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If you drive three hours outside of Manila, and take a boat from Batangas Bay, there are hundreds of islands to choose from. We chose an uninhabited, lush island of Sepoc Island. Four footpaths line and cut through the island. Bring your snorkel gear from Eagle Rock Resort and snorkel from each of the 3 beaches.

On a recent visit to Manila, friends suggested getting out of the heat and traffic and visiting the Pinto Art Gallery & Museum. Situated on a hilltop in Antipolo with grand views of the city, the museum houses a substantial private collection of Philippine contemporary art. My family started its visit at the gallery of rotating exhibits and walked downhill through several Spanish-styled stucco buildings spread across a hillside. The Tagalog word for door is pinto, and through these airy and light-filled buildings, one enters and exits the many doors of Filipino social and political consciousness as expressed in the lively works of many creative Filipino artists. Of note, the Antipolo Cathedral holds one of the most famous and revered images from the Spanish empire of the 16th to 19th centuries, Nuestra Señora de Paz y Buen Viaje.

If you’re craving for Italian food in Manila, and love those little quaint places, you should visit this place. It’s not in your usual tourist areas, it’s located in Cubao Expo in Cubao, Quezon City, about 20 km from Makati. The Cubao area is more known to the locals as it houses a large wet market, as well as to the sports and live concert enthusiasts who attend events at the popular Araneta Coliseum. In the past, kids loved this area too as there used to be a large indoor carnival. Recently, the commercial area has been rehabilitated, and now also includes a large upscale mall and hypermarket. The owner of Bellini’s is an Italian married to a Filipina and both of them are heavily involved in their restaurant business since 1999. Their food is great as they are all freshly made and uses quality ingredients. Try the beef carpaccio, the pizza is excellent too and I also love their pasta. I also love the decor, they put together some Italian icons on the walls and ceilings and even has a mini Tower of Pisa inside the restaurant :-) After your meal, you can also explore Cubao Expo, which includes small stores selling arts and other quirky stuff. It also has a weekend flea market. If you prefer more upscale shopping, you can go the nearby Gateway Mall.

Located in Tagaytay in Luzon, just an hour and a half by car from Manila, Taal Volcano has a complex and unique landscape and offers one of the most picturesque views in the Philippines. Taal Lake is a freshwater lake that partly fills the Taal Caldera, a large collapsed area formed during prehistoric eruptions. Within the lake is the nine-square-mile Volcano Island, which is the active part of the volcano and consists of at least 47 cones and craters, including the Binintiang Malaki cinder cone, which looks how you imagine a volcano should. In the center of Volcano Island is the crater lake, which hosts a small rocky island called Vulcan Point. So there is an island within a lake on an island (which is a volcano) within a lake on an island! (Vulcan Point is in the crater lake on Volcano Island, which is in Taal Lake, which is on the island of Luzon.) The volcano has not erupted since the seventies, though there are occasional signs of unrest. Visiting Taal’s crater lake is a great day-trip option: You hop on a boat across Taal Lake to Volcano Island, where you can hike or ride on horseback to the crater lake. Or you can simply take in the great vistas from Tagaytay, enjoying the cool weather and exploring the many places to eat.

Bantayan Island’s fine white sand beaches and clear light blue waters are as enchanting as far busier Boracay, minus the noise and go go go night life. The island’s Ogtong Cave Resort offers a well-kept landscaped garden, a pool, and individual cottages, but the real draw is a cave below the resort grounds, where you can explore and wade in the waters. Rooms at the resort are simple and comfortable. The resort offers doubles up to family rooms with plenty of room for kids. There are two pools on the ground, with one reserved for resort guests. The usual jump off point is Cebu, a one-hour flight away from Metro Manila. You then take an almost 3-hour bus ride from North Terminal to Hagnaya for a 75-minute boat to Santa Fe, Bantayan. You can also opt to take a private van or taxi for a more comfortable and faster ride. Don’t be put off by the long travel time--the beach, cave, and everything else at the resort are well worth what it takes to get there.

Kayangan Lake is dubbed as the cleanest lake in Asia. It can be found in Coron and the Calamian Islands, in Northern Palawan. Loved the views there, the word “breathtaking” appropriately describes it. The lake is quite deep, has crystal clear emerald colored waters, and limestone mountains towering around. If you’ve watched the movie Blue Lagoon, this is exactly how it looks and feels :-) Coron is about an hour’s plane ride from Metro Manila. The airport is also referred to as Busuanga Airport. From Coron Town, it takes a 30-minute boat ride to arrive at the jump off point, where you will have to hike up some 250 rocky steps to get to the lake. Some people say its 150 steps and some 50 steps, haha, I lost count! I guess it depends on how big your step is. Anyway, it’s about 15 minutes up. Halfway up the pathway among the forests, there is a tiny viewing area where you can peek through to see the view on this photograph. Funny as everyone who’s been there takes this same shot. That’s because there’s hardly any space for you to maneuver and take the shot from a different angle. We continued our way up the rocky steps on to see a small opening leading to the enchanting Kayangan Lake where you can have a refreshing swim in the perfect combination of salty sea water and clear mountain spring.

On any visit to the Philippines you can see people crowding into bright colored automobiles called the Jeepney. They are the most popular mode of public transportation in the Philippines! I became completely obsessed with the Jeepney upon my first visit to the country. The Jeepney has become ubiquitous with Filipino culture. The more flamboyant the paint job and the decorations the better. Often times the decorations make absolutely no sense although religious references and air brushed portraits of family and children are common attributes. The brighter the better to attract the customers needing rides. The Jeepney is a relic of WWII when the US military started to sell off the surplus jeeps to local Filipinos. Although I have heard many Filipinos tell me that a Filipino invented the “Jeep”… one of many claims I have heard during my visits to the Philippines. Riding in a Jeepney is a cultural experience that should be had when visiting the Philippines but know that they are crowded, hot, and are often filled with exhaust fumes especially if you’re in Manila. They have also been known to be robbed from time to time, so a tourist visiting the Philippines would want to share this experience with locals that know the Jeepney drivers and their routes.

Ugong Rock is a beginner spelunker’s joy--though people with a fear of tight spaces should opt out. You climb through a maze of tight passages, crawling through the small holes between the rocks, squeezing through tight spaces, and climbing up steep rocks. The caving takes 30-40 minutes and is well worth the effort. At the top of the cave, there are great views of the green terrain below. Then you can go back down through the cave’s maze and rapel down the rocks or, faster!, take a 21-second trip on a zipline. Ugong Rock is located in Tagabinet, Puerto Princesa in Palawan - about an hour’s plane ride from Metro Manila.

Three years back, a couple of friends & I went to visit the Bicol region in the Philippines. Ever since I was a kid in school, we learned that Bicol is known for one of Philippine’s most popular attractions, the Mayon Volcano, the most beautiful and still active volcano up to this day. I first saw this in one of the Reader’s Digest books called Natural Wonders of the World. I was so amazed that it was included considering that there were only 2 entries from the Philippines, and the rest of the places from countries I never even heard about. So finally, after 4 decades, I was able to visit this place. Upon arriving at Legazpi City, Mayon should already be visible from the airport. Unfortunately, for us, the sky was covered with clouds. Locals say she (Mayon) is very shy. But since we’re staying for about 5 days in the region, we’ll probably get to see the whole volcano clearly at one point if we get to know her better :-) We have proceeded to other provinces and returned, and it was still cloudy. Finally, as we arrived at the airport to head home, Mayon showed up majestically and so gracefully outside our van window and this is the shot I took. Mayon is considered one of the most perfectly symmetrical triangle shaped cone, just like how a kid would draw a volcano. I was amazed at how she (Mayon) was always so close and just in front of us, but we just could not see it because it was totally covered by the clouds. Legazpi City is arnd a 1-hr flight from Manila.

A visit to Tagaytay is not complete without a stop at Museo Orlina. From a beautiful point above Taal Lake and volcano, this small museum houses the artist Ramon Orlina’s collection of his work. An architect turned sculptor, Orlina’s glass sculptures are a yin-yang of smooth and jagged, sinuous and craggy. The museum has four levels, named after each of his children. A rooftop deck offers a splendid view of the azure lake. Lunch at one of the nearby restaurants and a visit to the museum make a perfect afternoon excursion from Manila.

Pagsanjan Falls is quite well known for Shooting the Rapids which is an exhilirating experience as you ride on a small wooden local canoe that brings you upstream along the narrow gorge to reach the Falls. What makes it special is that 1) the boatmen had to paddle upstream without really using an oar but rather their feet as you can see the guy in the photo doing 2) they had to carry the canoe up the large boulders along the way. Poor boatmen, we thought, as our boat was carrying 3 heavy women, hahaha! 3) precise and accurate maneuvering by the boatmen while our boat went back downstream and this time at a faster pace. Sometimes, I could barely open my eyes (a small error could cause the boat to crash into the rocks)! As you reach the falls, you will arrive a calm pool of water and breathtaking view of the falls. You have the option to hop on a bamboo raft which will pull you into the Devil’s Cave as you pass under the strong current of the waterfall - the locals call this a “natural massage”. The water was falling so hard I had to hold my breath as we passed under it. And we had to put all our dry stuff inside a sealed plastic bag. I went there the first time when I was in my early teens and again just a few years ago. The experience was still as exhilirating as it was :-) We stayed at La Corona Resort which was ok and clean. And the tour of the falls can be arranged through them as well. Pagsanjan, Laguna is just about 2-1/2 hours drive from Metro Manila.

I’ve always wanted to go sailing at least once in my life, and I mean on one of the hobie cats where I can participate in and not the big party sailing yachts. I used to live in San Francisco and enjoy watching the small sailboats go out on the bay on really nice days. Little did I know that I would be doing my first sailing back home :-) Three of us friends drove to this place in Taal Lake, about 1-1/2 hours away from Metro Manila, to take our first introductory lesson on sailing. We had no idea what it entailed but were really excited. We arrived, met our instructor and he sat us in a lecture hut to give us a bit of theoretical knowledge, and off we went into our hobie cat and started our way out the lake. It was hard trying to learn the concepts and terms while at the same time applying them in real life. We each learned to steer the boat using the rudder, release the ropes on the sail and also helped balance out the boat while it turned. We also learned how to tell where the wind was blowing (was it leeward or windward, haha) and watch for signs from the waves too. For a while there, the winds grew stronger and we tried to sail on, but after a while, the instructor made the call to return to shores given that it will be too risky for newbies like us. It was overwhelming, not knowing anything about the sea to begin with. But it was definitely an exciting day for us, and we did learn a lot about sailing. If newbies like us can do it, anyone can do it :-)

Early this year, we went on a mini trek to Mt. Pinatubo, a volcano which erupted in 1991 and was one of the largest eruption in the 20th century. It lasted for nine hours and caused major earthquakes. As a result, the entire summit collapsed and created a caldera. This eruption caused the lost of at least 800 lives and damaged the properties & economy in the area. Before that, it was unremarkable covered in dense forest & supported several thousands of indigenous people called the Aetas. Today, you can trek up to the crater lake which was formed after the eruption. Water is sulfuric, although swimming is allowed near the banks. Along the way, you can still see the ash formations left behind by the eruption. A small Aeta community still survives in the area, but outside of the main volcano area, the region has nursed its way back to fertile lands. If you’re looking for an adventurous outdoor activity, this is a good day trip option. From Metro Manila, you go by land to Capas, Tarlac. You will then ride a 4x4 along the dusty terrain for about 30 minutes. After which, you will trek the rocky terrain and cross small streams for about 2 hours to get to the crater lake. You do not need to be a hiker to do this, as it has a relatively smooth elevation. At the crater lake, you can have a picnic lunch there and go boating if the weather is good. Upon return to Capas, you can take go for a relaxing mud spa at the Pinatubo Spa Town, before heading back to the city.

This photo has not been retouched. And ironically, when we pulled into Secret Lagoon (yep - that’s the actual name), no one was there. I expected hordes of tourists, but it lived up to its name. You can book a 3-day boat tour with several companies. I went with Abandon Paradise Expeditions. It was incredible. Deserted beaches, tent camping, and a guy who speared and then cooked fish over an open fire while we drank rum. El Nido’s a must-see in the Philippines.

Recalling Saigon’s past, Cuc Gach Quan offers fine Vietnamese fare in a cozy setting that re-creates the home of the owner’s grandmother—a French-colonial house with worn, wood-plank floors; retro furnishings; warm lighting; and a floating staircase to connect the two levels. It’s grown in popularity ever since Brad and Angelina ate here in 2011, but the menu continues to focus on Vietnamese dishes while following the approach summarized in its motto: “Eat green, live healthy.” Expect menu items such as fresh spring rolls with shrimp, crispy sea bass, and fantastic homemade tofu fried with chili and lemongrass.