At one o’clock on a weekday night Manila’s Roxas Boulevard (of Baywallk, as I is better known) is buzzing with a variety of entertainment. A group of young stand-up comedians in lurid polyester overalls, sporting gelled Mohawk manes, tumble across a temporary stage shrieking Tagalog lines that send the crowds into hysterical fits of laughter. A little further down a band called Harmony belts out mushy hip-hop to people sitting at a café. Vendors selling corn on the cob, cigarettes, guitars and ballot-a duck’s egg boiled once the chick inside has reached a certain stage of development (often having grown feathers too), a very popular and very grisly local delicacy- weave in and out of the crowds. On another makeshift stage, a group of young rappers keeps the audience dancing. A warm breeze sweeps in from Manila Bay, shaking the coconut trees, sending the decorative neon globes that line the boulevard into spasms, and distorting the faint light of ships anchored in the bay. A steady stream of traffic flows by.
 
The first thing that strikes you about Manila is not the beautiful bay, the smoggy traffic, the fantastic sunsets of the many different types of food-it’s the music. It’s everywhere. At the airport a 11-piece Pinikpikan band plays a harmonious (sometimes frantic) fusion of local folk music and modern jam-band rock, using bamboo reed pipes, flutes, xylophones and percussion instruments, singing in English and local dialects.
    If there’s one thing Manila is not, it’s a walker’s city. Metro Manila is 17 different cities (Or administrative areas) rolled into one large National Capital Region (NCR), of which Manila city is one. Apart from a few areas in Intramurous (the old Spanish city) and parts of Malate and Ermita (the area around Baywalk,) the others are either too chaotic or too crowded to enjoy walking through.
        GETTING AROUND IN MANILA Moving around in Manila is fairly cheap- taxis are the most comfortable and usually will not cost more than P250. Jeepneys are a much more fun way to see the city and talk to Manilineans but they can get hot and dusty
.
OUTSIDE MANILA Buses are the easiest ways to travel around Luzon,
But the bus system is fairly disorganized and there is no central station-it’s best to ask at your hotel. If you’re planning to travel to other islands you’ll have to take a boat. There are three major shipping lines, which handle inter-island traffic Negros Navigation Sullpicio Lines and Super ferry.
 
TOP TIP

SOUVENIR the Philippines has a lot by way of handicraft- from detailed wood carving to garments made from pineapple and banana fibre (barong Tagalog). But one of the nicest souvenirs is one of these gaily-coloured hand- painted vases. They are elaborately patterned and come in many different sizes. You’ll find them at a shop called Kultura at the Mall of Asia in Manila. 

WHERE & WHAT TO EAT There’s a huge variety of food in the Philippines-every island has its own specialty. In Manila you can sample nearly all the different regional cuisines- from Tocino (honey-cured pork) to inihaw (grilled seafood, often including milkfish, marinated in kalamansi juice). If you’re adventurous you can try novelties like Balut or Tenga (pig’s ears).

WHAT TO DO
>An evening on Baywalk is a must do. Listen to some of the local bands; drink coffee at one of the many cafes, of hang out at one of the open-air bars with wonderful views of Manila Bay.
>its well worth doing a walking tour through Intramurous. Star at the Intramurous Visitors Center at the entrance to Fort Santiago, the seat of Spanish power. Don’t miss the San Agustin Church-the oldest church in the Philippines. The ornate interior is filled with significant historical objects. Stop by at EC. Manazan Handicrafts on Santa Clara Street to pick up some local handicrafts.
>The Greenbelt shopping mall in Makati can be fun to hang out at, after which you can visit the Ayala Museum, around the corner. It’s an excellent museum with dioramas on Filipino culture, art and history.
>Walk through Rizal Park, a 60-hectare spread of lawns, ornamental gardens and wooded areas. Every day hundreds of people come here to jog, picnic, sing, and practice local martial arts like arnis de mano (stick-fighting). There’s an open-air auditorium, which has concerts on Sunday.

 
                                  Did you find this article useful?  For more useful tips, hints, guide and points to ponder pertaining to traveling, do please browse at our websites.

JASSI
http://www.articlesbase.com/cruising-articles/manila-for-travelers-727586.html

Technorati Tags: manila, manila vacation, Philippines, Philippines Vacation

Now that winter in the Northern hemisphere is on the decline, it’s time to dream about your next summer vacation. Or even your next Christmas vacation to escape the cold and wet for a couple of weeks.

The Philippines is one vacation destination that might not be on top of people’s list as it has the reputation of corruption. But then, which Asian country doesn’t.

Being on vacation in the Philippines, you can enjoy the friendliness and helpfulness of the locals. One big plus is that English is spoken in most places. Your vacation bugdet goes further as food, transport and accommodation is cheap and good.

The best time to vacation in the Philippines is from December to May because you won’t be bothered with typhoons in these months. It’s also a good time to enjoy some tropical sunshine when it’s bleak and cold back home.

The only drawback is that around Christmas and during the Easter break everyone is traveling because it’s the travel season for the locals, and you may not be able to get accommodation or transport as easily as other times.

The Filipinos are catholic and hence next week will be busy. On Good Friday you can see various crucifixion plays. Although this may not be something you’d want to watch, it has become very popular with the tourists and locals alike. If you’re flexible enough, you may want to book a Philippines Vacation for the Easter break and enjoy the various festivities.

The Philippines is a perfect tourist destination because it has plentiful white sandy beaches, lots of sights to see and lots of activities to do. Most tourists don’t need a visa if they stay up to 21 days. If you want to explore the islands for longer, you will need to obtain a 3-month visa in advance. Check out your local Philippines embassy or your travel agent.

Technorati Tags: Asia vacation, Philippines travel, Philippines Vacation

The Philippines have become very popular as a tourist destination. When you think Philippines Vacation you may perhaps imagine white sandy beaches, crystal clear warm water, underwater adventure watching dolphins and other fish swimming around coral reefs.

There is so much more to a Philippines vacation, though.

A Philippines vacation is healthy. You relax on the beach, you swim in the sea, and you take in lots of vitamines, minerals and other trace elements when you refresh yourself with a variety of tropical fruit. You can eat them cut up and peeled, or you can endulge yourself with a mixed fruit shake that brims with goodness and health. And it’s cheap.

We all probalby know tropical fruits such as bananas, oranges, limes and watermelons. There’s also a wide range of fresh fruit that may not be as familiar to you.

There’s the custard apple for example. It resembles almost a small green hand grenade and is filled with a sweet scented and white flesh. It’s delicious eaten ripe with coconut  milk or made into ice-cream.

The guava is a greenish-yellow fruit with a white aromatic flesh. I’ve eaten it as jelly, and it’s also interesting eaten when it’s unripe and hard, with a spiced dip of salt, sugar and a few crushed chillies.

The jackfruit is the largest of all cultivated fruits. The outside is rough and green, and inside sit the segments of yellow-orange flesh which is sweet and delicately scented. Usually it’s eaten raw as a snack; and often the green parts are also used in cooking.

The longan is a small fruit with a tough but thin skin. The sweet and succulent flesh is white or pink and has a distinctive musky flavor.

Mangoes come in several varieties, and they are all different from those in Hawaii or tropical America. The Asian mangoes are oblong in shape and have either dark green or golden yellow skin with whitish or yellow flesh. They are delicious eaten raw, and in Thailand I used to eat mango with sticky rice and coconut milk poured on top. They can also be pickled, made into preserves or juices, or even used in traditional medicine. You get a completely different culinary experience when you eat slices of green, unripened mango dipped in chillie sugar. It’s crunchy and not unlike some of the apples we get in the west.

Sometimes called the queen of the tropical fruits: that’s the mangosteen. It has a dark purple skin and white, sweet, scented flesh that is divided into segments. It’s usually eaten raw, poured into drinks as juice, or even added to seafood curries, depending on where you are. And apart from its delicious taste, it has a variety of healing properties and is therefore sought-after by alternative medicine, although, as far as I know, it hasn’t been successfully grown yet in temperate climates. So, the mangosteen may be one of the reasons you would want to have a Philippines vacation.

One of my other favorites is the pomello. It’s the largest of the citrus fruits, weighs up to one kilogramme, and is sometimes referred to by the name of “ugly fruit”. Similar to a grapefurit, it is much sweeter, and is delicious by its own as a snack or a desert, used as an ingredient in salads, or squeezed to make a refreshing drink.

There are so many other wonderful tropical fruits, like the well-known pineapple that is so much sweeter here in Asia, or the lesser known rambutan with its sweet white flesh within a bright red hairy skin, or the sapodilla, an oval-shaped fruit with sweet, succculent reddish-brown flesh in a brown skin. Or last but not least, the sweet tamarind whose tough brown pod with sweet dark brown flesh is made into a concentrated pulp and used in cooking, such as Thai curries and soups. If you’re into Asian food, you can read more about a culinary Thailand vacation here.

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One of the most distinctive flowers that can be found in the Philippines is what is locally known as the sampaguita. It is the national flower of the country due to its popularity among the natives and its deep involvement in the local culture and traditions. Its American name is Arabian Jasmine while its botanical term is jasminum sambac, being a species of jasmine with small, white, heavily-scented flowers indigenous in South Asia, specifically in Southeast Asia. Its distinctive fragrance is one that is known by every Filipino. In fact, the flower is so popular that it is usually sold on the streets stringed together like a necklace to use as a cheap car air freshener or as a tribute to statues of saints in Churches and in homes. It grows almost anywhere, loving the heat, and does not require a lot of fussing.

Another exotic flower found in the Philippines is the hibiscus or rosemallow which in the vernacular is called gumamela. The shrub is a popular ornamental plant in the country with brightly-colored, five-petaled blooms in red, yellow, pink, purple, white, orange, and various other color combinations. Aside from being an ornamental plant grown in most gardens and hedges in the country, it is also used as a medicinal plant. Gumamela leaves and flowers are used to treat coughs, fever, dysentery, UTI, headaches, swelling, bronchitis, high blood and other common maladies. There are very few flowers in the Philippines cannot equal the medicinal value of the Gumamela.

The ylang-ylang flower is a small, greenish yellow flower which has petals that extend like a starfish. The name is derived from either two Tagalog words—-ilang, or “wilderness”, and ilang-ilan, or “rare” It is widely known for its essential oil used in aromatherapy, lowering blood pressure, treating skin problems and as an aphrodisiac.

The sampaguita, gumamela and ylang-ylang are only some of the most popular exotic flowers in the Philippines. There are virtually thousands of other unique flowers that serve to highlight the breathtaking beauty of the Philippines. It may be a small country, but flowers in the Philippines are some of the best and most captivating in the world.

Timothy Spencer

http://www.articlesbase.com/shopping-articles/exotic-flowers-in-the-philippines-693492.html

Technorati Tags: exotic flowers, Philippines, tropical flowers

i am not sure if they will allow that onboard. i have not seen one used onboard but i know that federal aviation authority(usa) does recommend it. better check with cebu pacific although their call center sucks bigtime. the best time to call them would be around 8 am philippine time. the moment you call them past that time don’t bother getting thru.

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Posted via email from Evelyne’s posterous

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The Sunset at Aninuan Beach Resort’s new reservation system shows potential guests two weeks’ worth of real-time room availability matched with the lowest possible rates. This feature allows selection of accommodations based on tastes, and more importantly, budget. A 10% deposit payment, which is deducted from the total room charge, ensures the availability of the chosen room type upon the guest’s arrival at the hotel. An automatic e-mail is immediately sent after the transaction to serve as confirmation.

This addition of a groundbreaking system is part of the resort’s tradition of providing exemplary service. It offers guests a better booking process because it delivers competitive rates and cuts confirmation time in half. Because this reservation system is backed by a Royal Bank of Scotland company called WorldPay, security is very well assured.

Also, supporting this new system is a professional customer relations unit that’ has been trained to handle and manage reservation-related concerns, such as modifications of booking arrangements.

The Sunset at Aninuan Beach Resort in Puerto Galera, Philippines fronts South China Sea and is one of the most famous destinations in the area. It is on the Tropical Island of Oriental Mindoro, and is only 3 1/2 hours by car and ferry boat from Manila International Airport. Guests may choose from its 20 rooms, each having its own balcony with an amazing view of the sea. The resort is truly heaven for the water sports enthusiasts as different diving schools are only nearby. Also available at reasonable prices are banana boat rides, para-sailing, jet-ski, and kayaking equipment. Fifty meters from the resort is a spectacular coral garden to snorkel in. For more information on The Sunset at Aninuan Beach Resort, visit http://www.aninuanbeach.com/

The resort’s easy-to-use booking system is powered by DirectWithHotels, a direct reservation performance specialist and partner. The company makes direct reservations easier for all accommodation providers, helping them maximize the potentials of their websites to deliver best rates and instant confirmation online. For more details, log on www.directwithhotels.com.

Contact Information:

Aninuan Beach Resort

Aninuan, Puerto Galera
Oriental Mindoro, Philippines

http://www.aninuanbeach.com/

ManLuz

http://www.articlesbase.com/hotels-articles/aninuan-beach-resort-can-now-deliver-instantly-confirmed-bookings-at-low-rates-with-its-newlylaunched-online-reservation-system-691149.html

Technorati Tags: Aninuan Beach Resort, Philippines Vacation

i was thinking of leaving them at malls(package counters) but i’m worried that they wouldn’t accept such huge bags..

btw, we’re gonna stay there for about 5-7hrs so i think checking-in our things is the best idea. unless we’re just gonna wait it out inside the airport..

there is a certain store room with pay located somewhere beside the basement of SM Cebu adjacent to booking office of a fast craft company that travels to Tagbilaran Bohol and Dumaguete at south portion of SM mall.

Technorati Tags: cebu, Philippines Vacation

Duration : 25 min 16 sec

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