Manila

[QUOTE=JayHighFive;1228469]Where is the best place to exchange money in Manilia? Is the airport okay or are there combo type place around in the city?[/QUOTE]Odd as it may seem the money exchange at Manila airport is very good.

It is the one place in the world that I have no problem exchanging money as the rates are the same outside.

[QUOTE=Gangles; 1229815]I have Type II diabetes, and like a lot of fellow sufferers, I used artificial sweeteners for a long time.

Not long ago, a friend sent me a warning about Aspartame, which is a common ingredient in artificial sweeteners. A little bit of research showed that Aspartame is a toxin, a known poison, with some pretty horrific side effects.[/QUOTE]I know you were making a political point using Aspartame as an example Gangles old mate but just as an aside: you can use [B]Stevia[/B] as the sweetener replacement now.

It is a naturally occurring substance derived from a plant (from within the sunflower family) , and is available in the Philippines (and no doubt in Oz too) and all signs seem to point to it being safe. It is extremely sweet.

The best variety for me is "Stevita" (from Healthy Options) , but another variety is "Sweet & Fit" from Mercury Drug.

[QUOTE=Cunning Stunt;1229811]LOL, GE, I didn't realize that the old feudal law of "le droit de seigneur" lived on in Davao. No wonder it is so hard to find a virgin here:).[/QUOTE]Wish I had th courage to test droit du seigneur at my office, as there are some seriously young punanis there with whom I would love to exercise la droit.

GE

[QUOTE=Fast Eddie 48; 1229399]To Gangle,

If you are taking about Hand out in the Phillipines the Government is the one getting it under the table that is, many US company don't want to do any business in PI because of all the Coruption so many of us come here for monkey business only.

Fast Eddie 48[/QUOTE]This video gives an idea of the overall situation.

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctuAxPr96qs[/url]

[QUOTE=Chocha Monger; 1230175]This video gives an idea of the overall situation.

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctuAxPr96qs[/url][/QUOTE]Ya, but they have a sense of humor?

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEtKgtFPGB0&feature=related[/url]

[QUOTE=Westcoast1; 1230191]Ya, but they have a sense of humor?

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEtKgtFPGB0&feature=related[/url][/QUOTE]Oh she got a lot of flames from her fellow filipinos. But in fairness, she is kinda cute!

If you believe for one minute that that video on youtube gives a balanced assesment of the merits of one governmental system over another, just think of these countries, in my patch of dirt, which have parliamentary systems. Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu.

And to suggest that Australia is a rich country because it has a parliamentary system ignores the self evident fact that Australia only survives because it is a huge continent with very few people, and it has vast reserves of coal and iron ore which we just dig out of the ground and sell. If it were not for the luck of these mineral resources, we would be living in poverty. Almost nil manufacturing, good agriculture being ruined by successive governments, negligible export services. We import 80% of all of the seafood that we eat, despite having the largest per capita fisheries in the world. We import 80% of all of the wood product that we consume, despite having vast forests.

Interestingly, the youtube list of presidential systems omitted the USA.

It is a ridiculous video, grossly biassed.

Get real.

G

[QUOTE=Chocha Monger; 1230175]This video gives an idea of the overall situation.

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctuAxPr96qs[/url][/QUOTE]

Send me a private message if you are interested, her hotel will be close to MBC. She is interested in big and maybe a gang.

on my last trip i paid a visit to carriedo to check out the street action. thanks to cs and wc for pointing out this area. i was specifically looking for a spot with daytime action in this area to develop for weekday lunchtime quickies, so it was worth checking out. since the original posts of cs / wc are now well-buried under several pages of off-topic amateur imf posts, i am quoting their original posts below. it is interesting how senior members will blast a newbie for info requests, but will have no issues in filling up the manila thread with their views on the causes of local economic ills.

from the descriptions below i was able to figure out the area on google maps. if you see the street map and satellite views from the first two attachments, you can spot wc's mcdo at the top left. since i was staying near robinson's malate, i had taken the 3-stop lrt ride from pedro gil to carriedo station. i actually visited on two separate occasions. arriving 4pm on a thursday and 2pm on a saturday. in pic #3, you can see the scene at the bottom of the stairs as you exit from the lrt (in pic #2, this is located at the blue lrt symbol for carriedo station).

walked up the right side of rizal ave. under the covered sidewalk at a leisurely pace. there were some "psst psst" ladies, but they were really old. one came up to me and offered to find me a girl. passed. after about 500m was the end of the covered walk, so i crossed the street and walked back up the other side of the street. there were also sws at the front of the puregold jr near the sogo hotel. again girls offered themselves at php500 short time, but nothing i was interested in. one lady asked me what i was looking for. i replied "young and slim". she asked me to wait and brought me a horrid-looking thing that was missing a good portion of her teeth.

on neither visit did i partake in the offerings. there were a couple girls i could have taken (same quality as the girls in cs's original post) , but i had other options that i planned to meet in early evening and i didn't want to be shagged out. i can verify that there is certainly street action. i can verify that the price is circa php500. there are tons of hourly-type short time no-tell motels. sogo, astrotel (in pic #4) as well as even cheaper options. on the way back, i wondered why the quality and selection was rather lacking. my best guess, especially for the saturday visit, was that i simply arrived too late. for the daytime action, my guess was that most pickups happen between 11am-1pm, where guys can pick up a girl, take her back to one of the short time hotels for a leisurely afternoon delight and be back home by early evening.

i didn't see but a few talents on the bright side of 20yo, but that does not mean that the younger workers are not part of the scene, so exercise common sense. again, my sense was that timing of arrival was a key factor in the general quantity and quality of the action available for daytime. i will definitely be checking this area out in the future, worth developing.

would really appreciate any other info on action in this general area. it was refreshing to see something besides the usual mbc / lac pro&con reports. enjoy manila, asianrain.

[quote=cunning stunt; 1220960]not been there for a couple of years but there used to be an excellent street scene along carriedo, underneath the lrt line heading north. starting at about 10 at night after the quiapo market has finished for the day, the selection varies from night to night but is sometimes pretty good. watch out for **** girls though, as being close to chinatown, young pussy is much in demand. the street used to be pedestrianized under the last mayor but has now reverted under lim. there are many ktv's, discos and local style girly bars with lots of locals wandering around so the area feels fairly safe however not many foreigners get down here so i wouldn't advise flashing wads of notes or getting drunk in this area. there are any number of spit and sawdust short time hotels and a sogo.

prices are low with girls going for 500 st for foreigners and presumably less for locals. some adventurous soul might like to check it out and report back.[/quote][quote=westcoast1]my pinay took me over to quiapo for some shopping. we hit a mcdo in a small mall on a corner, then were walking back up the street past the lrt. it started raining like crazy and the taxis were ignoring us, so we just kept walking. it was about 1pm, early afternoon. my girl pointed out the various young girls standing around doing nothing, staring at me as we went by, as hookers."they are a cheap. many disease. too sick to bargirl even." eventually we stopped at a vendor and looked at some cheap jewelry, and i wandered off to another vendor nearby, losing my girl for a moment. three young girls started giving me the tijuana sw "psst!" when i looked over at them, one said,"hey. 500 all day. one thousand two girl all day." my pinay grabbed my arm and hustled me up the street. am pretty sure the one who was talking was 14 or 15, and the others were 16-18. we walked several more minutes until we finally got a taxi. we probably passed 40 girls like this, hanging in the business entrances.[/quote]

[QUOTE=Asian Rain;1232250]On my last trip I paid a visit to Carriedo to check out the street action. One lady asked me what I was looking for. I replied "young and slim". She asked me to wait and brought me a horrid-looking thing that was missing a good portion of her teeth.[/QUOTE]Was she young and slim like you asked for? (Posted in ROD)

[QUOTE=Asian Rain; 1232250]I was specifically looking for a spot with daytime action in this area to develop for weekday lunchtime quickies, so it was worth checking out.

Would really appreciate any other info on action in this general area. It was refreshing to see something besides the usual MBC / LAC pro&con reports. Enjoy Manila, AsianRain.[/QUOTE]Carriedo is at its best late at night. I'm not surprised that the daytime offering was rather skanky and poor.

Has anyone noticed the daytime SW action around Cubao Araneta MRT station? I was meeting someone near the station and was interested to see the number of girls hanging around clustered near the walkway exits where the station adjoins the Farmers Plaza Mall and inside the mall itself. Quality was pretty good but again, age seemed to be a concern and I would ensure that a girl was definitely legal before taking. There are big branches of Sogo and Eurotel within short walking distance which might account for the presence of the girls. I didn't have time to check it out further but made a mental note for further investigation. The nearby Farmers Market is a well known and notorious local night time pick-up area.

Would be interested to hear if anyone has walked a girl from here and details of price / service etc.

The Carriedo area is very dangerous to pick up freelancers not to mention of very poor quality. Most of these girls are bar and massage parlor rejects because they have failed the required government health checks imposed on these establishments. Others are looking to scam their next victim as they are in cahoots with police and / or motel management. If you decide to take the risk and let the little head think, never let the girl decide which short-time motel to go and always ask for I'd for younger looking girls.

[QUOTE=Mr Enternational;1232401]Was she young and slim like you asked for? (Posted in ROD)[/QUOTE]Not really. My range allowance of "slim and young" is pretty clear: 18-20yo and no more than 45kg, with an ideal target of 18yo / 40kg. The girl that was brought to me was well above target. I would guess 23yo and over 50kg, with what looked like a MILF belly. Reject. Reject.

As with CS, I would be interested in experiences rather than opinions. With the massive numbers of short time hotels in the area, this is obviously a well-developed market, although caution is always merited if you are in a new territory. AR

I was just looking at Google Maps, and noticed that on P Burgos it has listed the Shampoo "Ladyboy bar." Now it has been a couple of years since that last time I was there, and things could have changed. But it was definitely not a ladyboy bar when I visited last. Can anyone confirm the status of this bar?

[QUOTE=Hairy Wonder;1232874]I was just looking at Google Maps, and noticed that on P Burgos it has listed the Shampoo "Ladyboy bar." Now it has been a couple of years since that last time I was there, and things could have changed. But it was definitely not a ladyboy bar when I visited last. Can anyone confirm the status of this bar?[/QUOTE]The 'Shampoo' bar I think you mean is just across the street from Oxford Suites Hotel, on the corner. I have been in there several times last year, the last time in

November, and it certainly wasn't a Ladyboy bar then. Some really cute girls in there.

Bonker