Flyaway Friday: What Do You Know About Philippines?

It is just one week since we came back from the holiday and the normalcy has not even set in. I know that. But I am already craving for another break. At least the Friday is here right? 

And you know what Fridays mean right? IT IS TIME FOR FLYAWAY FRIDAY! We will be travelling to various countries virtually every month under this feature. And this month we will be off to Philippines! 

Why don’t we start preparing for our trip by learning the basics about the country? Then we will travel through books to Philippines and to end the trip we will have a Filipina blogger answering our questions and telling us more about the country.

We will be travelling to various countries virtually every month under Flyaway Friday. And this month we will be off to Philippines! 

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Where in the world is Philippines?

Philippines is a South East Asian country sharing maritime borders with Taiwan, Vietnam, Palau, Malaysia and Singapore. A map would explain better than me, right?

elgeewrites Flyaway Friday: What Do You Know About Philippines? Phil Map

Major cities in Philippines

  • Manila (capital)
  • Davao
  • Cebu City
  • Zamboanga

Let us cover the basics right away

Introduction to Philippines

More Trivia coming up!

Here are ten more things that to know before we start on our virtual travel.

1) Philippines is the world’s second largest archipelago, meaning large group of islands and it consists of about 7500+ islands. Only about 2000 and odd are inhibited and the rest may not even have a name on the Atlas. 

Introduction to Philippines islands
Cred: Schadow1 Expeditions

2) The people of Philippines are called Filipino (male) or Filipina (female) and many of them are fluent in English. In fact Philippines is the fifth largest English-speaking nation.

3) However, they have more than 180 languages, most of them are still living. One of the majorly spoken language is Tagalog and it is influenced by Spanish, who ruled the nation for a really long time.

4) If you ever visit to Philippines, you will find many colorful tricycles and Jeepneys (modified Jeeps) for local commutes, more than cabs or Uber. 

Introduction to Philippines Jeepney
Cred: I Am Aileen

Have ever travelled in a Jeepney? If you visit Philippines you can. Learn more about the country in our weekly feature Flyaway Friday.

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5) Philippines has an island called Vulcan Point within a lake on an island in a lake on an island called Luzon. Technically it is the islet of a small active volcano. 

6) Like many other South East Asian countries, Karaoke is quite popular in Philippines.

7) Situated in the Pacific Ring of fire, Philippines is prone to many volcanic eruptions earthquakes and typhoons almost on a yearly basis.

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Introduction to Philippines

Let us chat

Do you know any trivia about Philippines? Have you visited any place in Philippines? If you have questions you want to ask about Philippines to the Filipino blogger, do ask. Let us talk.

32 Comments

  1. Juan Carlos

    Karaoke is the favorite past time of all Filipinos even on slam area Karaoke is famous

    Reply
  2. Megan | Ginger Mom and Company

    I haven’t traveled outside of the US so it’s hard to imagine sometimes how different things are in different places. I love the Jeepneys! I want to ride in one 🙂 At first, I thought it was a super colorful school bus LOL. Great feature!

    Reply
  3. Olivia Roach

    That’s a long of languages in a single country! I want to go there one day as I have heard the food is really good. It was nice to learn a lot more about it 🙂

    Reply
  4. vidya

    those jeepneys!!! i would love to travel in them…

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      They look so much like our autos but they look interesting right?

      Reply
  5. Floryie

    thank you for sharing.. it’s new to me! I haven’t been there so everything you have noted is interesting

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      Me neither Floryie.

      Reply
  6. Whispering Stories

    Thanks for sharing. I knew some bits already but not somewhere I’ve ever looked at closely before.

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      I am glad you found new things about this country.

      Reply
  7. Tasha

    Thank you. I learned a lot more than I already knew.

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      I am glad it was useful.

      Reply
  8. Jennifer

    When I lived in California, I met a lot of people and descendants of Filipinos. The country itself sounds great,

    Reply
  9. Daniela Ark

    Loved to learned more about the Philippines!

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      I am glad you liked it.

      Reply
  10. Jenn @ Bound to Writing

    Thanks for the information about the Philippines! I love learning about new countries.

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      I am glad you liked it Jenn.

      Reply
    • Gayathri

      Philippines is not my country though.

      Reply
      • Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

        Oh, wow, I am really sorry for jumping to that conclusion! Obviously you don’t look Filipino (but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything), but you gave us such great details about karaoke and Jeepneys and then said at the end, “If you have questions you want to ask about Philippines to the Filipino blogger,” so I totally misread that to mean you!

        Of course, I remember reading a post on your blog a couple of months ago about the gold market in Dubai—I should have thought of that. Anyway, I’m sincerely sorry for the mistake!!

        Reply
        • Gayathri

          It is totally alright. I had a post from a Filipino guest blogger talking about her country, cuisine and language just last week, you might like that as well.

          Reply
  11. Acanthea Grimscythe

    You know… I’ve kinda dated a Filipino, but I never really knew anything about the country beyond the cuisine. Thanks for the informative post!

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      I hear their cuisine is colorful and interesting too.

      Reply
  12. DJ Sakata

    We have a lot of PIs in Hawaii. Their dialects are very distinctive

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      Yes they are. There are a lot of them in Dubai too.

      Reply
  13. Stormi

    I had no clue there were so many islands in the Philippines!

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      That surprised me too!

      Reply
  14. Sam@wlabb

    What a fun feature! I love learning about other countries, especially because I too poor to travel. I learned a few new things. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      I started this feature for kinda the same reason. Let us travel virtually!

      Reply
  15. Ania

    Aaaaaaa! When I saw this on my inbox I was like, whut? Why is my country getting featured? This is so exciting! Well we were under the Spanish rule for 333 years. I can never forget that fact since it’s just a single digit repeated three times. Hahaha!

    Trivias, hmm..let’s see.

    The 2018 Miss Universe is Catriona Gray
    We bless or “mano” to elders and say “mano po” to show our respect. This act is done by taking one of their hands and touching it to our forehead.
    When a girl turns 18 there’s usually a grand party calling it her “debut”.

    I’m not even super familiar with the culture anymore because I grew up watching and reading American TV shows and influences. I don’t even really watch local news and channels. Buuut I’m still super excited for Filipino month!

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      I am so glad that this post reached you. I have a Filipino guest blogger coming up this week and thanks a lot for the trivia.

      Reply

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Gayathri

Gayathri

Gayathri has been reviewing books since 2010. When she is not reading books or creating online content, she works as a writer and a digital marketer. Head over to meet me!