They speak very good English here! If you say something in basic English they will understand.

This isn't a slight on the country but they are not taught to think logically. I have experienced this more than once in text conversation with girls. It goes

PItom: Whats going on?
Girl: Im watching TV
PItom: What are you watching?
Girl: The TV

Or

PItom: Where are you?
Girl: On the bus
Pitom: where abouts?
Girl: The back

There understanding of English is very good for a second language. You have to give them a place they will know. The biggest tip that I can offer to people going to Makati from the airport is to say you are going to Burgos (P). Even if your hotel is nowhere near you do have the choice of 20+ bars to get some sexy lady to make your stay easier.

Cliffs Put things very basic

Thanks tom!

You get 21 days when you come in... that's what I said. ??

So we agree you get 21 days when you come in.

The rest I assume depends on where/how you get the extension - and I know they are getting more strict on these things now.

In My Experience, being here as a tourist for 7 out of the last 10 months.

You can apply for either 30 days or 60 days extension.. (at the place I do it), 60 days costs pretty much double 30 days.

After you have extended more than a certain period, in my experience after I extended 2 times for 30 days.. so being in Philippines for 81 days, you are required to apply for an I-Card.. pretty much the same process as a Visa Extension but you have to pay an extra fee and they give you an Identity Card with your photo / number on it.

You will see when entering the Philippines, on the immigration form there is a place to enter your I-Card number. I'm not sure the purpose of this, perhaps they give you more than the standard 21 days if you have an I-Card.

ps. I agree with you that Filipinos do not think logically.. or as I put it they are not very smart.


NOTE: If you can't be bothered messing around with any of this, just slip 5k or 10k peso inside your passport when you leave the country and the customs man will happily take it / stamp your passport.

Regarding what you're saying about the visa and I-card and what not..

I'm currently overstaying quite a bit tbh.
I guess I'm looking to bribe someone when I do plan on leaving, or similar, or just pay the fine and be here legit - I don't know.
Any clues on the fine amounts? I don't wanna get totally raped.

Perhaps you can just join one of the officers for a cig and discuss?
I would think sticking the 5k/10k in the passport is a bit too obvious, no?

Also if anyone know immig ppl that can help me on this - please ship me a pm.
Thanks

I saw nothing, I heard nothing.

So you are not at all worried about going to jail or getting blacklisted?

hello again,

thank you for the first replies.

I am wondering what to make of this government of canada link (http://www.voyage.gc.ca/countries_pa....asp?id=239000)

Is this a little over the top for liabilities sake? The american government said it was safe, but the australian said something similar to canada. A little personal danger is not going to deter someone like me, i am far from paranoid and realize the tiny odds.

I am really thinking of travelling to philippines once I am done school in 8 months and finding a place to stay there if i find one location that really turns my crank. So far puerto princesa looks like a place I would like to be.

There's been many discussions on this topic previously in this thread. Check it out.
The conclusion is basically to stay out of the countryside of Mindanao, Davao City is apparently safe.
Use common sense, don't flash money/valuable stuff, don't cause trouble and stay away from dodgy areas.

TY^^

I have read the whole thread and was just caught off guard cause I was under the impression it was rather safe there. Just did not understand the differences between the US and canadian descriptions of safety

Meh I'd be ten times more worried about a traffic accident than anything else, that's the main risk (and pretty high and worrisome imo).

Just pay the penalty. You won't end up in jail or blacklisted unless you do something really flagrant like try to bribe someone at the airport (probably worst place, and even then they'll probably just keep the money and charge the fee), and the penalty isn't that much if you pay legitimately. If you go to the makati one they're a little slow but super nice and they try really hard to be helpful (the intramuros one is out of the way for most of you and more professional although as a function of that they might give you more difficulty for overstay). They'll probably just express pity that you have to pay so much and charge you the fee.

If you do try to bribe someone you probably won't get in trouble for it, but I would expect there to be a high chance that you'll end up having to pay the bribe and the legitimate fee on top of that (like the guy will f'up and steal the wrong stamp or something).

are you Filipino, Alex?

Yeah Filipino-American so yes, they will be slightly nicer to me in general and give me less hassle. However i have spoken with a few foreigners who essentially went through the same process. RE bribes though I still stick with what I said that you might end up paying repeatedly if you go that route.

yea don't stick money in the passport. but just use your mouth and ask if you can perhaps give a little bit. if they say yes, then give. then pay the fee. i wouldn't put the money out there in the first place w/o getting a sense if it's okay or not. you can even just get the cell phone of the worker and send some money later when there not at work. but safer options then just sticking money in passport.

also 5k/10k is ridiculously too much. 500/1k is enough.

i miss sofitel. food was really good? let's all eat there again..??

lol at you all being worried about the money in the passport move. It's so remarkably standard in Asia (except for the developed ones like Taiwan, HK, Macau, Korea, Singapore & Japan).

I never said that you should be very worried beyond them not giving you what you want for the money in the passport, and I think geo also meant the same thing. RE Sofitel I think I can't eat there anymore due to dietary restrictions oh btw guys I'm back.

what diet restrictions. r u gonna live with mnl? who else? did u find a place? what area you guys looking?

Have some issues so basically doctor said I have to cut out all the good stuff. We're in Pasig now, happy so far should be a fun time. Got a balikbayan stamp and php bank acct ftw!

I went to Boracay for almost two weeks last January and am looking to come back to the Philippines in January 2011.

Any recommendations on must go places? I love beaches but I'm also interested in Makati and other urban areas. Would like to bounce around to a couple places over the course of 2 weeks. I'm 24 and will be traveling alone.

I missed the food there especially chicken tinola

Hi,

Smartbro sux - in Malate Manila at least, wasted P1500, AND I think I got jerked on the price, supposed to be P999 but somehow got to P1500 with a 100 min card included. Not grindable mostly because of ping IMO. Anyway hotel has decently grindable net so I am going with that... Where are folks grinding Smartbro successfully? It really blows in Malate... It also takes your regular connection over if you are on WI FI laptop, it will not work in tandem or simultaneous though I should ave guessed that... Manila is kool. Def recommend Makati or the like unless you are somewhat street smart.

Are robberies common after people have just left a casino? What do/can you do to avoid this type of thing?

It is all location dependent but on a very very micro scale. There are places where having a direct line of site to a smart tower its pretty much perfect everywhere. In my house there are small areas where it works to a level where I am happy using it for poker. I could move the smart bro maybe 10cm and I have gone from a good connection to nothing.

The solution is to get an extendible usb cable. Find where the smart bro works the best and leave it there. Whilst you use your laptop where ever you want.

Also In terms of connection reliability I found Pokerstars>Full Tilt>>>>>Party.

If you can access a wireless network then I would say use that but have your smart bro ready to use as back up.

Oh Smart bro tip for anyone who has one. If you go to www.smart.com.ph/connect register your smart bro. There is an option to get 5 days unlimited surfing for 200 pisos. Register your phone as well because you get reward points which you can convert to free air time etc...

I don't know the stats but I've gone quite a bit to a few of the casinos in town, and you should be fine as long as you don't walk any real distance with a lot of money. Basically no one outside will expect you to win money (who wins at casinos lol) so the risk is if someone from inside sees you cash for a bunch, and then follows you to a deserted area and mugs you. You can avoid that by either only going to casinos where there are taxis right outside by where the guards are, or hiring a private car to wait for you. At many of the casinios you can also open up an account there, so that you're never taking out a big amount of money at once unless you have a private car waiting. I wouldn't do this except at the bigger casinos though as some of them have been known to have liquidity problems.

I wouldn't recommend grinding from a stick. If you're in a temporary place the best thing to do is go to a station 168 internet cafe and use a vpn so that your data is encrypted and some rando there can't steal your passwords. If you have a place you'll be staying for a while then pldt is best, although the cancellation fees are somewhat high compared to other lines.