anyone have any success depositing/withdrawing to neteller with the union bank eon card?

You can get jeepney from clark airport for 50 peso to Dau bus terminal. From there take a bus (about 200 peso) to Pasay in Manila (about 2-2.5 hr depending on manila traffic). Then taxi from Pasay to Makati (100-150 peso) Alternatively depending on you budget you can take a private car/taxi from airport to Makati (about 2500-3000 peso).
Another option which i strongly recommend is to stay the night at Clark. (Angeles City) Stay in a hotel near Fields Avenue (1500-2500 peso) and then check out Fields Avenue - I'm sure you will enjoy it there!
If you still decide you still want to go to Makati the following day you can take the bus from Dau (they go every 30 mins) or if you like comfort there are a few private bus companies that cater for foreigners from Angeles to Manila (about 500-600 peso).
http://www.thesoutherncrosshotelmani...uttle_bus.html
http://www.swaggy.com/index-bus-service.php
Its a personal preference but for me when in the Phillipines i tend to avoid Manila at all cost. Angeles City is much better and cheaper place.
When in Makati i stay at the Royal Bellagio Hotel. Its located well, clean and competetively priced (about 2000 peso a night)
http://royalbellagio.com/

Book 2 nights in at Lewis Grand, get them to pick you up from the airport in the limo. Then head to Manila IMO, most people seem to extend for a couple of extra days though.

Can someone explain to me why big shopping centres like SM hire so many staff to just stand around? I get that the wages are so low but surely if they could save some extra money by rostering an optimum number of people to do the job, then they would right?

Agree - just one of the many things that piss you off about the Phillipines. Here are 19 more....
http://www.channelfix.com/video/174/

Cannot give you exact reasons for this or why SM specific.
One thing i was told is that most people in these stores are on 6 months contracts and the employer does not have to pay health insurance in that case.
I imagine theft prevention may be 1 big reason.

one funny one i witnesses was in a budget supermarket.
You had 1 cashier typing in the price and another standing right behind her checking she put in the correct amount. A 3rd person was standing sideways in the booth checking the first 2 . A 4th person was standing just outside the booth checking the first 3 and then you had a manager and her assistant checking all the checkouts.
Add to that there were 2 packers on each station .

One of my first weird observations in PH was getting initial things at the supermarket. In the soap Isle I got asked right away if I needed help and was just watched as I uncomfortably soap shopped. It turns out I did need help b/c it's almost impossible to find non whitening soap in the PH.

Haha I heard about that vid but hadnt seen it before, he left the best till last, I can tolerate everything on his list but its the warm beer that gets me every time.

Hello,

I am a Filipino living in the capital region (not necessarily in Manila). I started reading this thread a few weeks before K2 started asking here and around the time fanapathy expressed his itching desire to come back here.

I always enjoy reading this thread even if half of the post bashes things about the Philippines (PH), its part of the fun to get a different point of view. I rarely post here since I think I could not answer the questions (even if i have lived all my life here) as an expert. Since I think, the answers you need would be better if expressed in an Expat's point of view.

But now I would try give my opinion as a "local's" point of view. Ill start from the latest.

1. Excess personnel in a supermarket. Someone mentioned a "budget" supermarket with 8 people doing what arguably can be done by 1. Well, likely this is not a "budget" supermarket. Possible reasons for this, some of the people would be new/under training, the managers to avoid theft (lack of appropriate tech no eliminate this) and to ensure proper service (it is simply difficult to train people who grew up possibly in a rural setting). I think the basic formula here is the lower quality of your personnel, the more you need to check each other's work. Remember that if most of your personnel are on a 5 month contract (and no possibility of renewal), you will get the unemployed, likely minimal education, with no loyalty for the company (why would they love the company right?)

2. almost impossible to find non whitening soap. In my entire life I never encountered this problem. Probably because I only ask and buy safeguard brand.

3. Exchanging currencies. What ever currency you have, change it first to USD before coming to PH to change it for PHP to get the best exchange rate. And be smart and careful when going to money changers.

4. Trains. Ill assume we are talking about the elevated light transit trains to go around the metro (there are no subways). This is jump packed full during rush hour, avoid it at all cost. During regular hours it is tolerable and will get you to your destination faster then Bus/Jeeps if your destination is 5 min walk away from the station. It is ridiculously cheap, the networks are few and transferring between lines is inconvenient. But this is still my default mode of transportation whenever possible simply because it is faster.

5. Pacquiao. As a sport hero, I think this is one of the few things that makes PH better. It unifies the nation even for just a moment. Whatever social class, religion, region, communists, rebels, etc, EVERYONE loves to watch him fight. PH is actually a group of different people with no real sense of national identity and it's difficult to find something that everyone could identify with. Regarding his loss to Bradley, I think Pacquiao could have done a lot more. It was not vintage Manny Pacquiao. Nevertheless, I think he won that fight by a huge margin. As a politician, well I just hope he does not aim for a national position like senator or president.

6. Food. I just want to know where exactly you guys have tried the food. Is it in a resto? what kind? how much? where? A lot would be explained if you give these details. if it is a Php50~80 then dont be surprised if thats what you get. We are also part of the global economy and affected by globalization. Talented people go to where the pay is. Quality ingredients go to the highest bidder.

GDP per capita in USD
United States 48,387
United Kingdom 38,592
Malaysia 9,700
Thailand 5,394
Indonesia 3,509
Philippines 2,223

Economics could almost always explain and justify what is going on in average.

7. Internet. It varies greatly per place/street/building and sometimes even down to the actual wiring connection going to your modem. Personally I use globe broadband with a wi-tribe 4G as backup. for a total of Php2000 per month. It is best to ask first your neighbors and test their internet before you commit to any brand or service.

Bye for now, sorry for the long post and not properly organizing my answers.

Hi pupil ,

welcome to the thread.
Think it would be great if you posted more , answered questions and explained things for everyone here .
It was me who posted about the supermarket story.Just saw the funny side of it and no bashing intended.
My wife is filipina .If i see something unusual,different and that i cannot fully understand, i just ask her .
Everywhere you go you will find people that concentrate on the negative and like to moan,i just try to avoid people like that whenever i can.
hope to see you posting more soon.

If you're talking about the department store, it's like that for a number of reasons. Short contracts, high turnover, low education levels, latenesses, no-shows, etc.

Sometimes the employees standing around are not even SM employees - they're "promodizers" (promoter + merchandizer) promoting products from their respective companies. In the socks section, for example, there are Adidas promodizers trying to get you to buy Adidas socks, Nike promodizers trying to get you to buy Nike socks, etc. It's like that everywhere, not just in SM.

If you go into any electronics store like Western or Abensons, there's a Panasonic promodizer who knows all the specs and prices of Panasonic products, but doesn't know jack about Sony products. It's both good and bad - not very efficient but that's just how things are in the Philippines.

Thanks Paul, that makes perfect sense.

I like the Philippines despite all the stuff that makes you wonder why things are so backward there. It adds flavor and character to the country. Sort of like Thailand same same but much different. Every day is an adventure and things are not uniform and simple. But thats whats fun, seeing 5 people there to help you when you have it all totally figured out is the greatest thing. 5 smiling filipinas in a store trying to help you... I think thats FANTASTIC, let them run the ship how they want, I am just a happy player in their huge game...

I take the LRT/metro. WHY? BECAUSE ITS CHEAP and your best option when its rush hour. Yes you get packed in like sardines but I am used to that and love the railroad and love fast efficient travel... I super love the women only car and when the security guy at the station is not on his game that is my fav car to ride in. You should see the sh*t eating grin on my face when I am able to sneak into the front car amongst all those sweeties...

Hello,
I do not know how to address your name.

Ok. I will try to post more. I enjoy all the comments here, sometimes i like the negative post more because of the insight it gives me.

Oh. I see you hit the jackpot
I would be glad to bridge some of your cultural divide.

In general avoiding negative people is always the best way. But sometimes there's a grain of truth and constructive criticism to gain by reading/talking to them.


+1

Ahh. I'll assume you have not experience the worst case scenario yet.
1) Where in the line starts at the bottom of the stairs going up to the station, taking at least ~30mins just to get the guard inspection. You get to savor the smell of all the people around you, and the air is so thick and hot... good thing I am 6 feet tall so the air I breathe is a lot cooler and fresher.
2) Where in once you get to the platform, a mass of people are already jostling for position because they have already been waiting for 30mins at least. And once you start to realize that the number of people arriving to queue is more than the people getting aboard the train, you will also start to wrestle for position...

haha nice. I have never tried this one.