<<it has been fairly stimulating ......OK,OK.... It's given me reason to live>>
Wintery chill Munich, rush hour in Tokyo, ruckus in Hong Kong, high-density tourism in Phuket. Boracay offers a tranquil alternative.
Boracay is a storybook tropical island. Un-polluted and un-spoiled, the island's natural beauty is a mesmerizing collage of crystal-clear water, pure white powdery sand, post card blue sky, and gently swaying coconut palms. The friendly local people, together with the thatch-roofed bamboo huts and the gentle pace of life invoke nostalgic memories of a time we feel more comfortable in, and yet have never directly experienced. Bring nothing but wonder, kill nothing but time, leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but memories. Boracay is within a day's travel for most in the industrialized world.
While on Boracay, the ups and downs of economic cycles, the toils of the office, and the pressures of a family all become inconsequential and are left to resolve by the gentle passing of time ...
The daily routine, if it can be called that, is to wake up at 5:30am, not because of a mechanical timepiece's incessant chiming, but because of the call of the island's roosters. Just because there is not the need to go by the schedules of an electronic organizer, it does not mean the day is not 'planned' or anticipated with relish ...
The morning ice coffee, coconut cake, mango shake, conversations with friends; the after-breakfast read; the lunch time crab in coconut sauce; the nap; the swim; the afternoon Monopoly game accompanied by garlic toast and calamari rings; the early evening mango shake; grilled seafood dinner; more conversations; the party at Bazura; the Lambada; the inevitable close to the day and last walk on the beach; the arrival at the home hut; the shower to wash off a day's accumulation of activities; the comfortable pillow and the crisp linen; the sleep in an environment of ambient tidal sounds and skin temperature security. Another full day ... with 60 years more of the same.
The thought at the back of mind is "I want to live forever, if forever is like this".
Where is the urgency to rush to a florescent lit office, the urge to pick up a phone, the indecision of what tie to wrap around to achieve the best look of power, the fear of losing 2% of own net worth, the fear of becoming ugly? What is important has been redefined by the island environment and its people, locals and visitors alike ... food, shelter, companionship, discovery - the basic of basics. Joy in life is no longer getting into an open top roadster vrooming at 70 miles an hour on the winding coastal road, and ecstasy is no longer the ownership of rental apartment units, but instead the discovery of an old book long abandoned on a makeshift shelf by a nameless tourist. Joy in life is joy - the essence of being living creatures, as opposed to builders of civilization.
With the island attitude ingrained, the need to convince others of the correctness of one's own point of view is replaced by a simpler requirement to exchange attitudes and thoughts - to simply discover.
Additional part of the discovery process is to redefine what constitute the external environment. The movement of economic forces and gyrations of prices is crystallized in the availability of fuel for cooking, the shift in weather outlook and the economics of a tourist hut. |
