The Beautiful Islands of the Philippines: July 2011

July 31, 2011

Davao City, Philippines

FACTS AND FIGURES

Postal Code 8000
Area Code 082
Land Area 2,212 sq km
Population 1.2 million
Dialects Spoken Cebuano, other dialects include Tagalog, Chinese, Muslim, majority can speak and understand English Religion Roman Catholic 83.83%, Islam 2.36% Protestant 4.50%

Close to Davao City is Mt. Apo, the country's highest peak and home to the monkey-eating Philippine Eagle, an endagered species, and the waling-waling, a rare ochid of exceptional beauty.

BACKGROUND
Davao City is one of the most alluring gateways to the Philippines. There are two reasons which make Davao unique: its people and its warm hospitality. Within bucolic highlands, migrants from all over the country live in harmony with indigenous tribal folk.
Close to Davao City is Mt. Apo, the country's highest peak and home to the monkey-eating Philippine Eagle, an endagered species, and the waling-waling, a rare ochid of exceptional beauty.

Of late, Davao has become a booming tourist destination as evidenced by the rise of leisure establishments in the region.
Davao is also the biggest cutflower producer in the country and a major exporter of tropical fruits.
A tour of the city and its outskirts will bring the visitor to Dabaw Etnica, a tiny settlement of the Mandaya Tribe; Dabaw Museum whose diaplay includes tribal artifacts and costumes; and the Taoist and Lon Wa Buddhist Temples.
Davao is also known for its exquisite beaches, there is even an old Perl Farm that has been converted into a world-class resort. These beaches are all easily accessible by banca (out-rigger boat) or land travel.

PEOPLE AND CULTURE
Davaoeños is an even mix of tribes, migrants from all over the Philippine archipelago and traders from all corners of the world. Some of these tribes include the ethnic Bagobo, Mandaya, Manobo, Tiboli, Mansaka and the B'laan tribes. The solemn rituals of the tribes, their rhythmic dance steps and chanting music, and the rich customs and traditions of migrants make up the Davao culture of today.

AREA PROFILE
Davao City covers 244,000 hectares, the world's largest in terms of land area. It is located in the Province Davao del Sur. It is bounded on the North by the municipality of Kapalong and on the North East by the municipality of Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur; on the East by the Gulf of Davao and on the West by Mt. Apo and the province of North Cotabato; and on the North West by the province of Bukidnon.

COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
Davao City serves as the primary agricultural and trading center of Mindanao. It is already an international gateway with the opening of the Davao International Airport. The City is known for its exotic fruits like pineapples, bananas, pomelos, marang, mangosteen, and the odoriferous but tasty durian, which are sold very cheaply when in season. Davao also produces export-quality handicrafts, and also sells antiques, artifacts from Mindanao's tribes, Indonesian batik, traditional Muslim brass items, and costume jewelries. It has become Philippine's major source of products for export. The City is home to the world's largest bird, the Philippine Eagle, whose sanctuary is at the foot of Mt. Apo, the Philippine's highest mountain and where the "queen of orchids", Waling-Waling is found.

AMENITIES
A variety of culinary specialties awaits even the most discriminating gourmet. Fasfood and popular choices are rampant in Davao City. Specialty cuisine such as Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Italian and Asian dishes are also served in Davao's restaurants. For the night owls, the choices are numerous. From the simple to the classy and high-tech karaoke lounges, disco and ballroom dancing. to lounges that feaure live bands and jazz music.

SHOPPING
Davao is certainly the shopping capital of the south as it prides itself in having the most number of malls and department stores this side of the archipelago.

Buyers may indulge themselves with hours and hours of shopping and entertainment at Gaisano Mall of Davao (J.P. Laurel Avenue), Victoria Plaza (J.P. Laurel Avenue), JSGaisano Citimall (Ilustre Street), New City Commercial Center (R. Magsaysay Avenue), Makro-Davao (Bangkal) and SM City Davao (Ecoland), where the ordinary task of purchase is sprinkled with an element of pleasure and amusement.

For souvenir seekers, Aldevinco Shopping Center (C.M. Recto Avenue) has the best buys for your money’s worth with their wide choices of batik garments, brass products, ethnic accessories and souvenir shirts. Just exercise the art of haggling. You might even get your favored items at half its original price.

Cebu, Philippines

Cebu (Cebuano: Sugbo) is a province in the Philippines, consisting of Cebu Island and 167 surrounding islands. It is located to the east of Negros, to the west of Leyte and Bohol islands. Cebu is a long narrow island stretching 225 kilometers from north to south, surrounded by 167 neighbouring, smaller islands, which include Mactan, Bantayan, Malapascua, Olango and the Camotes Islands. Cebu has narrow coastlines, limestone plateaus and coastal plains. It also has rolling hills and rugged mountain ranges traversing the northern and southern lengths of the island. Cebu's highest mountains are over 1000 meters high. Flat tracts of land can be found in the towns of Bogo, San Remigio, Medellin and Daanbantayan at the northern region of the province. Its capital is Cebu City, the oldest city in the Philippines, which forms part of the Cebu Metropolitan Area together with four neighboring cities which include Danao City, Lapu-Lapu City, Mandaue City and Talisay City and eight other municipalities. Mactan-Cebu International Airport, located in Mactan island, is the second busiest airport in the Philippines.

Cebu is one of the most developed provinces in the Philippines, with Cebu City as the main center of commerce, trade, education and industry in the Visayas. Condé Nast Traveler Magazine named Cebu the seventh best island destination in the Indian Ocean-Asia region in 2007,^[1] eighth best Asian-Pacific island destination in 2005, seventh in 2004 and in 2009.

Manila

Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities comprising Metro Manila.

Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast, and Pasay to the south.

Makati, Philippines

The City of Makati (pronounced /məˈkɑːtɪ/ mə-kah-tee; Filipino: Makati) is one of the 16 cities that make up Metro Manila, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. Makati is the financial center of the Philippines and one of the major financial, commercial and economic hubs in Asia^{[citation needed]}. As the host of various embassies, it is also an important center for international affairs.

Makati became the financial center of the Philippines during the 1950s. Many districts and landmarks in the city have become well known to outsiders. Makati has been iconified as the "Financial Capital of the Philippines". Anchored by Ayala Avenue, Makati is the financial capital of the Philippines and is the home of the Philippine Stock Exchange and the Makati Business Club, one of the most important economic hubs in the Philippines.

Shop and stroll at Mall of Asia

SM Mall of Asia (MOA) is a shopping mall owned and developed by SM Prime Holdings, the largest mall developer and owner in the Philippines. It is the 2nd largest shopping mall in the Philippines and the 4^thlargest shopping mall in the world. It has a land area of 42 hectares and has a gross floor area of an approximate 390,193 m² and 407,101 m² of total area. The mall is located at Bay City, Pasay City, Philippines just near the SM Central Business Park, the Manila Bay and the southern end of EDSA (Epifanio de los Santos Avenue). The mall attracts a daily average foot traffic of 200,000 people.

The SM Mall of Asia mall grounds consists of four buildings interconnected by walkways; the Main Mall, the Entertainment Mall, and the North and South Carpark Buildings.The Main Mall includes shopping and dining establishments and the food court. The Entertainment Mall is a two-story complex, a majority of which is open-air, facing Manila Bay.

The mall's 5,000 parking spaces are divided across two, six-story parking buildings conveniently designated the North and South parking buildings. The South Parking building houses the mall's official SM Department Store, while the mall's supermarket, the SM Hypermarket is located within the North Parking building.

One of the mall's somewhat-unique features is a 20-seater tram traveling around the mall grounds to ferry shoppers around. The mall includes branches of all of the standard anchor stores found in most of the SM Supermalls. The first-ever branch of Taste Asia, one of the SM Supermalls' food court brands, is located right outside the mall's supermarket, the sprawling SM Hypermarket.

One of the mall’s main attractions is the first ever IMAX theater in the country, along with a Director's Club Theater for intimate screenings, a Premiere Cinema, and the CenterStage Cinema which can used for live musical concerts and theatrical performances. The San Miguel-Coca-Cola IMAX Theatre is one of the world's biggest IMAX screens in 3D. In addition to the mall's special theaters, it also has six regular two-tiered movie theaters similar to the ones found in almost every SM Supermall.

The mall features the Philippines's first Olympic-sized ice skating rink. At 61 by 30 meters, the rink is described as the biggest of its kind in Southeast Asia. It can accomodate both recreational and competitive figure skating, as well as ice hockey. Along with plain access and skate rentals, the rink's operators also offer training programs in both figure skating and ice hockey. Sevaral ice skating competitions have been held at the mall's ice skating rink, the most prestigious yet having been Skate Asia 2007. It was also the first time that the Philippines had hosted any international ice skating event. The mall's open-air Music Hall directly facing the sea has also held several events, contests and concerts

Wildlife

Siargao

this place is another surfers dream. The place offers you waves that can curl up to 12 feet high. Aside from the waves, the place also has beaches that still remains unspoiled by urban lifestyle.

Pagudpud

if you’re looking for a place that can be like Hawaii, Pagudpud is the place to visit. The strong winds and waves can be compared to that of Hawaii which makes this place often visited by surfers. Pagudpud also has long continuous white sands and inviting beach waters for people looking to just swim. Compared to Boracay, this place is more secluded.

Mactan

Mactan Island – the queen city of the South, Cebu, also has its fair share of great beaches. One of them is the so called Mactan Island. It is a tropical island resort. It provides tourist with great entertainment such as night life activities that will spice up the visit.

July 24, 2011

Banaue Rice Terraces

The Banaue Rice Terraces (Tagalog: Hagdan-hagdang Palayan ng Banawe) also called Payew, are 2000-year old terraces that were carved into the mountains of Ifugao in the Philippines by ancestors of the indigenous people. The Rice Terraces are commonly referred to by Filipinos as the "Eighth Wonder of the World".^[1]^[2]^[3] It is commonly thought that the terraces were built with minimal equipment, largely by hand. The terraces are located approximately 1500 meters (5000 ft) above sea level and cover 10,360 square kilometers (about 4000 square miles) of mountainside. They are fed by an ancient irrigation system from the rainforests above the terraces. It is said that if the steps are put end to end it would encircle half the globe.^[4]

Boracay

Ang Boracay ay isang tropikal na pulo na tinatayang matatagpuan 315 km (200 milya) sa timog ng Maynila at 2 km sa hilaga-kanlurang dulo ng pulo ng Panay sa Silangang Visayas sa Pilipinas. Isa ito sa mga sikat na destinasyon ng mga turista sa bansa. Binubuo ang pulo ng mga barangay ng Manoc-Manoc, Balabag, at Yapak (3 sa 17 barangay na binubuo ng bayan ng Malay), at nasa ilalim ng pamamahala ng Philippine Tourism Authority (Autoridad ng Turismo sa Pilipinas) na may ugnayan sa Pamahalaang Panlalawigan ng Aklan.