Mind goggling

Kids on Boracay are all natural born divers. Photos by Chen Liang

It was our last night on Boracay in the Philippines. We were in Cocomangas Shooter Bar, famous for its 15 shooters challenge - if you knock back one each of these nasty alcoholic drinks, you win a T-shirt on which reads "Still standing after 15..." and a name plaque on the wall for posterity. As the boozer's nationality will go with his or her name on the plaque, you "do it for your country".

On another night, six other men and women of our group had managed to leave their names on the wall, on which are over 10,000 names - few Chinese, but plenty of Korean and Japanese. So I was pushed to complete the silly game to be patriotic!

But drinking was not the reason that we came to this tropical paradise. Invited by the Philippine Airlines, nine tour agents from China's top travel agencies and I made a one-week familiarization tour to the Philippines' Manila and Boracay.

While Manila, the capital of the country, is mainly a stopover for us, Boracay, a small island about 320 kilometers south of Manila and 2 kilometers off the northwestern tip of Panay Island, is our main destination. We stayed there for three nights and soon became aware why this tiny island is becoming one of island magnets for China's outbound tourists.

At first, it's because of the beach. Nine kilometers long and only 1 kilometer wide at its narrowest points, Boracay has one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen - White Beach on the west coast of the island.

Lined with coconuts trees and offering shallow but turquoise water, the wide beach with sugar fine sand curves the coast for over 4 kilometers.

Along the beach front of rows of resorts, cafes, restaurants and handicrafts shops, we soon found that the White Beach is just in front of the hotel we stayed.

Jumping into the water and frolicking were the first things that came to mind. But as my companions would start their hotel tour on the first afternoon of our arrival and a boat trip was planned for the next day, I decided to go onto the highest lookout point of the island to get a panoramic view.

Getting around the island is easy. Out of the hotel, I hired a tricycle, a motorbike with a sidecar that can carry up to six people, for the trip. The driver asked 200 Philippine Peso ($4) for two-hour round trip between the hotel and the lookout point.

After a 10-minute drive on the south-north main road, the tricycle turned left onto a dirt lane, passed a pond and the fencing of a golf course, and started climbing. Soon I was aware that the driver hadn't overcharged me, for it was truly difficult for his vehicle to ascend the steep mountain path.

From time to time he had to start the exhausted engine again to drive me up some slopes. Near a hamlet with thatched stilt houses, I had to get off the tricycle and climb the hill by myself. As for the driver, he pushed!

Because of the slow ascend, the sun had already gone down by the time I reached highest point of the island - a bamboo pavilion - after paying 50 peso ($1) for admission. But the view is still spectacular. I saw the island's dog-bone shape, its white coast with sandy beaches and rampant forests covering its mountaintops.

Though climbing a hill is one way to explore the island, a boat trip is certainly preferable. A trip on a big outrigger boat or a crab boat is even more relaxing than just sitting on the beach all day. Plus, you get to see a lot more and feel the breeze ripping through your body.

We left from the boat station on the White Beach and started weaving in and out of the assorted atolls that surrounded Boracay. You could see banana boats, surfboats, colorful sailboats and other crab boats bustling around.

Finally we came to anchor about 1 kilometer away from the shore. Owners of the boat gave each of us a coil of fishing line, on which hooks with shrimp meat were tied, and showed us how to fish.

Our 40-minute fishing turned out to be almost fruitless - only three small fish were lured in and quickly released. Then came something much more exciting: we were told that we could snorkel around the boat.

I geared up to jump into the water below and got a glimpse of Boracay's underwater kingdom. The fish in Boracay are very tropical looking and as I felt the blazing hot sun bronzing my back, I basked in the relaxation of admiring schools playing about and sniffing for food.

From time to time, I dived one or two meters down to enjoy beautiful corals dotting on the bottom of the sea as the sunshine penetrated the crystal water. It was truly a perfect way to spend an hour.

On the way back to White Beach, a white-headed and brown-winged Brahminy kite appeared from nowhere and soared in the sky. Setting off by the steep cliff, sandy coast and clear water, the scene was truly breathtaking.

However, there were also few moments you wished you had never set foot on the island. To me, it was when I had to face the 15 shooters in Cocomangas.

I only had three or four. Then the world around me started swirling. The music became perfect and the pizza we ordered was so yummy yummy...

Still, I'm the only man who didn't finish the 15. So I failed to get the T-shirt or leave my name on the wall.

But who cares!

(China Daily 08/23/2007 page19)