How to get to Boracay, Philippines

Boracay

Getting from Kalibo Airport to the white sandy beaches of Boracay can be a little intimidating if you're going there for the first time. Hopefully this guide will help you!

Landing at Kalibo Airport, don't be shocked at the size of the international airport. It's small, with only one luggage belt and two customs officer desk. The desk is like those open spaced concept, and it's merely just a desk and a laptop.

To get to Boracay, you need to take the following:

• 1.5 hrs Van ride to Caticlan Jetty Port
• 15mins boat ride in traditional Bangka boat to Boracay Island
• Depending on the location of your hotel, about 10-15mins Tricycle ride. 

There are travel agencies who are able to arrange airport pick ups and send you straight to the resort's door step such as My Boracay Guide (750 pesos/pax) or Southwest Tours Boracay (650 pesos/pax). Personally, I find that quite expensive, but if you're looking for someone to assist you all the way with luggages and arrangements of everything, that is the way to go!

Now, I will teach you to go on your own.

After clearing customs and collecting your luggage, you step out to a wet market scene where people under tents are trying to get your attention endlessly. Generally, the shared van to Caticlan Port Jetty will cost you around 200 pesos per person. What happens is you sit in the van until it's full and the van leaves the airport. So, find one offering you 200 pesos to the jetty (no point haggling here as it's all the same and they won't budge) and make sure they don't charge you more for any boat tickets.

people offering different transportation to Boracay

After 1.5-2 hours of winding through Kalibo's mountains and padi fields (very scenic!!), you'll arrive at the Port Jetty. We visited during low peak period, and they brought us to this jetty. I understand Caticlan is a nicer, well established jetty, but they only open that jetty during high peak.

check out this jetty

At the terminal, you will have to purchase your boat ticket (25 pesos), environmental fees (75 pesos) and terminal fee (25 pesos).

At this point of time, I regretted immensely not backpacking. I was not expecting a pier like this nor the ferry to be the traditional Bangka Boat (think Batam).

for once we didn't backpack, and regretted

At the end of the pier, we had to walk down this ladder/slope which the locals fashioned out of bamboo and wooden planks. It would have been quite amusing and fun if we didn't have the burden of carrying the bloody luggages.

I was so scared that the old lady will fall into the water.

To get on the Bangka boat, we have to cross the narrow gangway (yes, the narrow blue one in the middle of the picture) which was swaying with the tide. I wasn't afraid of falling into the water, but my electronics will die and I was afraid of that!

trying to cross the gangway

 Again, we had to wait for the ferry to fill up before we could leave the port. It wasn't long though, as the boat filled up pretty fast.

waiting for the boat to leave

After disembarking using the same narrow gangway, we had the challenging task of looking for a tricycle. Follow the crowd and walk along the road  till you find many tricycles waiting for tourists! It cost us about 100 pesos for two to get us from the jetty to Station 2. It was a private tricycle as our luggages occupied the back and no one else could sit anyway.

tricycle

Cost to get from Kalibo Airport to Boracay Island:

As of June 2015. Subjected to changes.

As you can see, you save almost half of what you have to pay the travel agents if you do everything yourself. Bear in mind, we traveled as a duo and the cost above is per pax. If you're a solo traveler and take the entire tricycle, it will cost you 100 pesos instead.

It may seem like such a hassle of going through 2.5 hours of unknown journey, but once you arrive at the white sandy beaches and clear waters of Boracay, it is all worth it.

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Click here to find out what you can do in Boracay!

Cameron Highlands

Panoramic view atop Gunang Brinchang!

Dates of Travel: 5-7 June 2015

Mode of Transportation: 9 hours bus ride from Golden Mile Towers, Singapore to Brinchang, Cameron Highlands.
We departed SG at about 10.30pm on Thursday night and arrived at about 8am on Friday morning.

Because it was so last minute (our initial plan was to travel to Penang with four others, but I couldn't confirm my leave until the week before and they had other plans that popped up), everything was mad expensive. We looked at airfares to Langkawi, to Borocay, to even Krabi. We wanted something quiet and cheap. Thus, we looked to Genting (too noisy), Kuala Lumpur (too similar to SG) and even random islands off the East Coast of Malaysia (tedious to get to).

We're so difficult right?

Suddenly, G exclaimed "CAMERON HIGHLANDS!"

He's never been and I went when I was about 8 or 10 years old. I remember NOTHING and it probably changed a hell lot since.

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what a beautiful day!

Gerard's Place 

Address: Block Carnation C9 & C10,  Tanah Rata, 39000,  Malaysia (Located within Heritage Hotel compound) 

Tel: +60125885454

Website: http://fathers.cameronhighlands.com/gerards/

Room Type: Queen sized bed with shared bathroom

Price: S$45 per night for two person

We chanced upon this guesthouse by chance on hotels.com. We were searching for a nice accommodation/resort like establishment as we both needed a much deserved quiet weekend. It was a hellish few months for the both of us with our own respective burden of work.

We were looking at Lakehouse Resort, Cameron Highlands Resort and Heritage Hotel. Ex. Ex. Scary stories.

Scrolling up and down, we saw Father's Guesthouse and Gerard's Place (in the end we realized they're actually own by the same family). We chose Gerard's Place in the end because it was cheap-er (in terms of SG$), quieter and looks like a cozy place to just wind down the day. Gerard's Place only have eight rooms in total and out of the eight, only two are en-suite.

We tried desperately to book the ensuite rooms, but someone else was faster! :(

We stayed in a queen sized bed room. The room has a ceiling fan (there is no need for one because the nights are so cold!) and the windows have screens which are drilled into the frame so anyone from outside is not able to open it (G says, there's a trick and I wonder why he knows this). There's a cozy living room and the sofa looks quite beaten up, but still sooo soft and cozy nonetheless. Oh, they have cable with enough channels (Discovery, Nat Geo and even SEA Games!) to keep you entertained and on one night we were watching lions fight.

There's also a beautiful garden behind the guesthouse where I enjoyed many cups of tea, coffee and toasts (on the house)! Because of the cool climate, there are hardly any mosquitoes or flies. The grass feels lovely to step on barefooted. It was so lovely to be sitting out in the sun and basking in its warmth. The last time I enjoyed sitting out in the sun drinking a cup of HOT tea was three years ago when I visited San Francisco.

sipping my tea!

My only complain was that every time after I shower, I smell and felt like I swam 10 laps in the swimming pool. The water contained so much chlorine that our eyes turned red after every shower and the smell lingered on our skin for quite some time. Well, at least I'm comforted to know that the water is treated and safe to shower in!

I'm sure this is nothing Gerard's Place can control! Hey, at least it's safe right?

Oh! Due to our unlucky-ness, there was a family who moved in the same afternoon as us to the next apartment/block. Do take note that they are in no way affiliated or stayed in Gerard's Place & I just wanted to complain a little. They had about 5-6 little children who started screaming their heads off once they stepped in. Because we shared the same backyard/garden, they would come up to their balcony, stared at us, run off screaming and chase each other and than back to the balcony. We could hear them from our room because our window was facing the same garden and is just beside their apartment.

I was complaining to G that how can kids have so much energy to laugh, run, and scream for so many hours! He just told me to let them scream now in the afternoon because by nightfall they should be really tired and sleep.

Hell no. After dinner, showering and some TV, they were still running around and screaming (I kid you not) till about 1-2am. At about 6.30am, the kid will wake up and start crying for a good 45mins. Than at about 7.45-8am, the adults will wake up and chat and laugh and SING really loudly. It was almost noisy 24hours.

Oh Em Geeeeee...

Be warned! This is what you get when you stay in a guesthouse! If you stay in a resort/hotel, you can call the reception and complain. The hotel will do something about it.

Otherwise, the stay was fantastic! We were well taken care of by Anna who helped us book our trekking tour and took care of us! Also, special thanks to Jay and team who actually called me at 10pm the night I booked the room to let me know that ensuite is actually being booked by someone else so that we will not be too disappointed. I am so sorry to make you guys work till so late! They let me know that I am welcome to visit Father's Guesthouse if I arrived too early as Father's has larger facilities and more showers if that was what we wanted to do. They have more staff and a proper tour counter too. They also explained how Tanah Rata is a small place and that we could easily find our way around without getting too lost. They also warned me that it was the weekends + school holidays + public holiday (King's birthday I think), so it WILL be crowded and busy.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for pre-amping us, letting us know that we're already well taken care of even before arrival. It's truly #malaysianhospitality at it's finest.

Stuff You Can Do In Cameron Highlands!

Trekking through the Mossy Forest

Anna from the guesthouse booked a tour for us with Eco Cameron for the Mossy Forest tour. We were picked up at about 8.45am on Saturday morning in a jeep. The tour consists of visiting BOH Tea Plantation, heading to the peak of Gunang Brinchang & a trek through the Mossy Forest. The entire tour should last around 4.5 hours, provided there is no traffic. 

One reason to join a tour is that you do not need to navigate through the narrow and intimidating road filled with all sorts of bumps and portholes which leads up to the Mossy Forest. Also, with a guide, they are able to avoid the crowds and guide you off the beaten path. Of course, there's plenty of tours that brings you to the board walk which even ladies are able to navigate with their high heels.

Our guide, Raju, brought us into the forest and explained how Mossy Forests only exists at an altitude of 2,000m above sea level. That's the height where clouds gather and causes lots of condensation. The rocks, trees, basically, everything was covered in moss. 

pitcher plant

Raju taught us how the pitcher plant evolved, why the ground was so springy and how the whole eco system works. He was so passionate about the forest and you could see his main objective was always education. Educating tourists, education children, creating awareness about how fragile Mother Nature is.

On top of the world!

The whole trail probably lasted about an hour. It's a short trail, but we stopped frequently to take photos of pitcher plants, wild orchids and all sorts of plants and insects. It can get quite muddy if it is the monsoon season or if it rains. Raju said sometimes the mud gets as high as the knee. Be prepared to get dirty!

BOH Tea Plantation

BOH Tea Plantation

We next went to the Sungei Palas BOH Tea Plantation! Did you know all teas (black, oolong, green) come from the same species of tea plant? The way it is processed and treated is how the different types of teas are created!

rolling hills of tea plants

 There were no workers working on the tea plants as it was a public holiday. BOH tea is the largest black tea manufacturer in Malaysia! Also, another reason to join a tour (Eco Cameron for a fact) is that all visitors and coaches have to park their cars below the tea center and walk up a long flight of stairs to the factory and tea center! With the Jeep, we were allowed to drive right up to the tea center. NO walking or climbing at all! Besides the climbing, you have to navigate (yet again) through a narrow, bumpy and meandering road to reach the tea center. I would be so stressed if I had to drive up myself!

There's a factory (with tours available if you're early), tea shop, theater showing the BOH history and even a cafe! The view from the cafe is spectacular! Side note: The tea center closes on MONDAYS!

View from the cafe!

 As you can see, the cafe actually sits on the ledge of the hill, overlooking rolling hills of the tea plantations! You're able to enjoy a nice, hot pot of tea, cakes and cookies! As it was a public holiday, the cafe was crowded and we had a difficult time looking for a place to sit.

Tea plantation at the background

I had vanilla tea with raspberry cheesecake! The tea leaves are loose and they'd give you a small sieve to filter out the tea leaves. It would look more appealing for sure if the tea pot has its own built in filter.

tea time!

  Photo below taken with Raju, our awesome guide who has a wealth of knowledge. Also, our trusty jeep who brought us safely from each location and endured every bump, porthole and branch that Raju made it go over!

Raju, our fantastic guide!

Strawberry Picking

We visited the Big Red Strawberry Farm in Brinchang. We went to this place because it was the biggest strawberry farm on Cameron Highlands. What guidebooks and TripAdvisor don't mention is that, it is also the most commercialized!

strawberries everywhere!

 There's ample parking and the grounds are humongous! Besides having a strawberry farm, they also grow vegetables (butter head lettuce as big as my head), grapes, and all sorts of flowers. They also sell anything and everything strawberry.

enormous! 

trying to act cute

 I've never picked strawberries before and was SOOO excited. However, after we arrived, we were disappointed to know that they've stopped allowing visitors to pick them for the day. For a good reason I suppose. What strawberries we could see were so measly small and scarce. It felt like everyone on Cameron Highlands went to the Big Red Strawberry Farm, picked strawberries and left none for me. :(

fried ice cream!

Of course, I did the next best thing. EAT! At the cafeteria, they sell all sorts of strawberry dishes. From fried ice cream, to fresh strawberries with cream, to strawberry coffee, to strawberry pies and milk! Just WOW! I was a little overwhelmed initially as I wanted one of each item! I chose the fried ice cream (my childhood favourite) and fresh strawberries with fresh cream.

cutting into my fried ice cream

My word of advice, don't get the fried ice cream. It was such a disappointment. I haven't had fried ice cream in 10 years and was really looking forward to eating it up! The ice cream they used tastes so cheap that even the cheapest ice cream I can find in Singapore don't taste as bad as this strawberry ice cream. Doesn't take a genius to know that they don't make their own ice cream! I couldn't finish it and pushed it all to G for him to finish.

strawberries with fresh cream

 Now, the strawberries with fresh cream was not as disappointing though. The fresh cream actually tasted nicer as compared to the sucky strawberry ice cream in the fried ice cream. It is probably not in season, but the strawberries were not sweet and were rather sour.

I suggest that you ask a local where would be a better strawberry farm to visit. There are plenty around Tanah Rata and Brinchang with actual strawberries for you to pick! Sadly, we just didn't have the time to actually visit a small and cozier farm.

Cactus/Flower Farm

Within the same compound, there is a large area where they sell all sorts of flowers and cactus! We bought the small cactus as souvenirs at six pots for RM10!

so pretty!

My colleagues were so intrigued by the cactus that they actually named them. "Charlie the Cactus" keeps us entertained in a way no other plant can. We work in a stressful environment and it is nice to have cute cactus in the office to look at when we're irritated or stressed.

fluffy cactus!

too pretty!

sunflowers

Trekking in the many trails

Trails in Cameron Highlands

There are many trails around Cameron Highlands. One of the shortest and easiest trails actually leads to Parit Falls.

Parit Falls

 To get to the falls, you follow signs from Tanah Rata towards the bus interchange. Behind the interchange there's a road which leads you to the sign. After turning left, you'll see the markings of a trail and a river. It actually looks like the monsoon drains we have in Singapore.

The trail is very easy to walk to follow. Some parts of the trail will be covered in moss and it get slippery. We eventually reached the "Falls" after about 15mins walk which was absolutely gross. 

The water were all brown and there were trash everywhere! It looks more like "Teh Tarik" Falls because of the colour! It's really sad to see something which was meant to be beautiful turned so disgusting.

I really do not recommend going to the Parit Falls unless you want to continue the trail which will eventually lead you to Brinchang. To continue, cross the suspension bridge (which looks like it will fall apart soon) and up the trail.

suspension bridge over the river

Eating Steamboat

Another highlight about Cameron Highlands is eating steamboat! There this novelty of cooking your own food in a pot of boiling soup in the cool weather.

We went to Ferm Nyonya Steamboat Restaurant as it was the only restaurant in Tanah Rata with reviews on TripAdvisor. When we asked Anna from the guest house she also mentioned this restaurant. 

steamboat!

 We had two soups - Spicy tom yum & chicken broth. The set menu comes with Chicken, fish, seafood, other typical frozen steamboat dishes and tons of vegetables! The restaurant was jam packed with people and they had to sit us right outside their shop in a little corner. I swear everyone who walked past stared at our food.

The steamboat was so-so only. I've had better quality steamboats in Singapore (Hai Di Lao for example). Even though it is a Nonya restaurant and serve nonya food, I was looking through their list of Nonya dishes and they do not serve the iconic Ayam Bakuala!

Indian Food

Indians and Chinese are amongst the majority on Cameron Highlands. Thus, it is no surprise to find a plethora of Indian restaurants along the streets. We stopped at Restaurant Kumar which is located along the main road because the smell of tandoori and naan wafting through the air is too irresistible.

Restaurant Kumar

This restaurant is one of the most crowded as compared to the other Indian restaurant in the vicinity and it's no wonder why.

Teh Halia and Teh Tarik

The naan is made from scratch by hand and cooked in an urn by charcoal fire. The naan is soft and chewy.

making of naan

The tandoori is cooked in the same urn as the naan. It is juicy and tender as it is cooked using charcoals. It was truly one of the best tandoori I've eaten.

Tandoori

I forgot to take a photo of the naan before I tore into it. They give you a curry, dahl and the green chili thing which I didn't really like. The curry was really good though!!

Garlic naan with curry

We also ordered Butter chicken masala to go with the naan. The chicken is so tender and soft, like they've been stewing it for 4 hours or something. I used my naan to wipe the plate clean because it was so yummy!!

Butter Chicken Masala

Pasar Malam (Night Market)

Pasar Malam is a popular place to go to in Cameron Highlands. This Pasar Malam is located at Brinchang and is about 10 mins walking distance from the Big Red Strawberry Farm. It's basically stores in tents built on dirt roads.

This Pasar Malam is not be to reckon with though. It is huge! They sell more or less repetitive things like toys and souvenirs to fresh flowers and honey! One section at the bottom sells goods, while the top sells food. Behind the food section, is the clothing section. So imagine how huge this Pasar Malam is!

Nasi Goreng!

We were not that interested in the souvenirs though. I only bought flowers and honey. We were so excited when we arrived at the food section though! We got Ramly, pancakes, fried mushrooms, and goodness knows what else.

Roasting of chicken