Frogs that have had their guts removed and dried so that he could be made into purses as is. No sewing required!

And of course, as with anything that is remotely disgusting, D has to not only touch it, but try and gross us out with it. This time, by pretending to eat it!

Walking back to the hotel, we saw a fire show being performed on the beach and stopped to have a look-see.

The moon was really pretty that night, but of course just as we were about to take our picture, it got shrouded by the clouds.

The next day, we got ready for our last full day in Boracay.

In front of the Red Pirates Pub again. This time, waiting for our Paraw ( a local sail boat with two outriggers and two sails found in the Philippines) to set sail.

LOL, H and I are reflections of each other!

Unfortunately, the weather really wasn't on our side during our trip to Boracay. We wanted to go to Pukka Beach, but once again the wind was too strong and we weren't able to go there, so we ended up at this really crusty island instead. Well, what can one do in such a situation besides make the best of it? And so we did.

We threw some stones (I almost hit H in the head. Oops!);  made some sand art (if you can call it that); caught a crab; played Monopoly deal; read and sunbathed. Until...

...That's right, lunch time! Then it was time to head back.

After drifting back onto the shores of the beach in front of the Red Pirate's, we decided to wind down with another strawberry margarita as the boys threw the frisbee around-and lost it! They then went to the market to see if they could buy one to replace it while we relaxed at the beach.

A nice relaxing time.

Let's try to take a group-selfie again...hmm...we definitely need more practice.

We were having fun until a bunch of boys came over and harassed us for money. I'm ashamed to admit it, but we got bullied by a bunch of 9 year old boys! They were scary and tough! But luckily just as things were getting a bit intense (I swear, we were literally throwing things at each other), we saw the guys and they made sure we were safe. Thank goodness! =D

I had a really good time in Boracay, but I would have to say that this time around it was more about the company than the place itself. Boracay can be great, but only if the weather is great, and we didn't hit jackpot like we did the last time we went even though it was supposed to be the dry season.

Thanks Y, H, D, DK and A for the memorable trip! I will never forget the time that we spent together and the fun that we had!

Tips by Mel:
1) As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, if you are ever leaving from Hong Kong International Airport, do not exchange your money there. Instead exchange it when you're at Manila Airport.
2) For those of you who are on a budget, there are plenty of affordable hotels that are not beach-front, but literally just steps away. I highly recommend staying at Milflores De Boracay, but make sure you book ahead of time so you can get the discount.
3) Go to the wet market to buy your choice of seafood and have it cooked the way you want at Plato D'Boracay Restaurant.
4) Haggle for a better deal at the wet market. If one salesperson won't budge, then don't be afraid to move on to another one.
5) If you're adventurous, then do Ariel's Point, but if you aren't then I suggest skipping that and just going to the Sunset Party Cruise Booty. You still get all you can drink alcohol and you can dive off the side of the boat. On top of that, you get to watch an amazing sunset, and a fire show.
6) Go island hopping on a Paraw with Red Pirates. They provide quality food and services, unlike some other tour groups. While you're there, have a strawberry margarita.
7) Get your hair braided. It really adds to the feel of being on an exotic getaway.
8) Don't forget to cover every inch of yourself in sunscreen!
9) Do yourself a favour and visit Jonah's Fruit Shake & Snack Bar for a shake.
10) Don't drink the tap water, and don't eat anything uncooked. Lesson learned, right DK?
11) Mother Nature is unpredictable so no matter where you are vacationing, just have a good time and relax!


Thank you for reading and please leave a comment for me. =D

Mel