I am staying at the Eastwood Richmonde Hotel next week. The address shows Quezon City, but looking on the map it looks like it is between Quezon and Marikina.

Has anyone stayed there, and what is your impression? I am from the US and I havent travelled internationally before (except for Aruba, the Bahamas, and the US Virgin Islands), so I'm not sure really what to expect.

Couple of specific questions:

I am about as white as can be (no culture outside US) so Im have been told not to drink tap water, eat lettuce, and to stick to cooked food only. How is this going to work with liquor drinks? Do they have ice made with bottled water, or am going to have to drink my bourbon neat? I could stick to beer or martinis, but I am a pretty big fan of bourbon on the rocks.

We have a driver (company sponsor) picking us up from the airport, and again from the hotel each day and taking us to the office. I'm assuming there are decent meals in the hotel, and I should prolly stick to the hotel (as opposed to venturing out)?

What is the best way to deal with Jet Lag? My total travel time from the East Coast of the US is about 28 hours. I havent been able to sleep much on planes in the past but I am in Business Class with the lie flat seats so hopefully I can sleep some. If not, I'll pop a pill or two, and have a few drinks.

28 hours?? brutal

as far as food goes your probably gonna get the ****s no matter what but stick with the hotel food at first then when you get sick of it look for somewhere else that is always crowded

any nice bar will probably have ok ice

I wouldn't eat a single meal at your hotel. Eastwood has literally dozens of restaurants within 5 minutes walking distance. Google: eastwood philippines restaurants. If you plan on taking cabs, you can just tell the driver "Eastwood" - no need to specify that it's in QC. Just avoid rush hour (typically 4-8pm on weekdays) as the traffic is horrendous at that time and it will be hard to convince drivers to take you far distances.

Don't drink the tap water. Ice in 99% of places will be made using safe to drink water so don't worry about it.

Sleeping tablets for long flights everytime

be ready to just roll with it. no matter what it is. the best answer is usually to just roll with it. you're not prepared for what you're about to see having not traveled much. i'd traveled all over south america, europe, korea and a few places in china and i wasn't prepared at all for manila my first time there.

alcohol should kill germs from ice?

Wow. You weren't prepared relative to the poverty/3rd world aspect?

the heat was the first thing that hit me. then the humidity. then the smell. then the traffic. then the density of the population. then i saw some two year old just chillin naked on the side of a street with no adult around. and this was like at 11pm on a wednesday. so i decided to just roll with it

if i were to spend a few days/week in manila where should i stay malate or makati? a little of both?

anyone got any decent $25 or less hotels near havana? any decent $20-$30 hotels in makati?

smartbro should work fine in both subic and manila right?

The chepast i know is howzat pub, think its rooms are about 1500P. Google to find the website, where all details/info listed. Howzat makati.

Other than that trying to get a hotel for 25$ next to GB is lolable.

manila hotels are across the board expensive ime. cheapest i found that i would stay in was ~2500p and even it has like leaky AC and noise.

unless you're wanting to play live poker there's just no reason to vacation in manila.

^ I would not agree with that entirely. But manila is certainly not great for a short-low-budget stay imo

i have a $25 a night hotel/hostel in makati where you get your own room somewhere in my damn notes but i cant find it!!!!!

Link if you find it. I can only imagine its a hostel or a very very very run down rat hole hotel. $25 bucks is just over 1kPeaso. A hotel for that next to Green Belt? I guess possible but id be very surprised. Ok maybe in Makati as it is quite big and would guess its on the edge of makati closer to the **** rather than in the CBD or GB area.

Cheapest i found was 3k and that was small but brand new and 10 meters away from GB.

im going to furiously search my ish tomorrow and find it i know its here somewhere

i think it is a hostel but if you get your own room its 1k pesos maybe cheaper if you wanna live with everyone, and it said it was in makati but i dont know the area

you cant find a 1k a night place near havana?

No. Depending on what you mean by close? But from my experience no you can not. i couldn't find a hotel i would stay in for 1k anywhere in Manila or AC.

Anyway Makati is relatively small and trust me when i say Havana is not the be all and end all, in fact it pretty much sucks as a pure mongering joint.

In fact the whole of Makati sucks for mongering imo.

Tune Hotel is $36/night in Makati. It's a tiny room, though. It's a virtual certainty that K2D is going to be disappointed by Makati and Manila in general.

Sounds good. Still 11 bucks over budget tho, thats one third of a short time with an ugly girl from outside Havana.

http://www.hotel24h.com.ph/ is 1200pesos/night. its not right to burgos str but still in makati and can take a cab everywhere.
right next to howzat(which is always full btw) on the left side is also one for around 1400pesos.

Sogo Mabini for 1700php for 24 hours or 800php for 12, K2D can do the 12 hours and then walk the streets the other 12

I think K2D whants to be close to the freelancer at Gpoint and LA Cafe.

EDIT: Google Zenith Tourist Inn, looks like good value, why are you going to Manila K2D?

we can agree to disagree. having followed his threads i would recommend subic first and last. it checks pretty much all the blocks and seems a logical step up from snooky while not being too expensive. plus there's a bigger expat community there that will actually look out for him.

if he wants city, cebu is by far the better option for his budget. if he wants what he's been getting, just with pinays instead of cambodian sloots then it's subic all the way.

Exactly this ive been telling him, altough I think Cebu will be too expensive for him, and AC would probably be a pretty good option to, staying long term in AC you can get Spotlight girls for 5-800php if you young and clean. And willing to take them before or after work.

Just curious, what are you cooking in the microwave K2D? If you have an apartment with a stove you can save even more money cooking your own food or letting your girls cook food for you.

Subic awful

Cebu okay