in my quest to find reef that has not been damaged by dynamite fishing, it has brought me to the romblon islands province. the two islands that i spent time on were tablas and romblon. in both i was greeted with so much kindness. whenever i would sit down, people would come up to me and just start talking. they were interested in why i have come to their town and where i came from. it was always very genuine. on more than one instance i was invited to homes for meals or coffee. the people alone are worth the trek [View Full Entry]

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boracay island was a very pleasant change from manila. almost everyone i talked to had only good things to say about it. i thought it would be too touristy and the beaches would not be everything that they have been famed to be. i was wrong. luckily, i arrived one month before the tourist season starts there, so there was only a small crowd of people. the main destination there is white beach. it is a huge stretch of powder white sand and crystal clear water. it is also where almost all the bars and nightlife is. very good food there [View Full Entry]

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this is going to be my first entry from the philippines. my first stop was to manila on november 1st, 2006. manila is made up of 12 smaller cities to make one giant. i chose to stay in the malate district because it had the best combination of sights and nightlife. my first impression of manila was not too great. the people were the reason to go. the city itself was a little dirty, but there are much worse. it was a lot safer than i thought it would be. there were armed guards everywhere, which if you do not mind [View Full Entry]

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this is my first entry. right now i am getting ready to leave honolulu, hawaii. it has been my home for the past 7 1/2 years. it is a place i love and i know i will return. i am leaving to the philippines to start a yearlong trip through southeast asia. i want to start in manila and head south through it to indonesia, then head west and north through malaysia and enter the mainland through singapore. from there i would like to explore thailand, vietnam, laos, cambodia....... i have no set timeline or exact route, so we'll see what [View Full Entry]

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