boracay

I'm at White Beach on the tiny island of Boracay, just off the coast of Panay, and it's paradise. It's exactly my kind of beach resort. The sand is white. The sea a calm, clear turquoise. Bangcas float up and down just off shore. The sun is scorching and the sky is blue. Just behind the beach is a white sand promenade separated from the sunbathers by a thin green belt of palm trees. An occasional coconut falls to the ground. Clonk. Sympathetic seafood restaurants and guesthouses galore line the secluded and shaded promenade. It's all laid back, and there are just the right amount of people here, many of them seemingly Philippino.

The pressure is off me for a couple of days. There are no sights on the island except the beach. No culture except tourist beach culture. And no cuisine except well prepared, and massively portioned tourist fare. I don't have to work hard at getting around or worry about whether what I am doing is cultural or educational. I just have to relax, tan, and read my new book: The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene. Just what I need, having had a busy period so far out here in the Philippines. I plan to go for a nice long run along the beach tomorrow morning.

Sitting here now in such a beautiful location it seems inconceivable that I should leave somewhere so wonderful in just two days. Far more reasonable, it seems, that I should just stay here forever.

I've checked in to the Orchids Resort, a pretty two storey courtyard of balconied rattan rooms. In the centre of the courtyard is a beautiful tropical garden. My room is very cheap, but I still had a go at bargaining the owner down. I put in an opening offer a hundred pesos below the room rate.

'I've just been next door to Roy's Rendevous Bungalows and he has a brand new block of rooms which also have television,' I said, not mentioning that they had no character, and that I didn't want a television. 'It's only a tiny bit extra than your wooden rooms.'

'Go there then,' said the owner putting me in my place.

'How about four fifty? Could I have it for four fifty? I'd take it for four fifty,' I added upping my offer by fifty pesos.

'No,' he said curtly.

I paused and looked into space for a moment, hoping this would somehow help change things.

'OK. I'll take it.' I said eventually, a lesson in how not to bargain.

Actually, I shouldn't be too hard on myself. The room was already about two thirds cheaper than most of the hotels here, and priced exactly as my Lonely Planet suggested, so I was perhaps going a bit too far in trying to get it down even lower. The guy has to eat.

Speaking of which, a big breakfast, followed by a day on a tropical beach, awaits. It would be criminal to sit here blogging all day, so this blog entry must now come to end. It's time to get out there and catch some rays, and say my first 'really it's a lovely bracelet but no thank you. No. No thank you. Really no thank you,' of the day.