These prices sound crazy to me..

I have kinda different advice tho, but you probably need to be confident and a bit experienced. Never ask a girl "how much?". Pretend it's a regular club, chat to the girl or girls (try get them to like you) - ask her if she wants to leave etc, take her home.. then when she's leaving, give her an amount of peso you think she deserves (between 1000 - 3000 peso, anything more is charity). The general culture in Philippines is - the guy should be respectful and tip the girl an amount he thinks is reasonable at his discretion - and the girl should be happy with that amount. Grow some balls, if they are demanding more money tell them to GTFO - call security if they won't leave, you don't even have to get up of your bed.

well i found the actual groupon affiliated site for PHI.

it is beeconimic dot com dot ph. I just bought some mixed martial arts lessons, deal is live for another 18 hours or so.

Also be careful @ KTV boys, one just got raided.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/62809/p...-trade-rescued

also be careful about this ativan gang

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx...bCategoryId=65

I agree with fanapathy, they tend to jack up the prices for short term leases. And that's if you're lucky to find a short term lease deal at all. There are condominium that charge by the day or by the week but i think your budget barely cuts it.

For houses I live in a townhouse that has no contract of duration of stay. I guess I was lucky. There are some houses in the area that are for rent. Not sure if those have contracts, but the area is really near the Ortigas business district. More importantly, very near two poker rooms.

lol at beach living. Getting drunk in major cities is even less healthy, but that's me assuming getting drunk is a non negotiable part of your life hahaha. kidding.

Duuuuude this is awesome! I've been aching to train again but the prices keep me hesitant. Will they hold their training in Makati only or can i avail this in their Pasig branch?

Top freelance spots are Cafe Havana in greenbelt3 and Manila Bay Cafe in Malate (and Amazonia right down the street from there if ya fancy old filthy specimen).

The girls are a lot of fun to talk to in general, especially the MBC girls because they're ******ed and on drugs most of the time so it's quite hilarious. I've been there probably about 20 times and I never ship the girls there. I only once met a regular sailor/waitress girl (???) there who I took with me. Haha morning she was busto from drinking and asked if I could give her some taxi money. I said lol ok and gave her 200, this insulted her and she snapped another fiver and left.

They are pretty funny there because I never ship, they know this, and it only makes them more interested. They throw their numbers there. Girl said "Hey you *******. Buy me a red horse and I'll give you a free BJ" - "Na, don't think so" - "Well can I at least have a smoke?" - "Haha" (ship red marlboro). Obviously I didn't want any of my body parts in her mouth so left her disappointed.

Always always always hide valuables when dealing with freelancers. Live pro friend of mine was carrying something like 200k when he shipped 4 girls home, a few days later he realized like 40k was gone or so. Haha so weird that they just took a little bit of it. IIRC he told me they gave him some of it back when confronted (more weird).

Other friend had all his creditcards stolen, he said the girl was "nice" and didn't believe she had taken it since they were useless without pins. I just said, dude it was her.

Alabama 40s dude gfed up with a 20yr old la cafe girl without knowing she was working. A few months into the relationship he was in love and woke up with his laptop and money gone. I know this girl btw and she seems "nice".

There are probably more stories of shadyness than not.
You can just never trust these. Ever. If I knew one of them for 10 years and they had never lied, probably still not.

What I mean by this is that you can't just use feel, they can be really cool girls and seemingly honest but well once they get the chance they will screw you most of the time.

In girly bar gogo ktv stuff type places, chat them up and if they like you they will give phone # to avoid the barfine thing. I experimented a bit with this, I got numbers and started texting them. I said that I don't pay for "that stuff" but if they wanted to hang out or get dinner then we could do that. Interest was maintained. Didn't follow through and small sample so no real conclusion other than it will probably get u frees.

I'm staying in Cubao now. It is hilarious being white here. Girls are smiling and trying to flirt constantly, literally jumping out of stores. It's a turn off but funny. Ridiculous low fraction of foreigners in this area.

Sogo is very good value hotel chain BTW. Clean, rooms are nice enough, 24h food/room service w/local prices, beer and snacks to your room at any time, u can rent short time like 3hrs and 24h+ etc, free wifi, etc.

I don't know mate, I'd read the terms well before buying. Perhaps email the site or call the gym. Overall, I'd think it would be fine.
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I want to go to Taal Volcano. Does anyone the best way to get there from makati/manila. Do you know of any tour operators? I'd like to check it out on a weekend.

Has anyone been out of the major cities in Phillipines? Is there anywhere like Phuket or Koh Samui? You know quite place, not much pollution, able to rent/buy a moped to get around.

why did you leave eastwood?

does anybody here play street fighter 2 for snes or mario kart 64? or goldeneye for 64.

getting old, those are the games i played the most growing up wouldn't mind having sessions and chillaxing

also supersmash brothers brawl for wii. i have a bunch of controllers btw but my wii is ****ed up, if someone has the game.

I'll play u goldeneye or smashbros 64

I'd be interested in a bit more info on this area for when I come next year please. Its in the QC area right? I was looking at this area anyway.

I'd prefer to stay in a less obvious tourist place. What's it like for nightlife, safety, getting around etc or whatever you think is useful info for a newb to phils.

Cheers

Hows the Typhoon everyone?

u have a n64 and 4 controllers?

Agree with everything fanapathy said except the Sogo bit. I've been to the one in Guadalupe and the one in Pasay, and both did not have hot water. Not really a big deal since I was only there for a couple hours but I can't imagine not having hot water for more than a day (yea, I'm spoiled).

Also would advise against Cubao as a long-term option - it's one of the few areas in Metro Manila where I'm not comfortable taking out my phone, especially at night.

Anyway, thought I'd share some places I go to sometimes to relax:

Ace Water Day Spa - just got back from here. It has a pool with these water jet things that massage different parts of your body, a lazy river, a sauna area with jacuzzis, and another pool for swimming.

Wensha Spa in QC/Pasay and Lasema Spa in Makati are Korean style spas, with saunas, jacuzzi, massage, and at Wensha there's shabu-shabu buffet. Great way to blow off some steam and relax imo.

Urban Spa at Shang is the best massage I've gotten in Manila but is a bit pricey at 1100 per hour (compared to 250-300 per hour for home service places). Thought I would mention it anyway.

What area would you recommend a 4 or 5 day tourist staying in Manila then? Would prefer not to stay where all the other whities do if that is possible, as I like to be a bit different and go to places where my white skin has a higher value with chicks

you could try tondo

i think cubao is fine, there are many places in makati where i would feel more unsafe than cubao tbh, most of the time when i have been in cubao has been at night and it has been fine. cubao x is also a fun place to hangout/drink over there too.

I know a lot of locals who don't want to go to cubao, especially at night. Also know someone who got jacked in her car there.

Come on dude I'm being serious, I have no issue staying in poorer areas to mix with the poorer locals but please don't deliberately recommend somewhere where my safety is an issue.

So u really think I would be ok here? Please answer honestly and with a hotel or two if possible?

There are mixed reviews on different sogos and I've read some are mediocre. The Aurora Blvd branch is fine w/hot water. TVs are small CRTs tho. Mirrors for the lols and american psycho impressions.

Interesting is that the AC is always tuned too cold and u gotta request them to adjust it. Weird secret policy to have people turn off the aircon and make more money.


Cubao in the Araneta Center district is fine.
Wearing jewelry or too nice clothes is attention overkill.
I can definitely say I have not received this much positive/neutral attention anywhere else in Metro Manila.
Meeting regular girls would either have to be in malls or in the street for the most part. There are nude gogo/ktvs across the street here and it's 3 beers for p110, no invented charges and clientele is >95% locals. IDK about services and fines, approaching a local reg to ask/doublecheck would be the play.

My 6months were up and I gotta leave pretty soon. I've been here since May '10 and just got a letter from immigration. Eastwood is good stuff, would live again.


I'm also a GE007 vet, will slap u with sniper rifle and repeatedly fail Control on 00Agent, lmk if anyone finds it


BTW I got pickpocketed by street kids last time I was in Burgos. They have likely been trained when I think of it because they were 3 and used some block&divert thing and were able to snap a camera from a tight pocket without me feeling anything. They appeared as standard beggars asking for coins. Might be a new trend, beware.

ah ok, where you headed to after leaving here?


pickpocketed? i thought everyone wore these pants here http://www.talk2myshirt.com/blog/archives/4445 ? guess im the only one.

Ya, I've walked around the backstreets of Cubao drunk at like 3am.. didn't feel unsafe - felt way more unsafe in Malate, when two 10 - 14yo boys came up to me swinging a big fluorescent tube light (ninja turtle style), demanding my money. Luckily I had just finished losing online and was super tilted, so I put my fists up and rushed at them like an MMA fighter on Meth.. they dropped it, splashing glass all over the street and ran away, so meh.

But yea, if you let them grab your ass and rub your balls.. chances are your gonna lose a camera or something.

lock your doors, even in taxi's. everywhere.

Aiming for Chiang Mai, TH. Hopefully there's no booze there.
So sick this poker+SEA combo. Back in my cold boring country where nothing ever happens, volume wasn't an issue.

Probably been able to put in about 1/15th of desired volume in my time here. Don't know how u guys do it

Well it is sort of an awkward spot. 8-10yr olds asking for change because they haven't eaten in X days (I call) and walking there with girl, it's sorta weird to go nuts and yell at them.
Def learned to not let anyone get in close where something like this can happen tho.

I'm so thankful for all the (costly) lessons I've learned in the Philippines. It feels like almost +10years life experience done in 1.5



The fairly solid new pizzahut pizza, Tuscani Supremo

Chiang mai isnt the place to go to avoid the booze. Change your location to Chang city imo