February 19, 2015 (Boracay, Philippines)

Early rise and off to the airport to fly to Boracay, south of Manila about a 40 minute flight. Philippines Air of course was very late in leaving but we made it to the airport and were greeted by someone from out hotel. We hopped aboard a shuttle that took us to the beach and then onto a boat to take us to the end of Boracay to the Shangri La. The water was bright blue and the beach for the most part was white. We passed the White Beach which is the big public beach- like the South Beach of the Philippines. At the far end was our hotel. As we arrived we were met by drummers in native costumes and hotel staff all greeting us with "Welcome to Paradise." I couldn't put my finger on it but it all felt very familiar like a mix between a scene from Couples Retreat and Fantasy Island. Klane suggested Fantasy Island and I could not stop laughing because it felt just like that as the guests in the old 70s TV show. The place is beautiful and we immediately settled into our room and then onto the beach for pool and hang time.

We enjoyed an afternoon of swimming- Sam loved the pool, I loved the ocean and swam for quite a while and took out snorkel gear. The water is super clean and clear but not tons of colorful fish but there were some fish and the water temp is good for swimming, not hot but not too cool.

Since it was Chinese New Year I wanted to be sure to see some kind of celebration, the hotel had had their's this morning. The concierge found us a Lion Dance on the beach and a fire dance and fireworks show at the Bamboo Lounge in town. He made us reservations and we made our way there for dinner and the show. The hotel dropped us off in the middle of the White Beach's essentially boardwalk central shopping area. We weaved through tons of shops and  restaurants and then down onto the beach where the whole boardwalk was lined with restaurants and bars all scattered along the beach with beach seating and music and entertainment under tall palms. It was a bit like Bali's beach cove we had eaten dinner at since all the restaurants were literally on the sand, but this place had the thumping night life of Miami. We all felt like we were on "Spring Break!!!" The place was packed and after a little we found our restaurant, which was no longer named Bamboo Lounge - that was a bit tricky, and they seated us on the beach. The meal was actually terrible but the show was great and we entertained ourselves before dinner with glowing flying toys. I bought Riley and Sam one each and they would fling them up into the air and spin and glow on their way down.

The Lion Dance had the fun Chinese Dragon costumes but not as pro as I was hoping- kind of spring break version honestly but then the fire dancers were awesome. They came onto the beach right in front of our tables and performed and then performed for another 40 minutes on the beach in the center of the restaurant twirling fire balls and sticks. The show's peaking performance was when the woman was spinning these fire balls above her head while she lit her cigarette in her mouth with the fire and then spun them around in front of one of the guests and lit his cigarette-...hahaha. The fireworks show was awesome and went on for about 10 minutes right in front of us on a boat just off the beach. It was an entertaining night to say the least and as we made our way back down the boardwalk we compensated for our terrible meal with some delicious gelato before catching the shuttle back to the hotel. Off to bed, tomorrow ATV and Zip Line :)