Life’s A Beach

The entries for our trip will probably become monotonous as the languid pace of life has already grabbed us.

Almost back to our usual times, we were up at dawn to enjoy Wordle and an expresso by our pool. We dawdled around before heading to breakfast at 7:00 (another vast smorgasbord featuring international choices to break our fast). A heavy downpour came from nowhere, while we were scarfing down our eggs, but was over by the time we finished our short expedition around the main building to find the gym.

We retreated to our villa to make plans for the day. Having decided to explore the offerings on the adjacent beach, we set off to stroll and evaluate the many bars, pubs and restaurants, while nimbly dodging locals flogging their wares.

The sea was rough yet beautiful on this sunny morning. Although I tried mightily, Mrs Clarkson wouldn’t even consider boarding a catamaran with many other tourists for a brief sail(if the gang plank isn’t “12 inches wide or bigger it’s a death trap”).

The smaller hotels along the beach offer accommodations for as little as $71 CAD per night. Food and drink are also at very affordable rates. We spent time later by our pool using travel reviews to prioritize our choices for the next few days.

The heat and humidity were turned up today, so on our way back to our pool we stopped at the Hennan lounge for light appies and an iced cappuccino for lunch.

The afternoon was passed in and by the pool, a brief workout for Linda in the gym and Rummy 500 on our veranda. We were the epitome of nosy neighbours. We watched with fascination as two sickly yet majestic palms were taken down. Tried (unsuccessfully) not to gawk as a brouhaha developed between an unhappy looking couple (no loud or sharp words were exchanged, but a drama was obviously unfolding). At one point there were 5 staff waiting, cleaning and wringing their hands. The husband was whisked away with 4 pieces of luggage and no partner in sight. The activity around their villa eventually settled, but we were left to speculate and make up all manner of soap opera like scenarios to explain what had transpired!

We had a lovely dinner at Christina’s, the hotel’s a la carte restaurant, being showered with attention, as serving staff ratio to guests was virtually one-to-one! We did find out that the high level of gardening, pruning and tree removal was being done with an abundance of precaution, as Super Typhoon Nando would be skimming the northern Philippines. (The wind didn’t even pick up here through the night). It is currently headed to Hong Kong.

We passed a very peasant evening on our porch playing Mahjong and sipping cool drinks, before retiring at a reasonable 9:30!Leggi altro