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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Before you rush out that door to enjoy your vacation in the Philippines, I have ten quick tips you should know. The Philippines is a great place to vacation, but plan poorly and your dream can quickly turn into a nightmare. Preparation is the key to any successful vacation.

Ten Quick Tips:

1. The temperature of the Philippines stays warm year-round. The range is from 78F to 90F.

2. If you have any questions about your visit, contact the Department of Tourism.

3. While the Philippines is one country, there are many regionseach with its own culture. Each culture has its own spin on food.

4. Don’t be a miser. When services are provided, don’t forget to tip. 10% is a common tip amount.

5. The Philippines’ monetary unsit is the peso (PhP). Get some of these and travel around with them. It makes dealing with local commerce much easier.

6. As mentioned in point #3, the country has different regions. There are 16 of them to be exact. Take the time to know the difference and you might find locals warming up to you.

7. If you want to see traditional festivals, celebrations and events then you need to go during the summer. This is the best time to see these attractions.

8. There are many ways to get around the Philippines including jeepneys, tricycles, pedicabs, and air-conditioned taxis. Explore and enjoy yourself.

9. Get to know some common Tagalog phrases. Many in the Philippines speak English, but they light up when someone is trying to speak their language.

10. Have fun, be nice and take lots of pictures. Don’t be shy about mixing with the locals. You might find some hidden gems that way.

There you have it; 10 great tips for traveling to the Philippines. All that’s left is for you to go and enjoy yourself.

Technorati Tags: Asia, Philippines Vacation, travel

Technorati Tags: Asia, Philippines Vacation, travel