Philippines

[yeseye]

I have travelled the majority of Philippines and depends what you are after

My recommendations would be land Manila, drink red horse, Emperedor and eat balut and BBQ chicken heart and intenstines, do Karaoke with the locals, after a couple days then visit Taal volcano, then get flight to Legaspi, bus to Donsol (Mount Mayon and swimming with 40ft Butanding) then flight to Palawan (underground river in Sabang then onto El Nido {best island hopping} (try the birds nest soup)

If you only have 30 hours then Tianamen square, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven are a must then a trip to outdoor food markets (must try dog, sea horse, scorpion and fish lip with sea urchin soup OR shark fin soup, spend a night out drinking, you may end up more popular than you expense with the Chinese femails. Chinese have certain customs you should read up on before travel, I found them excellent, eager to please and very kind, I once ate a whole crab including the Shell, pincers the lot in a very posh restaurant and then they kept giving me food for free lol.

GWOC (Badaling) possible aswell but travel is a few hours both ways, I went to GWOC in December when it was snowing and very quiet but if in season it will be mobbed betond belief. If more time better to visit other sectors of the GWOC than Badaling. Let me know if any questions

I think you’d do ok on “I’m a celebrity get me out of here” !

 

[Manchester_lalala]

Bohol is amazing, Cheap flights direct to taglabaran direct from Manila, chocolate mountains, Loboc river (I swam up most of that with my fins and snorkels) and some of the most amazing beaches in Pangaloa Island, I believe development has really stepped up a fair bit in recent years.

If your interested in trip up Mount Pinatuba, ATM, bar hopping then Angeles (couple hours drive North of Manila is a winner)

Angeles City, ahh the memories.

Wouldn’t recommend Manila, rough as fuck.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Stopped off in Manila for a few days to stay with a mate who lives there part of the time, last autumn. Thought it was ok, but for me, not up there in terms of Asian cities.

Sunday brunch at Raffles Hotel in Makati is a must and really good value. I’ll try and dig out one or two other places we went, as my mate was in the know, or at least appeared to be!

Edit: found a link

https://www.raffles.com/makati/offers/dining-offers/luxe-sunday-brunch/

It’s £80 per head, so not as cheap as I remember, but it was unlimited (and decent) champagne and the food was incredible. Didn’t need to eat again that day. Fuck me, we were pissed that day. My mate (not the one that lived there) went missing, lost about six hours and woke up asleep in the street; surprised one of his kidneys wasn’t harvested.

Manila is definitely the most edgy Asian city I’ve visited, which I quite like tbh.

 

[MadchesterCity]

Angeles City, ahh the memories.

Wouldn’t recommend Manila, rough as fuck.

Angeles City is Philippines Disney land for adults.

In my opinion Cebu is much rougher than Manila, I found out the hard way when I ended up getting a good kicking, I did go down fighting though and note the Police will always side with the locals, rule of thumb is never fight with locals, but people will try and scam you and sometimes you are provoked. Philippines has a lot of corruption and sometimes you must decide to just pay the fine or enough is enough but on the other hand the last place you want to end up is a prison there.

If arriving late I would recommend The Heritage Hotel Manila (Pasay), its 4 star and used to be right next to huge casino (I think it's closed now as it was robbed too many times) which is very close to airport and SM Mall of Asia (huge mall where you can stock up with goodies at a cheap price and loads of interesting people to meet /things to do!), would be handy if you are planning only short stay and you can book taxi (motorbike taxi) from there to Makati, Binondo (China town for Gold), Tondo (if you want to see graveyard village and the way the locals live (need a guide). The travel is horrendous in Manila, driving is some of the worst I have seen, so I would say no need to hire/ drive a car there. I was lucky enough (if you would call it that) to drive my mates Jeepney and the thing floats like nothing else, an experience worth trying but not keen to do again, honk honk!

But lalala is correct Manila is rough as fuck aswell, I never wear jewellery and never flash your cash, drinking, knife fighting, cock fighting and boxing are some of the favourite hobbies of the locals. I would say Manila is worth the night you land and another night just for the experience and personally would recommend another day for a trip to Taal volcano, it's a journey you will never forget but bloody cool, I galloped up the volcano on horse back, managed to convince the guide that I was expert with horses so I never required a guide to walk the horse up. The poor horse was exhausted after getting ridden so hard by a large man

Three weeks lends itself better than two weeks but guess that goes without saying.

 

[MadchesterCity]

Stopped off in Manila for a few days to stay with a mate who lives there part of the time, last autumn. Thought it was ok, but for me, not up there in terms of Asian cities.

Sunday brunch at Raffles Hotel in Makati is a must and really good value. I’ll try and dig out one or two other places we went, as my mate was in the know, or at least appeared to be!

Edit: found a link

https://www.raffles.com/makati/offers/dining-offers/luxe-sunday-brunch/

It’s £80 per head, so not as cheap as I remember, but it was unlimited (and decent) champagne and the food was incredible. Didn’t need to eat again that day. Fuck me, we were pissed that day. My mate (not the one that lived there) went missing, lost about six hours and woke up asleep in the street; surprised one of his kidneys wasn’t harvested.

Manila is definitely the most edgy Asian city I’ve visited, which I quite like tbh.

Haha sounds good fun, agree Manila is very edgy, similar to Bangkok
Watched City get battered by Thailand all stars in Manila, think that was about ten years ago.

Philippines is certainly nowhere near as cheap as it used to be, not helped by our crappy pound; everything has doubled in price in last ten years. Booze from supermarket is ridiculously cheap. Makati is the financial district / bar area and is probably one of the safest/ commonly frequented part of Manila by tourists.

 

[jayfx]

Haha sounds good fun, agree Manila is very edgy, similar to Bangkok.

Manila is ten times rougher than Bangkok. The two are not at all comparable in terms of safety and needing too be vigilant.

I do agree with Makati being one of the safest areas of Manila

 

[MadchesterCity]

Manila is ten times rougher than Bangkok. The two are not at all comparable in terms of safety and needing too be vigilant.

I do agree with Makati being one of the safest areas of Manila

Yes you are right Manila is definitely rougher than Bangkok, Cebu is much rougher than Manila.
Huge drug problems in Cebu, Duterte sorting all that out now though

I think Bangkok does have an edgy feel to it though without being rough due to the huge amount of tourists.
Bangkok where the tourists are is fine but if you go outwith the Normal tourist areas then you certainly have to be more aware.

In Manila though it feels like it could kick off anywhere at anytime, crime stats much higher in Manila. Don't let that put you off though!

 

[che_don_john]

My wife's parents are from the Philipines. Her mum took her and her brothers to Manilla to see where she grew up and she really didn't like it much; horribly congested and I think she was shocked by the poverty that her mum had grown up in.

However, her cousin went to some of the islands in the south and said it was like another world entirely; beautiful beaches, clear waters, all the idyllic stuff. I think it's fast becoming the new island hoping destination, and as people are catching on the prices are starting to rise. Still relatively cheap but not like what it was before. And no doubt the huge surge in tourism will spoil the area.

For something different, my father in law is from the Pangasinan province which I gather is a good balance of nice beaches and countryside without the hussle and bussle of big cities, and with fewer tourists.

 

[MadchesterCity]

My wife's parents are from the Philipines. Her mum took her and her brothers to Manilla to see where she grew up and she really didn't like it much; horribly congested and I think she was shocked by the poverty that her mum had grown up in.

However, her cousin went to some of the islands in the south and said it was like another world entirely; beautiful beaches, clear waters, all the idyllic stuff. I think it's fast becoming the new island hoping destination, and as people are catching on the prices are starting to rise. Still relatively cheap but not like what it was before. And no doubt the huge surge in tourism will spoil the area.

For something different, my father in law is from the Pangasinan province which I gather is a good balance of nice beaches and countryside without the hussle and bussle of big cities, and with fewer tourists.

More laid back on the coast there, lots of farming and fishing villages right? 1000 Islands

Closer to Vigan City (Spanish colonial town) Banuae rice terraces, Sagada hanging coffins, I really want to travel to Pagudpod some time

 

[allblackcitizen]

Yes you are right Manila is definitely rougher than Bangkok, Cebu is much rougher than Manila.
Huge drug problems in Cebu, Duterte sorting all that out now though

I think Bangkok does have an edgy feel to it though without being rough due to the huge amount of tourists.
Bangkok where the tourists are is fine but if you go outwith the Normal tourist areas then you certainly have to be more aware.

In Manila though it feels like it could kick off anywhere at anytime, crime stats much higher in Manila. Don't let that put you off though!

That's one way of putting it!