Manila

[QUOTE=SkipKost;1602382]Anybody with recent experience with money changers in the City of Manila: Are they taking USD50 bills? I've never taken them anything bigger than a 20. Thanks in advance.[/QUOTE]Yes, they do take $50 USD bills, provided they are like "new". Just returned from Manila in late June. I always take new 100's and 50's and have no problem exchanging them. They might want to offer you a lower rate than what is posted for the 100's, but just go to another place if they try that. They will take 20's, but maybe offer you a lower exchange rate. Always go to a place that posts the exchange rate on a board. That way you don't have to ask what the rate is. Even if it differs by. 1, when you change 100, then the. 1 becomes. 10 whole pesos.

Hi,

I will be visiting Manila soon. Kindly suggest a better place for nightlife, Bars with live Music and Mongering after work. It is Ermita or Pt Burgos. Accordingly I will book a hotel either in Ermita or Makati.

Thanks

[QUOTE=Tercar66;1602496]Hi,

I will be visiting Manila soon. Kindly suggest a better place for nightlife, Bars with live Music and Mongering after work. It is Ermita or Pt Burgos. Accordingly I will book a hotel either in Ermita or Makati.

Thanks[/QUOTE]Ermita is kinda dumpy and dangerous. There are homeless sleeping on the sidewalk everywhere. And all that is there is LA Cafe and Robinson's mall, both of which is lower rent places. There are some ok hotels in the area. And there are hotel buses to Angeles and subic from the swagman and southern cross hotels.

Burgos is good as it is cleaner, and has upper class hotels for an ok price. The Tune Hotel is ok and can be found cheap online. Burgos has alot of open cafes with alot of girls on the street. It is also near Greenbelt 3 mall which has Havana cafe at night with FL's and has movies, restaurants etc.

If I were you, I'd stay on Burgos and hit Ermita for a night, especially if you are to head off to AC, and want to be near the buses.

[QUOTE=SkipKost;1602382]Anybody with recent experience with money changers in the City of Manila: Are they taking USD50 bills? I've never taken them anything bigger than a 20. Thanks in advance.[/QUOTE]Fiddys are fine but be sure to change 2 of them. Exchange rate is less for anything under $100.00.

Update as of August 1.

Bar Fine.

For the bar: 1950.

Short time: 3 hours, 3,000.

Long time: 5 hours, 5,000.

Was there last night, very slow, no more than 5 - 10 customers per bar. Mostly Japanese. Took a girl for short time which ended staying till 10 am. Only wanted 3 k.

[QUOTE=Tercar66;1602496]Hi,

I will be visiting Manila soon. Kindly suggest a better place for nightlife, Bars with live Music and Mongering after work. It is Ermita or Pt Burgos. Accordingly I will book a hotel either in Ermita or Makati.

Thanks[/QUOTE]Simple answer is ermita is cheap for mongering. Makati can be expensive. If you are looking for 9-10 girls Makati is best.

Hotelwise you can find cheap hotels in both places. In Ermita you can just walk around and scope the freelancer girls. Makati has lots more Ladyboys than ermita.

As for street kids and homeless it is there everywhere in Phi.

[QUOTE=Tercar66;1602496]Hi,

I will be visiting Manila soon. Kindly suggest a better place for nightlife, Bars with live Music and Mongering after work. It is Ermita or Pt Burgos. Accordingly I will book a hotel either in Ermita or Makati.

Thanks[/QUOTE]Like so many things, you are the one to determine which is best for you, not us. I stayed exclusively in malate for 15+yrs. , then a girl, not a bar girl, suggested we look at the New World hotel in Makati. We both went there to look at rooms, and I stayed there 4 nights my next trip and checked out the Makati scene / bars. Now I stay one week in Makati, one week in malate, with a side trip to Cebu city, of course. When in malate it is a short walk to LA caf, short taxi ride to EDSA, short taxi ride to Harrison's, very short walk to Robinson's, where you can pick up non=pro women in the supermarket if you just talk to them.

In Makati the malls are huge and you will get lost in greenbelt / glorietta if you are alone for the first time. Burgos st. Is always jumping, etc. Try both, each offers their own sorts of delights, which the members here write about at length.

News reports have it that Delta Airlines began using Terminal 3 on August 1st, and four other international carriers will be moving in over the next month. I've been in and out of 1 and 2 numerous times, but the closest I've been to 3 is some authentic looking film footage in The Bourne Legacy. I've checked the terminal map for layout of the critical elements, but the map doesn't indicate small details like sim card and load vendors in the terminal. If it's like NAIA 1, I would expect them near the money changers, which appear to be near the exit for metered taxis. Anybody been through there lately and note any sim and load vendors? If so, where are they?

Thanks, Skip.

[QUOTE=SkipKost;1603286]News reports have it that Delta Airlines began using Terminal 3 on August 1st, and four other international carriers will be moving in over the next month. I've been in and out of 1 and 2 numerous times, but the closest I've been to 3 is some authentic looking film footage in The Bourne Legacy. I've checked the terminal map for layout of the critical elements, but the map doesn't indicate small details like sim card and load vendors in the terminal. If it's like NAIA 1, I would expect them near the money changers, which appear to be near the exit for metered taxis. Anybody been through there lately and note any sim and load vendors? If so, where are they?

Thanks, Skip.[/QUOTE]No specific load vendors. Some of the coffee shops have load vending machines which are easy to use. Its a bit of a clusterfuck. Near the departure lounge seating as I recall.

Cheers Skip,

AV.

[QUOTE=Amavida;1603288]No specific load vendors. Some of the coffee shops have load vending machines which are easy to use. Its a bit of a clusterfuck. Near the departure lounge seating as I recall.

Cheers Skip,

AV.[/QUOTE]On exit there are Globe and Smart kiosks in the baggage hall and some also outside. I use T3 a lot and sometime you up my SIMs before I go and get the overpriced taxis.

Nice flight from Japan on Cebu Pacific, but it was a 2 hour + wait / que for a metered taxi.

[QUOTE=JpSlicky;1603333]Nice flight from Japan on Cebu Pacific, but it was a 2 hour + wait / que for a metered taxi.[/QUOTE]A good point JP as I noted in a much earlier FR that unless they did something about the taxis. The scams, the lack of white / yellow. At peak times the 'efficiency' of T3 will be lost on international passengers. Prices will increase for those who don't want to wait 2 hours or who can't / don't want to go to the arrivals area to try and get a cheaper white cab (but even there the queues can be horrible).

Using the domestic airline and arriving at the wrong time of day can be bad enough let alone with lots of other international passengers IMHO but it is something we will suffer as we love the Philippines.

I will pick my flights carefully as I use some of those carriers who now fly to T3. But this could mean I don't hang around Manila as much and just transfer to the domestic flight as no real traffic hassles getting from T1 to T3 anymore.

On the plus side (I hope) the air con (AC) will be better than T1, it is a cleaner airport, but the taxis could be an issue as you rightly pointed out.

[QUOTE=WickedRoger;1603337]The scams, the lack of white / yellow. At peak times the 'efficiency' of T3 will be lost on international passengers. Prices will increase for those who don't want to wait 2 hours or who can't / don't want to go to the arrivals area to try and get a cheaper white cab (but even there the queues can be horrible).

Using the domestic airline and arriving at the wrong time of day can be bad enough let alone with lots of other international passengers IMHO but it is something we will suffer as we love the Philippines.
[/QUOTE]I recall Resorts World (RW), which is across the street from terminal 3, has a shuttle bus that runs to / from the terminals. If the wait for a taxi at NAIA is particularly bad I'd take the shuttle to RW and hail a taxi there. Of the dozen times I've been to RW I've never had more than a few-minute wait for a taxi. Just a thought.

Thanks H, WR, AV, JP.

Sounds like sim and load will be the least of my worries. I like the idea of RW as an outlet for taxis. I wonder how long it will take the taxi Gods to figure out that traffic has moved from Terminal 1 to 3.

I tried going up to the departure area to get an incoming taxi, but with the guards at the door there it is a one way check valve and cannot get out to the in coming, Yellow cab must have paid a hefty fee or bribe for the rights to service outbound, arrival passengers be dammed.