Philippines - Where our family live
 
IntroductionAt 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.
 
CoordinatesN 14° 82,9197' E 120° 78,9785' (Home of Family Suerte Felipe)
 
LocationPaombong 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.
 
 
 
ClimateThe 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 WeatherWeather and Taifoon Forcast by PAGASA
 
GeologyAs 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.
 
FloraAs 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.
 
FaunaPhilippines 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.
 
HistoryHistory of the Philippines (Wikipedia)
 
Tourist informationsFlights
 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)
 
PicturesOur pictures we will share soon again