Siargao Island (pronounced “shar-gow”) has received a fair amount of tourist attention in recent years, particularly the town of General Luna. In 2008, then-president Gloria Arroyo initiated the Super Regions Program, aimed at increasing economic activity through infrastructure improvements and tourism development. A longer runway was built at the Siargao…
With gin-clear waters and staggeringly tall limestone rock formations that lord over the ceramic sand beaches of the northern tip of Palawan Island, El Nido is the Philippines’ glittering jewel of the South China Sea. Rivaling its western neighbors Ha Long Bay in Vietnam, and the Phi Phi Islands of…
Just west of Mandalay, and across the Irrawaddy River, sits this collapsing colossus - an ambitious incomplete stupa constructed by King Bodawpaya in the 18th century. And KB, it seemed, liked to go big. Really big. For it’s construction, the King requisitioned thousands of prisoners and slaves acquired from the…
Among Mandalay’s many colorful charms, their street markets aren’t to be missed. Nearly always busy, they are great places to watch the chaos of commerce - what the local culture demands and sells. The market at Thu Ye Zae, just a few blocks north of the city citadel’s northern perimeter,…