TBK travels back from a week at Surya Beach

 

The lowest tide of the week on our final full day at Surya Beach

If you have ever seen the film "Groundhog Day" you will get the idea of 6 nights at Surya beach.

530 am wake up to the sound of the owners dogs barking

6 am shower and make coffee ( bring your own, they only supply kettle and mug)

6.45 am on the beach to see the sunrise and take photos then walk on the beach

8 am ( if you are lucky) breakfast ( 2 eggs sunny side up, 3 pancakes American style- delicious) maple syrup and coffee 

            The beautiful bed in the well designed Duplex loft room

9 am go back to sleep

11 am walk on the beach

                     Chicken Tinola became my favourite dish

12 noon lunch- Chicken ( barbecue, adobo, Tinola or fried) ( they used the same chicken all week the portions were so small- charizz!)

1 pm afternoon nap 

3pm Meryenda ( they slowly ran out of stock as the week went on- choc chip cookies, Mini Oreos ( half a pack of the smallest Oreos you ever saw) or a tube of mostly broken potato crisps ( I took my own salsa) , I also took my own Earl Grey tea and wish I had taken soft drinks as they ran out of Royal so only Coca Cola was available the last few days.

4 pm - walk on the beach to see if anything had changed since 11 am or 7 am. Usually it had not apart from some drawings of male genitalia which appeared in the sand at the far end of the beach and were then washed away.

6 pm - dinner- guess what, chicken- see list above

           In terms of a view while dining it doesn't get any better than this!

8 pm bed

Repeat x 6

My neighbours tried the food delivery service but it took 2 hrs to arrive!

I am happy to say it was a fabulous routine and I became more relaxed every day. On the first days walks I took my phone to record my steps and my camera to take videos and photos for the Blog. On the second day I left the phone on charge - same beach, same number of steps each day!

The third day I just took photos and on the last two days left the camera in my room!

The monotony was only broken by the "day guests". The rich westerners pay 3,500 pesos a night to enjoy the Surya promise of "Are you up for an off-the-beaten path beach vacation in Palawan?". Then the day guests arrive with microwaves, cases of beer, huge containers of water, platters of food in vans, bikes and trikes and take over every available seat and play noisy party games! They only have to pay 200 pesos each. Whilst they are creating havoc outside the westerners are confined to barracks for their solitude.

I loved the layout- plenty of places for Chester to sleep on the floor and me to write blogs - and the bathroom area was well laid out with a window into the room

As the couple in the next room to me said " I think there is something wrong with their business model!" . I was reminded of my college days and a comment by our tutor, Paul Slattery, that the best hotels have successful independent restaurants, bars, nightclubs , conference facilities and full accommodation ( i.e. making money from every part of the business). Then he added that it rarely happens due to the inherent conflict between the different arts of the business. If you have a noisy busy bar and nightclub its unlikely the bedrooms above will be full. A busy restaurant full of outsiders leaves no tables for the guests and so on. 

The good news is that for the first and last 24 hrs there was only Chester and I there

The irony was that when my Austrian friends left there was only Chester and I ( and a load of vicious mosquitoes and nik niks ) there for the last 24 hours. It was beautiful and peaceful. We went to bed early to be woken by a gigantic storm around 9 pm which saw a very high tide and the waves really crashing down onto the beach causing all the dogs to bark ! Chester and I sat for 30 minutes just watching from the safety of our verandah and my mind went back a year to the devastation caused by Typhoon Odette on 16.12.21. Thankfully the storm past by once we returned to sleep and all was calm when we went back on the beach at 6 am to take in the magnificence of the sunrise at Surya for one last time. 

               One of my favorite shots from the week at Surya

So , finally, we too packed, loaded the car, ate one more plate of pancakes and fried eggs, and headed back home down the muddy track. I am so looking forward to my steak tonight and I think it will be a long time before I eat chicken again!

My thanks to the owner of Surya beach, Jean Minette Go, and the three dogs whose names all end in go ( was it Mungo, Jingo and Adogo??!!) for looking after us so well. The staff were great and kept the place clean and returned all the furniture to its correct place after the day guests left, not to mention finding so many different ways to cook a chicken!

            One of the barking Go Go dogs guarding the gates to freedom!

We really did enjoy our stay and managed to relax, get a break from cooking and washing up, get away from technology and spreadsheets, and get some fresh air and exercise. I am hoping we may even have lost some weight as well!  

Have a great Christmas in Baguio and hope to meet you in person next year

      If you find a red bone on the beach or a pair of black tsinellas let me know!