"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder..."

For those of you who can't exactly figure out where to find the Philippines in the world map, we're precisely located within the latitude and longitude of 13° 00 N, 122° 00 E. The country is in the northern hemisphere. Look for the Pacific Ocean and South China Sea and you'll find us there. Apart from being home of the rich "coral triangle" (which WWF described as home to world's most abundant variety of corals and sea life) together with Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste and Solomon Islands, we're also within the Pacific Ring of Fire. That's why every so often, tremors are felt in the country. Fear not though for the devastating damage the volcanic eruption brought upon our country emerged pockets of beautiful oasis.

Take for example the lake within a volcano within a lake (it's true, no typo error in here) which can be found in Batangas, 50 kms from Manila. Taal Volcano is such a beauty. A must visit if you happen to have a few days to spare in the capital of the country. Incidentally,

this bnb has been gaining raves in the area. A destination in itself apart from Taal Volcano.

In 1991, the north of Manila was shocked by a major volcano eruption. I can easily remember that night when I was gazing out of the window and suddenly, volcano ashes were pouring like snow (to think I live in the south). I woke up my parents and since I can't make out what I just witnessed, I told them that it was snowing... (yeah right!). We checked it out and our street was engulfed by volcano ashes. What happened in my community was nothing compared to the havoc the Mount Pinatubo eruption brought to Pampanga. Clark, previously a US military air base was covered by the 'lahar' and the entire province was beyond recognition. It was a difficult time for us. This was then.

Photo courtesy of wikipedia.

Fast forward, look now at the beauty that resulted from the catastrophe.

Photo courtesy of wikipedia.

Another volcano eruption from yesteryear produced the perfect cone the world has ever seen. It was so perfect that Mayon Volcano became the muse of so many well-known artists.

Photo courtesy of mayonvolcano.net

Something beautiful indeed came out from disasters like these.

Convinced?! Visit the Philippines now!