Haring Ibon (Bird King) is the other term for Philippine eagles, one of the rarest, largest and most powerful bird in the world which can only be found in Paradise Philippines.

Found in the major islands of the country – Luzon, Samar, Leyte and Mindanao, the female Philippine eagle is about 1 meter long, weighs about 7 kg and has a wingspan of 2 meters while the adult male is about 10-20% smaller. This eagle’s head is adorned with long brown feathers that give it the appearance of a lion’s mane. The upperside of the Philippine Eagles are brown, the underside white.

Marikina City, known as a haven of quality shoes made here, owns the record of having the world’s largest pair of shoes., each measuring 2.37 meters in wide and 1.83 meters in high. The heel alone measures about 16 inches.

It was in December of 2002 when Guinness Book of World Records recognized Marikina City for crafting the world’s largest pair of shoes, beating the old record of Konya, Turkey.

The shoes was said to cost around 2 million pesos, took 77 days of cutting a 30 square meters of leather for the upper lining and 7.4 square meters for the sock lining. The team who created the giant shoes was led by Ernesto Leano.

Mountaineering is one of my favorite sports and I’ve been climbing around 2-3 times a month during my high school and college years. I’ve been into a lot of mountains already but there is one that I truly love, and it’s Mt. Maculot! Why? I first met my wife here.

Mount Maculot is located in Cuenca, a small town Batangas. If you’re somewhere in Manila, you can take a bus in Buendia along Taft Avenue but if you have your own car, forget the bus thingy that I’ve mentioned.