General Info

[QUOTE=SeanEZ;1658822]Hi, so street taxies are not safe then. What's best way to get a taxi at night, possible to call one?[/QUOTE]Contact your destination hotel, they can provide a car for airport pickup service. However, they must be aware of both the traffic congestion and the taxi mafia, as hotels I've contacted in the last 6 months have increased their airport pickup prices considerably.

Side note: p1000 is a rip-off to go from NAIA to most any hotel in the Malate/Makati areas, yes. However its spit to most of us. If you only travel the airport a few times per year, spend the money and have your hotel pick you up: you don't have to wait for a taxi that will be ripping you off.

My apology to those residents affected by the traffic. I only come for 2-4 weeks at a time so I am not affected as much. I timed my arrivals around 9:30 pm in to Manila and departures on Mondays. On departure Mondays I travel from AC to Manila on Saturdays or Sundays to avoid the heavy weekday traffic.

On some arrival nights and nights before departures I stay at hotels near MOA and hook up with some Manila girls. They are usually coming from Pasay. Lately their 20-30 minute taxi rides to the hotel have turned into over an hour rides. At first I thought the girl was just giving me a story about being late. But it has seemed pretty common lately with other girls. Worst is when the taxi driver has no idea where the hotel is but just keeps on driving.

[QUOTE=WestCoast1;1658827]Contact your destination hotel, they can provide a car for airport pickup service. .[/QUOTE]Thank you, I appreciate the advice.

[QUOTE=Dg8787;1658828]My apology to those residents affected by the traffic. I only come for 2-4 weeks at a time so I am not affected as much. I timed my arrivals around 9:30 pm in to Manila and departures on Mondays. On departure Mondays I travel from AC to Manila on Saturdays or Sundays to avoid the heavy weekday traffic.[/QUOTE]In the past, I've chosen flights for me that keep the travel time down (shorter layover in HK, Taiwan, Korea, China, etc) in combination with price. Screw that. In the future I think I'll fly in / out of Clark instead, or just plan flights that land and depart from NAIA on Sundays when tropik is lighter.

So, would staying near the MOA as a good pickup location for 3-4 days? Or would going to Makati for that time period be a better idea?

[QUOTE=RumBuddy;1658962]So, would staying near the MOA as a good pickup location for 3-4 days? Or would going to Makati for that time period be a better idea?[/QUOTE]Makati. Unless you are willing to travel at night, after 9 pm-ish, when traffic lightens up.

[QUOTE=SeanEZ;1658822]Hi, so street taxies are not safe then. What's best way to get a taxi at night, possible to call one?[/QUOTE]Been reading these stories of woe for many years & yet never experienced anything like it living in Manila or frequent visitor. Take it all with a grain of salt. If you get overcharged $2 is it really worth having a stroke about it? Moving around the night spots where foriegners & wealthy hang out is pretty safe in reality especially if you have a, ahem, friend on board. Travelling around alone in the remote far flung outer areas of Manila is probably not something any of us should contemplate but then again you will find it very hard to get a taxi anyway.

AV.

[QUOTE=UncleVolodya;1658841]

We had leftovers so G wanted to drop them off for her bitches (Hoes got to eat too!


And stay horny my friends.

[/QUOTE]

the cleaned up version

[QUOTE=UncleVolodya;1659075]

She had a Hawaiian pizza and brought back leftovers for her girls and none of them got sick.

[/QUOTE]I like the contrite UV better. Maybe GCH made a special pie just for him, LOL.

And stay phony my friends.

Sean will learn fast.

Having spent 7 days here, over all trip was very nice.

Pros.

Cheap pussy.

Cheap massages.

Cheap Uber.

Decent condo.

Cons.

Bad Air.

City is dirty except Makati Greenbelt areas.

Bad water.

Too many LBs my god it was crazy at Burgos it was 3-1 I think.

Avg food even spend 1500 p at 1771 Chateau in G3 twice LOL. Mango smoothie was top shelf though lol

Shit Airport, dunno where that 550 p goes, do you?

The joke ANA Lounge at MNL was the worst ever and for the Japanese to have a Cafe for their Biz Class Lounge was imploraby.

I might come back but I think other places like maybe beach areas better next time.

PC out.

[QUOTE=SeanEZ;1658901]Thank you, I appreciate the advice.[/QUOTE]Sean,

Get the UBER App immediately on your smartphone and use all the time like I did around Manila. Taxis are old and dirty and drivers stink well maybe 60% do. I took one taxi from Solaire to Makati and he wanted 250 off meter and I agrred since I had to be somewhere and no Uber cars around. Most trips to where I went were 100-250 p.

Trip to MNL a this am was 140 p plus a 50 p tip. I usually always tip these UBER drivers as the cars are newer and very clean unlike the white cabs.

FYI.

PC out.

I'm not going to disagree with Westcoast, but MOA area has a lot to offer and when I went past a few days ago it seems like new things have opened. It would be nice if someone could give a good updated field report.

It is close to the airport, has naughty nightlife at EDSA Entertainment Complex, and is roughly in between Ermita and Makati. Which have their own charms. Whenever I'm chatting with a gal whose location is vague, I ask her how long it would take to get to MOA. Microtel is right next store to MOA, but may be a bit overpriced at 4000+.

According to the map, there is a ferry from Caloocan city to a dock there next to MOA / Microtel. That might be something to consider if you are especially smitten with an online contact from Caloocan. X.

[QUOTE=RumBuddy;1658962]So, would staying near the MOA as a good pickup location for 3-4 days? Or would going to Makati for that time period be a better idea?[/QUOTE]

I would like to make a few observations about the Philippines since this is my first visit.

It's great that people speak English but sometimes frustrating as their level of English is not as good as one might expect compounded by the fact that on several occasions they would not admit to me that they didn't understand what I said. Instead they nod in agreement with the resultant confusion later. It helps to double check.

Much to my chagrin, there is no NFL or college American football on any of the local cable stations. I have five sports stations on my cable. So far, I have been able to watch American women college volleyball, rugby, rodeo bronco busting, PGA golf, NBA pro and small US college basketball, pro tennis, European football, boxing / ultimate fighting, an Australian baseball all star game, and last but not least cock fighting. Now, the latter is something you don't see every day! A dusty symphony of calamitous screeching accompanied by a vortex of multi-colored flying feathers, blood, and sand.

The girls are quite nosy about where I am from and why I am alone. Last night at a Boracay disco, I was asked where my wife is.

I fabricated a story: Dead, I told her. What happened, she asked. Terrible car accident, I said. No condolences from the girl. Instead, she asked again why I am by myself and did I want company. Of course, the other question is where are you from? Since, I quickly became bored with this inquiry, I have concocted a country of origin for myself, which is Iceland. None of the girls so far have been able to place Iceland geographically though a few thought it was in Europe. So now, I am the guy from Iceland. One girl did mention that she went with a Finnish guy once and thought I would leave with her due to this revelation.

Lady boys. They are all over the place. I saw them in Makati and now Boracay. I also see them walking around in transition from boy to girl or reverse only partly made up or disengaging from their female persona. Sort of like the metamorphis of the caterpillar to the
butterfly or going the other way. I saw a guy walking around in curlers today and dressed as a girl but clearly a boy. In Makati, there was a guy in a 7/11 who had taken off his makeup and wig sitting down and eating a hotdog.

[QUOTE=Tomasb;1659398]I would like to make a few observations about the Philippines since this is my first visit.

It's great that people speak English but sometimes frustrating as their level of English is not as good as one might expect compounded by the fact that on several occasions they would not admit to me that they didn't understand what I said. Instead they nod in agreement with the resultant confusion later. It helps to double check.

Much to my chagrin, there is no NFL or college American football on any of the local cable stations. I have five sports stations on my cable. So far, I have been able to watch American women college volleyball, rugby, rodeo bronco busting, PGA golf, NBA pro and small US college basketball, pro tennis, European football, boxing / ultimate fighting, an Australian baseball all star game, and last but not least cock fighting. Now, the latter is something you don't see every day! A dusty symphony of calamitous screeching accompanied by a vortex of multi-colored flying feathers, blood, and sand.

The girls are quite nosy about where I am from and why I am alone. Last night at a Boracay disco, I was asked where my wife is.

I fabricated a story: Dead, I told her. What happened, she asked. Terrible car accident, I said. No condolences from the girl. Instead, she asked again why I am by myself and did I want company. Of course, the other question is where are you from? Since, I quickly became bored with this inquiry, I have concocted a country of origin for myself, which is Iceland. None of the girls so far have been able to place Iceland geographically though a few thought it was in Europe. So now, I am the guy from Iceland. One girl did mention that she went with a Finnish guy once and thought I would leave with her due to this revelation.

Lady boys. They are all over the place. I saw them in Makati and now Boracay. I also see them walking around in transition from boy to girl or reverse only partly made up or disengaging from their female persona. Sort of like the metamorphis of the caterpillar to the
butterfly or going the other way. I saw a guy walking around in curlers today and dressed as a girl but clearly a boy. In Makati, there was a guy in a 7/11 who had taken off his makeup and wig sitting down and eating a hotdog.[/QUOTE]Long long long ago I too was a newbie making his first visit. And long long ago, I too quickly learned that because they seem to speak English, you can converse in English. The head nods are about correct.

Sadly you quickly learn that some understand everything you say but depending on your target market, the less well educated will look like they understand but don't.

TV channels. Well you forgot to mentions theres some paradoxical and contradictory other channels. Girls dancing in short short skirts, swaying those hips all so provocatively (Eat Buluga etc) and the next channel is a serious sombre faced fellow talking about "Ang Dating Daan " (the right way). A religious channel. Not to mention, the endless telenovas which can be Sapnish, Korean or even home grown. All are made for girls who are bored of texting, bored of thinking but who want to be entertained.

Whats your name, where are you from, where you stay. Universal questions. I too once tried to be creative in responses, and whenever I was asked that question would take out a card which had all the answers written on it. That stopped those questions right off. The poor girl asking them had never been told what to do when Johny Foreigner didn't play by the rules.

Your Iceland story is a little like that. As an aside, I got a viber message recently. " Hi Freebie, what's my gift and where are you" I chose to ignore the first part and replied that I was in Shanghai. She replied " You lie! I asked why, she replied " Before, you told me you were in China, now you say you are in Shanghai ".

So I'm sure your Iceland prompted much scratching of head. Philippines education doesn't seem to cover geography that well, for some.

As an aside, Philippines culture doesn't handle being alone very well either. Hence the lack of concern about your supposedly dead wife.

No one is ever alone in the country, its too crowded.

Why are you alone? " Um because I want to be ". " Hmm but why?

[QUOTE=Tomasb;1659398], I have concocted a country of origin for myself, which is Iceland. None of the girls so far have been able to place Iceland geographically though a few thought it was in Europe. So now, I am the guy from Iceland. One girl did mention that she went with a Finnish guy once and thought I would leave with her due to this revelation.
[/QUOTE]Are you going back via Cebu by any chance? There is a girl there whom I have dated (unsuccessfully) a few times whom is a geography nutcase, name a county and she knows the capital and population. Amazing.

When I say unsuccessfully that's in the context of actual penetration as BBBJ and CIM is apparently not sex and she's saving herself (apparently).

Happy days.