the Philippines isn’t really that far away. Just get on board a plane from Ho Chi Minh using cebupacificair.com and you’ll be able to get here for about 85 dollars. (though for some stupid Philippine gov’t reason, you’ll need to book a ticket getting out of here, too. you can find a cheap one to kota kinabalu on airasia.com, i think).
When you get to Manila, head down to Bicol and check out the wonderful whale sharks. keep on heading down through samar and leyte (macarthur landing at tacloban? karsts in samar? or even surfing in eastern samar) and across into mindanao to see siargao island (i’ve been dying to see this place). head west to see camiguin and their underwater cemetery. head on to cagayan de oro and pass through dumaguete and bacolod and iloilo and head on to boracay. another alternative is to hit bohol and cebu before hitting negros and head off to boracay. go back through mindoro and your back in manila.
from cagayan de oro you can head off to zamboanga and find the ferry to malaysia, another option. you can also take a ferry from iloilo to puerto prinsesa. there also is a flight from boracay to puerto prinsesa, i think. you can also fly from boracay to cebu, and then unto puerto prinsesa.
from manila, you could also head north to baguio, sagada, batad, banaue. sagada is the one I recommend the most. you could even head further north to the exotic islands of Batanes. more like storm riven. but that’s what makes their islands so mysterious and exciting.
you could fly east to palawan. land in puerto prinsesa and check out the “open” prison. underground river, too. you supposedly can head up to a place called port barton and eventually to el nido. but that is supposedly hard. for me the part of palawan worth seeing is busuanga, coron, culion and the baby boracays. great stuff and diving there. even a safari for realz in calauit.
we’re a pretty happening place. just put us on the trail 
