You can’t get further away from the Philippines without leaving the Philippines than Batanes: a group of 10 islands floating off in the ‘Here be Dragons’ corner of the map near Taiwan. Only three of these specks are permanently inhabited: the main island, Batan; tradition-rich Sabtang; and remote, northernmost Itbayat. Island landscapes alternate between greenery-clad extinct volcanoes, rugged cliffs, rolling hills, verdant pastureland and turquoise-wave-fringed white slivers of beach.

Batanes gets battered by typhoons on a regular basis. The locals, most of whom are of indigenous Ivatan stock and converse in their native Ivatan tongue, build their traditional houses typhoon-tough, positioned slightly underground with metre-thick limestone walls and bushy roofs made of cogon grass.

That quirky, bushy headpiece that some Ivatan women wear is called a vakul. It is made from abaca and the fibre of the voyavoy palm, found only in Batanes; the men wear a kanayi (vest made from voyavoy). Both protect the wearer from the sun and rain.

The best time to visit is between March and May, when the weather is relatively dry and typhoons are unlikely.