1. Intramuros

This walled “city” is located in Manila. It served as a walled settlement of the Spaniards during their occupation of the country and, as such, has its own museums as well as churches and wonderful ruins. Today, this well-preserved Intramuros is one of the visited places in the Philippines.

2. Rizal Park

Also called Luneta, this is a very good place if you want a leisurely walk. This park is dedicated to the Philippines’ national hero, Jose Rizal, who was not only a poet but a very good writer during the Spanish era, and this was also the place where he was executed. Now, this is a popular place for picnics.

3. Baywalk

This is a walking distance from the Rizal Park. You can find here numerous restaurants and bars offering wonderful foods and drinks. This is also a nice place to stroll along as well as listen to the many bands that play at night.

4. Mount Pinatubo

This majestic volcano that wreaked havoc in the lives of Filipinos during the early 1990s is located in Pampanga. Here, you can take guided hikes on some parts of its slope. You can also take a refreshing dip in Pinatubo’s crater lake.

5.  Nayong Pilipino

If you want to tour famous destinations of the Philippines in one spot, then visit Nayong Pilipino. This cultural park has a miniature Philippine Islands including some of the beautiful spots of the country. You can also buy here some native foods as well as souvenirs.

6. Camp John Hay

When you visit Baguio, the country’s summer capital, be sure to visit also Camp John Hay. This used to be an American Military area but was later given to the Philippine government. Now, it is a recreational center with golf club, and it also offers horseback riding as well as camping.

7.  Boracay

Boracay Island is located in the Visayas Region. What this beautiful island offers is its majestic white sand beaches. This is a popular tourist destination of not only the locals but the foreigners as well, and there are a lot of activities here like the usual water sports as well as trendy bars and discos during summertime.

8.  Mount Apo

This magnificent mountain can be found in Davao. Here, you can go nature tripping as well as hiking. You will also see here the Philippine Eagle, which is said to be one of the biggest eagles of the world.

9.  Mayon Volcano

This wonderful and perfectly cone-shaped volcano can be found in Bicol. What makes this a major tourist spot is that you will find here the bell tower of an old church that was buried when it erupted during the early 1800s, and also, with that major eruption, it buried the Cagsawa town. Now, this is a must-see when you visit the Philippines, and you can also buy your souvenirs here as well as the famous pili nut candy.

Hispanic cultures from Spain and Mexico have greatly influenced the development of Filipino music. These cultures have introduced musical forms like the Harana the Kundiman and Rondalla. Most of these music forms developed as a result of the fusion between tribal music styles and traditional Spanish and Mexican music. Today the influence of Spain and Mexico is still present in modern Filipino music. Modern popular music in the Philippines still has a Hispanic flavor.

Filipino Art has its roots in indigenous traditions and colonial imports. Like most cultures, the Philippines have their own style of plastic arts like sculpture and painting. However, they also have their own style of movement arts like dancing. Some of the most notable artists from the Philippines include Fernando Amorsolo, David Cortes Medalla, Nunelucio Alvardao, Juan Luna, Felix Hidalgo and Rey Paz Contreras.

Today artists from the Philippines are still making waves in the art world. This area now produces sculptures in stone, wood, cement, plastics and mixed media. Art lovers who travel to the Philippines can find both traditional and contemporary pieces that will compliment just about any décor. If you love the look and feel of Filipino sculptures, but are unable to travel to the Philippines to pick out art pieces for your home or office, then you can browse through several online galleries that specialize in Filipino art.

Every year the citizens of the Philippines host major festivities that are known as the Barrio Fiesta. This fiesta honors all the patron saints of different towns, villages, and regional districts and is celebrated by ceremonies that are held in the church followed by street parades in honor of the saints. There are various contests that include dancing and singing, and cockfight tournaments before the grand finale of the fireworks.

The Chinese also influence the Filipino culture to a large extent, and this is clearly evident in the Filipino cuisines. The locals here have termed the famous Chinese noodles as Mami. Other dishes like meat and other foodstuffs also reflect the influence of the Chinese cuisine. The influence of the Chinese culture in the Philippines is reflected in the fact that citizens occasionally use Chinese surnames, and some are proficient in speaking the language as well.

Over a century ago, the American culture began having a relative influence on the Philippines. The frequent use of the English language in the Philippines is due to the American culture influence. The American culture has also increased the demand for fast food and its chains have spread all over the Philippines. Filipinos have also started listening to the latest American music, taken to watching American movies, dancing to the American tunes, and also started fancying Hollywood actors.

The Philippine call center industry has truly grown in the past year. This is because the Philippines offer all that outsourcing offshore businesses need. First and foremost of these is the available competent workforce and relatively lower cost of labor as compared to an onshore operation. The industry has developed well and lead race in the global outsourcing industry.

Philippines call center services includes inbound customer service, outbound telemarketing, lead generation, customer contact services, finance and accounting, legal and medical transcription, logistics, administration, technical support, web development, software development, language training and human resources management. In the demand of quality customer service, these companies are now major players across the globe.

Recent technological advancements has even made it much more easier for Philippine call centers to work effectively even cross over borders and countries, of which opened up doors for the establishment of small and medium outsourcing companies in Philippines not only for United States clients but also for United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. Companies from these countries are now eyeing the Philippines as the premiere resource for the workforce. Small and medium companies have 100 to 500 call agents while the renowned call center has 1000 to 5000 call agents across the country.

1. Bank Wire Transfer

You need to set up a US dollar account at a bank in the Philippines and then wire transfer funds from your home country bank to your Philippines’ account. You wire transfer money from your home country bank by signing up with their procedures for sending wire transfers while out of the country. One you have signed up with your bank’s procedures to do this, it is a quick way to send money to the Philippines. However, it is expensive. Depending on the amount being transferred, the wire can cost as much as $75. Clearly, you would not want to transfer money more than once monthly.

2. Use a Philippine National Bank Transfer Facility.

If you are in your home country at the time of wanting to make a transfer, and there is a Philippine National Bank transfer facility nearby, a wire transfer of funds to a Philippine bank is relatively inexpensive. The fees are based on a sliding scale: the more money you transfer the bigger the fee, but the fee decreases as a percentage of the transfer as the amount of the transfer increases.

3. Use WesternUnion

This is a very reliable, very quick, but very expensive method (currently the fee runs around $68 – pretty much the same as a bank wire transfer). The advantage is the money can be delivered to one of thousands of locations in the Philippines. Simply go to a WesternUnion location, fill out their form and deliver in cash to the clerk the amount you wish to transfer.

4. Use an online money transfer website

Online companies such as Xoom and Remit Home are less expensive options ($10 to $12 per $1,000 transferred). These are easy to process while in the Philippines by simply going online, setting up and account and entering the relevant transfer data as to the bank you transferring from and the bank you are transferring into in the Philippines.

5. Use PayPal

Also internet based, but unique in that you can even transfer money by charging the transfer to your credit card. A very popular way to transfer smaller amounts of money – the transfer fee is a percentage of funds being transferred. Go to Pay Pal and follow their instructions for setting up an account with them, and then simply follow the instructions at their website for make the transfer.

6. Use an ATM machine

Like in the U.S. and other countries, ATM machines are just about everywhere in the Philippines. Once you are in the Philippines, you can draw from ATM machines at a local Philippines bank, just as you to in your home country. The funds withdrawn of course will be in the local currency (pesos), not dollars, and there are limitations on the amount which can be withdrawn on each transaction and the total daily.

7. Write a Check.

Once you are established in the Philippines and pretty well know you monthly expenditures, simply monthly deposit a dollar check into your Philippines dollar bank account for the average monthly disbursements. It takes roughly 3 weeks to clear. This is also the least expensive, as there are NO wire or internet transfer fees.

The grower plants seeds in the soil and waits for the flowers to grow, all the while taking care of it with devoted patience. The grower protects the plants from pests both from the soil and out of it by using appropriate pesticides. Fertilizer is used to enrich the soil to ensure that the flowers are “fed” properly, other than being given water and right amount of sunlight everyday.

Since The Philippines is a tropical country and therefore prone to extreme and sudden changes in the weather, growing flowers traditionally involves a lot of risk. The grower may lose all of his or her crops to an abrupt spike in the temperature or a heavy downpour of rain. This is not practical since the time, labor, and capital lost can never be replaced.

That is why Philippine flower growers utilize greenhouses in farming their flowers for commercial sale and export. Greenhouses offer a controlled environment perfect for the flowers’ optimum growth. The risk for pest invasion is drastically minimized as well, since the greenhouse is sealed. All the flowers are tended to more thoroughly in a greenhouse than in an exposed flower bed since all necessary conditions are maintained at less the cost, time, and manpower.

After harvesting, the flowers are delivered straight to the flower shops. These flower shops in turn offer flower delivery to their clients. Delivery is efficient and stress-free, which makes the flower shops competitive not only in the quality of their flowers but in the quality of service as well. In fact, delivery is not limited only within the Philippines; it also exports its flowers to the rest of the world. And why not? Their beauty is renowned and unique – only in The Philippines!

Express Regalo is an online gift shop that specializes in selling and delivering gift items made by Filipinos overseas, to their loved ones back in the Philippines. Express Regalo has made online shopping in the Philippine because of what Express Regalo can provide with their services. Express Regalo can provide a wide array of gift items from the tiniest possible gift to electronics. Express Regalo’s collection of gift items include balloons and gift baskets, beauty products, electronics and home appliances, entertainment tools, flowers, foods, NSO certificates, prepaid cards, and most toys.

Express Regalo was developed and launched to provide Filipinos abroad a fast, reliable, convenient and hassle-free way of online shopping in the Philippine. Express Regalo is owned and operated by eLBC Direct, Inc., an LBC company that is dedicated to providing Filipinos overseas access to products and services apart from the traditional products offered by LBC.

LBC has become a household name to Filipinos since launching its cargo and courier services in the Philippines during the post World War II period over half a century ago. The demand for LBC’s services grew rapidly in tandem with the number of Filipinos who moved abroad. Given this direct correlation and a trusted record of reliable performance, LBC has become a trusted name and commercial success, and thus creating Express Regalo. With Express Regalo, online shopping in the philippines has become so easy that a lot of Filipinos are now using Express Regalo’s services to send and give gifts to their families and loved ones across the Philippines and of the world.

Well, compared to developed areas in the world like Tokyo, New York, etc.. your Return Of Investment in the Philippines is most likely higher. A residential parking slot alone in Manhattan could cost you around $150,000.00 more than enough already for you to buy a first class 2 bedroom unit within a prime business area in the Philippines. The cost of a luxurious 3 bedroom unit here would just end up only buying a studio pad unit for you in London.

And, when it comes to finding a reputable real estate developer in the Philippines, Century Properties Group top the long list of names in terms of high-end projects and excellent service as well as having a proven track record for many years. Today, they have quietly grown into one of the LARGEST privately owned full-service real estate firms in the Philippines, with over 70 billion pesos in total assets under management. This company has won such accolades like the Global Excellence Award for Most Outstanding Philippine Real Estate Firm, The National Product Quality Excellence Award for Best Philippine Real Estate firm, and the Most Outstanding Housing Developer from the Philippine Business World Quality Awards.

With a 20 year heritage of innovation, excellence, and superior service, they aim to break new ground with such pioneering projects like the currently newly constructed South of Market at the Fort, the country’s FIRST fully-fitted, fully furnished residential hi-rise, Grand Soho Makati in Buendia Avenue, the only fully-fitted condo that offers residents three exceptional design choices, and Canyon Ranch, the nation’s first wi-fi residential community in the Philippines, and many more others.

Filipino golfers, on the other hand, are now looking for new and improved golf courses that would cater to their golfing needs, not to mention their overall stay in the golfing facility, wherever it may be. Today, there are a lot of golf courses to choose from, depending on the number of holes, the location, the scenery, and the simplicity of the golfing environment, including the people behind one’s golfing experience. From caddy services to golf carts availability, these factors are very much crucial to the golfer, since this would make their golfing easier, enjoyable, and relaxing all at the same time. Philippine golf has expanded ever since the first golf course was developed here in the country. As time flies, so are golf balls from Filipino golfers who are interested in this prestigious sport. Eventually, more and more golf courses are opened and played in the metro, and more Filipinos are getting their golf clubs and trying it out for themselves. Indeed, the golf industry here in the Philippines has grown and can very much accommodate all golfers from around the world, with different golf courses to choose from.

Luzon has a great range of beachfront real estate in the Philippines and is one of the most popular areas to live. Luzon is the largest and northern most island and is very popular for beachfront property. The capital city of the Philippines, Manila is also located on this part of the islands and is extremely popular for condos and single family homes. Beachfront property is very exclusive and extremely sought after here. Most of the beachfront homes available here are beautiful homes with a great deal to offer; land, large bedrooms and amazing views across the sea and sands. The Philippines also has a great range of beachfront property elsewhere and the majority of these follow the same pattern of being high quality, large and with breathtaking views. If you’re planning on moving to the Philippines or even planning on purchasing a holiday home then Beachfront real estate in the Philippines is your best bet. You can spend the summer relaxing and recharging and most of the properties are only a short distance from the capital city or nearby towns so you don’t have to be completely secluded.