PHILIPPINES
Major airline :
Philippine Airlines
Capital:
Manila
Language:
Philipino (tagalog) is the national language, but English is spoken everywhere.
Currency:
The peso
Eating Out:
Philippine cooking is a spicy blend of Spanish, Malay and Chinese influences. Try adobo (chicken or pork with a Spanish flavor), lechon (roast suckling pig), balut (duck eggs), luglog (rice noodles with shrimp, smoked fish, onion, celery, hardboiled eggs and pork cracklings), pansit manobo (noodles, clams, oysters, squid and dried fish in a spicy sauce), makapuno (coconut custard), hinornong mangga (baked mango in water buffalo milk).
Shopping Specialties:
Woodcarvings and monkey-pod bowls, custom-tailored dresses and shirts, mother-of-pearl shell ornaments, lampshades and jewelry boxes; hand-rolled cigars, basketry, rattan furniture, embroidery, hand-loomed fabrics, antique santos (figures of saints), hand-made guitars, and perfume made from the magnolia-like ilang-ilang.
TRAVEL INFORMATION
Philippines Office of Tourism: www.tourism.gov.ph
