you handsome?

Pablocito!!! Have you ridden in a jeep yet?

Best pizzas have to be Yellowcabs and they do an awesome Meatballs and Spaghetti.

best budget food: andoks barbecue liempo and whole roasted chicken +they deliver

I use PLDT as my main internet and it's solid. I have their fastest plan and I pay about $80/month for my internet and land line. kinda expensive, but worth it imo

my backup internet is cablelink. My cable bill was about $16, but then i found out that I could bundle the cable with their slowest internet plan for only $7 bucks more.
can't watch vids online, but grinding on their slowest plan was waaaaaaaaaaaay better than trying to grind on skycable's most expensive plan

I've used both Sun broadband and Smart sticks. Sun worked better almost everywhere I tried (The fort, Baguio, Taguig, Rockwell). while in rockwell, my Sun stick actually worked better (for grinding) than my $100/month skycable internet

Im headed for Manila soon for a visarun (live in Thailand) and I've booked 10 days planning on grinding at the Metro Card Club. I've booked hotel at the New Horizon Hotel in Mandaluyong.

Are there anywhere else nearby worth checking out (for grinding)? Thinking the casinos might attract more drunken tourists...

Also: Any tips on must-see things/attractions? Best places to go out bars/discos etc.? Are there a 2+2 community that meets up sometimes?

Final Q: Is there a cable park (for wakeboarding) in Manila? I've tried googling but no results for Manila.

Thanks

I lived for three and a half years in a non-tourist area north of Cebu. I stayed with a Filipino family and was extremely comfortable. There were a handful of foreigners in the city (population 120,000); I usually tried to avoid them.

The only thing that may be uncomfortable is that the small children will watch you with curiousity for the first three or four weeks. I lived three miles outside of town and many of them had never seen a white guy before.

Wherever you go, you will be greeted with "Hey Joe!", a reference to WWII and GI Joe. They have great respect for foreigners and Americans in general (mostly undeservedly).

Don't be shy about stopping to talk to neighbors. Just walk right up to them and start a conversation. They will love to talk to you and you can make dozens of friends very easily. Keep your guard up as to who you can trust, but don't act defensive and mad. Be patient and try to understand unusual things they may do. If you do, they'll just laugh it off anyway, is their custom in uncomfortable situations.

Most Filipinos know English rather well, some BETTER than many people in America. I'm not exaggerating. I met a few people there that started a conversation with me in a PERFECT American accent. I asked how long one guy had lived in the U.S., expecting the answer of ten years or longer. He said...never, he works in a call center.

I know call centers have a bad rep here in the U.S., but I guarantee if you spoke with this guy, you wouldn't know he wasn't a U.S. citizen. He knew not only the language, but our idioms as well. He went on to explain that call center jobs are fiercely competitive and even he was always in fear of losing his job. They generally pay three to six times as much almost any other job, on par with doctors in some instances, but not as much as politicians.

Despite knowing English, many Filipinos are embarrassed to speak English to you, believing that you may think they don't know it well. I always tell them that they know Tagalog MUCH better than I know English. I won't be able to use this line next visit, however; I'm studying Tagalog using Rosetta Stone. It's AWESOME.

im gwapu hahahhaa that what the girls tell me.

http://lago-de-oro.com/content/view/16/29/

Probably about 2-3 hours away depending on which part of Manila you leave from.

Strange. That's what they told me as well.

I guess all it takes is to be a white foreigner, and have some money, and your gwapo.

If only it was like that every where you went in the world eh

nm

Anybody play at the live card rooms in Manila? I heard they are lowering the rake sometime in the near future. Any truth to this?

Amen to that

heard it to. doubt it's ever happening. since when do casino's ever lower rake.

Also doubt its happening. Would be less surprised if they raised it.

I'll be in Cebu next week. Will PM you my number when I get into town.

Anyway I'm doing some online dating in advance and I have to admit that even though I'd never live there long-term, Cebu may very well be the best city in Asia to meet girls. Quality is a bit lower than Manila but the volume is on par and willingness to meet seems higher - I have over 50 girls lined up after a few days of minimal work and will probably have over 100 by next week. I love my life.

agreed. Got on DIA in cebu 3 days ago. gmail inbox is jammed

lol yeah, im so picky now

Sweet, paul, waiting for that number

if anyone else wants to join let me know

Shortest TR ever??

LOL 100 girls. Are you going to start a new trend over there...Philippines' speed dating? You can expand your business venture by airing a new reality show on ABS-CBN..."El Binata". You'll become an instant television celebrity (guaranteed!) and can go on to make thousands of pesos in the film industry.

After a few months, you can even start singing some remakes. I suggest starting with something very sappy..."The Greatest Love of All" will quickly establish you as a great singer. Just rent a cheap keyboard to lay down the music tracks with the auto-accompanyment. To continue your success, just keep remaking songs that have been remade dozens of times before in the Philippines. Don't worry about getting the emotional tones of the songs correct. Pronouncing the words (mostly) correctly is all that's important.

From there, if you were Filipino, you could easily jump into politics. Since that's not feasible for a foreigner, you might consider hooking yourself up with a strong presidental candidate and helping them become elected. There plenty of "perks."

If you ever get tired of your superstar life, sing "My Way" at your local karaoke bar--that is, if you can find it. Many karaoke bars have removed it from their playlist due to rage shootings when someone did not like the way the song was sung.

Well, I have heard about this before, and I'm sure there are many that have taken the song off of their list, I still think this is an overhyped phenomenon.

I have sung "My Way" at many karaoke bars all over both Cebu and Manila, and have yet to have any violence result from it.

Then again, I suppose that could be because I really do sound that much like Frank

lol 50? I'be got 3 lined up for my upcoming trip, that will do me

Haha, yes, I think they have had three or four shootings over the song. I also sang it a couple times while I was there...and not well. I'm still alive.

It makes for sensational journalism though.

Interested to hear your opinions on how it compares to Thailand, and Bangkok specifically.

Does anybody here grind the live poker in Manila for a living? I have some questions.