Travel Life

 Recently working through a Global Issues module in an ABQ, I was introduced to the indigenous people's issues of the Philippines,  Ati Community, Boracay Island Philippines Indigenous nation: Ati community, Boracay Island, Philippines Issue: Land rights Summary: The Ati community own the ancestral land known as Boracay Island. This island is also known to be a highly visited tourist location with non-Indigenous settlers taking more and more land to create resorts to increase tourism. In doing so, the Ati community has been pushed into smaller and smaller patches of land and live as squatters in their own home. The never-ending tourism development drove the Ati to the Boracay’s hinterlands, and led to the temporary closure of the Island to tourists to prevent further environmental damage. The Ati community continue to fight for their land rights and most recently won its legal battle before the Supreme Court (SC) for its ancestral claim of a 2-hectare land in Barangay Manoc-ma...

I don’t like writing bad reviews because it usually clouds good things about the hotel-however in this case I can’t say that is true. First, we called the Hilton Yalong Bay the day of booking and spoke to Manager “Koi” on duty at that time. later that week (1-2 days later we arrived), (July 16/17 booked through Wechat), we were told the beach was in swimming condition and safe for 3/4 year olds. Arrived July 19th (they have airport pick up but didn’t bother sharing that information), we got to the hotel-we played in the pool for most of the day, saw construction happening however our son was fine in the pool so we figured -“go later after his nap”, later after the nap a notice was delivered on paper to each room by a service worker who stated that the beach will be out of service for three hours. In Chinese-no other language available for notice. The next day we decided to make that “the beach day”, after the rain, we headed to the beach where we were stopped at a beach chair barricade...

Recap: We stayed two nights at Yalong Bay, and are now heading to the Sanya Oceanview Pullman. The trip is an anniversary and summer vacation trip. My wife and I have been together for awhile, and my son has not yet had that REAL family vacation...well, actually-okay-so he has been on a few, I mean, I don't know what I am trying to say-I guess I feel that maybe the beaches in Sanya might be something special that he won't get for a long time, and although it will be a faded memory, maybe it will still mean something to him. I figure after this year-who knows what kind of subtropical/tropical travel we might not get to do as a family. Whatever, bucketlist kinda stuff aside-we are going to Sanya （三亚） Region of Hainan (海南）for 5 nights. We will be spending this trip in luxury hotels. The first two nights will be　in Yalong Bay, and the last three nights will be in Sanya Bay (closer to the hotel so the 40 minute ride of Yalong Bay is not a rat race to make the flight against traffic ...

The trip is an anniversary and summer vacation trip. My wife and I have been together for awhile, and my son has not yet had that REAL family vacation...well, actually-okay-so he has been on a few, I mean, I don't know what I am trying to say-I guess I feel that maybe the beaches in Sanya might be something special that he won't get for a long time, and although it will be a faded memory, maybe it will still mean something to him. I figure after this year-who knows what kind of subtropical/tropical travel we might not get to do as a family. Whatever, bucketlist kinda stuff aside-we are going to Sanya （三亚） Region of Hainan (海南）for 5 nights. We will be spending this trip in luxury hotels. The first two nights will be　in Yalong Bay, and the last three nights will be in Sanya Bay (closer to the hotel so the 40 minute ride of Yalong Bay is not a rat race to make the flight against traffic conditions we are unfamiliar with in the peak season of travel). From there, we will be flying ...