Traveling Rockhopper

Banaue or the Batad Rice Terraces and Bangaan Rice Terraces is an amazing site with rice terraces, listed as the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Some people even say, that it’s the most beautiful place in the Philippines. I’ll show you my favorite site soon, it’s not Banaue, but Banaue is definitely a must-see in the Philippines.

Manila is the capital of the Philippines and it’s its the most populous city.
I guess, the majority of tourists enter the Philippines in Manila and then visit the capital.
I didn’t have so much time in Manila, however from that what I’ve seen, I wasn’t really impressed. But, it’s a good starting point for many trips.

When I travel somewhere, I’m always happy if I don’t’ have to deal with the bureaucracy to organize a visa. Well, sometimes it’s very easy to get a visa, but for other countries it may be very problematic.

To enter the Philippines, many nationalities don’t need a visa; and can stay there up to 30 days. That’s very convenient. 🙂

In the Philippines, you’ll see many of these funny, colorful cars. They are very popular, not only among the tourists.
They’re made from US military jeeps left over from World War II.
They are called Jeepney.

If you’re in the Philippines, you just have to take a ride with Jeepney. 🙂
But be aware, they may take many (tooooo many 😉 ) passengers, even over 50!

Flight delays are apparently quite common in the Philippines. They may be caused by bad weather conditions or simply by technical problems. Well, it’s like it is, so don’t make your schedules too tight. 😉

The Philippines are a land of volcanoes, also active ones.
That makes the landscapes more special and beautiful, but it also makes the country more dangerous.

There is something more, you should have in mind before planning your trip to the Philippines.
The Philippines are located on the Pacific Ring of Fire and close to the equator. That makes earthquakes, typhoons, monsoon rains, floods or landslides, and volcanic eruptions more likely to occur in the Philippines.
It’s never boring there…

Is it dangerous to visit the Philippines?
Well, it may be… If you’re lucky, everything may be fine; but you have to be aware of terrorists attacks or kidnaps. Some regions of the Philippines, especially Mindanao, should be avoided by travelers.

Currently, you can also find warnings concerning Zika virus in the Philippines.

Just be aware of everything before traveling!
Of course, “something” may happen everywhere, but some places are more dangerous.

The Philippines has a tropical maritime climate.
There are two seasons in the Philippines, wet (May to October) and dry (November to April).

If you’re planing to visit the Philippines, it’s good to know that English is one of the official languages (together with Filipino). This “travel convenience” originates from the American occupation in years 1898–1946.

Filipino people are known from smiling a lot. 🙂
If you visited the Philippines, let me know do you agree with this!

The Philippines consist of more than 7600 islands! That’s an impressive number!
I guess, a random tourist visits only a few islands; maybe it’s not much, but enough to see some wonderful places. 🙂
(p.s. I’m also a random tourist 😉 )

The Philippines is officially called the Republic of the Philippines.
In Filipino language people say Filipinas or Pilipinas, so the name is very similar to the English one.

Welcome to the Philippines!
This November on my blog is going to be all about the Philippines.
So if you feel cold, I can promise you many sunny pictures. 🙂

Have you ever been to the Philippines?

October is almost over, so it’s time to say “Bye bye Russia” on my blog.
How did you like my travel impressions this month?

Russia is a large country, and I’ve seen only a tiny part of it. However, I can recommend places I’ve visited, i.e., Moscow and Saint Petersburg (with their vicinity), and Caucasus Mountains.
I hope to visit Russia again because of two sites: the Lake Baikal and Kamchatka.

What kind of place in Russia would you recommend the most?

p.s. Tomorrow we’re “flying” to a warm country. 🙂
Stay tuned!

It’s not exactly a lake on today’s picture, but it was probably the closest what I have. 🙂
I wanted to write a few words about the Lake Baikal. I haven’t visited it yet, but it’s still on my list. The only problem, I dream of seeing it in winter… Maybe, you’ve seen amazing pictures of Baikal taken in winter? Unfortunately, I almost feel cold even from thinking about it. 😀

Lake Baikal is the deepest and biggest lake in world; one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It’s located in Siberia.

Have you seen the Lake Baikal (maybe even in winter)?

Do you know, what’s the highest mountain in Europe? Well, it’s a bit tricky question. Depending, how you define the border between Europe and Asia, one can say Mont Blanc (Monte Bianco, 4808 m above sea level) or Mount Elbrus (5642 m above sea level).
Let’s say here, that Mount Elbrus is the highest mountain in Russia (Caucasus) and Europe; and Mont Blanc is the highest mountain in Western Europe and in the European Union. 🙂

Elbrus, as you see in today’s picture, has two summits; they are inactive volcano domes (5642 m and 5621 m).

The Caucasus Mountains are located in four countries, i.e., Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Russia.
I was lucky to visit them in Russia, and many pictures from this month on my blog, show these beautiful mountains. I hope, you like them. 🙂

The Hermitage Museum is the most iconic place in Saint Petersburg.
For me, it was the most important place I wanted to visit there. It was a nice surprised to me, the Hermitage was for free for students, so I went there a few times 🙂
All collections are really impressive as well as the buildings!

Saint Petersburg (used to known as Petrograd and Leningrad) was founded by Peter the Great in 1703. Today, it’s the second biggest Russian city (after Moscow).
Saint Petersburg is a great tourist attraction. It has a lovely historic center, wonderful museum the Hermitage and many many bridges (more than in Venice). 😉

Saint Petersburg is a very popular destination in summer because of “white nights” (=long daylight). Of course, there are many places that are located quite far to north and you can experience there this phenomena; but Saint Petersburg is somehow famous because of white nights. 🙂