Philippines

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  Philippines

Capital: Manila
Currency: Philippine Peso (PHP)
Population: 82,841,518
Country Code: PH

Airport Manila  Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA)


Location:

Southeastern Asia, archipelago between the Philippine Sea and the South China Sea, east of Vietnam.

Environment - current issues:

uncontrolled deforestation especially in watershed areas; soil erosion; air and water pollution in major urban centers; coral reef degradation; increasing pollution of coastal mangrove swamps that are important fish breeding grounds.

Nationality:

noun: Filipino(s)
adjective: Philippine

Ethnic groups:

Tagalog 28.1%, Cebuano 13.1%, Ilocano 9%, Bisaya/Binisaya 7.6%, Hiligaynon Ilonggo 7.5%, Bikol 6%, Waray 3.4%, other 25.3% (2000 census)


The Philippines (officially known as the Republic of the Philippines), is an island country located in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. The Philippines comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean, sharing maritime borders with Indonesia, Malaysia, Palau, the People's Republic of China, and Vietnam. The Philippines is the world's 12th most populous country with a population of 90 million people Its national economy is the 46th largest in the world with an estimated 2008 gross domestic product (GDP) of over US$154.073 billion. There are more than 11 million overseas Filipinos worldwide, about 11% of the total population of the Philippines. It is a multi-ethnic country. Ecologically, The Philippines is considered to be among 17 of the most megadiverse countries in the world.
Before the arrival of Europeans in 1521, the Philippines was settled by Austronesian (Malayo Polynesian) peoples. The Philippines became a Spanish colony in the 16th century, as an extension of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. The Philippines were ceded to the United States in 1898 following the Spanish-American War. American occupation led to the Philippine-American War which ended in 1902. A Commonwealth were established in 1935, which allowed self-governance. The United States granted the Philippines independence on July 4, 1946. Martial law were declared in 1972, which led to the insurgencies of the New People's Army, and the Moro National Liberation Front. Liberal parties led the People Power Revolution of 1986, which would bring the Philippines back to democracy.
The Philippines is one of two predominantly Roman Catholic countries in Asia-Pacific, the other being East Timor. Pre-Hispanic indigenous rituals still exist; and there are also followers of Islam, Spanish was an official language of the Philippines until 1987. Since then, the two official languages are Filipino, and English.[2]
The name Philippines was derived from King Philip II of Spain in the 16th century. Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos used the name Las Islas Filipinas (The Philippine Islands) in honour of the Prince of Spain during his expedition to the Philippines, originally referring to the islands of Leyte, and Samar.[10] Despite the presence of other names, the name Filipinas (Philippines) was eventually adopted as the name of the entire archipelago.

[niceguy]

Basic Tagalog Language

When travelling to other country learning the local language is one of the interesting part of the trip .well you dont have to learn the whole language unless you really want to but atleast learn some basic and usefull phrases that you can use while travelling around that country especially if you are in a country where english is not that used often. In The Philippines tourist dont have that much problem talking to locals as filipino have a good knowledge in english. well anyway here are some of the basic tagalog words.


Welcome Mabuhay!
Good morning Magandang umaga
Good afternoon Magandang hapon
Good evening Magandang gabi
How are you? Kumusta ka?
Good/Fine Mabuti
Goodbye Paalam
Beautiful Maganda
You are beautiful Maganda Ka
I love you Mahal Kita
Cheap Mura
Expensive Mahal
Small Maliit
Big Malaki
He/She Siya
How many? Ilan?
How much? Magkano?
How? Paano?
I/We Ako/Tayo
No Hindi
Thank you Salamat
Please Pakiusap
Time Oras
What? Ano?
When? Kailan?
Where? Saan?
Who? Sino?
Why? Bakit?
Yes Oo/Opo
You're Welcome Walang anuman
You Ikaw
They Sila
Up Taas
Down Baba
Left Kaliwa
Right Kanan
North Hilaga/Norte
East Silangan
South Timog
West Kanluran
Far Malayo
Near Malapit

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Manila Light Rail Net work

 LRT Line 1 and Line 2 Route Map

[BrianO]

Manila is not the only a city in it geographic boundaries, but also a location in general. One of the newest shopping malls, Mall of ASIA, located Manila harbour in Pasig City is immense and would take the average person at least 3-4 days to visit every shop, and include a movie and even a few hours at the indoor ice skating rink.

For the kids, They would like to spend a full day at either Manila Zoo, Star City amusement park, or even Manila Children’s Museum where they can see many displays of the past history and up to interactive science and learning discovery. (Entrance fee is like $3.00 for non-residents) Travel in and about the metropolitan areas of Manila is best by either Taxi or the light rail system (MRT & LRT) where end-to-end fare is less than $0.50. The bus and Jeepney routes are unpublished and difficult to understand for the new tourist, not to mention slow and often crowded at rush hour times of the day. First time tourist will find reasonable Hotel rates in Ermita, Manila and some of the best nightlife too. This is the area most frequented by the 20's and 30's age group. Personally, I enjoy the "foreigner" owned establishments for that out of the ordinary cuisine.