White Beach or Jersey Shore...

Good evening, Comrades. It is I, Maggie. I've staged a coup on the blog. Ian is sitting across the table from me pouting and eating Fita biscuits which are basically sweetened Ritz crackers. He just got through loading thousands of images from the past three weeks and is exhausted from the effort so I've taken over for the time being.

We're in Manila now in between jaunts all over the island of Luzon. We got in last night from a trip north into the Cordillera Mountains and then down to the west coast for some surfing with Pips and friends in Zambales. More about that in a later post. For now, come with me friends back to the isle of Mindoro on a journey to a magical place of Jager bombs, Rihanna remixes and all the Tom Jones videoke you can handle. Come with me back to White Beach....

We caught the local jeepney from Sabang back to Puerta Vallera and then we took a tricycle ride on to White Beach. We got into town after dark and were dropped along the main road set back about 200 yards from the beach. Immediately we were swarmed by touts trying to get us to come back to their guest house, offering boat rides, tricycle rides, snorkeling, jungle trekking, anything and everything for a negotiable price. With no sense of what White Beach had to offer, we agreed to stay one night in a dingy room set back from the beach while we got our bearings.

After settling into our room, Ian and I meandered out to the shoreline on a hunt for dinner. It was soon apparent there were others hunting for our business. As we walked along the boardwalk women and men dressed as women shoved menus in our faces trying to ply us with offers of good deals and good times.

"Mom, want dinner?" They'd ask me. "Wanna get drunnnnnnkkk?" The lady boys would ask my boyfriend.

Each place was blasting what sounded like the same Jersey Shore-style dance mix of Rihanna/Black Eyed Peas/Gaga on repeat. Young Filipinos were playing volleyball in the shadows, and several men were sitting in the sand swinging pulsating laser lights. Little boys with big puppy dog eyes skirted our table singing Christmas carols with the hopes of making a few pesos. It reminded me of the Thai Islands, though maybe with fewer tourists and more locals down from Manila to party.


We quickly tired of White Beach and headed down the shoreline to a quieter stretch of sand called Aninuan Beach. We splurged and got a room from 2,000 pesos a night (about $42) for a room with a view of the sea at a honeymooners beach resort. For the next few days we lived the lives of cats, lying out in the sunshine, getting massages in the sand and dreaming of seafood.