Where is the Philippines, exactly?

Short answer:  The Philippines is in Southeast Asia. It is located south of Taiwan, north of Malaysia, and separated from Vietnam to the west by the South China Sea. In the east, you'll find the Pacific Ocean. The image below gives you a better idea:

The Philippines is an archipelago comprising 7,107 islands with a total land area of 300,000 km². (Wikipedia)

We have three major islands:

LUZON - the biggest island, where the capital (Manila) is located.

VISAYAS -  is further divided into three regions: Central, Western, and Eastern Visayas. Fun Fact: The Visayas is represented by 44 Congressmen!

MINDANAO - The second largest island, it is the eight most populous island in the world. Wikipedia describes it as, "Of all the islands of the Philippines, Mindanao and Borneo shows the greatest variety of physiographic development. High, rugged, faulted mountains; almost isolated volcanic peaks; high rolling plateaus; and broad, level, swampy plains are found there." Mindanao is called, "The Land of Promise."

Three Major Islands: Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao

Since we are in a position that serves as a crossroad, we are forged by several cultural and racial blends: Japanese, Spaniards, American, Arabs, Chinese and more. The Philippines is broken up by the sea, which gives it one of the longest coastlines in any nation of the world. Since almost everyone is near a body of water (on or near a coast) food is mostly supplemented by 2,000 species of fish.

What about the weather?

The Philippines has only two seasons: wet and dry, depending on the amount of rainfall. We have no Fall/Winter/Spring; all we get is either sun or rain. Cooler days are usually felt in the month of January with temperature averaging at 25.5 °C (77.9 °F) and the warmest days, in the month of May with a mean of 28.3 °C (82.9 °F). I particularly love this because it's the perfect golf weather. There are many Koreans, Japanese, etc. who fly to our country because not only its cheap, the weather is truly a tropical paradise. 

(Want to see a paradise like never before? Watch this clip made in our very own Bohol.)

The sun rises at about 6:30 a.m., and sets at 6p.m. everyday of the year.

For more info on the climate of the Philippines, click here.

A lot of Filipinos dream of the "white Christmas", experiencing snow in other countries like United States or Europe. But for me, won't it be more exciting to explore those 7,107 islands that we have? Some islands are so small like Batanes. Some are deceptively small, but is actually the second major city in the Philippines like Cebu. I personally have been to the three major islands, but I cannot wait to explore more. The next post will be about the Ten Bucket List Destinations in the Philippines. Tune in!