New Year's at Microtel Boracay

‘My brother is not a Pig!’

By Tim Yap
Inquirer

Last updated 19:59:00 02/16/2007
BUT SOMEHOW this year is. Pardon the use of Mimilanie Marquez’s famous phrase as this article’s title but I just had to pork it out to welcome the Chinese New Year.

Yes, it’s another year -- so bring out your wild side, you boar! There’s so much to feast and celebrate about -- like, the beach!


There’s nothing like looking forward to another great year with heightened optimism (if you had a bad year, fret not -- this year I guarantee it’ll get B-E-T-T-E-R!).

And why not? It’s a double whammy celebration this week, what with Valentine’s just over (I just had a nice, simple meal of pesto pasta from Embassy door bitch Aslie Aslanian -- alone! And I loved it!) and Miss Piggy coming to eat us alive. Being barbequed never felt this good.

Feeling good should always be our priority. That’s why I always make sure New Year’s (no matter what race) must be spent in the most festive way.

Microtel mania

I spent mine at Microtel in Boracay where a lot of my friends booked their vacation over the past ho-ho-holiday season. KC Concepcion stayed here and so did rock royal Atom Henares, Ipe Cruz and David Nugent (It’s a new year, so new everything, folks) and Victor Basa, ABS-CBN’s new gun and MTV’s latest VJ -- so watch out for him.

Nothing gives me more excitement than seeing the Diniwid side of Bora blossom into the “great escape” from the par-tay side of the island. Diniwid has become the new Station 1, Station 1 is the new Greenbelt, Station 2 is the new Fort. And Station 3 has become…fluxxe -- Euro fluxxe, that is.

Even when I come home at ten in the morning on most days, Microtel GM Dean Cid greets me with the warmest smile that makes me head straight to the breakfast table spread prepared by Ian and Leah Bautista -- of Palomaria fame. “It’s really nice to come home here,” I whisper to myself every time I walk into Microtel’s halls.

At that time of the day I would see party shy supermodels sun bathing by the hotel’s beachfront. Teresa Herrera and her other bevy of Asian supermodels would get their dose of sun from Microtel’s shores.

Nami high

In between all that, I would grab grilled prawns, tom yum and salpicao from Nami, another prime prime Diniwid resort with the best butler service and view of the island -- and my favorite lady of Bora leisure, Tita Candy Perez de Tagle, who is at the utmost prime of her life, doing dragon boat races and hosting parties in the evening.

From Candy let’s hop to Cheese, as in Cheese Ledesma. She and her boyfriend Joel Ong invited me to once again hop onboard M\S Vianelle -- the party yacht of all party yachts. We observed the breath taking sunset as we sailed towards the horizon, with bubbly overflowing like the ocean. This summer, I hear they’re almost fully booked.

I will not make a rundown of restaurants to check out -- but I can’t help it. New spots like Chef Carla Gabor’s Traviessa, Chef Binggoy Remedios’ Dos Mestizos, my hands down favorite Island Chicken Inasal of Nina Bustamante, Nino Zulueta and Sunshine De Leon’s Cyma and my super favorite, Geni Psinakis and Nikos Gitisis’ Zuzuni. God knows how many times I’ve made it to my favorite island with the help of SeaAir -- still the fastest way to fly to Boracay!

Somehow Bora can also be too action-packed that I sometimes forget to sleep. But this New Year, let us look forward, think ahead, get some rest -- and then eat, drink and be merry.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/you/super/view/20070216-49886/%91My_brother_is_not_a_Pig%21%92