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The Philippines has suffered in the tourism stakes because of its position on the map. Imelda Marcos once said it was "hamburgered" geographically. What she meant was that the Philippines receives fewer visitors than other Southeast Asian countries - about two million a year compared to Thailand's six million - because it is not part of the Southeast Asian mainland. Travellers on the traditional Asian trails tend to get as far as Thailand or Hong Kong, but ignore the Philippines because it involves an extra flight, albeit it a short one, across the South China Sea.
Perversely, it is this very lack of mass tourism that makes the Philippines such an appealing destination. If you want to explore, and if you are ready to cope with some eccentric infrastructure and a distinctly laid-back attitude towards the passage of time, the Philippines has more to offer than many of its neighbours.
The Philippines is a big country in a small package. It is the second largest archipelago in the world, with 7107 islands (sixty percent of them uninhabited) and 58,390km of coastline, all in a land mass no bigger than Arizona. Filipinos refer to it as their string of pearls. Your biggest problem is likely to be deciding which of the pearls to see first.
Most flights from outside the country land in the capital, Manila , which is choked with traffic and dilapidated, but also has some of the ritziest shopping malls and most spectacular nightlife in Asia. JM Nakpil Street in Malate on a Friday night is a sight to behold. Beatnik poets mingle with film stars, models, swaggering transvestites and a smattering of expats to create a good-natured outdoor rave that makes all other raves look tame by comparison.
For connoisseurs of beaches, the central Visayan region is an island-hoppers' paradise, with white sand everywhere and unspoiled fishing barrios where there's nothing to do at night except watch the fireflies, listen to the geckos, and perhaps share a bottle of local Tanduay rum. Palawan , one hour to the southwest of Manila by plane or an overnight journey by ferry, is an unforgettable wilderness of diamond-blue lagoons, volcanic lakes and first-rate scuba diving. In the Cordillera Mountains of the far north live tribes who make propitiatory offerings to rice gods and whose way of life has barely changed since they first settled there around 500BC. One of the few concessions they have made to modernity is to give up headhunting.
The Philippines will turn every notion you ever had of Asia on its head. Centuries of colonial rule have resulted in a delightfully schizophrenic country of potent but conflicting influences. When Magellan placed a sovereign hand on the Philippines on behalf of King Philip of Spain in 1521, he brought with him Catholicism, European architecture and the manana ethic. When monsoon rains swamp the streets, or when volcanoes erupt, a Filipino's usual reaction is to smile, throw up their hands, and say bahala-na - "what will be will be".
Three centuries after Magellan, in 1898, there was another bizarre twist in the country's colonial history when America bought the Philippines from Spain for US$20 million, part of the booty from a war the two powers had fought over Cuba. It was from America that the Philippines got its town planning, its constitution, and its passion for basketball, beauty pageants and pizza. Independence was finally granted on July 4, 1946, making the Philippines Asia's first real democracy, a fact most Filipinos remain fiercely proud of.
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