By far an away my favourite country of the three in Asia I have visited, the Philippines will always fill me with joy when I think back to the month I spent there. Each place I visited was different to the last, whether it is the south down in Palawan with its long, dreamy beaches, or in the north to Banaue and Segada with its ancient, sleepy mountains. To wake up each day in either of these place is a blessing in itself.

I arrived from Java to Manila on the 1st of May, sad to be leaving my friends in Jakarta, but excited to see whether the rumours I had heard of this country would hold up. I stayed one night in Manila, before taking a plane down to Palawan. In hindsight I should have got a ferry, but I was in a rush to get out of Manila…