Mangan Tamu! Giant Lantern Festival and Pampanga food tour on December 15!

The spectacular Giant Lantern Festival is coming up! And Ultimate Philippines Tours invites you again to journey to the central heartland as we immerse ourselves in things Kapampangan!

From Buro to Baroque, it's a fun-filled day as we poke around and get intimate with the very best of Pampanga's cultural offerings. Gaze at the jewel-box of a church in Betis while wading through the lahar-buried town of Bacolor.

We'll stuff ourselves silly with a pre-Christmas Kapampangan noche buena fare by Claude Tayag, one of the country's best known Kapampangan chefs! And to it cap it off, get a front row view of the most dazzling display of Kapmpangan artistry the Ligligan Parul (Giant Lantern Festival) of San Fernando! It's a tour with nothing but Kapampangan cool!

Tour will be on December 15, 2012 (Saturday) from 8:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Rate is P4,500.00 per person inclusive of transfers from Ayala 6750 or Trinoma, tour and some serious food binging! E-mail reservations@ultimatephilippines.com to book a slot.

Canada: Toronto, Kingston & Niagara Falls in Ontario

Finally, Manila now has a direct flight to Toronto thanks to Philippine Airlines! We boarded PAL's inaugural flight and got to explore Toronto and its environs for five days. Among the places of interest we visited in Toronto were the old and new Toronto City Hall, St. Lawrence Market, CN Tower (but it was unfortunately cloudy when we were up there), the Ontario Legislative Building, University of Toronto, Casa Loma and the Toronto Islands for the best view of the Toronto skyline.

We also rented a car and drove three hours east to Kingston to visit the Kingston Fortifications which are part of the Rideau Canal World Heritage Site. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate and we only got to visit the Royal Military College of Canada and Fort Frederick. Kingston's historic skyline looked quite interesting thought but we'll save that for another visit.

The group also visited the wineries of Niagara-on-the-Lake, namely Jackson-Triggs and Inniskillin to try out their famed ice wine before proceeding to the iconic Niagara Falls in the US-Canada border.

Here are photos from that visit to Toronto:

November 30-December 1 - Toronto, Canada

December 2 - Kingston, Ontario, Canada

December 3 - Toronto, Canada

December 4 - Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

Philippine Airlines (PAL) now flies direct to Toronto, Canada!

Philippine Airlines (PAL) inaugurated its maiden flight to Toronto, Canada last November 30, 2012. It was a rare opportunity to be part of that inaugural flight. And here I am in Toronto, exploring this nice Canadian city, which is home to close to 200,000 Filipinos. In fact, Filipinos are the third largest ethnic group here in Toronto.

Ceremonies began at NAIA Terminal 2 lead by PAL President Ramon Ang and Canadian Ambassador H.E. Christopher Thornley. Passengers of the flight posed for a commemorative group photo with Ang who saw all of us off as we boarded the maiden flight.

The plane was a brand new Boeing 777-300ER which provided some of the latest amenities including an in-flight entertainment system that will keep you busy for the duration of the 15-hour direct flight from Manila to Toronto Pearson International Airport.

Since it was the inaugural flight, we were treated to business class service and meals even in Fiesta Class. Yes, they brought out the metal dining utensils and ceramic plates for all of us, with four choices of dishes to choose from! Plus before we landed, passengers were feted with champagne and a toast to celebrate this milestone.

At Toronto Pearson, more ceremonies went underway led by local airport authorities and business leaders. The local Filipino-Canadian community performed dances from the Philippines.

We ended the night with check-in and dinner at the Hilton Toronto which would be our home for the next five days. Congratulations to Philippine Airlines for yet another milestone! This definitely is something to celebrate as we push harder to get our cities connected directly to other destinations around the world, opening our doors even more for tourism.