Regarding the city, it is a big city and varies immensely. There are very rich areas with huge Mansions and there are very poor areas; it really depends where you will live. RE internet connection, if you can get pldt where you are it should be very stable, Sky is somewhat erratic, and the globe and sun mobile broadband sticks are stable or not based on your location.

thanks for your response, alex

Slightly surprised to catch up on this thread and discover there is no discussion / mention of this week's rapes / slaughter which is making worldwide news.

Obviously the horrific incident [in itself] should not dissuade anyone who is planning a trip to the Philippines. The unbelievably shocking carnage occurred in an area south, far removed from Makati / Manila.

But people need to understand that very 'soft' criticisms I have made earlier in this thread are DIRECTLY linked with horrors of this kind. Most Filipino locals can't make the connection - my Facebook is [understandably] littered with their shocked comments over the especially shocking nature of this political slaughter. And it's probably not the appropriate time to draw their attention to that clean and clear connection, as the civilised portion of the country reels in shock over the grisly details being reported.

But I am not above striking whilst the iron is hot to make my point - and almost all my points are valid. Whilst a chilled, lackadaisical, cest la vie attitude towards life and responsibilities and even punctuality can appear charming and/or admirable to some - the simple fact is that if you can't see how that cultural approach to life directly allows a climate where brutal stuff like this happens, then you are a moron [for want of a less appropriate word].

Here's a Boston.com link if you're like my buddy and never watch the news / or use the Internet apart from poker and forums [he lives in Manila and was unaware of the carnage horrifying the nation]:

http://www.boston.com/news/world/asi...ere_mutilated/

And whilst I don't wish to unnecessarily alarm anyone planning a trip there...if you think Manila is completely immune to this sort of thing or that living in Rockwell / Fort provides you with a complete buffer against the $300 [or far far less] value placed on a human life...you are also naive, perhaps even living in delusion if you've lived there for some time.

The Philippines will be a better country as a result of this tragedy - is the silver lining. What a million kids in the sex industry and millions more living below the poverty line couldn't seem to accomplish has been indirectly achieved by the group of 57 [almost certainly largely, if not completely innocent] slain this week by GMA's political allies [at least, they were her allies until this particular insanity]. Filipinos are freaking angry.

And frankly.

It's about ****ing time.

if you think that this incident will do anything to even remotely change the Philippines, you are WRONG!

The suspect is out on bail walking around his golden army and GMA can't do **** about it.

Once this **** cools down, everything will be swept under a rag. AMPATUAN will likely go to jail for a few years but he will still have the luxury of living like a rockstar, building his own sauna, tennis court and **** inside the CITY JAIL.


You are too naive to even think this **** changes things!

EL OH EL

I'd have to agree with Rakback. I doubt they'll get enough witnesses to cooperate with the DOJ's case. When it's all said and done, they'll probably hash out a deal where he gets a slap on the wrist. Apparently his old man rigged the elections in GMA's favor, and considering how corrupt politics are in the PI, its hard to really envision they'll throw the book at this Ampatuan guy.

When/where is the next Filipino PT event?

No.

Does anyone frequent any other forums discussing Manila?

there is a 10m tourney at metrowalk starting on the 10th 15k +1k buy in

not sure if it is fpt though

Yeah ! there are other forums discussing Philippine Poker

which one?

Not so much poker but more degen trip reports, or expat communities etc.

http://pokermanila.com/index.php

This sounds super lame, but are there any expat bars in the Makati area that televise NBA games? It was mentioned earlier that basketball is really big out there. I assume NFL is out of the question. (I'm kind of a degen sportsbettor)

The NBA games are Live on TV. They are all during the Morning though so nobody really gathers at bars to watch them. We have local bookies here too, illegal though and slow to pay up at least the ones I dealt with in college.

Expat bars show mostly Football and Rugby cause that is what is on at night and majority of the bars cater to Euros and Aussies

NFL used to be live on ESPN might still be. you can check espnstarsports website

So uh, how's it going over there with that whole volcano thing.

lol, the Philippines is a large country..

Hey Real:

Thanks for showing me around angeles city. I never shipped that Marbie showgirl, I went for a couple of standard ones instead.

I left a couple of days after we went out... I kinda hated the whole city except for hanging out with you and private moments with the cuties.

All the best, look up RealOmahaKid if you go to Angeles City, he is a great host.

where do I rent in Manila. Everyone says Makiti, so any suggestions for serviced apts for a month in Jan.? I'd like to spend 500-700 USD max if its ok. Need 1 bedroom. Fast internet.

I'm in HK right now and living conditions not good.

A nice 1 br serviced apt. will cost you way more than that, 2k+. In general one month rentals will be much more expensive per month than three or six month rentals, and adding the serviced aspect makes it much more. Housinginteractive.com has some one month units that aren't serviced. I don't know much about them so I couldn't personally recommend it.

pretty steep prices at Housinginteractive.com. Seems like apartment there are huge and priced accordingly.

Why would anyone live in Makati if you dont work there and pay a huge premium for the apartment? I am sure you can get better and cheaper at the same time in other areas of Manila.

Hey guys, looking to spend a few weeks in Cebu, pretty much for the beach and wanna grind there aswell. looking for some accomodation around 30$ a night any recommendations ?

how many 2+2ers are in PI?

^ maybe <20 PROS but more than 50 2+2ers including locals

Much more than 20, if 20 then I know 10% of all full time poker players in the Philippines, and that is just in Angeles City.