I spent a huge part of 4 years bumming around the Philippines from 2004 to 2009 and it's incredible, even more because of the people than the places. I mainly kept well away from the tourist areas except for...
Palawan. Heaven on earth.
I hope when you get chance you can go back and make your dreams come true and I'm also proud that Phils gets so much positive publicity on Hive :-)
You have been around in Asia!
I hear Palawan is beautiful as well, many English language schools in Taiwan set up shop there