Palo, Philippines

About 5km south of Tacloban is the small town of PALO, known for its associations with General Douglas MacArthur and the liberation of the Philippines towards the end of World War II. It was at Palo's Red Beach, about 1km from the town centre, that MacArthur waded ashore on October 20, 1944, fulfilling his famous vow to return. The spot is marked by the dramatic Leyte Landing Memorial, an oversized sculpture of the general and his associates, among them Sergio Osmeña, walking purposefully through the shallows to the beach. Just outside Palo, on Hill 522, there's an old Spanish church that was turned into a hospital during the war, and the remnants of a number of Japanese foxholes and bunkers. It's worth chartering a tricycle for the day when you reach Palo to take you from sight to sight.