Just got a good flight deal to the Philippines. Late october

I will be in Palawan in early december, heard it's one of the good places. Wish to see more but only have a week there.

Just hope I don't get my head chopped off like those other canadians.

>>1153923
Yeah that is a concern for me but as far as I read stay out of Mindanao and you should be fine.

Anybody been to Palawan?

>>1153882
I spent about a year in total in the Philippines [friends / family].

- Weather can be tricky anywhere in Philippines. The rain storms / typhoons are no joke. Plus it can be crazy hot. Of course, its easier to deal with the heat when you are in a beach resort etc. Plus depends on the season.
- Dont bother with Manila or anything on Luzon, its not worth your time / effort.

- Mindanao isnt as dangerous as you think, but also no reason to visit it.
- Other places in the Philipines are not dangerous (unless you're a doofus)
- ignore (but dont be rude) beggars, and street kids.
- Its worth picking up a lonely planet and just read up on the general things like public transport, taxis, airport, scams, etc.
- See if you can get your hands on some smaller peso bills (50/100 etc) before you go. Airport taxis etc sometimes hustle tourists by saying we dont have any change and just take your 1000 peso bill. It's a good habit to 'break' 1000s in big chain shops.

>>1154877
Only thing that piqued my interest in Luzon was Banaue rice terraces. Is it just boring with too many people?

Current plan is to fly into Manila, rest, then take the ferry to Coron island or Palawan. Learn to scuba and check out some of the old Japanese WW2 wrecks. Thinking that plus just hanging out I'll spend about 14-20 days there.

After that I'm not sure. Probably take a flight out of Palawan to somewhere. Any ideas where to go? I tend to be more into outdoor type stuff but I like learning about history and culture. I don't party much but I'd like to when I'm there. Only party city I've heard about there is Angeles which people seem to think is pretty greasy.

Scam against passengers at Manila airport:
The "bullet scam" allegedly sees bullets dropped into the luggage of passengers as they go through security at the country's main airport.
Passengers are then required to pay a fine or face being charged with illegal possession of ammunition.

>>1154183
I went to palawan last year and it was pretty nice. it was somewhat pristine. lots of dead coral, a little bit of air pollution, but it was better than anywhere else I'd been in the philippines. I'd hesitate to say it's fundamentally better than anywhere else in the philippines, the problems are just less impacted by high population density. which makes it better, for now.

fwiw it was one of my favorite places in SEA. I'd reccomend it.

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>>1155324

Angeles is like Pattaya of the PH except no beach, lol! And dusty.

It's suprisingly hard to get to Banaue, even from AC. Like 8 hours on a bus. The road in the mountains is not the best.

I was thinking of doing a daytrip there but just takes way too long.

Try the mangos...good stuff.

will i get shot as a white man, now that a new president is in power

>>1155348

If you have drugs on you maybe..

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>>1155348
>>1155349
The police don't want to hurt tourists, if you do something wrong they will most likely want a bribe or give you a fine and blacklist you from entering PH again.

where do i meet dem filipinas

>>1155866
Phillipines

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OP here. So in total I have 40 days. Plan to spend about half in Palawan. Since I'm doing mostly beach/diving stuff there, where to balance out the trip, by this I mean besides beach stuff.

I'll fly out of Puerto Princesa to Cebu probably. Cebu I'm not sure what to think in terms of worth visiting. Where to go from Cebu?

Bohol? Chocolate hills look pretty blah
Boracay? Not much I couldn't get with Palawan
Negros islands?

Thinking of going January/February, just curious if anyone has been to oslob and seen the whale sharks, is it good or just overrated?

>>1156027
Add to this, I want to hear overrated things

>>1155355
The police will shot you now if you have any drugs on you

>>1155337
How to avoid this?

Tao Philippines. Look it up, do it even though it's expensive, and yes there's not a ton of info online about it for a reason. It's an actual adventure and yes it's as cool as it sounds. I've been traveling for 10 months and it was maybe the best week of my trip.

Don't be scared off by the drug assassinations, you're white therefore a god in the Philippines. Even if you were using drugs no one would mess with you.

>>1155866
Cebu or Manilla. Really any big city is good though. If you go to Davao it'd be even better.

>>1157679
Sounds interesting, did you do the mountain or sea trip?
Google around and found price of about 35000 pesos, is that accurate?

Currently in Manila for two more days. Not really feeling it here. Things are definitely cheap in price though. Anything else I can do out here? Went to the ocean park, rizal park, ft santiago, St Augustin church and the Cathedral of manila.

Taal Volcano
Quezon Nat'l park for Bantakay falls and caves

>>1157662

Plastic wrap your entire luggage. If you think you didn't use enough, wrap it more. If you think you have enough, wrap more.

some airports have giant plastic wrap dispensers before security

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Going to be in Boracay for 5 days and 4 nights, what's a good hotel that won't break the bank? Because right now it's looking like that weekend is going to cost me about $5000 USD.

What's the best place to spend Christmas in the Philippines?

>>1158168
I just travel with a carry-on back pack, is there anything I need to worry about?

>>1157662
When do they pull this ruse, like when do they slip the ammo? Are carry ons safe?

>>1157902
>Things are definitely cheap in price though
Are they? Just looking at airbnb, hotels, and general prices things most seem not expensive but more than most of SEA

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>>1156027
I was in Cebu in March or April and went to Oslob to swim with the Whale Sharks. I had to get up at 3am for a 4am departure and pretty sure it was abit over 2hour drive. Got to the place and they gave me breakfast overlooking the ocean and little wodden paddle boats feeding the sharks befor taking me up the road to the center where they give you a 5 minute briefing. You then collect your snorkle and stupid life vest witch I took off anyway and jump in the canoe and paddle about 60-80 meters. There was about 12 whale sharks in total and I believe the biggest one was 11 meters, quite amazing really, big friendly creatures. They say not to touch them but it was almost unavoidable. There was maybe 6 or 8 other canoes out at the same time with 5 people in each but not everyone was swimming and you only get 10 minutes in the water. Would I do it agian? No. I'd rather go and do it in Exmouth, Western Australia. Depending on what tour you do they then take you for lunch and then to a waterfall.

I was staying in Cebu for a week and didn't really rate it, I hooked up with a girl I had met online and we just chilled most of the time in my 5 star hotel, went out for dinners and bars. Did most of my drinking at the gekko bar with is run by an Aussie.

I was also in Boracay for 10 day and strongly disliked it. Supposedly the best beaches in the world but there is honestly better beaches in my home town. The water had an algae boom while I was there that happens every year for a few months so make sure you research into that. Boracay is very western-ised alot of greasy fast food and take out places and not many actually nice restaurants. There is also way to many Asian tourist ( Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese and Korean) and if you've ever traveled you'd know that these are the worst people in the world, they are so rude and arrogant. I also got sick while I was there so I was bed ridden for half my stay there.

Angles City = the worst place I've ever traveled to.

>>1158818
Apparently it doesn't happen anymore (hasn't been any news about it) due to the new president, so it might be safe.

>>1160123
Based Duterte

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>>1160188
absolutely based

anyway i was going to say pic related and enjoy your trip but now duterte threatening to eat them you are probably fine

http://www.ibtimes.com/philippines-president-threatens-eat-terrorists-duterte-warns-abu-sayyaf-ill-eat-you-2411904