Holiday on the beach

These posts are a bit out of order but I found writing about Sheena was much more important than a holiday in paradise.

If you recall, I broke my wrist three days before we left for our holiday in Boracay, Philippines. I was quite bummed but I was just happy I could still go on vacation. We left for the Philippines on Christmas Eve right after work, and by we I mean, Jared and I, and 5 of my co-workers. Our travels weren't too bad, we only had one layover in Manila before getting to the island. Since Boracay is so small, we actually flew to a different island from Manila then took a ferry to Boracay. We got to our hotel on Christmas morning, it was a great way to start Christmas. This was not only my first Christmas away from home, but it was the first time I wouldn't be in snow and cold for the holidays. We checked in and thankfully our room was ready for us. After we got settled we headed to get some breakfast since it was about 9:30 in the morning. After breakfast we were so drained from the night of travel we took a nap before we headed off to explore.

The nap did us well and we woke up ready to see what Boracay had to offer. At first we headed to the beach, it was a short walk away from our hotel. The beach and "road" by the beach were amazing. The "road" was just sand only feet away from the ocean, with shops and restaurants on one side and the ocean on the other. From the beach, we wondered off the ocean and found some places off the beat'n path. It was fun to see the things Boracay had to offer. After a bit of shopping we walked back to the beach and decided to see what the cuisine had to offer. We weren't too hungry yet but we found some tasty snacks on the side of the beach, pig tongue and liver!! It sounds awful and like something I would probably never try, but it sounded exotic and fun so we decided to try it out. It was surprisingly amazing!! I think I had either tongue or liver every day we were there.

After snacks, we headed back to the room and showered and changed for dinner. And since we were on vacation, we mixed some drinks for our walk to dinner. This became our ritual for every day we were there. It was a great little routine we got in while on vacation.

Boracay had a wide range of food to chose from. Everything from Greek to Mexican to Mongolian and, of course, Korean! We decided to stay away from the Korean for the week since we had our fill of it back in Korea. There were also plenty of buffets to chose from, mainly of seafood and pork. It was fun to wonder and have my choice of cuisine to eat. The week brought an array of wonderful food, that I believe tasted even better since I had only had Korean for the past 10 months. We had a great dinner and a wonderful stroll on the beach before we headed back to the hotel.

The next morning, like all the mornings we were on vacation, we were up pretty early. We would go get breakfast, I liked to sit by the beach and read or swim while Jared wondered around the island taking pictures. This only lasted the first couple of days though. Soon I was bored of sitting by the beach and decided to join Jared as he wondered. Like I said earlier, Boracay is a small small island, it was easy to walk the whole island in one day, but we paced ourselves so we wouldn't see everything in one day. One of the days we wondered, we found an amazing view point from the top of the island that overlooked the whole island. It was an amazing view and worth the 4 hours of walking. We also found a great beach with more crystal blue water and some great views.

The wondering during the day made us hungry, which made the food even more delicious. Among the amazing things we ate that week, my two favorites were the gyros we had at the Mediterranean restaurant and the wonderful buffet we had on New Years Eve. I hadn't had gyros in years and the buffet had fresh turkey!!! I hadn't had turkey like that since I was at home, it was a great treat.

Other than the amazing food, the wonderful relaxation, the exploration of a foreign island, one of the highlights of the trip was New Years Eve. Jared and I decided money was no issue for dinner that night and we decided to splurge a little. We got a great buffet and paced ourselves through dinner. After the amazing dinner of fresh pork and turkey, wonderful squid and sauteed vegetables, along with fruit salad for dessert, we were getting ready for some amazing fireworks over the water. We met back up with my co-workers to ring in the New Year together. We found a place on the beach and waited for the countdown. It was amazing to see all the fireworks go off at the stroke of midnight, and it was even more wonderful to be standing on a beach with great friends and a wonderful boyfriend. I will admit, it was strange to be in warm places during the holidays. I didn't feel right celebrating New Years without a winter coat and boots, but I was quite alright with where I was.

The night was great but the morning brought the dreaded end to our vacation. It was such an amazing way to spend the holidays and a great way to relax after breaking my wrist. The travels home were fine, other than Jared getting a piece of sand in his eye that didn't come out for a few days. He was in quite a bit of pain the whole way home and I felt so bad for him. He was so unhappy but he was able to sleep most the way home, which was good so he didn't have to deal with it. Other than the sand, we got home with no problems.

It was hard to come back to reality after a week in paradise but paradise was wonderful nonetheless. I haven't even been in Korea for one year and I've had two tropical island vacations with plenty more vacations to look forward too. It's no wonder I'm staying another year.