So the wakeboarders have discovered the Philippines, and the surfing scene is alive and stoked. After almost 1,000 dives and 22 years of making bubbles here and abroad, I still believe that, illegal fishing and embattled coral reefs notwithstanding, our country offers some of the best diving on earth.
“If they told me the only way I would get here was by swimming, I would try.” —Joe Bataan
About six years ago, I wrote a piece on Puerto Galera. I was in love with a French intern in Tabinay, and my article was peppered with lines like “a sea as blue as Paul Newman’s eyes,” and dreamy voyaging and sap and wanderlust.
Poised for retirement, Italian Ambassador Luca Fornari looks at the transition philosophically and with optimism.
The idea of having pioneering reggae star Jimmy Cliff and outstanding soul singer Joss Stone perform in a music festival with a mountain as backdrop is not farfetched in Europe or the United States. But if it will happen in the Philippines, that would be mind-bending.
There’s nothing quite like it in the Philippines—a three-day music and arts festival headlining some of the most exciting local and international performers, along with progressive visual artists exhibiting their works, at an open-air venue in a majestic mountainside called Malasimbo, about 10 minutes’ drive from Puerto Galera in Oriental Mindoro.
What keeps us so excited for summer each year? The beach! The sun! The sand! Just a few of the usual answers you’ll get from any summer junkie. But people are anything but usual nowadays — we’re now in a world where summer gets us excited for other real world reasons: the air flight bookings, the windy boat rides, the beach activities. Each of us chases that unique escapade from the city, to a place where we can take pictures of ourselves obviously living a good life for all our Instagram followers to see.
With the likes of Jimmy Cliff and Joss Stone playing, it’s the rare music aficionado who can resist the song of the siren beckoning.
Who says all Victoria’s Secret models are six feet tall with hourglass figures? I felt very Victoria when I sashayed down the Speedo ramp, complete with wings, feathers and crown, for the swimwear brand’s Spring-Summer 2014 fashion show, “Evolution.”
Apart from the captivating ambience of Puerto Galera, there is much to discover and experience in the province of Oriental Mindoro, an hour and 10 minutes ride via fast craft from the Port of Batangas City.
