http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Philippines en-us Fri, 04 Dec 09 19:59:22 +0000 Fri, 04 Dec 09 19:59:22 +0000 During June 2009 my family headed to Maasin Southern Leyte to attend my cousin's wedding. We stayed in a cheap but clean pension house located in Downtown Maasin. Its called Casa Ampil they have just renovated the establishment and I paid 450 for the 2 bedroom but they dont have hot shower. Then we went to have a dinner at Kinamot sa Abgao restaurant a rustic and filipino inspired restaurant lo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Southern-Leyte/Maasin/blog-457897.html So today is my last day in Manila before I fly to Boracay. Manila has been my first proper interaction with other toursits and hitting the town.I left Baguio at 1000 and got here at 1630 Diego had arranged for a friend of his to meet me at the bus station which seemed like a good idea. When I arrived he had already been waiting about 1.5 hrs. We grabbed a cab and he said he knew and off http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Manila/blog-457690.html They bite at my flesh as I lie in the water. Yellow red blue purple green silver black brown and white. A symphony of colours. Stripes and dots. Little critters with sharp incisors and large oval ones with huge puffed lips. A magnificent display a wonderland of sorts.He swims right at my mask. A fish the size of my finger but defiant as he protects his territory. A blow fish magnifies itse http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Palawan/El-Nido/blog-457367.html DAY 1I always loved the beach. If there's one thing in the world where I want to stay for the rest of my... it would involve somewhere with pure white sand crashing waves with a hint smell of the salty sea. Having been to some parts of the Philippines Boracay Coron Palawan Cebu and Batangas and Honolulu Hawaii nothing prepared me for El Nido. This paradise situates at the Northern tip of http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Palawan/blog-457127.html My TownBangui is the second to the last town of Ilocos Norte approximately 65 kms north of Laoag before the town of Pagudpud. Bangui has been left out of the Tourist map for the last decade due to non promotion of the town and it's sceneries. I am making this blog to start promoting our town and get it back in the tourist map of Ilocos Norte. For people who have not been to Bangui let me make a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Ilocos/Bangui/blog-456729.html On sunday morning I awoke to an email telling me to wake up thanks Kiran x and a mild excitment about the next leg of my journey a flight from Hong Kong to Clark in North Luzon Philippines. My dad drove me to the airport which I'm glad he did cause I had problems...One of the major aims of my trip was to do as little flying as possible so i will be attempting a lot of overland travel alt http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Baguio/blog-455754.html Baltazar Island is one of the socalled Tres Reyes Islands in Marinduque named after the 3 Magi. The sea between Mindoro and Marinduque where the isalnds are located is often choppy. The worst peacetime maritime disaster in the world occured near these islands Dec. 20 1987 when the ferry Dona Paz carrying more than 4000 passengers disembarked from Tacloban City to Manila and collided with M http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Marinduque/blog-454547.html First post to feature some of Marinduque island's little known places within the interiors the natives do not even know they exist. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Marinduque/blog-454530.html Our introduction to the Philippines came as quite a surprise it started off pretty much as we were imagining with funky jeepneys converted US army jeeps running around and typical houses we've seen in most of SE Asia but as we'd landed in Clark which is about 3 hours North of Manila we were really surprised as we made our approach to this huge capital city. For a country that is among the poo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Bohol/blog-453823.html Keep your sense of proportion by regularly preferably daily visiting the natural world. Catlin MatthewsI think our universe is so vast that it is difficult to pin point a single person who has traveled each and every corner of the earth. But what a joy it would http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Iloilo/blog-452950.html It took a while for me write about my trip made to the Philippines last August for a very sad reason. We travel for a lot of different reasons and for whatever it is it will be always be an enriching experience. Living abroad for most of my adult life an untimely call from my home country always sends anxiety attacks. But on the early morning of August 10th the message was sent by my sister i http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Manila/blog-452543.html EnglandThe photos Sunset and Shhhhhhhh were taken during a walk at a reservoir in Macclesfield. One of our coworkers had invited us to their house and was trying to show us a real Christmas Tree.We passed by the Cemetery on our way to buy Ginger bread on a rainy day at Grasmere.o o o Chinese TerritoryYellow for me is a happy color. There were lots of tiny Yellow Flowers at HK's Ocean Park.We fi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Metromanila/blog-451317.html Mall of Asia Manila PhilippinesMy last day in the Philippines was spent exploring The Mall of Asia the fourth largest mall in the world. I didn't really have anything I was looking to buy I did want to demo a new camera that came out but I had several friends going so I decided to tag along with them. We ended up spending the majority of the day checking out the camera computer sports e http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Manila/Mall-of-Asia/blog-448594.html Scuba Diving El Capitan USS Majaba in Subic Bay PhilippinesMy second dive in Subic Bay was at El Capitan also known as USS Majaba. This dive was much shallower than my first... aorund 15 feet at its shallowest point and 50 feet at its deepest. Unfortunately the visibility wasn't nearly as good at my first dive. I pretty much spent this dive just trying not to get seperated from the rest http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Subic/blog-448582.html Scuba Diving LST Wreck in Subic Bay PhilippinesI finally got the opportunity to scuba dive in the Philippines and the experience was mixed. The first site I dove was LST959. We began the dive by going down to a depth of roughly 80 feet and proceeded to swim to the aft of the wreck. We then swam into a large opening at the back and went forward to the bow. It was pretty dark inside so I did http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Subic/blog-448572.html El Nido is an 8 hour bus ride from Puerto Princesa or 6 boat ride from Sabang which is how I got there. This is a must see if you are in Palawan. While in El Nido you must do the following1. Go on an island tour Tour A Tour C2. Rent a kayak from Art Cafe Start at 8AM for 12 day. You will have too much fun and end up paying for a full day but you'll get your money's worth.3. Rent motorc http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Palawan/El-Nido/blog-447686.html Sabang is an easy destination from Puerto Princesa. One could take a bus from San Jose station near Puerto Princesa or can book an underground river tour from Puerto Princesa do the tour which takes about 2 hours and then check into the hotel this is what I did. The undergroung river tour is interesting the most exciting part for me was getting there by boat which can be pretty exciting. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Palawan/Sabang/blog-447654.html The following are some tips that I learned when traveling to the Philippines1. Bring dollars and exchange into pesos at the airport. The best rate to get pesos was 42 pesodollar in the US. When I arrived in Manila the airport had plenty of foreign exchange offices that were offering 47 pesos dollar.2. BEWARE of Taxi cab drivers many are trying to overcharge. In Manila to get from the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/blog-447652.html Puerto Princesa is the capital of Palawan and is where you can take most flights from Manila and Cebu. I stayed at D'Lucky Garden which is close to the airport offers Wifi accepts credit cards and has a decent restaurant. Tours can be booked directly from the hotel. Honda Bay was the first tour where you visit 3 islands in one day. I went on a day that started off cloudy with showers and http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Palawan/Puerto-Princesa/blog-447115.html I still remember how my Dad used to tell us how he hates riding small propeller passenger planes and I wasnrsquot expecting that I was gonna ride one today. I could hear the engine roaring outside during the entire flight and the plane making a clumsy stomp when we finally landed at the Busuanga Airport. The flight wasnrsquot too bad thanks to the good weather but Irsquod still rather ride http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Palawan/Coron/blog-446551.html