Come April 12-14 and Pasay City, Manila, Philippines will be a humdrum of activities. The occasion: the annual Aliwan Fiesta. Hailed as the ‘mother of all festivals’, here tourists get a treat to Filipino cultures and heritage. There are street dancing competitions, beauty pageants, firework displays, floral floats and more. Tribes such as Dinagyang and Sinulog also perform here. And contingents from other parts of the nation visit the country to compete in dance parade and float competitions. The awards: a million-peso grand prize. What more can one discover here: some of the 7,107 islands.