All alone again.

MrD just hopped on a JAL flight heading back to Vancouver with a short layover in Narita. I gave him a duty free shopping list to complete there before he heads into JAL's lounge. I am a big fan of the business lounge with its excellent food choices but not such a fan of JAL. They have the old business class seats. They do not recline to a full flat bed so I prefer to stick with Cathay Pacific for the long haul to and from Manila to Vancouver.
Now that MrD has left and all my trophy H obligations are over and done with I can take a little time off. Tomorrow morning I have an early flight. I will spend four days on my favourite island Boracay here in the Philippines. The famous white sand beach is featured in many world guide books as being in the top ten. The white sand is really dead coral and most of the coral around the island is dead already which is a sad but true fact.
I first went to Boracay about 15 years ago when MrD and I were living in Bangkok, Thailand. We came to the Philippines to visit his family. I was just his friend from Canada back then when he introduced me to his relatives. That introduction never changed but hey this is Asia and we don't talk about. Yeah. Yeah. I am over it. Really I am.
Over the year Boracay has become my own private get away destination whenever I am home in the Philippines. Often MrD does not come with me. One he is not a beach person and two he too busy running the empire. I enjoy taking friends or family. My sister was persuaded to leave cold snowy Canada one January. She insisted on frying under the too hot sun so she could show her work mates when she got back. I just frowned my disapproval and watched her turn pink and later peel and flake but she was happy.
Tourists are constantly being propositioned by beach sellers, massage therapists, boat renters, scuba operators and the list goes on and on. To avoid this a bit I had a tee shirt on which I sewed the words "Welang Pera" in bright shiny red sequins. "Welang pera" is Tagalog (Filipino) meaning "No Money". The shirt was a hit and saved me lots of time. Over the years and my maybe 20 visits to the island I always bring this shirt. Many of the local merchants remember me even without the shirt and greet me with, "Welang Pera. Welcome back." I even had more shirts with many different sayings made up and sold them to others there because I was always being asked where I got the cool shirt.
One of my plans for this trip is to take a self portrait for Christmas. I have done this other years and its a fun idea to share with friends snowed in back in Canada.
My last visit to Manila I tried to get to the island but sat in the domestic airport for six hours while a typhoon shut down the island airport. I never did make it that time. But the weather report for tomorrow is good to go. Time to pack up the #50 sunscreen, some trophy H beach wear and of course the "Welang Pera" tee shirt.