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c h i k k a
w a n d e r l u s t
TEXT
KARL DE MESA
Bond Girls
are forever
KEEP IT LIGHT
“As I travel and fly quite a bit — I’ve been
to 40 countries — there’s nothing more
soothing than the sounds of classical music
while the world is rushing about,” Rachel
admits. Diving also brightens her mood.
“For some of the best diving, visit Sangat
Island near Coron in Palawan. It was the
best place to get my diver’s license.”
Is she a big packer? “I rarely check
in luggage, and if I do it will be on my
return journey when my bag is full of local
handicrafts. Authentic, handmade crafts are
not only nice to keep or give away as gifts,
but they also help the community.”
A coconut is
Rachel’s drink
of choice in the
Philippines;
(below) with
Pierce Brosnan in
Die Another Day
2012 marks 50 years of James Bond, so
we took a peek into half-Filipina, half-British
Bond Girl Rachel Grant’s travel scrapbook
AFTER YEARS
of starring in TV shows like the
Sci-Fright
series and various commercials,
Rachel — who grew up in the UK — began her steady rise to fame by using her background in
Filipino Martial Arts (FMA). With it, she bagged the role of Angelina Jolie’s body double in
Tomb
Raider,
and acted alongside Jean Claude Van Damme in
Until Death.
Her expertise in the styles of Kali and Escrima further propelled her into the limelight — she
became the most recognizable face of FMA, and graced the cover of
Inside Kung-Fu
magazine.
All of it culminated in 2002, when she won the role of the villainess Peaceful-Fountains-of-
Desire (or PFOD, incidentally the longest Bond Girl name ever) in
Die Another Day,
wowing the
producers with a
nunchaku
(a two-stick weapon with a short chain or rope) display.
PFOD may be a villain, but Rachel is a sumo wrestler in the fields of charity and social work.
She’s helping to bring attention to activities she’s deeply involved in, like Cancer Research
UK, her family’s own Padua Charitable Fund and, of course, Human Nature — an organic, all-
natural skincare and cosmetics line, of which she’s the global ambassador.
It’s her work for Human Nature that takes her around, and she tears a page off her local travel
scrapbook to tell us how she likes to roll — and where she loves to stop while in the Philippines.