The land of smiles is home to an estimated 88 million people and named after Phillip II of Spain. The government once contemplated renaming the archipelago Malaysia however the present day Malaysia adopted the name in 1963 before the Philippine's government could act.

The archipelago comprises some 7,107 islands with a total land area of 300,000 kilometres. Luzon is the main island where almost half the population reside. The capital, Manilla, is the eleventh most populated city in the world.

This is an easy place to navigate as it is officially bi-lingual. Both Filipino, which is a standardized version of Tagalog, and English are spoken. This makes life easier than learning the over 180 languages and dialects spoken throughout the country.