Popular Post Ice Patrol Posted September 9, 2019 Popular Post Posted September 9, 2019 Hello to all! Now back in the US after my awesome 3 week trip to the Philipines. Arrived in Manila and injoyed a 5 day stay there.We stayed at the Casablanca Hotel directly across from the large Robinson Mall which was a great location for quality shoping ,dining,and fun activities.The hotel had a small apartment type layout and was reasonably clean but no warm water or microwave available.Its a bit expensive but if you are just staying for one or two nights I can recommend the Golden Phoenix...as we stayed there one night before I retured to the USA.Visiting the Manila Aquatics center was great fun complete with a water show with Seals.This is a huge facility that has all things aquatic and more.Really enjoyed viewing the various fish tanks and actually walking through a huge fish tank.So many interesting things to see an do there.We also visited the Mall of Asia.If you want to shop till you drop or have a endless choice of restaurants this might be for you. Then went to Iloilo for four days.Stayed at the Injap Tower which I can highly recommend.Its directly across from the huge SM Mall.We also went to see a beautiful Mansion once belonging to a government official and now open to the public.You can view exotic artwork and shop for souvenirs.There is also a very nice coffee / snack shop on the property Left Iloilo by car and traveled about 5 hours to Boracay.This was really a nice ride to see the Phillipines country side.It is truly very beautiful with strong overtones of a tropical climate.Lots of greenery including banana and Palm trees everywhere.I think we passed through abought 8 towns along the way along the way..a couple of them fairly large.The roads are ok but where they are working on them you almost need a truck to pass through.When nearing Boracay we crossed over a large mountain and arrived on the other side to find a somewhat busy small town and a nice airport that can handle the large jets should you want to fly directly to Boracay.We put the car in storage and snagged a large boat to travel to the island which took just a few minutes.From there we took a taxi through the Boracay shopping district /mall / town to reach our mountain top hotel - Alta Vista.This is a 4 star hotel located about 8 minutes from Puka Beach.The view from our balcony was incredible.So it was 6 days of sun and fun at Boracay- swimming,snorkeling on the reefs,cliff jumping,boat rides and more.I was one of the only americans anywhere around.I would say around 85% Japanese staying at our hotel.I knew that Boracay had a infrastructure revamp last summer and its complete for the most partI think.But they are still doing quite a bit of work on the roads.Even if your traveling in your hotels shuttle van you could spend a lot of time in traffic.The beaches are clean and the ocean is the beautiful turquoise color.It was truly the best vacation resort I have ever been to. We got our car out of storage and returned to a province of Iloilo which I don't know the name of.We stayed there one night and the next day traveled about 3 hours to San Joaquim Iloilo.There we visited Garin Farm Resort which is a Christian Pilgrimage / journey.Its located on top of a mountain overlooking the ocean and has a very nice resterant along with accommodations if you want to stay overnight.- Loved it! And then returning to Iloilo City to just relax with my filipino partner...But sadly after drinking some toxic water I became very ill and had to spend 2.5 days in the Iloilo Mission Hospital - I will write a post on this very soon. I could close this synopsis with one of many pertinent subjects but I would just like to say that I was very impressed with what I saw and heard from the Filipino people.Overall they seem to be very down to earth and simple natured.Also It was refreshing to see friends openly showing their affection for each other.Anyway ,It was truly a pleasure to visit with them here in the Philipines 12 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Clermont Posted September 9, 2019 Popular Post Posted September 9, 2019 It's a pleasure reading your experience, I have much the same experience each time I go over there, I don't look for the negatives, I go over there for the positives, thanks again. 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert k Posted September 10, 2019 Posted September 10, 2019 Glad for you on the great time, sorry the water got you. You have to watch out for the ice in drinks, even if you see the water was from a jug of purified. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice Patrol Posted September 10, 2019 Author Posted September 10, 2019 3 hours ago, Clermont said: It's a pleasure reading your experience, I have much the same experience each time I go over there, I don't look for the negatives, I go over there for the positives, thanks again. Thankyou Clermont- I will return to the Phils next april or may for sure.Actually I am having a series of home upgrades done at this time so it will make a good air BB rental while I am visiting there.But hoping to make the permanent move there as soon as everything comes together for that 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice Patrol Posted September 10, 2019 Author Posted September 10, 2019 1 hour ago, robert k said: Glad for you on the great time, sorry the water got you. You have to watch out for the ice in drinks, even if you see the water was from a jug of purified. Thankyou Robert K....If only I would have had a beer instead... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hk blues Posted September 10, 2019 Posted September 10, 2019 I'm in Iloilo ice Patrol, nice to hear you had a good time here. I know all the places you mentioned - we often spend a few nights in San Joaquim at a nice resort hotel there. As for Iloilo, It's a very nice area to be in and has enough of everything we need without being overly busy or overly expensive. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice Patrol Posted September 11, 2019 Author Posted September 11, 2019 (edited) 20 hours ago, hk blues said: I'm in Iloilo ice Patrol, nice to hear you had a good time here. I know all the places you mentioned - we often spend a few nights in San Joaquim at a nice resort hotel there. As for Iloilo, It's a very nice area to be in and has enough of everything we need without being overly busy or overly expensive. Hello HK - I got to see some of San Joaquim as we drove up through the area. That is a fairly long road and it runs the contour of the shoreline pretty much so you get to see a lot of the ocean as you cruise through.We stoped at Garin Farm which offers some incredible views atop the mountain.Would love to go back there again and see more of the area...and its not far from Iloilo.And Iloilo is a very nice city with a lot to offer... I really injoyed the shopping and restaurants that were nearby.Had to get used to the traffic when its bad though. Edited September 11, 2019 by Ice Patrol 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowy79 Posted September 11, 2019 Posted September 11, 2019 Glad you liked Boracay. By any chance were you greeted by a person called Jocelyn at Alta Vista? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice Patrol Posted September 12, 2019 Author Posted September 12, 2019 19 hours ago, Snowy79 said: Glad you liked Boracay. By any chance were you greeted by a person called Jocelyn at Alta Vista? Boracay was awesome for sure,Not sure if I talked with Jocelyn but all of the staff that helped us during our stay were just great... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowy79 Posted September 12, 2019 Posted September 12, 2019 3 minutes ago, Ice Patrol said: Boracay was awesome for sure,Not sure if I talked with Jocelyn but all of the staff that helped us during our stay were just great... Good to hear it as I have an apartment at Alta Vista Out of curiosity did you book it direct or via a private renter? I'm asking this as there's acrazy rate difference depnding how you book. Give Boracay another two years and it will be the place to go as there's still a lot of on going renovations. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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