A travel & adventure blog by Kara Santos
More tourist destinations around the Philippines are easing travel restrictions and opening up to domestic tourism. Bohol, well-known for its majestic chocolate hills, tarsiers, and beautiful white sand beaches, is the latest to reopen to leisure tourists just in time for the Christmas season.
READ MORE: What to expect from the new normal travel in Bohol
The Philippines has a very rich pasalubong culture. The term literally translates to “something for when you welcome me” and shows the giving spirit of Filipinos when it comes to bringing something from their destination for friends and family back home. Whenever I travel, I try not to skip the usual t-shirts and magnets, but look for something unique to the place. It could be anything from processed food, a local delicacy you can only find in that place, arts and crafts or home decor.
Do you miss traveling around the Philippines? Have you started a small business during this quarantine period and are looking for a way to increase your product’s visibility online? Or maybe you just have some free time on your hands and are looking for a way to earn some extra cash for your impulse cravings. If you answered yes to any of the above, you might want to check out the website Pinned.ph, a new digital lifestyle publication that highlights the best of the Philippines, while giving a much-needed boost to local destinations, businesses, and freelancers.
The Philippines is made up of over 7,000 different islands, which can make getting around the country a bit challenging. For backpackers who want to cover a lot of ground at one time, planning your route and trying to visit major tourist destinations spread apart the country can be a bit of a puzzle. While there are ferries and boats that connect major islands, it’s difficult to know exactly where to go.
In most cases, it’s practical and faster to just fly between islands to maximize your trip. For some places in Northern Luzon without commercial flights, you have no option but to take a bus or travel by land from major cities. For first time travelers to the Philippines, it really helps to focus on particular regions and aim for quality instead of trying to visit every major tourist hub.
Continue reading “Top Destinations in the Philippines for Backpackers”With Taal Volcano’s ongoing eruption, everybody’s on edge. Thousands of residents who live near the lake have been displaced and animals have been abandoned on the island. The landscape of Taal’s Volcano Island will probably never be the same again.
It’s scary to think of what could happen in the future. It makes you wonder how prepared we are considering that the Philippines is an archipelago of more than 7,100 islands, most of which are volcanic in origin. In fact, there are at least 300 volcanoes in the country.
Continue reading “Active Volcanoes in the Philippines”Aside from traveling and motorcycling, one of my favorite hobbies is playing video games. A couple of months ago, I celebrated the completion of my Project 81 quest by finally buying a PlayStation 4. I’ve since finished Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and loved exploring the massively beautiful world of Horizon Zero Dawn.
Aside from being a source of clean energy, wind farms around the Philippines have become tourist attractions. There’s really something about these scenic spots that appeal to travelers. They just have that air of romance about them. Maybe it’s the sense of solitude brought about by their remote locations. Or maybe it’s the sheer size of the turbines dwarfing all those who visit that never fails to amaze visitors.
From festivals to food, the Philippines is amazingly vibrant and colorful. Lakbay Museo aims to give visitors a chance to travel around Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao and experience the best that the Philippines has to offer in under two hours right in Manila. We recently got a sneak peek of the museum inside S Maison at Conrad Manila right beside Mall of Asia (MOA), before its official opening on July 12.
Featuring hourly cultural dances and shows, free samples of native delicacies and even lambanog and fruit wine tasting (for adults), this is kind of like Nayong Pilipino for the Instagram generation.
Continue reading “Lakbay Museo: Explore the Philippines without leaving Manila”The Philippines is a tropical island, with two major seasons: wet and dry. The months of June to October are generally wet, while September and October are often the typhoon season in the Philippines. While we do get dry days, weather is generally unpredictable, making it difficult to plan travel and vacations, especially if sea travel is involved.
The rainy season can really curb one’s enthusiasm for travel and adventure. But if you’re already in the country during the monsoon season, what can you do?
If I had to pick a favorite tree, it would be the Balete (a relative of the Banyan tree). There’s just something about their haunting appearance, gnarled roots and their close ties to creatures of folklore that I find fascinating. They often look and feel like they could be portals to the Underworld. Or at least the setting for a good horror story.
The Balete tree is infamous in Philippine folklore for being the dwelling place of engkantos or supernatural creatures and nature spirits such as dwendes (dwarves), kapres (tree demons), diwatas (fairies) and tikbalangs (demon horses). If you grew up in the Philippines, you’ve probably been told by superstitious folk not to go anywhere near these trees as these could be gateways to the world of myths. This probably explains why I’m drawn to them.
Continue reading “Bewitching Balete Trees around the Philippines”
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