Phillipines

[Padkapow Guy]

Spent in Q.C. Manila 4 years in late 90's

Loved it and hated it at the same time.  Fantastic and friendly from the heart people with their everyday problems of poverty. You can see this everywhere.

European traditions blended with old local believs. Dusty roads with trafffic jams 24/7. Shot guns everywhere. Old colonial buildings at their last glamour. Luck of money and corruption made it as it is now.

Yes, they love America and Americans ( which puts me off ) but except businessmen, sex tourists and mostly US expacts ( less of european) you can hardly see tourists there due to remote tourist  location and luck of tourist attractions like in here. .. except karaoke and girly bars.

Ceby, Palawan, Angeles and Puerto Galera are ok but look at the rest of the country. Poor piece of the 3rd world country. America and US $ it's still a paradise for them. Basketball and rap music rules there like nowhere else.

But if they only be given chance to present what they have to offer for tourist business it would be paradise for all of us and especially for them ( not America for sure).

So you are saying there is not to many Eurotrash in the P.I. That kinda makes it more appealing.

[Khun Larry]

I much prefer Thailand.

I lived in the PI for four years back in the eighties, Angeles City, and not on base, either. I had no problems with the locals in general, but I did have one incident.

It was Christmas. The locals were celebrating as they always do for every holiday, with fireworks. I lived right next to a trike stand (like a tuk-tuk stand) and the trike drivers were throwing triangles (quarter-sticks of dynamite into my yard. Nor only were my dogs hightly upset, but I was too. I happened to be quite ill at the time with a massive sinus infection. I asked them to please not throw them into my yard anymore.

Three times.

Then I made and heaved a Molotov cocktail at them. I hit one trike, with the driver still sitting in it, flames went everywhere, and definitely upset all the drivers. They ran to the police. I sat around and waited for the police to show up. The police came and talked to me. The police left. The drivers all treated me with much more respect thereafter.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If you tried that in Thailand you would be dead now. No question about it.

[markt]

My mate lived there for seven years and i've asked him what it is like over there.

Most of what he said was the same as the earlier posters - horrible food, wide-scale corruption, great beaches, guns commomplace etc.

He also said that when you marry a Fillipina, she wants to move to your country, then when she gets there, she wants to bring her mum, dad, brothers, sisters, aunts, neighbours, friends etc over to settle too.

[Khun Larry]

My mate lived there for seven years and i've asked him what it is like over there.

Most of what he said was the same as the earlier posters - horrible food, wide-scale corruption, great beaches, guns commomplace etc.

He also said that when you marry a Fillipina, she wants to move to your country, then when she gets there, she wants to bring her mum, dad, brothers, sisters, aunts, neighbours, friends etc over to settle too. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Good reason not to marry.

[middlepath]

The best way if one can is to marry a Fillipina and stay in the Philippines.

[snoophound]

What a dump

Stayed at the Intercon in makati last year.

full on security,mirrors under taxis and search boots before allowed in the driveway.

Cops carrying shotguns on the back of motorcycles.

Food is rubbish

One of the great dissapointments of SE asia

I go there for a few days every 3-4 months (next trip next week) and love it, but I've only been to Manila.  Later this year, I plan a trip to the south for some R&R. 

Never got into any trouble and always feel safe and welcome.  I think the people are genuinely more welcoming of foreigners than here and there is less a culture of 'what can we rip the farang off for next.'  than here.

But whoever said the food is awful is spot on.  How do they stay so slim by eating pig fat all day?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah, the food is markedly inferior to Thai food. If you dig a little, there are some interesting dishes (not that I am expert) like Sinigang soup, fresh seafood, and vegetable dishes with salty thingies.

Good idea to check out other areas. I was in Cebu City,Cebu and then went up to Bantyan Island, and then Negros. Bantayan Island was amazing, talk about primitive conditions for the natives though! I met some locals and ate their local food. Not fit for animals, grade D course rice (disgusting, the most atrotious rice I ever had) served with dried small fish. That was dinner. A cab driver in Cebu said something really funny to me: "the people in Bantayan are really backwards, they love all white people."

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Lived in Cebu and Mindanao for a while. Cebu bit touristy for me, but Mindanao is great. Have to ensure you're in the christian area, not the muslim however. People loved the idea that a foreigner would stay on their island due to the problems. Only disadvantage, they think everyone foreign is an american and keep shouting "hello johnny"

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[townville]

I never knew this stuff happend so frequently.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

After living there for 13 years I can assure you these are ISOLATED occurences,and in no way reflect daily life in the PI.The armed guards are there for YOUR protection and you should not feel threatened.

With regards to the poster who so called witnessed a german getting a shot in the head in a disco for refusal to give a cigarette well if you believe this then I suppose it's true when they say that "Smoking Kills".

[townville]

Manilla is a real 3rd world modern city.  Absolute squallor and filthy rich next to each other.

Sorry guys, but when you have 7-11s haivng to get armed guards and metal detectors and bag searches to get into a shopping centre then thats not the place for me.

Angeles?  Good for the ladies and nothing else.  Even the local expats dont walk after dark for fear of being mugged / assaulted.

But there are far nicer places as have been mentioned above.

But, once in the PI was enough.  Manila airport is just a shambles.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree that Angeles only has one thing going for it,and that is rapidly deteriating in the standard department.So many not just "Tubby" whores about,but thanks to Jollybee etc they are downright fat and in some cases repulsive,and they also have appalling attitudes to match.

However the comment about expats at night is just a load of &lt;deleted&gt;,and I lived there until recently for 13 years.

[Prudent_rabbit]

When I lived in Hong Kong, used to go there very often, was there for the time when Marcos was ousted, and also for the year anniversary, quite scary, nearly died that time. Have very fond memories of being at the Manilla Yacht Club, just before elections so no beer being sold, and sitting down with the worlds biggest teapot drinking copius amounts of Tea (Really San Mig Beer).

Went to Boracay in 86, no built up area what so ever,realy was paradise. Used to take Yachts from Hong Kong to PI for Sailing Training, brilliant times.

[JimmyGreaves]

Hated it. Felt unsafe in Manila (Makata). You can security issues everywhere, even small shops selling 1 satang sweets have security grills. Guards everywhere, Food not so great.

Other people may have had good experience but I'm not going back even for free!

JOhn

[joyeves]

I never knew this stuff happend so frequently.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

After living there for 13 years I can assure you these are ISOLATED occurences,and in no way reflect daily life in the PI.The armed guards are there for YOUR protection and you should not feel threatened.

With regards to the poster who so called witnessed a german getting a shot in the head in a disco for refusal to give a cigarette well if you believe this then I suppose it's true when they say that "Smoking Kills".

15 years ago it was save to walk around in nightime, go shopping or going to the bank. Now you have to pass security guards with fire blasting guns at banks etc, your personal belongings are kept at the entrance of shopping centers, you are permanently searched wherever you go. No isolated occurences, you live there for 13 years and do not realise the changes. The criminals have taken over certain areas of the country like Makati ( the most important business center), Mandaue, Davao etc Outside of these unsafe hotspots it is still safe.

95 % of the people are still the most friendly people you can meet. The beaches are the most beautiful in the world and the beauty of the country and the charm of the girls remains

[wamberal]

Pals of mine used to go to Manila from Hong Kong for long weekends, golfing and whoring. One of them told me that he had been approached by a cab-driver who offered to take him to some very attractive, sexy girls. When they arrived outside the brothel, my friend was appalled to see that the girls were all about 8 to 10 years old.

[lopburi3]

15 years ago it was save to walk around in nightime, go shopping or going to the bank.

It may have been safer but I never felt safe in the four years I lived there during the late 80's. Even then you lived in sealed communities and had the armed guards to buy a loaf of bread. It is nothing new - it has always been the wild west of the far east.

[joyeves]

The wild west of the far east, romantic, beeing stopped driving in a jeepney overloaded with 40 passengers and robbed. These robbers are friendly passengers pulling guns. Real wild west romantic.

But dont worry it never happens in tourist places, it happens outside the cities, out of reach of police.

[Sir Burr]

Between the years 1981 and 1985, when I wasn't working offshore, I divided my time equally between Thailand and the Philippines.

What made me finally choose Thailand over the Philippines was the shitty attitude of the Filipinos.

If you were walking down the street with a Filipina, the men would start giving her shit about being with a white fella. Didn't matter whether she was your wife or lawyer. They would never say anything to me, just the lady I was with. This happened everywhere.

If you know a Filipino personally, they are the friendliest and most hospitable people on earth. If they don't know you, you are just a target for a scam.

The women are great, the men are macho arse-holes.

As a politically incorrect friend used to say:-

"Philippines, a people you use you dick on. You &lt;deleted&gt; the women and piss on the men".

Oh, and the local cuisine is bloody awful. What can you say about a cuisine where the national dish is chicken in vinegar (chicken adobo).

[Florin]

"Philippines, a people you use you dick on. You &lt;deleted&gt; the women and piss on the men"

Don't care that it's politically incorrect, that comment is priceless!

Reminded me a bit of a comment about hiphop culture (extremely popular amongst all the Filipino macho-men around my uni) and those ridiculous condom-looking headcovers: Q: "Why do they all wear those?" A: "Because they're all dickheads"

[Sir Burr]

Worse things are said about the French.

[Phil B]

i was in manila during the last coup, listened to one gunfight at night, the PNP killed 3 people out side the airport, and the small bombing. if you can get past the filth and the armed guards in mc donalds ... the women are beautiful and the beer is cheap