halfwhiteboy

I've long wanted to visit this place and after braving the three-hour drive to Bagac, Bataan, I was finally able to. Sitting on a vast property close to the sea, Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar is a heritage resort where 18th to early-20th century Philippine houses, or casas , from several parts across the country have been rebuilt and clustered together to resemble a colonial-era Philippine community. There are mansions, stone houses, and even wooden houses on stilts, replete with cobblestone streets, sidewalks, and even bridges. The setting sun casts a silhouette, framed beautifully by an arc from one of the casas. I must admire how the resort owners have scoured the archipelago for such decaying structures, disassembled them, and then reassembled them -- brick by brick, plank by plank, as they say. Not that this endeavor, apart from being business-driven, has been spared from criticism from some sectors who argue that they aren't actually preserving them because the ho...

We were blessed with glorious sunsets for the three days we spent at Sugar Beach in Sipalay. For the first two days it rained mid-afternoon, causing me to worry about my prospects of getting completely sun-soaked there. But consistently, the clouds parted by sundown, revealing a sun that made a daily exit in spectacular fashion, easily turning this place into one of my favorite sunset spots. Here are a few photos I'm sharing with you... Day 1 With the rain that had just stopped, the sky was left with lots of clouds when the sun began revealing itself again. The result was simply magnificent, and the clouds alone were worthy of being photographed sans the sun.

Being an archipelago, it's no surprise that the Philippines is home to a lot -- and I mean, a lot -- of great beaches. But the idea that there are also a few good ones in the southern part of Negros Occidental in the Visayas seems largely unheard of for most Filipinos. One of these is the kilometer-long Sugar Beach in the city of Sipalay , a land far, far away. The lovely Sugar Beach. Looking for a nice, quiet beach far from the chaotic Holy Week crowd, My Bibe and I spent four nights at Sugar Beach. I first read about it from a magazine when we were at Anda, Bohol back in 2010, and was convinced to include it in my travel list. Finally the time was right. Going to Sugar Beach reminded me of my earlier travels with My Bibe, where we regularly sought off-the-beaten-track destinations, usually with no hotel reservations whatsoever. We didn't completely dive back to that, however, as we still managed to afford ourselves some level of comfort. We flew to Bacolo...

One of the Philippines's top dive sites is Apo Reef in Mindoro Occidental, which should not be confused with Apo Island in Dumaguete. Renowned for its atoll-like reef, which, at 34 square kilometers, is said to be the second-largest in the world, Apo Reef is truly a diver's paradise. Though I did it once, I don't really dive. Nevertheless, while we were at Pandan Island back in April 2007, My Bibe and I thought we'd be happy with just snorkeling and went on a day trip to Apo Reef. I mean, with a view like this one below, how can you resist not going there? A view midway to the top of the lighthouse on Apo Reef. It may be a coral reef system but it's not all sea and corals here; there's actually a small island on top of it (three, in fact), which affords divers and non-divers alike a place to camp and sunbathe. A protected area and national park, tours to Apo Island are managed and controlled by the Sablayan local government. Lucky for us, Pandan Islan...

I'm definitely feeling the heat, and it's automatically transmitting signals to my tiny brain that summer is here, and that it's high time for vacations -- to the beach especially. This got me all of a sudden into a reminiscing mode, recalling the many places I've been to that I want to visit again and share with you. I'm calling it the " I wanna go back to " series. First off is the tiny island of Pandan in Mindoro Occidental that My Bibe and I first visited in April of 2007. It's a small outcrop just a few meters into the sea from the mainland in Sablayan , a mere 10 to 15-minute boat ride, where a small resort operates.

Yes, it's been almost ten years since I've first been to Palawan's famed Underground River . Now it's officially been named one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature , so I thought it was high time to revisit the place. Besides, My Bibe has never been there before. The Underground River is part of the 22,202-hectare Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park (PPSRNP). It also is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999. Once in Puerto Princesa City, it's an approximately two-hour drive to the village of Sabang , the jump-off to the river. Though 50km away from the city proper, Sabang is still part of Puerto Princesa. Thankfully the zigzagging road is now mostly concrete with just a few rough patches.

Oops! Just hours after the Department of Tourism's new slogan was unveiled, controversy already hounded It's more fun in the Philippines . A poster of another tourism campaign from another country 60 years back in time quickly surfaced on the web: It's more fun in Switzerland! Source Just as news of the new slogan spread like wildfire across the web, so did the controversy. The DOT immediately dismissed the similarity, however, as a coincidence. And I believe them. It's not like "It's more fun" is highly original and unique; chances are it's been used somewhere else by someone else at some point in time. Just last the year the same government agency (under a different leadership) was lampooned for allegedly copying Poland's tourism campaign for its now-scrapped Pilipinas Kay Ganda slogan. The DOT Secretary quickly resigned right after. Not that I'm head over heels over the new slogan but can we just give it a try and just all mo...

It's more fun in the Philippines. That's the new slogan that will underscore the country's revitalized tourism campaign, as unveiled by the Department of Tourism just this morning. As he had already been stressing before, Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. said the slogan answers the fundamental question, "Why the Philippines?"  After that controversial slogan, Pilipinas Kay Ganda , which, thankfully, was scrapped, I have mixed feelings about this one. I like it but at the same time I'm not sure. Or maybe it needs a little getting used to, I guess. Jimenez himself said that it's "so deceptively simple" but after reading through his other statements, I kinda see where they're going.