Why Retire in the Philippines/Marinduque Vacations: Palawan Subterranean River-Top 28, Natural Wonders of the World

Planning to Retire Soon!

If you are planning to retire in the Philippines soon, I suggest you visit several excellent websites on pro's and cons of retiring in the Philippines. However if you want to retire in the provinces, where life is simple, standard of living cheaper, less traffic congestion and pollution, availability of fresh seafood and vegetables compared to the big cities, my island province is the place for you! If this is your first time in my site, welcome. Some of the photos and videos on this site, I do not own. However, I have no intention on the infringement of your copyrights. The photo above is the front yard of Chateau Du Mer- Our Retirement Home in Boac, Marinduque, Philippines

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Palawan Subterranean River-Top 28, Natural Wonders of the World

In my news article titled Marinduque: Ecotourism Capital of the Philippines published July 21, 2009 in www.huliq.com, I mentioned that the Palawan Subterranean River in Puerto Princesa was on the top ten of the new 7 Natural Wonders of the World Contest from voters all over the world. I stand corrected, since today the judges of this contest picked up 28 top finalist out of 261 contenders about a year ago. The subterranean river was the only site from the Philippines.It features a limestone Karst mountain landscape with an 8.2 Km navigable underground river. The river winds through a cave before flowing directly into the South China Sea. The caves has major formation of stalactites and stalagmites. This is the longest underground river in the world.

This site has to compete with worldwide known natural wonders such as the Grand Canyon in US, The Amazon Rainforests of South America, The Galapagos Islands of Ecuador, The Great Barrier Reef of Australia, The Dead Sea of Israel, Jordan and Palestine, The Iquazo Falls of Brazil, The Angels Falls of Venezuela, The Black Forest in Germany , The Matterhorn of Switzerland and Italy, Mount Kilimanjaro of Tanzania, the Uluru ( Ayers Rock) of Australia , The Cliff of Moher in Ireland and others natural wonders in South Korea, Puerto Rico and Indonesia. To see the complete list and vote, visit www.new7.wonders.com.

I participated in the initial internet voting last year. In the original list, the Chocolate Hills of Bohol and the Mayon Volcano of Albay were two other contenders in the Philippines. The two sites were eliminated after it was narrowed down to 77 last week. In the news from several Philippine newspapers recently, the Palawan subterranean river was always in the top ten choice of internet voters all over the world. Final selection will be announced by 2011 according to the New Natural 7 Wonders of the World organization. So my fellow Filipinos and Filipino-Americans, please vote to insure that The Palawan subterranean river makes it to the top 7 new natural wonders of the world. Perhaps, someday you may be able to visit this beautiful tourist spot in the Philippines. If perchance, you are in the Philippines, please drop by Marinduque-my second home and island Paradise. Hope to see you soon in the Philippines.

Photo from philippineholiday.com
Here's a short video from GMA news in Tagalog and English. Please vote.

For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV
My personal choice for the New 7 Natural Wonders of the World in alphabetical order are:
1. Amazon Rain Forest of South America
2. Galapagos Islands of Ecuador
3. Grand Canyon of the United States
4. Great Barrier Reefs of Australia
5. Iquazo Falls of Brazil
6. Mt Kilimanjaro of Tanzania
7. Palawan's Subterranean River of the Philippines

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Fruit Trees in the Gardens of Chateau Du Mer

The Mango Tree-I have three varieties in my Garden-The Indian, Guimaras and Carabao Mangoes My caretaker/gardener informed me last month that due to the El Nino drought in Marinduque, two of my Durian trees died in spite of his vigilant watering. One of the tree was attacked by insects that looks like a big fly but yellowish in color that sucks the sap of the seedling. The roots of the other tree was attacked by ants residing in the soil. However, my other fruit trees, the rambutans( 2), the lanzones(2) and the jack fruits ( 2) trees are doing well. The above eight fruit trees were given to me by Retired General Recaredo Sarmiento of Boac and Lucena., about three years ago. General Sarmiento is the “atid” of my wife. “Atid” is the colloquial term for brother. Evidently, Macrine's father, the late Bernardo Jambalos was the Godfather of General Sarmiento during his baptism and comfirmation. Gen Sarmiento's hobby is orchard planting, reforestation and farming. The other fruit trees in my garden are guayabanos, cashew, avocados, starapples, duhats, ates, guavas, mangoes( 3 varieties) and papayas as well as several varieties of bananas . Of the above fruit trees, my favorite is the guayabanos, also known as soursop tree known for its anti-tumor and anti-cancer properties . The following are photos of the fruit trees. The Durian photo is from the web. Note that it almost look like a jack fruit tree, except that the leaves are bigger and shiny. My desire is to have a passion fruit tree in the near future. You are welcome to visit my orchard and flower gardens any time, if perchance you are in the vicinity of The Chateau Du Mer Beach Resort and Conference Center.

The Rambutan Tree and Fruits

The Lanzone Tree and Fruits

The Jack Fruit Tree

The Durian Fruit Tree