After spending a week in Manila, I decided it was definitely necessary to check out another part of the Philippines ... and what better place for that than legendary Boracay? My friend decided to join me for the weekend, so we took off for paradise. Boracay is truly an oasis. It's exactly what you picture ... white sand beaches, clear blue water, cloudless skies. What made it even better was that our hotel was absolutely perfect. The room was nothing special ...

After an unusually long time in Singapore (several weeks without travel!) I headed to Manila for a week for a business trip. The great thing about my job is that it involves a lot of consumer research, which means I don't spend too much time in hotel conference rooms! Manila is actually a really interesting city. The Western-business area is known as "Makati" and is pretty much were all tourists stay. It's very safe, upscale (think Chanel, Coach, LV st...