Philippines - Where our family live
Introduction	At this part of our Websites we describe the village Paombong at the Province of Bulacan,
	because most of our relatives live there. Our intention is that we visit this village and our relatives
	there more often but at the moment it is nearly impossible for us to go there. For us there are at
	the moment two reasons not to visit the Philippines. One is because of the political situation there
	(we are a bit worry with our two small children) and the other is the expenses we would have as
	family. But still we would like to describe below how you all can reach the Philippines and we want
	to share our experiances with you. Further we want describe some sightseeing points at the main
	isle of Philippines - Luzon - and at the Metropolis of Manila.
Coordinates	N 14° 82,9197' E 120° 78,9785' (Home of Family Suerte Felipe)
Location	Paombong is about 40 to 50 km northwestern of the Metropolis of Manila located.
	Very interesting too is a graphical overview of Adams, which shows the geographical regions of
	the main isle Luzon. With this overview you can see that Paombong, same as Manila, is located
	in the Central Plain between the Western (Zambales Mountains) and the Eastern Cordilleres.
	This big Central Plain is about 190 km long and 110 km width. It goes from Manila Bay at
	the south until the Gulf of Lingayan at the north.
Climate	The climate is tropical. With a mid annual temperature of over 26° Celsius and with a mid annual
	rainfall of about 2200 mm most days are wet warm with a humidity of 80% the whole year. From
	mid of May until October it is Taifun season. More Details you can read at the Philippine
	Institute for Atmospherical, Geophysical and Astronomic Services (PAGASA, see below at
	Current Weather).
Current Weather	Weather and Taifoon Forcast by PAGASA
Geology	As we note by watching a documentation on TV about Philippines and as we read in few available
	publications, Philippines is from a geological perspective more interesting than many people know
	and it has a very spectaculary gelolocial history. The Philippines are located at the western
	border of the ring of fire. Most of the isles grow by diving of oceanic plates, like the
	Philippinean plate too, under the continental plate, as for example the Eurasian plate. With that
	diving (called suduction), the bound water at the stones, which is given free with the melting
	of stones in the magma area, take care that the magma raise a bit more far with a very eruptive
	vulcanism. At the natural guide of Maren Gaulke she describe that the geolocial development
	of philippines is not fully clear, but on the TV documentation which I described earlier it
	was explained that with the raising and going down of the oceans during and after ice ages
	and lifting of parts of the philippines areas you have partly chalk based mountains, built
	by the corals of the seas, like in Palawan.
	As I described earlier, our family lives in Paombong, Bulacan, so we will focus on the Central
	Plain between the Western and Eastern Cordilleres. The Plain, that seems nearly sure was,
	based on Warren D. Smiths "Geology of Luzon", a part of an ocean. There you will find alluvial
	(transported by water) materials in the same way than pyroclastic (based on a vulcanic eruption)
	materials. We are very sorry that we cannot find further information but we promise to describe
	it here in case we will find out more.
Flora	As tropical country with a great influence of the climate of the oceans the plant and the whole
	biotops of Philippines are quite variously shaped. On the other hand you can see too very
	often big destroying of the nature by humans.
	Natural you would see - coming from ocean - the following biotops. First you will reach the
	Mangrove forest, with the characteristic species, the Mangroves. After this, after the flood line,
	the so called Beach Forest is following, with for example screwing palms (I hope that translation
	is correct, if not please as with all write me a message!). This biocoenosis can handle a bit of
	salt, why here bamboos or other palms are missing. Than the lower country Rain Forest follow.
	Typical species are Flywingtrees (german Flügelnussgewächse). This plants can handle very poor
	soils, so with sands too. At the higher regions finally you will see the mountain or fog Rain
	Forests. Examples on this biocoenosis are bay leafe plants, as for example cinnamon.
Fauna	Philippines are home of many kinds of animals, many of them are endemic. That means that you
	will find those endemic species only in the philippines. At the TV report which is described above
	they showed during ice ages barriers to other parts of the world and said that most of the
	phillipine animals comes from Indonesia or traveled over the seas. By evolution they slowly got
	specialists of the situations in the Philippine Islands. Many of those animals must be protected
	because many of their oecological habitats are still destroyed. One example of those animals is
	the tarsier. Surround of Manila we did not see much animals but we will publish more pics when
	we will be able to made them.
History	History of the Philippines (Wikipedia)
Tourist informations	Flights
	We are quite sure many of you took a airplane before and are familar with the countless flight
	search engines. Those we used in the past too and it is a good idea to consult them and find a
	suitable flight. Just we have to mention here, that our last booking was years ago, because as
	family we cannot handle the costs of a flight with two children. Even our last family member
	invitation was before the pandemic, but with few checks we see how expensive it is meanwhile
	to fly to Philippines from Europe or the opposite way. Based on this background we will not
	describe here more about flights. We hope you will find a good solution for your journey.
	Public Traffic
	If you made it to Philippines and want to travel to one of the countless isles of Philippins,
	just use one of the hopping airlines. They wasn't expensive in the past. Beside there are at
	Metro Manila, like overall in the world, taxis. Just be informed, that, as a person from
	a western country, you pay very often extra taxes. The default transport vehicle for most
	Filipinas and Filipinos are Jeepneys. On their windows they write where they will go, but we
	think you need someone who know a bit how it works and tell you how much the fair should be,
	specially when you are first time in Philippines. A bit easier to handly are busses. Here
	it is written too where the bus will go and you pay normally inside of the busses. More
	difficult than using the busses is how to find the bus stations. Lastly there are trains
	like the german S-Bahn (a bit different from tubes because they drive most time not in
	the underground. There are two lines, so called LRT and MRT which connect the parts of
	Manila and few closer outside regions with the center. Find below some time tables and
	lists of that public traffic types.
	- Light Railway Transit Authority (LRT) Routes
	- Manila Metro Rail Transit System (MRT) Routes
	Both kinds of trains works between 5:30 am and 11 pm.
	- List of bus companies at Metro Manila
	Hotels
	If you arrive in Manila, same to us, you need often to relax after the long flight and
	the jetlag. So we use hotels close to Manila airport. One of our favorites was this hotel:
	Kabayan Hotel
	Our suggestion is to choose not the cheapest room. We would recomment to spend about 50
	EUR for a double bed room per night and a pick up with a taxi from the airport is included
	too. Breakfirst and lunch or dinner is included as well. From here you are very close to Mall
	of Asia (where you can enjoy a bit restaurants and shops after your flight).
	Famous places at and surround of Manila
	SM Mall of Asia (Wikipedia)
	Rizal Park (Wikipedia)
	Nationalmuseum and Museum of the Philippine People
	Manila Ocean Park
	Fort Santiago
	The Manila Cathedral
	References (all in German, sorry)
	REESE, Niklas; WERNING, Rainer: Handbuch Philippinen: Gesellschaft - Politik - Wirtschaft -
	Kultur
	PETERS, Jens: Philippinen Reise-Handbuch
	GAULKE, Maren: Philippinen (Naturreiseführer)
Pictures	Our pictures we will share soon again