Mitch Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 Heading off to Manila on Sunday evening for a week with work. Should have quite a bit of time to get around the city. Anyone been before? I appreciate there are far better places in The Philippines to visit but I'm a bit restricted due to work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bullywee Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 Absolute shitehole. I was there a couple of times in October and it's probably the grimmest city I've been to. Getting to/ from the airport can take hours due to traffic so you need to allow a bit of time for that. Also, when you leave the terminal building a policeman may look to direct you to a particular taxi company but this is just a scam and you'll end up paying vastly inflated prices. Just queue with all the locals and sex tourists at the taxi rank. Mall of Asia is supposed to be the biggest shopping mall in Asia and is worth a look. It's proper shops selling legit gear at fairly reasonable prices if I remember correctly. Other than that I can't really remember much else that I would recommend. Filipino food is pretty dreadful as well so I'd definitely try a few dishes but you'll probably be looking elsewhere after a couple of days. The best thing about Manila is the pretty cheap flights to all the other places in the Philippines like Boracay, Cebu and Palawan although it sounds as though this isn't really going to be an option for you. Also, watch out when drinking the rocket fuel that is Red Horse. After a night on it I ended up refereeing a midget boxing match which is an undoubted low point in my life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banana Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 It's a shitehole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
throbber Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 I hear it absolutely stinks of shite Rest of Philipenes sounds beautiful though so don't judge it by its capital Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 Tight M inge lives not far away, you could ask him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Posted February 7, 2015 Author Share Posted February 7, 2015 I'm staying in the Shangri-La and got a driver to pick me up at the airport. Heard a few stories about the midget boxing. Might need to wonder by one night and have a look. Heard the food is dodgy and the post above confirms it. Probably just stick to western places. Been living in Bangalore for the last 3 months, surely Manila can't be anymore of a dump... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tight minge Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 It's an absolute shit hole, trust me I live here. In fact, 2 weeks so I got my house broken into and completely emptied of everything I own. I had a tracker on my laptop. The culprit: my neighbour who is vice president of the home owners Association. 2 weeks later he is still free using and spending my hard earned (he has fled to Mindanao), one police officer has been suspended and the chief of police replaced over the investigation and I now have a permanent police bodyguard as they fear serious retribution/murder. Hence why I have not been online for a while. This is all in what's meant to be a secure compound. Have had my life threatened on several occasions before including guns in my face over the past two years, kicked f**k out a guy in a restaurant in a shopping mall once and walked away without being arrested regardless of about 20/30 witnesses (I had cause to better the guy) . The list is endless, it's unbelievable. Manila, is fucking awful, Makati, is one of the few places in Manila that is okay, but still shit. The company I work for are sick of it and are in the process of moving me to the relative safety of Indonesia and will not know open the warehouse they planned for the Philippines. Nearly every expat I know had a similar story. The people are mostly liars, cheats and have zero respect even though they come across friendly, they are all c***s. Obviously too late with the advice as I think your their just now, I'm over in Macau right now then heading to Indonesia or I'd never met you for a pint. Actually, we met in Nancy and I'm sure again in Bucharest. I was the Dosser from Budapest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tight minge Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 I hear it absolutely stinks of shite Rest of Philipenes sounds beautiful though so don't judge it by its capital Some parts may be undoubtedly nice (nothing compared to Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand though) but it's filthy horrible place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tight minge Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Absolute shitehole. I was there a couple of times in October and it's probably the grimmest city I've been to. Getting to/ from the airport can take hours due to traffic so you need to allow a bit of time for that. Also, when you leave the terminal building a policeman may look to direct you to a particular taxi company but this is just a scam and you'll end up paying vastly inflated prices. Just queue with all the locals and sex tourists at the taxi rank. Mall of Asia is supposed to be the biggest shopping mall in Asia and is worth a look. It's proper shops selling legit gear at fairly reasonable prices if I remember correctly. Other than that I can't really remember much else that I would recommend. Filipino food is pretty dreadful as well so I'd definitely try a few dishes but you'll probably be looking elsewhere after a couple of days. The best thing about Manila is the pretty cheap flights to all the other places in the Philippines like Boracay, Cebu and Palawan although it sounds as though this isn't really going to be an option for you. Also, watch out when drinking the rocket fuel that is Red Horse. After a night on it I ended up refereeing a midget boxing match which is an undoubted low point in my life. 1423287474809.jpg Even the taxi ranks are inflated prices, the only way to get a decent fair, is when you come out arrivals, go upstairs to the departures and grab a can dropping off. Get him to put the meter on, it's far cheaper, but you may have a fight to get him to put the meter on, having dinner tagalog helps. Mall of Asia should be about 100php, makati 150php. All prices in SM shopping malls are inflated and considerably more expensive than anywhere else in Asia. The whole country is controlled by 6 families and one family control all import/ export for retail sales, initial all the prices. There's no police outside the airport, they are private security, they are everywhere and always ignore them. As for Red horse, it's made from cereal!!!! It's fucking awful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikingTON Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Absolute shitehole. I was there a couple of times in October and it's probably the grimmest city I've been to. Getting to/ from the airport can take hours due to traffic so you need to allow a bit of time for that. Also, when you leave the terminal building a policeman may look to direct you to a particular taxi company but this is just a scam and you'll end up paying vastly inflated prices. Just queue with all the locals and sex tourists at the taxi rank. Mall of Asia is supposed to be the biggest shopping mall in Asia and is worth a look. It's proper shops selling legit gear at fairly reasonable prices if I remember correctly. Other than that I can't really remember much else that I would recommend. Filipino food is pretty dreadful as well so I'd definitely try a few dishes but you'll probably be looking elsewhere after a couple of days. The best thing about Manila is the pretty cheap flights to all the other places in the Philippines like Boracay, Cebu and Palawan although it sounds as though this isn't really going to be an option for you. Also, watch out when drinking the rocket fuel that is Red Horse. After a night on it I ended up refereeing a midget boxing match which is an undoubted low point in my life. 1423287474809.jpg Probably one of the top ten stories ever put on this site. Fantastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Posted February 15, 2015 Author Share Posted February 15, 2015 Sounds like you have had a shit time of it! For what's it's worth, I didn't think it was the best of places. Only went out a couple of times and was a bit of a let down. I do remember bumping into you in Romania! Hope your well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tight minge Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 Other than this shit, all is good. All being well I'll be moving over to Indonesia soon so that will be a relief to get away from the Philippines but will need to return from time to time for work and pending court cases. I think you would have been around Makati when in Manila, which is better than the rest, the highlight of the Philippines is the departure lounge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banana Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 Other than this shit, all is good. All being well I'll be moving over to Indonesia soon so that will be a relief to get away from the Philippines but will need to return from time to time for work and pending court cases. Hope you're not moving to Jakarta. The other major shithole metropolis of SEA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tight minge Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 Going to be outside Jakarta, but having spent extensive time in each, it's night and day. I'd take Jakarta any day of the week over the Philippines Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banana Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 Indeed. But it's still a shithole, shows how bad Manila is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tight minge Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 :-) that probably did actually sum it up quite well. Apart from Manila being a complete shit hole, the people are generally arse holes of the highest order. Don't think I have came across any foreigner who is living or working here over a prolonged period of time that hasn't been robbed, threatened or attacked. Dies open a big debate on education and religion though which have a massive influence on why the place is fucked up. To put in perspective, through work and pleasure I have been fortunate enough to travel to many countries worldwide, many off the beaten track and at times unstable, and I'll talk every one of them up. I'll even say Jakarta is, alright. But the Philippines, needs laid waste to. They are still trying to figure out where all the money from the international aid went to fun last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enigma Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 Sounds delightful... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tight minge Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 It truly is. A perfect example of what dysfunctional governments, corruption, lack of education and religion can do to a place. Although a bit of an arse, Dan Brown nails the place in his last book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kerrdavidson95 Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 The nature of my work means I'm on a ship with 300 Filipinos who are all wanting me to visit them, and as of last week I have a Filipino god-daughter..? Everyone says the same though - get away from Manila. The tourist spots are probably the safest but will be very crowded - Borocay etc. My ship is going to Cebu next week actually, I disembarked in Kuala Lumpur and by the sounds of this thread I've got quite lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.