Amanpulo : The Beach

And the best part of this trip-- the beach. 

Wow. I've seen many beautiful beaches in this country but nothing can ever compare to the beauty of Amanpulo's white sand beach. 

Here's my cousin looking for the baby sharks. Really. Hahaha we were assured that they were harmless, but I was still pretty scared.

Wow. See how clear the water is? The sand is really fine too!

We were blessed with great weather. We were told that it had been raining a few days before we arrived!

Boats for snorkeling! More on that on my next post!

So happy to be here I could just dance in the sand and live here forever! :)

That afternoon, while everyone headed back to the Casitas, my cousin and I wanted to make the most out of the trip and we asked to be left at the beach. Good thing we stayed because we were able to witness the most amazing sunset I've ever seen!

One side was a cool shade of pink and purple.

The other side was a bright shade of orange and yellow. Too awesome!

It only started to rain on the day that we were leaving! Such ominous looking clouds in the background! 

There's too much to do on this island, we were only able to explore the other side of the island right before heading back to the airstrip. 

I would have wanted to stay in that raft in the middle of the sea!

This side is for watersports such as wind surfing. My cousins wanted to try it but we didn't have anymore time. 

Here's the view from the airplane, the island is too beautiful for words! Praying we can take another trip here soon!

Pray for the Philippines

While the torrential rains have flooded the country's capital, it warms the heart to see Filipinos going out of their way to help those who have been badly affected by the habagat. 

Whether it be through donations, volunteering to pack relief goods, or going to flooded areas to save and aid affected Filipinos-- no good deed is too small.

Together, we will rise above this.

Have you done your part? 

Click the link to check out the list of relief operations in Manila.

You may also donate to the Philippine Red Cross.

Amanpulo : The Resort

Amanpulo is quite possibly the most beautiful beach in the Philippines. That means a lot, because we do have a lot of beautiful beaches in this country. 

All my life, Amanpulo has been one of my dream destinations, and last year I was lucky enough to visit the resort with my family.

Amanpulo is situated in Palawan, and the only way to get there from Manila is by a chartered plane which lands on Amanpulo's airstrip.

The airport is separate from NAIA, but is located on a nearby hangar. Here we are hanging out at the Amanpulo lounge, obviously excited for our trip.

The chartered plane seats 19 people only, and the flight is around 1 hour long. Yipes! hahaha I was pleasantly surprised though, the flight was very smooth.

You know you're on your way to a luxury resort when a red carpet is rolled out for you upon boarding the plane! 

Everyone is handed a hot towel before going up the airplane.

We were greeted by the resort manager at the airstrip and brought to our beach casita in a golf cart.

We arrived quite late and our merienda (snack) was waiting for us in our room when we got there. 

I took a photo of the room the following morning for you guys to see! (Please excuse the mess :))

Coffee lovers are in for a treat! There's no extra charge for this, and it gets refilled everyday. Haha

Each casita also comes with a golf cart so guests can explore the resort freely. This made me REALLY happy. I've never driven a golf cart before! haha

First thing to do the following morning was choose a place for breakfast. We decided on the Beach Club so we could enjoy the most amazing view of the beach. 

There are many other restaurants to choose from such as the Lagoon Club which serves Vietnamese food, the Restaurant at the clubhouse, and the Picnic Grove which serves a variety of pizzas.

For our lunch, we decided to try out the Picnic Grove! I'm so sorry, but I've forgotten the name of these pizzas! hahaha but everything was good, I'm just not such a fan of the dessert pizza (last photo). A little too weird for my taste! haha

 

After lunch, we headed to the Clubhouse where the swimming pool is located. It's beautiful too, but to be honest I'd rather make the most out of my trip and swim in their beautiful beach! Haha

The library is also located at the clubhouse. They have a wide collection of books and DVDs that you can borrow!

My cousins and I decided to borrow these 3 movies to watch in our casita! haha ! They were also serving snacks when we went to the library! Yum! Talk about great service!

To cap our day, we all headed to the Spa Casita to get a massage. Make sure to book this in advance! Our package included one massage for each person in our group.

 Definitely the best trip ever! I love this country!

More on this trip in the next two blog posts :)

Some tips: 

• Check if they have any upcoming special promotions
• They sometimes give discounts if you are part of a big group! (We were a group of 20!)
• Go during the off-peak season, and pray to God that it doesn't rain ;)