HONG KONG AND THE BADIAN ISLAND, PHILIPPINES 2012-2013

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I decided to travel again for my 2nd Christmas vacation away from home. And again decided to go East to Asia. Going to Hong Kong and then a resort in the Philippines seemed a perfect mix of city and beach.
The hotel in HK was nice and perfectly located for getting around. 
HOTEL review on Trip Advisor. There wasn't a lot to around the hotel...lots of high end shopping. The city was quite crowded because of the Christmas holiday but it was easy to navigate. 
Several of my activities involved day trips around and out of the city. This included:
  • The BIG Buddha on Lantau Island
  • Going out to Stanley Market via the bus
  • Temple Street Night market
  • A tour of the floating cities
  • A evening boat tour of the harbor to city the lights for the holiday
NEXT UP...BADIAN ISLANDS

I would say my favorite part of HK was the eats. Lots of great noodle soups and of course the dim sum.  After the city stop, it was on to the beach resort on Badian Island, Cebu, Philippines. When I decided on the Philippines, the next decision mean WHERE!!! I hadn't realized the multitude of options for the Philippines, but mainly, I wanted a sun, sand, water and relaxation. So whatever search engine I used, mostly likely a combination of Hotels.com and Trip Advisor, I landed on Badian Island. It was a small island off of Cebu...in fact the entirety of the island is made up of the resort and a small village. I called it my "Planes, Trains and Autos" part of my trip except it was "Planes, Autos and Boats." After landing and finding my ride I settled in for a LONNNGGGGG car ride. I hadn't realized how long the ride would be. The ride took me across the island and that was very interesting and eye opening for sure. Through some hilly areas and some lovely tropical areas. But I was tired after a plane ride and read to use my legs. The car ride was about 3 hours and I was starting to get nervous because I didn't see anything resembling a resort! Finally the car stopped at a small pier and I was told that I would need to take a small boat across a waterway to the get to the resort. AHHHH....fortunately it was only a few minutes. And the hotel staff had a warm greeting waiting: a cold drink and a flower necklace. I had a rather large piece of luggage as I was traveled between two very different climates. 
The resort is open air, meaning the rooms are cottage like, scattered about the resort property. I had a largish room...far larger than I needed but quite lovely in it's way. The walk to the cottage wound through lovely grounds that were tropical and colorful. BADIAN RESORT review. 
Mostly, this trip was all about relaxing and enjoying the tropics. I think I was THE ONLY SINGLE woman on the resort...certainly the only American woman. I had a half board which meant breakfast was included and I loved being one of the first ones out to enjoy a lovely but typical buffet breakfast out in the open. Actually, I would relax for a few hours with my coffee and books. In fact, this was most of my trip: resting near the beach with books and opportunities to nap.  
I took a few day trips that included:

  • Swimming with whale sharks. Lovely creatures, but I'm conflicted about corralling nature to meet the needs of tourists. Not something I would do again
  • Some off the boat snorkeling...some pretty decent dive spots
  • Day trip to Kawasan Falls

I had a nice conversation with the manager of the resort and one day she took me and a few other guests to visit the adjacent village. Guests were strongly advised not to go on their own and there really wasn't anything for us to to in the village. The visit with Maria was eye opening...very poor! We saw the school which was quite unlike anything I had seen in awhile. In fact, I arranged for my students in Cairo to write letters and donate school supplies to send over. 

The ONLY negative is that this is rather secluded island which leaves limited options for leaving which meant almost all meals were at the resort and that was very pricey. I asked about the boat going over to the pier and the availability for small restaurants but there was nothing there really. Any chance of more authentic food opportunities only happened on the day tour. 

I hope to visit the Philippines again for a different experience (I did go back to Manila for a work conference). 

Some photos... many have gone missing due to an upgrade to iPhotos, lost somewhere in the clouds.











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