South East Asian Trips

Philippines is situated in South-East Asia and is an archipelago of more than 7,100 beautiful tropical islands with a total land area of 300,000 Sq. Km (116,000 Sq miles). The country borders the Philippine Sea on the east, the South China Sea on its west, and the Celebes Sea to its south.

The islands of Philippines are divided into three island groups of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao and each of the island group have its own natural and man made tourist attractions. The capital city of the country, Manila, is on Luzon and is the second largest city after Quezon City which is a part of Metro Manila also in Luzon.

Most of the Filipino islands are mountainous and many are still covered in lush tropical rainforest. Many of the islands are formed out of volcanic activities. The highest mountain in Phillipines is Mount Apo on the South-Eastern island of Mindanao. The summit of Mt Apo stands at 2,954 m or 9,692 ft.

Since the country is located on northwestern part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, it frequently experience seismic and volcanic activities. About 20 seismic activities are recorded everyday in the Philippines although most of them are too weak to be felt physically by human beings. However, periodically, a monster quake will cause serious devastations such as the one that rocked Luzon in 1990.

On top of that, there are still many active volcanoes in the Phillipines such as Mayon Volcano, Mount Pinatubo (an eruption in 1991 killed hundreds of people and destroyed several thousand homes), and Taal Volcano.

Now when these mountains are dormant, they can make your sightseeing trips very eventful as they are astounding sights to behold.

To add to the misery, Philippines is also sitting in the typhoon prone area of the Western Pacific and several such storms are known to smash into the country every year.

As if natural calamities are not bad enough, the country also faces armed rebels trying to create an independent state in the south, especially in the Zamboanga peninsula, Basilan, Midanao and the Sulu islands.

Philippines Travel Advisory - Tourists are advised not to travel to these areas and if they do so, then travel with local guides are recommended because government troops are fighting the rebels there and it could get dangerous.

There are also instances of terrorist bombings in Makati and even in Manila. Most of these terrorist acts are linked to the Abu Sayaf group of armed rebels.