Well its very sketchy there, especially at night. Gangs of kids hanging around street corners sizing me up, giving me the "eye."

Very young children rushing me asking for money pulling at my pockets and clothes.
And even during the day if I didn't give them money they started shouting, "F**K You, F**k You," and followed me back to my hotel or until I ducked into a 7-11.

Didn't like the freelance ladyboys either trying to scam me into thinking they are girls.
Nothing personal against ladyboys, I just don't like the ones that lie and try to pick me up for short time.
I also had to fight off normal girls when I went to Robinson's mall too. Lots of fuglies asking me if I wanted a massage.

Having said all that, I had a great time at LA Cafe and my hotel was just fine. Oh and that Middle Eastern food around there was pretty good. Didn't expect that in Malate.

Yeah was a good night mate I had fun, we deffo gotta repeat sometime

A couple of pics I took my first night on Manila to jog your memory

Where is the best computer store in Manila?
- anything like Pantip Plaza in bangkok?

best = has the newest stuff.. and lots of stuff.

Best phone company to go with for 3G/4G?

I would suggest Gilmore, the whole place is riddled with PC stores and it is where you can buy the newest stuff for the cheapest price possible.

Gilmore is the place to go but going there without knowing which stores are good and have the latest is pretty useless.

The two best store by far is PC Gilmore and PC Hub.

Both stores are away from the main complex around gilmore where the "normal" PC stores are where normal filippinos shop ("old stuff").
PC Hub have generally better prices. Get an account on tipid PC and you will get the price at tipid pc and tell the staff that you want the tipid pc price which is around 15-20% lower than the normal price.

Still, you will be able to buy more new stuff but they still lack some things like SSD drives etc.

sorry if this has been asked before too many times...

I'll be going to manila next sunday and will stay for one month.

Anyone know of affordable serviced appartments/hostels/whatever... that include 2 basic things:

1. clean (no roaches or different lifeforms)
2. internet that works fine

and if possible in a safe neighbourhood?

My price range would be up to 20k pesos for the month's rent (more or less).

I've been looking around the internet but I'm not very skilled at this sort of search, I'm not familiar with the place, I'm in a rush... etc

Any help greatly appreciated, any links or offers, feel free to post here or PM me

Thank you

If you can purchase your new computer in the US mainland or before arriving to Philippines do so. You will save a bundle and at least have the waranty you can depend on. The only time you need to be purchasing anything if your looking for a android cell.

Sulit.com

Don't know if that 20k a month includes air con or not.

If it does, you can find a solid room, if it doesn't, you'll have to make do with a solid room but use a fan, or a middling decent room with air con.

Either way, Sulit has an easy 'search by price range' function, so you should be able to find a place.

Just wondering, what are the taxes that residents have to pay to the Philippine government? I mean not a US citizen or anyone moving there, but a friend whose already there, and wants to make side income from poker.

Thanks

Unless your going to go out of your way to stick it in the noses of people in high places, that you make a ton of money from online poker, to support your balla lifestyle, you don't have to pay a penny to the Philippine government.

Even if you did that, as long as those people liked you, you'd be fine. If they don't like you, you'll have bigger problems then paying taxes on your hands.

Trust me, the government there doesn't have it's **** together nearly well enough, to actually have any real way of getting you to pay taxes on poker winnings.

There are probably some other things you could do there, that would be more obvious.

But you can get away with online/live poker, without having to pay a penny of taxes.

Would you say Makati is the best area to stay in Manila? Is it central to the best card rooms/ casinos? What's happening at Havana Cafe? I heard there are no longer girls hanging out there?

What about Orteagas or Pasig area?

How did u get thay rate? I asked for any special rate and the reservation guy via email didnt mention about the apt.

Im in japan now connecting to manila, arriving tonight. I ended up booking at Casa Bocobo.

I have a lot of pesos (PHP) in Manila if anyone wants to trade for online money let me know m

I didn't explore Manila too much when there and only really stayed in Makati and felt pretty safe there. The only card room I went to was at resorts world and I guess its probably a 30-60 min taxi journey depending on traffic.

I went to Cafe Havana about a month ago and there were still girls there, I met up with pooter from here and he told me that in the last couple of weeks that has all been stopped, but I didn't go myself after the alleged crack down.

If you looking for chicks Rogues was the only reasonably priced place I saw on Burgos (1600 BF + 2000 for the girl, some will turn down 2k though and want 3k). I also shipped another girl for 1600 + 2k from EDSA (bulletts and arrows bar) but am not sure about the prices in the other bars there, I'm lead to believe its generally a lot cheaper than Burgos which a ***** rip off for the most part. There are always 'massage' girls (aka freelancers) floating around but I didn't try that one out.

The filippino banking laws are among the strictest in the world due to some old laws that the former dictator came up with and that the people with power have no interest in getting rid of, guess why

PH bank secrecy laws strictest in the world

Basically, if you open a USD bank account and keep most of your assets there then the government have no right to inspect that account. Also, income that arrives from abroad in foreign currency is not taxable in any way.

Foreign Currency Deposit Act - RA6426

I'm going for Aubergine in the Fort for dinner tonight. Supposed tobe awesome, but at 2500 pesos a head just for food it better be.

Does anyone have any recomendations for clabs/bars to got afterwards? Would need to be bars that stay open as late as possible (I work night shifts, so I start late, go home late).

Also, I've heard that encore is the place to go, but cant find a website. Does anyone know if its possible to book a table/VIP area?

Thanks

Be careful of freelancers in Philippines. On the whole not as safe as they are in other places i.e. Thailand.

try here https://www.facebook.com/PRIVE.fort

hi there !
im going to the philippines with a friend in july. we are not quite sure where to go (only that we start in manila).

we've only got 3 weeks. is palawan worth going to, or is it rainin too much? we like nice beaches, good food and a little bit of nightlife.

thx in advance

July is the start of the rainy season but the hard rain usually comes a bit later. Should be safe but I wouldn't bet my life on it.

Looking at what you like I think Boracay seems like your ideal place. Palawan has very little nightlife but great beaches and nature.

Good food? Hard to find good food outside Manila imo, its not Thailand.

palawan for sure is worth going. went a month ago. its beautiful! a place i will never forget.

i would recommend going to el nido. delicious cheap street food. if you like bbq you will be in heaven. tons of selection.

actually i saw a disco bar in el nido. went to a full moon party with a bunch of expats. basically this deserted island 20 min boat ride. features a live band, food, bar, fire. got their at like 7 left at 2 am. very cool.


coron is the same thing ( 8 hour boat ride away) just scaled down a bit. road a bike around town. saw a **** fight. good food as always.

both charming places.

Going to Cebu at the end of may for 2 months, sooo excited! Will be joining a pokerhouse where there's 2 people who have been in PI quite some time already, and then there's 3 of us arriving who havent ever been there.

Is anyone up for meeting up? We plan on doing some island hopping, diving etc. If anybody has any must see/must do's (its probably been asked a thousand times, sorry) please let me know!

2 of us are flying in to Manila first for a few days of exploring, anything special to see there?

Thnx in advance!

Activeties to do in boracay at night beside drinking?

hit me!

weeeeee might actually be able to afford a decent place in makati now, wish i had been playing holdem every day since black friday instead of stupidly flipping coins in PLO all the time

anyone playing live in manila at all recently?