Deciding against going to PI
[quote=lukeskywanker]i had a planned my first visit to angeles last month, thanks to amavida and others for the tips i received however i will not be posting any ac reports as in the end i went back to pattaya and indonesia.
the reasons for my change of mind were numerous, i tried to book a flight into clark direct from singapore with tiger they would not take a credit card online so ended up with a flight with singapore airlines to manilla.
i wanted to stay at the pacific breeze but it was full so i booked into the clarkton.
after reading some reports on the internet about police scams with **** girls (the clarkton was the hotel in question in one report) and many people saying not much to do during the day apart from doing what you do at night.
not looking forward to the drive from manila.
[/quote]
just wanted to comment on reports and what they are worth and decisions to change plans like that. some of the things reported here are blown way out of proportion and i'm afraid, it's caused someone who was intending to go to ac to change his mind. not being able to book a flight into clark to me is no reason to change your itinerary. the whole manila to ac travel time and stuff to me is way overdone. really, is an extra 1.5 to 2 hours each way going to make that much of a difference? shoot there is lots of time to kill in ac so what's the big deal? the ride isn't that bad.
pacific breeze is a very nice hotel. the staff there and central park have historically been very good. it's probably the most recommended hotel for angeles for mongers. i try to stay at one or the other because i have a past with them, but that doesn't mean there aren't other good to very good hotels there. there are actually plenty for a variety of price ranges. it's nice when the staff greets you by name, but it doesn't make my trip. all i need is clean and quiet for me, and there are plenty around for that. if i can't get a room there i just get another hotel.
police scams? heard about them but just through message boards and some of the stuff sounds like rumors gone wild. i'm not saying there aren't scams going on, but for one, if you are a common sense type of person, the chances are pretty low of you getting involved in something shady like that. if you aren't then mongering is dangerous anywhere as you are prime to get screwed eventually.
yes ac could get boring for some during the day but it's not that bad. it's chill. you can barhop, you can just relax and recover from the night before, you can hang out with your woman from night before go eat or watch a movie. there are bars to go that are only good really during daytime and early early evening. the other big bars start opening around 6 or 7 so that's pretty early compared to venues in jakarta. i find the daytime can be really boring in jakarta. trying to get back and forth to one side of jakarta can take an hour or more almost as long as it takes to get to ac from manila, but of course cheaper.
it's all perspective. i've traveled to a lot of different places in se asia, and to me all the reasons mentioned for changing the itinerary were way too small of a deal to do so. maybe there are some other mitigating factors, but if not, i wouldn't have changed for those reasons. some people like to make little things into big things. ac is worth crossing off a checklist for a monger. it's not my favorite destination, but it is something i don't mind doing now and then.
