Manila Philippines

Well I've been to both places...

Thailand for a month and the Philippines for a week.

Manila seemed very, very poor. Like children running up to cars and tapping on the windows at red lights poor. Really sad.

Also, lots of violent crime. Every taxi driver had a story of being mugged at gun point within the last year.

I went to Puerta Gallera, an Island for a week with my Fiance, and really enjoyed it. But we saw some scary shit. Like the military preparing to attack islamic militants in the hills only a few miles from our hotel and their was blood fued between a brother and sister who were fighting for election on the island and it turned into like mafia style hits while we were there. Really exciting really

In thailand i met many young folks just traveling and exploring the world for the first time. Most of tourist in Philippines were older men who just want to be sexpats. And Chinese businessmen. Chinese businessmen everywhere. Very annoying they were for sure. They complained about me kissing my girlfriend in pool cause it ruined their daughters ethics or something

so fuck the Philippines, especially now they have this new presidents and they are sucking Chinese dick literally. Seemed like the most seedy, dangerous place I've ever been.

Most of my hotels had a machine gun nest out front. I've never seem so many guns in my life. In the lobby they had two gaurds with dual pistols with bandoleers of bullets.

Normal sucerity looks prepared for a small shootout. These guys ALWAYS looked ready for like a 3 day siege on the hotel, like wtf. Also, this hotel was like US masonic lodge? i dont know what the fuck was going on there.

There were tons of freemason at that hotel like having gay sex or something. The MOST SURREAL TRIP OF MY LIFE FOR SURE

>>1200283
Holy shit not my experience in the Philippines at all, granted I spent most of my time in Palawan. But I still spent a handful of days in Manila and while it was far from first world it never really felt dangerous.

Granted I went while the elections for the new president were happening. Maybe the dude really fucked things up in the last few months.

>>1199555
It's a dump. Chinatown (Binondo) sometimes resembles the older and grubbier parts of Kowloon, which is a plus if you like that sort of thing, but otherwise it's without any redeeming qualities.

The food is terrible. The country grows coffee, but everyone drinks rancid instant that comes pre-mixed with sugar. That's unless you splash out and go to Starbucks.
The food is mostly pork with a side of rice and maybe a calamansi to squeeze over it. If you want vegetables, go to a Chinese or to McDonalds.

The fruit in the Philippines is pretty good, but you can get the same fruit and better everything else in Thailand.

Foreigner value to local girls: I felt relatively low profile in Bangkok, was gawked at in Manila.
I prefer the balance of not being alien but not being commonplace that you get in Bangkok.

English: the Flips are basically fluent, or passable. They hear a lot of English from their politicians and celebrities so they understand it well, even if they stumble over it.
Bangkok fluency is low, but you'll be able to communicate in most situations without too much difficulty. Actually, I think low fluency is a slight advantage. It self-selects for educated Thai company.

>>1199555
I went about 6-7 years ago. It's a shithole literally and well as figuratively. The infrastructure is awful and sewage backs up to knee-level during typhoons.

>>1200283
Feral beggar children mobbed my taxi as well (am white). Saw a lot of pump-action shotguns but no machine gun nests.

>>1201366
Food is as bad as Anon says. Unless you find a local guide getting vegetables is difficult.

Damn. I'm going to Manila with a few mates soon and it sucks to hear all this.

Any recommendations to make my trip better? What are the best islands and beaches to visit that aren't too commercial?

>>1201814
The cities are horrible, the beaches are nice. Just don't allocate more than a day or two to Manila and you'll be fine, as far as a simple, non-edifying beach holiday goes.

"Commercial"... Not really sure what you're expecting to avoid. If you want to avoid first world sanitation, safety regulations and general nanny-statism, you're certainly coming to the right place.

>>1201821
...I suppose you could just pick a random city in the Visayas. They're Catholic, beachy, and not too industrialised.

Davao in Mindanao is clean and orderly - one reason I'm optimistic about Duterte - but if you're interested in resorts, I advise against going to Mindanao at all due to the kidnapping risk. I was not worried since kidnappers generally don't prowl around in the suburbs looking for a white person.

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Just back from a trip to Manila, had a blast.
However I am not the average tourist.

Get dirty with life anon, not much time in our hands.

Soundtrack unrelated: https://youtu.be/2V-KLn_PgQg

Not OP but how is the cost of Phil compared to Thai (in general)?

>>1201961
Depends on where you go but it's generally a bit more expensive. Not by super much though.

Philippines is awesome as hell but manilla is the worlds asshole. By far the worst city in all of SEA

also if you are a vegetarian you'll have a hard time. Vegan would be even harder and you'll probably live off fruits, peanut butter and bread

Guess I can ask my question here.

I want to do a trip to Samar in Summer. Basically just get the flight, rent a car and go. Maybe also visit Bataan.

I'm used to dangerous environments, but how much stress will this really be?

>>1201962
Manila is dirty, both literally and figuratively. Once they sense you're not from the city, they're gonna come up with all sorts of bs to make you shell out money.

>taxi
Cab drivers jack up the prices (avoid set-price cabs) or cheat the meters by driving around unnecessarily. One cab blatantly asked for a tip even after initially charging us double the cab fare before we started asking around.

>buying
When buying things outside malls, check if they have a price label. If not, move on; once they hear English they know to jack the price up.

>hotel
If you can afford it, go for good hotels. Low-end hotels are dirty and the staff are scheming

>food
Filipino food is generally too unhealthy/ too sweet/ too salty

>>1201366
>I prefer the balance of not being alien but not being commonplace that you get in Bangkok.
see >>1201821
Davao is good and clean and although I can't say the people are honest, you won't have to worry much about getting mugged. Tons of whities too.

it's whatever you make of it, been to 8 countries and asia....all of them include india, i enjoyed!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVaQpb5ZHrg&list=LL6q_MUA4pErUVwq9q1cC0jg&index=8

just saw this random video about Phil... judge urself :D

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>>1200283
>>1202169
Disclaimer: My mother's side if Filipino and I've been all over the country when I was younger and have family everywhere there.

Yeah no shit Manila is terrible. If you ever tell a Filipino that you've stayed in Manila for an extended period of time they're going to laugh at you.

You do not go to the Philippines for Manila, you go there for places like Palawan, Cebu, the chocolate hills, the rice terraces.

In addition- don't know when you went. Back in the mid 00's when we did Operation Enduring Freedom, Green berets and the CIA went into the Philippines to help the Special Forces there to combat the Islamic Terrorists (Abu Sayef) there. As of a couple years ago, they went from over 800 members to less than 100 members. So, it's safe to say that there are now less Islamic Militants in the Philippines.

>>1201366
>>1202169

You need to find a local to show you ideal places to eat or, even better, couchsurf around there to see if you can find a decently well off family that is willing to let you eat with them (Trust me, they love feeding people. You are not intruding on them. It's offensive if you don't eat with them). I grew up with Filipino food all the time. There wasn't much that was too salty/sweet/unhealthy/, nor would I just have "pork with rice". Sounds like you got sold out by some tourist trap. My Filipino family would regularly have large parties with buffets of very diverse foods.

>>1202169
Regarding cab drivers, I'm assuming you're white. They will jack up the prices. You do your routine where you ask how much it costs to get to X location and when they jack it up- straight tell them that you agreed on a price and that's what you're paying. If they're not having it, throw them the money you agreed on and get out. That's genuinely what I was taught to do in the Philippines by my family.

Just got home from a month in the Philippines, sadly I have to agree with all the negative comments on here, Phil makes Thhailand look first world. I'd still say it was a worthwhile experience, but yeah, not an easy place to travel in unless your spending big. If you are looking for beach time there are way better places to go.

Planning a lengthy trip to SEA, was considering stopping in the Philippines but this thread is giving me second thoughts.

Anything like this

http://www.taophilippines.com/

In Thailand? Main reason I want to go, aside from Boracay. Speaking of which, is Boracay overrated?

Based on my experiences:

>Manila
Worst one of the worst place in the country, it's dirty, smells like garbage and piss. It does have nice areas in the country but it'd be better if you look elsewhere. Oh, and no matter what they tell you, Baclaran might be a flea market with crazy cheap prices but it isn't worth especially with the tens of thousands of people than navigate consistently.

>Quezon
a bit better and a step up in terms of Manila, there's lots of bus stations and poverty is still apparent but if you go further there's pretty good markets and lots of tech companies, I usually look around this area if I need tech-related stuff.

>Ayala and BGC
Ayala is mostly a hub for corporate wage slaves so it's honestly not much looking around into, there's also some high-class malls and shops in the area but they're priced more than back locally. BGC is probably the place in the northern Philippines so far, not crowded, clean (weirdly enough) and the place feels more western than anywhere else.

I'd recommend going to Palawan or Cebu for sightseeing, Subic is a fucking meme and is overcrowded.

>>1201961 Jakarta wins worst city of SEA hands down

>>1202907
yes, far too many people on Boracay, unreal beach but just overcrowded, plenty of other authentic islands around Pines

Really enjoyed the Pines, more of a place for someone who has been travelling for a few months, everything is laid on a plate like in Thailand/Vietnam etc. Food is a bit of a let down compared to other countries.

Random question, how common are roaches in Thailand? Am I pretty much guaranteed to get crawled on?

>>1203917
Depends on the quality of the establishments. Some bars they will be crawling all over your legs in others you wont even spot a fly.

Personally I've only ever seen one dead roach and one really small one scurrying up the wall

Is Makati at least decent?

>>1199555
Anyone been to a basketball game in Manila, how was it?