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philippines
Travel Support
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The Philippine Islands are a cluster of more than 7000 islands, lying north of the Malay Peninsula in South East Asia. A large part of the terrain is mountainous; the volcanic eruptions in the area have given the Philippines, fertile soils and spectacular landscapes and underwater areas. The Philippines has many things to offer the visitor: a mixture of the old and the new, a diversity of art and culture and a warm, friendly people. Apart from its natural beauty, the Philippines have something for sportsman too. It has a huge collection of extraordinary dive sites, forests to roam, mountains to climb, caves to explore. Most of the Philippines are laidback, stable and relatively safe. The locals are an exceptionally helpful bunch and there are fantastic reefs and fish. As it offers so much to the visitors, it has a good infrastructure, transport is cheap, the food is good, accommodation is plentiful and (for the monolinguistic) English is widely spoken.
While there are over 100 regional languages in the Philippines, the national language is Filipino, with English as the most widely spoken second language. All the business, governmental and legal transactions are conducted in English. Filipino is mainly based on the Tagalog language (a relative of Malay), with heavy Tamil, Sanskrit, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish and English influences.
The climate is mostly hot and humid - averaging at about 80 degrees with humidity of 77%. The archipelago is tropical with just two seasons--hot and dry from November to June, and rainy from July to October. The coolest months are from November to February, with mid-January to end of February considered the best for cooler and dryer weather. Locations exposed directly to the Pacific Ocean have frequent rainfall all year.
The staple food of the vast majority of Filipinos is rice. This is supplemented with fish and other seafood, chicken, and pork (or goat, if one is a Muslim). Corn (maize) is the staple for about one fifth of the population, who lives in areas not suitable for rice production or cannot afford rice. Filipino cuisine is a melange of Indian, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, and Malay, American, and Spanish influences. Though it is not as renowned as Thai and lately Vietnamese cuisine, Filipino cooking is nonetheless distinct in that it is possibly the least spicy of all South East Asian cuisines.
People in the Philippines dress for the hot weather and the dress material is usually light. Casual attire during the day for women is light blouses and shorts. For men collared T- shirts worn over slacks. Warmer garments are needed for mountain regions. You don't need to bring along thick coats and boots, it's too hot here in the Philippines. The outfit would also depend on the place in the Philippines that you are going to.
The country has international and national direct dial phone and facsimile services, mobile phone sites, Internet and email facilities and worldwide express delivery service. The Philippines is assigned an international dialing code of 63 by ITU-T. Telephone numbers are fixed at seven digits (previously six digits), with area codes fixed at one, two or three digits. When making long-distance calls in the Philippines, append 0 for domestic calls and 00 for international calls. Philippine area codes for fixed-line telephones are fixed at two digits, excluding Metro Manila and the province of Rizal, which uses the area code 2. Some smaller carriers concentrated within a specific geographic area may issue four or five-digit area codes. However, these area codes are being phased out in favor of standard two-digit area codes. The postal system is efficient. Most national newspapers are in English; foreign publications are sold at major hotels, malls, and bookstores in Metro Manila and key cities. There are 7 national television stations which broadcast mainly in Filipino.
The currency in the Philippines is the Peso (PhP) and the Centavo. 100 centavos = P1. One US dollar is equivalent to P 42.945 PHP. Coin denominations are: 1, 5, 10, and 25 centavos, P1, and P5. Bill denominations are: 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1, 000 pesos. Visitors who have a MasterCard/Maestro/Cirrus card can withdraw funds or ask for cash advances at ATMs that display their logos. The most prominent MasterCard ATMs are the Express Tellers by BPI (Bank of the Philippine Islands) and the Smartellers by Banco de Oro. Visitors can also use the 6,000 ATMs nationwide to withdraw funds or ask for cash advances. The three major local ATM consortia are BancNet, MegaLink and Expressnet. International networks, like PLUS and Cirrus, are accessible with many ATMs. Foreign currency may be exchanged at the hotel, and in most of the large department stores, banks and authorized money changing shops.
U.S. citizens may enter the Philippines without a visa upon presentation of their U.S. passport, valid for at least six months after the date of entry into the Philippines, and a return ticket to the United States or an onward ticket to another country. Upon arrival immigration authorities will annotate your passport with an entry visa valid for 21 days. If you plan to stay longer than 21 days you must apply for an extension at the Philippine Bureau of Immigration and Deportation's main office at Magallanes Drive; Intramuros, Manila, Philippines, or at any of its provincial offices (http://www.immigration.gov.ph).
A certificate of vaccination against yellow fever is required if the visitor has recently been to an infected area. Otherwise, visitors are not required to take any vaccination. Although water in Metro Manila and in key cities is potable and safe for drinking, visitors are advised to take bottled water. It is readily available in hotels, restaurants and convenience stores. Do not forget to bring your prescribed medicines and other handy emergency kits, like sun block lotion and mosquito repellant.
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