From The Manila Hotel, Rizal Park is right there. Cross Roxas Boulevard in the morning, early enough to beat the heat and the crowds, and you walk straight into it. The Rizal Monument is visible almost immediately. A 12-meter bronze figure rising above the sunken garden at the park’s eastern end. The honor guard flanking […]
Rizal Park in Manila: Walking the Ground Where a Nation Was Born Read More »
The first time you pass through the gates of Intramuros, you feel the shift before you understand it. Modern Manila disappears. The noise doesn’t. This is still a city, but the register changes. Cobblestones replace asphalt. Walls that have absorbed four centuries of history rise on either side. You are no longer in contemporary Manila.
Intramuros in Manila: Where the Philippines Keeps Its Past Alive Read More »
The Visayan Islands occupy the center of the Philippine archipelago. They cover three administrative regions: Western Visayas, Central Visayas, and Eastern Visayas. The major islands include Panay, Cebu, Bohol, Negros, Leyte, Samar, and Siquijor, along with hundreds of smaller islands and islets. The diversity within this one region is considerable. A diver, a history reader,
Top 10 Tourist Destinations in the Visayan Islands Read More »
My first trip to Thailand came down to a single planning decision: which version of the country to see first. Thailand offers several wildly different travel experiences, and trying to combine too many of them on one trip results in a week of airports rather than a week of places. I chose Chiang Mai in
Chiang Mai and Krabi: Two Sides of Thailand Worth Understanding Read More »
The Philippines is one of the most rewarding destinations in Asia for older travelers. The combination of warm hospitality, affordable costs, good English-language communication, and an enormous variety of island environments makes it well-suited for those who want genuine travel experiences without unnecessary difficulty. The climate is consistent, the food is safe and appealing, and
The Senior Traveler’s Guide to Philippine Island Adventures Read More »
The Philippines contains more than 7,000 islands. Most visitors reach three or four on a single trip, which means the first decision is not where to stay but where to begin. The wrong starting point is trying to cover everything. The right one is understanding what each major destination actually offers and matching that against
Best Island Trips in the Philippines: A Guide to the Top Destinations Read More »
The first thing you notice when you drive into Mabinay from the coast is that the ground is hollow. Not literally, not in any way you can see from the road. Mabinay sits atop more than 500 documented caves. This is the largest concentration of caves in the Philippines. Once you know that, the landscape
Natural Wonders of Negros Island: Volcanoes, Caves, Waterfalls, & Wildlife Read More »
My family has a home in Mabinay, in the interior of Negros Oriental, not far from Mabinay Springs. When you drive in from the coast, the land changes. The sugarcane flats give way to karst limestone hills. Then the hills fold into each other, and you understand that you are somewhere old. Mabinay sits atop
The History of Negros Island: From Ancient Kingdoms to the Sugar Republic Read More »
Every traveler to Negros Island faces an early decision: which province to visit? A central mountain spine divides the island into two provinces, each with unique cultures, economies, and attractions. Negros Occidental, on the west, is known as the sugar province. Its capital, Bacolod, is the island’s largest city. The province features hacienda-style architecture and
The waters surrounding Negros Island lie within the Coral Triangle. This is a roughly triangular area of tropical seas bounded by the Philippines, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. It contains more species of reef fish, coral, and marine invertebrates than any other comparable area of ocean on Earth. The Coral Triangle is to marine biodiversity
I watched the MassKara Festival street dancers for the first time and understood. I learned something about Negros Island that the history books had been circling around. The dancers were not performing happiness. They were insisting on it. The masks, hundreds of them, painted gold and white with fixed smiles, were not decoration. They were
The first time I dived in Cebu, I was already in the water. The boat captain had said sardines, and I pictured a school. What I dropped into at Moalboal was not a school. It was a city. Millions of them, moving in formation thirty meters below the surface, compressing and expanding in shapes that
