YOU’VE HEARD IT BEFORE: FOR LIFE TO CHANGE, YOU HAVE TO CHANGE. THESE MEANINGFUL VACATIONS TAKE YOU ON THE PATH LESS TRAVELED, WITH ONE INTENTION — TO MAKE ROOM FOR A WHOLE NEW YOU TO EMERGE, WRITES TROY BERNARDO
1 DIVE IN DAVAO
Those who say diving is expensive have never been to Samal Island. From the exclusive Pearl Farm to the more affordable Paradise Island, Samal offers training facilities with the best equipment, dive courses and expert instructors to help you attain your PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) license, your passport to spots like Tambang (excellent for night dives), the deep diving sanctuaries of Marissa 1, 2 and 3, and the Pindawon Wall, located on the east side of Samal. Why not embrace the serenity and the silence of Mother Nature’s best sanctuaries, everywhere?
Make it happen Dive shops near the Sasa Wharf offer lessons and equipment rentals. Prices start at PHP800 per class or PHP9,000 for a course.
Cebu Pacific flies to Davao. www.cebupacificair.com
2 SURF IN SIARGAO
If you want to conquer your fear, commune with nature, and learn a new skill all at the same time, head to Siargao, an island off the northeastern tip of Mindanao. Learn from the locals at Cloud Nine, the beach which put the Philippines on the map of world-class surfing. Instructors, whom you can hire for the day, bring beginners to the gentler, easier part of the shoreline, where one can ride longer, more constant breaks. Professionals, on the other hand, can choose to surf on the tougher barrels. Accommodations, instructors and surfboard rentals are easy to find, all at reasonable prices. So, visit this teardrop-shaped island, slap on some sunscreen, and prepare to get wet. Surfing can, at the very least, teach you how to balance, ride the waves, and, quite literally, go with the flow.
Make it happen Book yourself on the beach at Ocean 101 Beach Resort, Cloud Nine, General Luna, Siargao Island, Surigao del Norte, tel: +63 (910) 848 0893, michael@ocean101cloud9.com
Cebu Pacific flies to Siargao from Cebu three times weekly. www.cebupacificair.com
3 SHINE IN SINGAPORE
When it comes to initiating change, we all could use a gentle push in the right direction. Vikas Malkani, international bestselling author and life coach to thousands of people worldwide, may be the right person to give you that nudge. SoulCentre Academy in Singapore, which he runs with partner Sally Forrest, teaches men, women and kids how to live happy, abundant lives through transformational programs. Through SHINE™, a two-day workshop, Vikas helps you tap into your own light by sharing the wisdom of the ancient lineage of elusive Himalayan Masters. His guarantee: You’ll be inspired to live more passionately. The course, for S$980 (PHP34,440), is held twice a year, on two consecutive weekends, allowing you to enjoy the city during the week. Log on to the website for schedule dates.
Make it happen Sign up for the course at the SoulCentre Academy, tel: +65 9875 2372 / 6738 4009, soulcentresingapore@ yahoo.com.sg, www.soulcentre.org
Cebu Pacific flies to Singapore from Manila and from Clark.
4 TURN JAPANESE IN OSAKA
Zen Buddhism and performance art come together in the traditional tea ceremony ritual of cha no yu (hot water for tea). Gather on tatami mats and wait as a practitioner artfully prepares matcha (powdered green tea). Though masters take decades to perfect the craft (which also involves studying poetry, flower arrangement and calligraphy), you can take tea classes in two hours in Osaka and learn art, balance, harmony and respect.
Make it happen Sign up for tea classes at Sumiyoshitaisha Grand Shrine, 2-9-89 Sumiyoshi, Sumiyoshi-ku, tel: +81 (6) 6672 0753, www.osaka-info.jp/en
Cebu Pacific flies to Osaka from Manila three times weekly. www.cebupacificair.com
5 GET BALANCED IN MANILA
Yogini Cristina Feibel and her co-teachers founded Yoga Wholistics Inq, a lifestyle company that offers Reiki sessions, gourmet-style raw food preparation and self-discovery lectures. Their aim: to balance the seven major energy centers or chakras as well as other energy points in our bodies. “What is seemingly chaos is actually all related,” Cristina says of the sources that influence our behavior. “When we seek to heal ourselves, we reach into these forces to find our balance.”
Make it happen Yoga Wholistics, Inq, tel: +63 (918) 907 9659, www.yogawholistics.com
Cebu Pacific flies to Manila from across the network. www.cebupacificair.com
6 ISLAND HOP IN THE CALAMIAN ISLANDS
About 200 of the country’s 7,107 islands are unchartered. Some can be found 150km to the Northeast, between El Nido and Coron, the Calamian Islands. To get there, one must hop on the Aurora, a 72ft wooden, modified bangka designed, built and run by Tao Philippines’ Eddie Brock and Jack Footit. They treat travelers to a once-ina-lifetime expeditions to Palawan’s most desolate islands for three to seven days. Choose open expeditions, bespoke private trips or overnight island safaris. “We prefer travelers who want to experience real island living,” said Eddie, a Filipino who has returned from living in Britain. “We moved away from the ‘eco’ stereotype, toward the ‘ethical’ side. Our main priority is our relationship with the community and the environment.”
Make it happen You can sign up for a Tao Philippines Expeditions, tel: +63 (928) 554 3052, info@taophilippines.com, www.taophilippines.com
Cebu Pacific flies to Busuanga from Manila. www.cebupacificair.com
7 FIND ENLIGHTENMENT IN THAILAND
There are no words to describe the mental, emotional and spiritual discoveries you may experience while living in a Thai Buddhist temple. The team behind Experience Thailand offers a break-it-to-me-gently five-day program that begins in Bangkok, includes temple visits in Pattaya, and ends in a quiet village community where you will stay in a traditional wat. During this time, you will do — or at least try — to do as the monks do: meditate several times a day, teach English at a child care center, feed monkeys, pick up litter, and eat only two meals a day. This is the perfect place to learn how to live simply, freeing yourself from material needs and wants, and getting in touch with the true nature of your self. By the end of your trip, don’t be surprised if you start spouting terms like “non-attachment”, “the profundity of emptiness” and “the Middle Path.” Either that or you’ll just feel a whole lot lighter, both in mind and in body.
Make it happen Go ahead and book yourself a temple getaway in Bangkok by contacting Eco Explorer Co, Ltd, tel: +66 (38) 775 349, www.realexperiencethailand.com, info@realexperiencethailand.com.
Cebu Pacific flies to Bangkok from Manila and from Clark. www.cebupacificair.com
8 TRAIN AS A YOGA TEACHER IN BORACAY
We know that Boracay has been over-developed and overrun by tourists. Nevertheless, this tiny, peanut-shaped island has much to offer the sentient soul. For the month of May, Greenpath Yoga is holding an intensive 200-hour residential ashtanga-based teacher-training program here. Clayton Horton and Mo-Ching Yip will touch on Sivananda style gentle asanas, stretching, meditation and Sanskrit chanting, teaching methodologies, yoga philosophy and ethics. You will need health clearance, homework and study before the training starts.
Make it happen Greenpath Yoga’s tuition for teacher training is US$2,495 (PHP114,970). Discount for Boracay residents available. www.greenpathyoga.org/teacher_training.html
Cebu Pacific flies to Kalibo from Manila 10 times daily. www.cebupacificair.com
9 SOUL-SEARCH IN TAGAYTAY
Just a one-and-a-half drive from chaotic Manila to the serene highlands of Tagaytay causes an immediate inner shifting. It’s the cool weather and the rustic greenery. At the Maryridge Retreat House, there are lush flower gardens, a school, a retreat house with rooms for retreat participants, a chapel and a little shop that sells ube (yam) sweets and local tawilis fish in olive oil. Come here for some soul-centering. Enjoy a sunrise mass overlooking Taal Lake, get nourished by home-cooked Filipino meals, and walk the cretan labyrinth, used by mystics as a tool for prayer. Visitors report moments of clarity and peace here.
Make it happen Maryridge welcomes retreatants, tel: +63 (46) 483 1346, maryridge2002@yahoo.com. Drive or hire a car from Manila.
10 DISCOVER A NEW YOU IN CEBU
Get a physical fresh start with a trip to Cebu, now being hailed as the premiere health and wellness destination in Asia. “We aim to make Cebu a destination and center for medical tourism and wellness in the country,” said Nelson Bascones, event chairman of the Beauty Health and Wellness Show (BHW) held last November. And he’s not just talking about the Philippine massage technique, called hilot. The whole gamut of hospital, dental and medical makeover programs available in the Queen City of the South. If you’ve aspired to get tweaked into a more refined version of yourself, Cebu is the island for you. Says Oscar Tuason, president of the Cebu Health and Wellness Council, major hospitals in Cebu are more than ready to compete with international hospitals. Throw into this package any of Cebu’s roster of beautiful, white sand beaches and islands, and you’ve got a world-class paradise as the setting for your personal recovery.
Make it happen Check out Cebu Health and Wellness Council’s partners — the Cebu Doctors’ University Hospital, Perpetual Succour Hospital, Chong Hua Hospital, Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino and Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort and Spa. info@cebuhealthandwellness.com, www.cebuhealthandwellness.com
Cebu Pacific flies to Cebu across the network. www.cebupacificair.com
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