Manado, bustling capital of North Sulawesi province, sprawls inland across low palm clad hills around a wide bay fringed with luxuriant tropical vegetation.   In the distance, a backdrop of three volcanoes completes the city’s spectacular setting. With a limited number of intrinsic attractions, Manado’s main interests for the traveler are its convenient as a base for exploring the Tondano region, and the splendid underwater scenery of Bunaken.

For the past decade, the fame of the reefs of the Bunaken group has spread among lovers of the underwater world.  And rightly so: the 75,000 hectare Bunaken (Manado Tua Marine Park), one hour by boat from Manado, offers excellent snorkeling and scuba diving.

Bunaken island, in the center of the reserve, has small villages at Tanjung Parigi, Alung Banua and Bunaken village.  The clear waters, with an average temperature of 27 centigrade, harbor a tremendous amount of marine life: reef fishes in great variety; healthy, diverse coral growth and just about every invertebrate on the evolutionary scale, from sponges to squids.

There are many dive spots off the five islands in the marine reserve.  The safest and the most popular are in a large, sheltered bay off the south coast of Bunaken Island, and offer excellent wall diving.  Commercial activities are banned in the reserve, along with dynamite fishing, coral, live shell or fish collecting and spear fishing.

While the era offers several different kinds of dive (drift, deep and wreck), the prime attraction is the vertical walls.  Pierced by shallow caves and crevasses which provide shelter and protection for reef fish species, they are also covered with a layer of invertebrate marine life.  Hard and soft corals, whip corals, sponges and filter feeders all cling to these walls in a dazzling kaleidoscope of colors.

Schools of pyramid butterfly fish, black triggerfish and the clouds of bright orange and purple anthias swarm around the reef edge and the upper part of the wall at around five meters, making this a great spot to spend your decompression time or just safety stop.  This is also the best place to see, and follow, the black-and-gray banded colubrine sea-snake as it slithers around, checking out nooks and crannies for snacks.  Although very poisonous, these mild-mannered snakes are very difficult to rile.

Don’t worry about sharks, but keep a wary eye out for the Titan triggerfish, especially if you see one with no other fish around.  They defend their newly laid eggs against one and all, attacking even sharks and humans who inadvertently wander into their territory.   While their mouths are too small to cause fatal damage, their strong back-teeth could nip off a chunk of your ear, or bite through enough flesh to require stitches.

Beginner and intermediate divers will be fully satisfied with any number of plunges off south Bunaken.   Expert divers or those with experience in strong currents and depths of over 30 m might want to try some of the sites on the backside of Bunaken: Sachiko’s Point, for a good chance to see large tuna and turtles, or Mike’s point, for a nice concentration of reef fish and invertebrates.

Deep divers might want to try Batu Kapal on Pulau Nain, so-named for an outcrop in the shape of a stone boat, at 42 m.  A narrow canyon begins here and plunges way down to at least 90 m when an overhang may shelter big jacks.

If you go this deep, leave your cameras behind.  The last couple who tried this were startled to see both their underwater lights and one of their depth gauges implode.  Better try the shipwreck close to Molas, lying between 25 and 40 meters.  Night dives at Bunaken are an exciting option for experts and beginners alike.

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In terms of the model, Asmat carving is very diverse, ranging from human statues, boats, panels, shields, drums, kaswari egg up the pole. Asmat usually adopt the experience and the everyday environment as their carving patterns, such as trees, boats, animals, people who are boating, people who are hunting, and many more.

Carving is a living tradition and a ritual that is closely associated with the spirituality of life and respect for ancestors. When the Asmat carve, they do not just make pattern on wood, but they also flow a spirituality of life.

Asmat sculpture is naturalist because the model used in their carving is the creatures like birds, fish, frogs, trees, lizards or man. The great thing about Asmat carving is that Asmat community consists of 12 sub-ethnic groups, and each has a special characteristic in his art. They also use different wood.

Unfortunately, the price of Asmat woodcarving is expensive. Distances and the difficulty of transportation are the reasons why they can be so expensive. However, every work of Asmat sculpture is unique and does not have similarity with others. Indeed, Asmat do not produce carving with the same pattern in a large scale.

For the lovers of ethnic-style carving, Asmat carving is one option for home decoration. But, be wary and careful when buying Asmat carvings on the market because many people who are not responsible duplicate their carvings.

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Makati is one of the largest districts in the Philippines. It is the seventh on the list, carrying a total area of 27.36 square km. Its population goes up to more than 400,000 as of the 2nd millennium. One of the sixteen key cities that make up the National Capital Region, Makati is found at the far south of the locality. It is smack in core of five municipalities and one river. Despite this, the city may easily be reached through public vehicles like the trains, Light Rail Transit (LRT) and Metro Rail Transit (MRT) and Light Rail Transit (LRT), and MRT (Metro Rail Transit), and LRT (Light Rail Transit). There are also avenues that hinder it from being separated. There is the EDSA (Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue) which may be passed via buses, cabs, and jeeps and the SLEX (South Luzon Expressway0 which is the entry point to the northern area of Manila and to southern provinces of the country.

A humble town
Before turning into the economic capital and the Philippines’ most affluent city, Makati also started as a humble city. Used to be a swamp area where the growing and ebbing surge of the Pasig River may be viewed, it was dubbed the name Makati, from the tagalong term “kati”, meaning tide. Due to unceasing upgrading the swampland slowly developed into a city that leased by main institutions in the country, groups that maintain not just the district’s economy firm but the whole Philippines’.

Commercial Establishments
An dependable Makati guide will not fail to say that the tall buildings in the city are home bases to well known groups. Lining Ayala Avenue are buildings leased by the esteemed institutions like the Makati Business Club, the Philippine Stock Exchange, and Procter and Gamble.

Neighboring these office real estates are extravagant shopping malls with coffeehouses and diners that offer a panoramic view of abundant green parks and the lighted town in the evening. These stress-removers is comprised of Greenbelt along Makati Avenue, the five-part shop and dine complex, Glorietta, in Ayala, Rustan’s, SM Makati, and the Landmark. These five, together with other small malls like Park Square One and the Link comprise the Ayala center, a property of the Ayala Land Corporation.  
Besides the avenues and into 1 of the more high-end area of Makati, there is the Power Plant Mall. Built in the center of Rockwell, this upper class shopping district houses domestic and international stalls, specialty boutiques, supermarkets, high-class diners, and excellent theatres.

Apart from these, educational and healthcare companies are spread in the town. Faculties of prestigious educational institutions in the Philippines and excellent hospitals may be found in the Makati map. These are institutions that give first-rate services as well as high quality amenities.

Residential real estate
There are also buildings which are home bases of huge corporations, and recreational facilities, other buildings in Makati are residential. Just a few meters away from the boundaries of Pasay city is the gated neighborhood of Dasmariñas Village, home to foreign and local industry tycoons in the Philippines. Another is Forbes Park, a private village which is home to the Manila Golf and Country Club, as well as the Manila Polo Club. San Lorenzo, San Miguel, Bel Air, Urdaneta, and Magallanes are also part of the roll of exclusive neighborhoods.  
For temporary stays in the country, the town also suggests five-star hotels namely, Manila Hotel, Manila Peninsula, the Shangri-la Hotel Makati, the Mandarin Oriental, Dusit Hotel Nikko, and the Intercontinental Hotel Manila. These are hotels conveniently situated near the city’s shopping and dining area, providing highest comfort and safety to the clientele.

Embassies
Aside from the commercial and residential establishments are the service companies whose main branches are nicely situated close to residences and offices. More importantly, spread around the city are 46 embassies that serve prospective travelers and expats in the Philippines. The UK British Embassy is conveniently located from the 15th to 17th floor of the LV Locsin Building at 6752 Ayala Avenue. It may simply effortlessly be reached via the stable flow of buses, cabs and jeeps moving down the avenue. The similar fact may be told for the embassies of Belgium, Brunei, Australia, Czechoslovakia , Canada, Germany, Taiwan, Singapore and Venezuela . In addition, the Malaysian, Bangladeshi, Argentinean, Mexican, Dutch, Myanmar, Nigerian, Norwegian, Kiwi, Cambodian, Chilean, Brazilian, Pakistani, Italian, Israeli, Romanian, Russian, Saudi Arabian, Korean, Denmark, Spanish, Chinese, Iceland, Cuban, Indonesian, French, Finnish, Swiss, Vanuatu, Swedish, Emirati, Turkish and Thai consulates are renting in buildings along other passageways of  Makati.