THE PRIDE OF THE PHILIPPINES

Advantages: Modern facilities and clean environment
Disadvantages: Sometimes chaotic atmosphere due to voluminous arrivals especially during the holiday season

...not free of criminal elements who are lurking for their prey. It is only right to follow our parents’ admonitions not to talk to strangers (unless they are uniformed and with nameplates). And if one will just be careful enough with their belongings and trust, one will surely enjoy the hospitality of the best airport in Asia – The Ninoy Aquino International Airport – the pride of the Philippines....

Xelavie 31.05.2001 · Read review
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Review of Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Metro Manila Philippines (NAIA)

Mindanao, The Philippines - some helpful hints

Advantages: friendly people
Disadvantages: dirty

...Mindanao Island in the Philippines is home to the third largest city in the country, Davao. It is also the home to the Moro Liberation Front and other less well-known terrorist groups which seem to have made Mindanao famous for. At least they have managed to bring the world's attention to this forgotten place, which is more than I can say for the Philippine Tourist Authority or media guys in Manila. Mindanao suffers from bad publicity to the extent that even most people in Manila believe the constant media hype about the kidnappings and bombs. Let me tell you that I have been to Mindanao more than a few times now, travelling to at least four different cities and not encountered so much as a hold up at the supermarket queue let alone being in danger of being blown up. Most of Mindanao is quite safe to visit, with the possible...

willow 21.03.2001 · Read review
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Review of General : Mindanao (The Philippines)

THE CITY OF SMILE, BACOLOD CITY PHILIPPINES

Advantages: YOU WILL FEEL RELAX WITH THE NATURE, SEE BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY
Disadvantages: TRAVELLING SO LONG...

...THE CITY OF SMILE as we commonly call Bacolod City. I wonder why and how did they call it that way. I have traveled to many places in Visayas part of Philippines and i found out that Bacolod was my favorite. From Cebu, you have many ways to get there. I suggest you go by land because along the way you get to see beautiful things.you will pass by Toledo & SAn CArlos City. along the ways you will see nice and pleasing environment.When arrived in Bacolod, the people are not smiling all the time but they are happy persons. You can go to PENSION BACOLOD.most popular pension house, if your on budget or in CHECK IN if you like more comfortable. SAfety First. No problem because the people are very friendly and accomodating but you always have to be careful.. Next would be the food. I recommend SISIG. the best! you can try their native food. Its...

muahri 25.06.2008 · Read review
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Review of General: Negros (The Philippines)

Filipino Paradise

Advantages: Perfect white sandy beaches, good variety of accommodation, restaurants and bars
Disadvantages: A bit over-developed in places

...Boracay is known as The Philippines' most beautiful island and regularly features in top ten lists for 'The best beaches in the world'. Being so highly rated, I decided I had to visit it in June 2008, to decide for myself if it really is that good. Getting there In order to get to Boracay, you have to fly from Manila to either Caticlan or Kalibo. There are many flights every day to both airports with various different airlines. The cheapest offers seem to be with Asian Spirit and Cebu Pacific. I flew with Asian Spirit and the short 1 hour flight was fine with them. From Caticlan, you take one of the many small boats across to Boracay and there is a new jetty on the south of the island now to make things easier (before this was built you had to climb out of the boats directly on to the beaches). If you fly to Kalibo then you...

trev11 30.06.2009 · Read review
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Review of General: Boracay (The Philippines)

Manila Oozes With Life

Advantages: Vibrant. Warm.hospitable people. Cheap
Disadvantages: Considerable poverty

...I have been to Manila four times and I like the city. More specifically I like the Fillipinos who are warm and friendly,very hospitable and have a thoroughly infectious love of life. They have been described as the Latin Americans of South East Asia and most certainly they are markedly different from Malays,Thais,Vietnamese or Indonesians. Manila,the capital and chief city of the Philippines is also very much the artistic and commercial capital. It is located in Central Luzon Island and enjoys good air communications with the US, Europe, Australia and regional centres in Asia. Night life is alive and well in Manila and it is comparatively cheap; much cheaper,for example,than Singapore, Kuala Lumpur or Hong Kong.The favourite beer in town in San Miguel which is owned by a company based in the Philippines. Makati is...

ashford 24.10.2001 · Read review
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Review of The Philippines - Manila

Best kept secret in the far east

Advantages: english speaking, very cheap, very friendly, great food
Disadvantages: can be hot, some polution

...What a great place the Phills is, Ive been to well over 50 countries and ive never fallen in love with a place like this, Forget Thailand, the Philippines is 10 times the place. Everyone speaks English,even the newspapers are in english, the food is great and the people so very friendly and helpful. Inexpencive? you have no idea, a taxi in the capital, about £1 anywhere you want to go, a meal for 4 in top quality restauant? about £10 with drinks!! and what restaunts, top quality with food from every corner of the globe, Italian,french,Japanese, chinese, Vietnamise, and, of course, the local food which is always fresh and tasty. The beach resorts are very very good indeed, Boracay and Cebu are lovley but Palawan stands out, A top quality resort with its own beaches, water sports , restarunts and bars should cost about £40 per night...

coppinpr 02.03.2008 · Read review
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Review of General: The Philippines

Cultures, a country that is so different.

Advantages: The people are one of the friendliest in the world
Disadvantages: The long flight to get their 16-20 hours from London

...On first arrival in the Philippines. You will most likely enter via NAIA, Ninoy Aquino International Airport, (Manila international airport). The first thing that you will notice is there is a group of three men with instruments welcoming you. Not suprising considering that music and singing is so much the part of filipino life. The customs area can be very busy at times, but is always in constant movement, it may take about an hour to get through customs, but then it does in most busy airports now. The filipinos make it easy for people to get around and find your destination with ease, as there are so many staff waitng to help you. nothing is to much for them, they will do all they can to help you. Just make sure that you approch someone that is wearing a name badge and who works at the airport. if you know where you are going...

lordmatthews 05.04.2006 (06.04.2006) · Read review
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Review of The Philippines - Manila

An alternative to Mallorca

Advantages: paradise beach, party isle
Disadvantages: fare away

...Boracay is a small six kilometres long and one kilometre wide Philippine island, situated in the north of the big Visayan Isle Panay. It is a tropical beach paradise with white beaches, coco palm trees, bamboo huts and sun all over the year. Boracay has lost its innocence, but not its beauty. Some backpackers discovered the paradise thirty years ago. They mentioned it in an alternative guide and more and more people were coming. Now Boracay is the main tourist place of the Philippines, with many restaurants, pubs, accommodation, dive bases and within reach from Manila by plane in two hours. Tourism was taken down when I visited the island in March 2002. The reason was the abductions of the Abu Sayaff the year before. Prices were low and discos, pubs and restaurant were nearly empty. But the risk of an abduction seemed to me...

kambodscha-joe 03.03.2003 · Read review
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Review of General: Boracay (The Philippines)

A beautiful out of the way travel destination

Advantages: Very diverse culture and landscape, plenty to see, not awash with tourists
Disadvantages: Tourist resorts and tour arrangements often of mediocre quality, difficult travel at times

...The Philippines is a rather curious archipelago in the South China Sea, comprising an interesting, idiosyncratic mix of cultures that hold a special charm for many. Magellan discovered the islands in 1521, and since then, despite the subsequent death of Magellan at the hands of natives, the Philippines was a Spanish colony until the 1896-1898 revolution. The Filipino insurgents hardly had time to rest on their victory, though, before American forces “benevolently assimilated” the new nation. A valiant eight-year war ended in defeat for the revolutionaries, and American occupation was to continue until eventual independence in 1946. Centuries of Spanish rule mean that Roman Catholicism is extremely powerful in the Philippines. The Philippines is, in fact, the only predominantly Christian country in the whole of Asia. Thus...

Marechal_Grouchy 17.01.2001 · Read review
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Review of General: The Philippines

Our 7,107 Islands

Advantages: Countless of wonders in a small country
Disadvantages: Presence of criminal and dissidents

...In the western part of the vast Pacific Ocean, below China and above Indonesia, lies a mystical place called PHILIPPINES - a country composed of 7,107 islands (count depends on the level of the sea tide). Landing in the busy Ninoy Aquino International Airport located at the mainland of Metro Manila, one can go direct to an island of his choice. For the uninitiated, it is recommended not to roam the city alone lest one is a real adventurer. Metro Manila is a concrete jungle inhabited by snatchers, kidnappers, street beggars, persistent vendors and all other undesirable elements that your imagination can invent. This is not to count the terrible heat brought by the long summer and the pollutants, from smoke to noise. But before you get discouraged, the picture is not that too bad, really, there are lots of good points too...

Xelavie 30.05.2001 (15.06.2001) · Read review
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Review of General: The Philippines