Anybody who knows me knows that I’m all about beaches. And Alona Beach is one to remember. It’s a bit pricey, and there’s not much for the solo traveller to do. But I found that time slows and the beer flows on Alona!
Most people who have been to or thought of visiting the Philippines have heard of the Chocolate Hills on Bohol. The typical deal is for people to find their way to Cebu Island, then take the Supercat boat over to Tagbilaran City, Bohol. They spend 2 nights, with one day doing the Chocolate Hills tour. That’s one way to do it. Personally, I don’t like losing holiday time just getting from point A to point B, so I chose to skip Cebu entirely and spend all 7 nights on Bohol. I flew directly from Manila to Tagbilaran, then hired a taxi for 500 pesos (about $10) for the 40 minute drive to Alona Beach on Panglao Island, which is connected by a short bridge to Bohol. |
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The beach is beautiful, with powder-like white sand and coconut trees leaning out toward the blue-green waters. Although I’m usually not a fan of beaches crowded with boats, I love the outrigger style white and blue boats they use in the Philippines, so to me, it just added to that tropical feeling. And the sunsets. Wow! |
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As much as I love being at the beach, I rarely spend any time just sitting in the sun. In fact, one of my goals in visiting the beach was to get some work done, so I spent a lot of time just sitting in the restaurant working on my laptop. This was not, however, always an easy thing to do. The Philippines is a decidedly friendly place, and people, both Filipino and foreign alike, will stop by for a chat. In most cases, people just stopped to ask about how I was getting a wireless connection (I wasn’t), or about the size of my super small Toughbook laptop (no jokes, please). At least two times, that resulted in an afternoon of chatting over beers with some very interesting travellers. And one time, as I was sitting there working, I was approached by a group of Tourism students from Mindanao, in the south of the Philippines. We talked for ages, and finally took a few pics together. Not that I needed any to remember: experiences like that are the ones that I always remember. |
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Sights? The beach IS the sight. I never tired of just staring at it, or sitting and watching the stars sitting on the beach at night. But if you want to adventure out, you can rent a scooter for about $2 an hour (or about $8 for a full day) and just go exploring. I also did the tour around Bohol Island, which I’ll be writing about soon |
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this is a repost from tokyomike’s travelouge