Relaxation at Last

It was always our plan to find a beach somewhere and rest for a while after the harried pace of the first week of travel.  We knew we would be in two of the largest, most populous cities in the world (Hong Kong & Manila) and that it would be a pretty intense experience.

For now, we have made Alona Beach our home.  On a map, this is a beach on Panglao Island, just off of Tagbilaran in Bohol, Philippines.

Our room is actually a little nipa hut surrounded by flowering shrubs & hedges; palms & cacti.  In the mornings we are woken by a couple persistent roosters that live in the yard where we're staying.  Previously, I   was under the naive impression that the rooster would climb up on the fence post and cocka-doodle-doo perhaps once or twice, and then go about doing whatever it is roosters do.  Boy, was I wrong!  They just keep going and going and going; sometimes sounding like they're going hoarse.  We get a kick out of it!

Alona Bamboo Resort

Isn't this a cute little cottage?  In the mornings we have coffee on the veranda.  Coffee is actually a thermos of boiling water with a packet of 3-in-1 Nescafe that you stir into it.  I have no choice but to drink my coffee with sugar.  Philippinos actually have quite the sweet tooth.

All around the hut are shrubs & hedges pendulous with blooms.  It's a very lush garden with hibiscus, palms, cacti and many other unknown tropical plants.  We have a resident family of gheckos that live on our hut.  At night, they come out & hover around the light, hoping for a moth-snack.

Our days are spent swimming, snorkeling, beachcombing, exploring, relaxing, hiding from the sweltering sun.  We have been staying in the shade as much as possible, re-applying sunscreen constantly, but it's so easy to burn here.  In the 3 1/2 days that we've been here, it hasn't rained once, which is surprising.  Much of the Visayas, including Bohol, is quite sheltered from the brunt of the rainy season.

Alona Beach on Panglao Island

Massages are offered right on the beach.  I took advantage of this one day and it was lovely, being pampered under the swaying palms, watching the sky change colors as dusk fell.

It's off-season now, so there it seems there are more vendors than people.  When one wanders the beach, people are trying to sell you pearl earrings, tour packages to the attractions nearby, sunglasses (despite the fact that one is actually wearing sunglasses already - it doesn't seem to matter.)  This is certainly a great place to learn how to say "no" politely yet firmly!

Most of the resorts on the beach have a corresponding restaurant or cafe that is open to the public, and we can also explore the nearby town for food (about a 5-10 minute walk).  This gives us loads of options.  Sunset is around 7:00 pm and it's magical on the beach at night.  There are tinkling lights strung up in the trees, lanterns in the sand, and candles on the beach-front tables.  Roving guitarists, live bands and singers, or just piped music fills the air, or if you wander away from the crowds and find a secluded part of the beach you can listen to the ocean instead.

Our stomachs are starting to rumble; we haven't had breakfast yet.  Fruit would be good.  The other day, we tried "mangosteens".  Inside the purple exterior is a clump of what looks like large garlic cloves.  The fruit is slippery & takes like a slightly sour mango, but the texture is hard to describe.  I would say like a softer pomegranate "seed".

Mangosteen - about the size of a baseball.














The inside of the fruit.









Now we're off to find more strange & exotic fruit to try.  Or I might just have to have that mango shake again...........