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Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Apo Island Somersaulting(Dumaguete City, Philippines)

                                                               
Apo Island is situated about six kilometers off the southeastern shores of Negros Island and south of Dumaguete City. It can also be reached by boat from Silliman Beach.
Apo Island boasts of a wide array of dive sites to choose from. Chapel Point is a sanctuary of various fish species including tuna, black and white snappers, and barracuda. There is likewise a variety of species of coral and exotic marine life like sea stars, nudibranch, basket sponges, whip corals, and gorgonian sea fans.
Another stimulating dive site on Apo Island is Rock Point. It is available by banca. Although the weather conditions here can be heavy, Rock Point has an plentiful share of marine life. Headfirst activity kicks off from a gentle slope consisting of rocks and coral heads. It abound with various fish species like black and white snappers, Picasso triggerfish, black and white tip sharks, moray eels, to name just a few.

Monday, March 14, 2011

MARCOS MAUSOLEUM & MUSEUM(Philippines)

The Marcos Museum and Mausoleum was located in Batac, Ilocos Norte showcases memorabilia of the late Philippines President Ferdinand E. Marcos and a large grand and depressing tomb housing his embalm remains which are contained in a vacuum-sealed glass coffin. Ferdinand Edralín Marcos (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was the tenth president of the Philippines, serving from 1965 to 1986. In 1972, he instituted an authoritarian regime that allowed him to stay in power until elating it in 1981. He was elected the same year to another full term which was blemished by personal health issues, political unprofessional conduct and human rights violations by the military. In 1986, he was re-elected for the fourth time in a uncertain snap election. As a result, that same year he was removed from office quietly by the "People Power" EDSA Revolution. He has the peculiarity of being the last Senate President to be elected to the presidency and being the first president to be elected to two successive full terms.
 Within the property of the Marcos family is a cluster of three houses and the hallowed grounds of the mausoleum. The Museum is the first structure seen from the main street and is the one which follows the lines of a colonial wood-and-brick house, with solid ground floor walls and an upper storey of wood decorated with floral motifs. The Mausoleum is a cube of adobe blocks and is stepped towards the top of the structure. The dark interior is divided into an entry foyer in which are exhibited old English standards and a bust of the former president.
Two decades after Marcos was chased from power, he still draws the faithful and the curious from this farming town. Displayed in an adobe mausoleum, his plentifully waxed corpse lies in a family tribute, decorated in military medals and surrounded by faux flowers while Gregorian chants echo softly. Scores of school children visit nearly everyday, filing past souvenir peddlers for a look of the deposed dictator whom residents of Ilocos Norte province fondly call "Apo," or the Old man.

BOTANICAL GARDEN IN LA UNION(Philippines)

 BOTANICAL GARDEN IN LA UNION(Philippines)

The Garden is located on a hilly twenty-hectare land, eight kilometers east form the city proper of San Fernando, La Union, with completely maintained concrete roads. The first of its class in the Philippines, a scientific garden and the center for laboratory research in Northern Luzon was inaugurated on March 2, 1996. It is a unique botanical garden of its kind in that it is a 20-hectare "Garden of gardens" in a tropical rainforest mountain.

The Garden as main tourist target is meant to give an accurate impression of the various plant worlds, which grow in tropical, sub-tropical and desert climates. All plants are labeled in their local and scientific names with their origin. It is a country-style garden where plant life and wildlife, ornaments and oddments go hand in hand. The resulting harmony, together with the privacy and peace naturally give the Garden a great therapeutic effect .

Among the gardens are the Shade Garden, Sunken Garden, Fragrance Garden, Evergreen Garden, Medicinal Garden, Philippine Native Plant Garden, Chinese Garden, Japanese Garden, Palm Garden, Arid Paradise Garden, Orchid Garden and many more. What makes it more remarkable is that there exists a harmonious relationship between the various species of plants in the garden and the animal species around the garden and hill forest vicinity. Traveling to the Garden is an easy 5-mile distance from San Fernando City.

   


Thursday, March 3, 2011

The Monte Carlo Beach Hotel in France

The Hotel Monte Carlo beach in France has already a shimmering attraction since1920s .It lunch exotic garden has undergone a massive modern makeover by designer India Mahdavi (who also designed New York's On Rivington).
The hotel now offers 26 rooms and 14 suites ultra-stylishly revamped in a subdued nautical melange of sea blue, white, brick red and beige, all with gleaming marble bathrooms with porthole windows and many with individual terraces and stunning sea views, behind its original rounded terracotta façade
There's also a brand new terrace restaurant, named Elsa in tribute to a frequent guest, the notorious American "hostess with the mostest" Elsa Maxwell. The ever-changing menu focuses on light lunch fare and Mediterranean classics for dinner. Even if you are not a hotel guest, the posh Beach Club is well worth the indulge for a day of sea, sand and sun, with old-fashioned tent cabanas, a huge seawater pool and a lively bar, the Sea Lounge, for cocktails after sunset and a friendly, festive atmosphere.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Tourist hot spot in Africa

Robberg Nature Reserve located in South Africa, a marine reserve and national monument approximately 4 kilometres in length that sweeps out into the ocean, something like a small Cape peninsular. Rocks here date rear to the early Cretaceous period - approximately 110 million years old - and during the whale period the point is perfect place to spot whales and dolphins.

Robberg Nature Reserve is a exciting inoculation of outdoor living - incredible scenery, views over shoreline and sea, a flourishing Cape fur seal colony, a huge diversity of bird life, and exclusively beautiful fynbos.
Another way of seeing Robberg is to sea kayak, with an experienced guide, from Central beach in Plettenberg Bay to the nature reserve. This exhilarating and surely substitute way of seeing the peninsular from the sea gives one up close and personal encounters with the occupier seal colony. From the sea, Robberg’s other secrets - its caves and rock faces that relay a story of their own, having stood the test of time alongside strong head winds and strong sea currents.

You have access to three trails that range from 45 minutes to 5 hours and 11 kilometres in length - a moderately strenuous (most of it is flat, and relatively easy going) circular walk that leads one right to the Robberg point - not advisable with little ones or at high tide.