Yahoo Travel Ranks Boracay as one of the World's Top 10 Beaches for 2007!!

Move over Bali. Goodbye Phuket. The only Asian beach to make this year's Yahoo Travel's top 10 best beaches in the world is none other than a beach that is personally close to my heart and to most of the people who went there and sometimes never left: Boracay Island, in the Philippines.

According to Yahoo! Travel
(http://travel.yahoo.com/beaches;_ylt=AsyZla8BGn5xeXrj7HcjTYP8xmoA)

Here are the ones that make up the list:

Best Beaches

1. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
2. Miami, Florida
3. Cancun, Mexico
4. Kaanapali, Hawaii
5. Honolulu, Hawaii
6. San Diego, California
7. Boracay Island, Philippines
8. Key West, Florida
9. Sydney, Australia
10. Santa Barbara, California

Bora, as the island fondly called, had its share of critics, its ups and downs,but no one can ever resist its undeniable charm and beauty. Every year, I descend to Bora at least once, as some of  you can see in my photos which are posted here. How can you resist the sugary white sand that stretches for kilometers, waters that are crystal clear, lagoons, small caves, and the parties that go well into the dawn, the international cuisine, and the beautiful people...!

Boracay would have remained a national secret if not far a few foreign travelers whom accidentally stumbled upon the place. Some say it was a movie crew, which spread word about Boracay to other sun worshippers. Other swear it was German traveler Jens Peters’ book, which included rare reviews about Boracay, that sent tourists on their way. Whichever tale is true, Boracay has become a melting pot for beach  bums.

While Thailand was the setting of the best-selling book by Alex Garland's The Beach, the beaches of Boracay  actually served as an inspiration to the novel. According to Alex Garland, the author of the novel, "Set up in Bali, Koh Phangan, Koh Tao, Boracay, and the hordes are bound to follow. There's no way you can keep it out of the Lonely Planet, and once that happens, it's countdown to doomsday."

According the Guardian (a UK publication), although Alex Garland's backpacker odyssey The Beach is set in Thailand, he took much of the inspiration for the location from the Philippines. The reason? As anyone who has been to Thailand in the last decade will tell you, the chances of founding your very own deserted island paradise in a country that has become synonymous with the backpacker superhighway are close to nil. The Philippines, on the other hand has over 7,000 islands, a fraction of the tourists and so many deserted beaches that it's easy to hire a fishing boat, sail off into the sun and create your very own "Beach".

Hope to see you soon in Bora!