On Saturday Eric and I took a Grab back to Manila’s airport for our Air Asia flight to Caticlan, Boracay’s neighboring island. Security was lax and the lines were long and slow. I had expected a turboprop plane but no, it was a modern A320 jet with supermodel hostesses.

45 minutes later we touched down on Caticlan Island. Our hotel’s shuttle van took us to a waiting room for a welcome drink, followed by a private speedboat ride across the Philippine Sea to Boracay Island. Baggage handlers did all the heavy lifting.

Boracay’s main drag is littered with construction debris and crawling with motorized tricycle taxis. Our van could barely squeeze through all the traffic and pedestrians. I’ll post some video later.

And once again, everyone on the hotel’s staff was amazingly polite. While waiting to check in I was trying to tear the tag off my suitcase and within seconds a bellhop swooped in with scissors to save the day.

Our room was very nice. The Henann Palm Beach Resort just opened in January after President Duterte had closed down the entire island for ecological cleanup. Our room was clean and had all the amenities, plus direct access to the pool.

We found a table at the upper “Skybar” and were treated like royalty. I’ve never been called “Sir” more often in my life. We settled in with a few piña colodas and enjoyed an amazing sunset. Oddly these drinks were made with coconut powder, not coconut milk or creme. But they were great and went down smooth.

The view was shared by throngs of Korean, Chinese and Japanese tourists. Oh sure, there were a few other old white guys there. And most of them had a young Filipina girl on their arm. One 60ish Australian must have weighed 280 pounds and his petite, blinged-out girlfriend looked about 20. Apparently that’s a thing here, and the Filipinos are okay with it as long as the Westerners don’t “have a temper.”