Oh it wouldn't surprise me, those moneychanger guys accepts all kinda money, but yeah I meant peso obviously. I mix those two up all the time as they are fairly close in value.

For night life there:

Its much different than North America. Night clubs aren't as big out there. The main forms of entertainment are karaoke bars, and bars with prostitutes.

The most well known nightclub down there is called the Embassy. It is one of those clubs people get all dressed up for, act cool, and try to ball at. Philippines is really poor, so the people hanging out there will be foreigners, and higher end Filipinos. Even celebrities and model looking chicks hanging out there. I don't know who most of them are, but a few were pointed out the night I was there. The music is rave/techno, so it isn't gonna be that hip hop/RnB stuff with all the booty shaking and making out you see in Canada and the US.

There is a hip hop/RnB club beside the Embassy that I heard about, although I never got a chance to check it out before I left.

Iwind: with 60k pesos you can surely get a sweet apartment with the works! you just have to apply for gym membership at Fitness First or Gold's gym etc...

FT: embassy has both house/trance and hiphop/rnb rooms. It's basically the best place to party and meet girls

Yeah being member of one of those gyms is definately an option, but I believe many of those big apartment complexes have a gym as well, it's always nice to have it all in the same building. I'll just look around some more when I get back there.

Embassy is definately a cool place, but there are quite a few clubs around I'd say, and people in the Philippines seem to love going out partying too, and also clubbing not just karaoke. Just take the Greenbelt areas and the areas in Malate close to Adriatico, the first one more expensive and classy.

One thing I enjoy a lot with the Philippines is that there is so many places with live bands, and the overall quiality is pretty good to I think. I just listened to a live band here in Thailand the other night in a bar and the quality was real poor compared. (Singing English that is, live Thai music is cool)

Another thing, are any of you guys playing live poker when you're there? I've been playing mostly in the Poker Den and in Pagcor at the airport but last time I was there they didn't have either NL100/200 or NL200/400 running, which are the games I'd like to play. Hyatt usually had a NL50/100 running though, which is better than nothing.

Live band, karaoke and prostitutes is the main night life. There are the night clubs like the Embassy and others in Manila. When you are in the Embassy, it is very upscale and multicultural. It basically feels like you are in Vancouver or some other North American city, except for the fact there aren't any hoochies ready to get banged because they are drunk and horny like Girls Gone Wild chicks.

I'm staying close to the Hyatt Casino for two nights and if I'm up to it, I'll check out the NL action the night I arrive (late Wednesday).


"It basically feels like you are in Vancouver or some other North American city, except for the fact there aren't any hoochies ready to get banged because they are drunk and horny like Girls Gone Wild chicks."

I'm not sure I understand the last part of the paragraph..

Probably just meant they are more conservative than North American girls who are at dance clubs and night clubs.

On research of the philippines i have fallen in love with the idea of living for a year on mactan island. However i just came across this information that i would appreciate if any locals can give some light on.

What the brochures won`t tell you: in the interests of fairness, we would like to point out a few things which are not often mentioned in the torrent of promotional hype surrounding Mactan:

or herehttp://www.malapascua-island.com/Ceb...ap_mactan.html


It sounds like it might turn out to be a very boring place to live if everything is run by the resorts.

Well I'm here right now( in Manila), I haven't checked out the poker scene yet, but should hit the Hyatt soon. I've been busy so far and didnt have much sleep.

I was forunate to talk to a nice filipina on the plane from Inchon to Manila and through the help of her brother in law, she had me walk right past the long custom lines and they stamped my passport good for one year. They didnt search my luggage. He then led me to a legit taxi service. Supposedly, many of the taxis are cons.

It was quite a culture shock just having been in Vegas and LAX to see how run down Manila is. The area around my 5 star hotel is really run down, with shady fellows and many prostitutes walking the streets. On the elevator up to my room, A rich Korean business man had in tow a pretty nice looking prostitute.

But so far, I'm having a pretty good time, the Robinson's mall is very nice, I get quite a few stares. But don't expect any bargains in Manila, most items are quite expensive..

What's expensive?

Question for people who have maids: where do I need to call / go to get an English-speaking maid that cooks, cleans, does laundry and runs errands?

In reply to quinn132, I also thought about living in Mactan island for a while myself, as I got to know a guy from my country who was running a resort there. He was also running 4 gogo bars in Cebu as well as an MC club, funny guy. Anyways, it was all fully booked the month I wished to stay there though.

They had a car at the resort and took you to Cebu for like 200 peso or something, hardly a fortune, but it took like half and hour or more with traffic. Might stay there next time I'm in Cebu if they have rooms then, if I don't stay in Cebu city. I really like Cebu city, and living there you could easily take daytrips to Mactan island or spend some days at other island at the beaches etc. Cebu city also has live cashgames in the Casino from what I've heard.

And to Locust, I'm also wondering what's expensive in Manila, unless you mean clothes and items at the brand stores but those prices are fairly similar anywhere you go. Interesting you got a 1 year visa on arrival, did that cost you a lot? Normal seems to be 21 days and then extending for a couple 1000 peso for almost as long as you wish.

Yes, i was refering to brand name items and clothing. The xbox 360 games, if I remember correctly were around 3000 pesos, which is about $73..

I played poker at a Pagcor casino somewhere in Manila. The min max buyin was 2000/8000, with 25 and 50 peso blinds. Unfortunately, I'm not sure where it was. We went there after eating and going to a club in the Eastwood area. (many NICE looking gals). The live poker here is very soft. Lots of bad players who call big raises with junk hands. One Korean fellow would go all in before the flop in the dark. I called with A9s and doubled up when neither of us hit the board and I won with ace high and he had 79o..

Some more things I've noticed in the Philippines

There are many cute girls here. If someone wants a nice filipina, this is the place to be...

Security is everywhere!! In the malls, in almost every store, there is a security guard.

Even though a lot of parts are run down, I've never felt unsafe. It seems much safer than many cities in the U.S.

Although, people are friendly, I feel that many of the male workers here have an indifferent attitude. They don't seem so happy,

LocustHorde, do you look like a Filipino? I'm wondering how you managed to get a 1 year stamp.

LD: LH, does not look filipino. Met up with him last night for drinks, he's a cool guy.

Note to self, the philippines is the place to be for cute filipina girls.lol

haha.. yes, that was a Captain Obvious statement.. Perhaps I should have expounded on what I meant. It's quite easy to meet girls for free or for pay, and weather you pay or get a freebee, they're all pretty cute and friendly. In fact the pay for play I met were nicer than the freebee..

Just be careful you don't run into any trannys. I'd advise not settling for streetwalkers either. I was approached by two outside the Hyatt at 3 AM and they said we have place nearby we make love forty dolla..

Anyone have any info on the APPT event in May? I'm looking for info on dates and buy-ins for preliminary events and blind structures/starting chip stacks for all the tournaments.

i havn't checked this thread in months but i've recently got a bunch of pms about living out here am happy to respond to any questions, i'll stop being so lazy

the apt event is not the appt, its a old tour bought up new owners

http://asianpt.com/index.html

theres also a thread in the tournament circuit forum about it. i should be playing all the tourneys.

mnl grind, i would really appriciate it if u could fill me in on about the live poker scene in manila. I've stoped playing live here because the buyins were not that big. its difficult to find out about if your not in the loop. I'm mostly interested in playing tourneys starting at $200+ but also where the live cash games take place that are at 5/10+. I need get my poker ass out the house a little more.

Questions for Jay or any foreigners in the Phils:

How difficult is it to cash out of poker sites? What withdrawal method(s) do you use and in what currency do you keep your cash?

Is it tough to get local bank accounts and credit cards as a foreigner?

Has anyone ever impregnated a filipina or gal in a foreign country?? I just recieved an email from a girl I was banging in the phils for about a week saying she is now pregnant

I've heard that sometime this is a ploy of some sort, usually to extract money from the hapless victim, but she knows I wouldn't send her any cash.(I've told her not to ask because I wouldn't give send her any)

It definitely could be a scam, so don't always believe what you hear.

But I think if you do have proof that she is pregnant, and you don't want anything to do with it, I'd probably send enough for her to get an abortion, and a little extra for the trouble. Thats just my opinion.

Still, I wouldn't send anything without any proof.

i am a uk citizen so i have access to netteller. I play on all the sites (since i'm a tourney player i need to play where the big tourneys are). I have a netteller account but i can't access the website here. However i can move money around to the sites while i'm here. I dont withdraw using neteller since i have to pay a 1.8% exchange fee. I mostly do the direct to visa card/bank option from stars and tilt.

I have a lump in my bank so i dont really need to worry about immediate funds.

Im going to withdraw a chunk from party soon where i can do wire transfers.

I havn't got a filipino bank account yet, i've been lazy to open one, but i'm sure it will be no problem at all.

About opening a bank account there it shouldn't be any problem at all. My friend from Norway has done that, and he just gave them a hotel address and that was ok. I'm probably gonna do the same when I get back there again in a week or so. It's really nice to be able to withdraw with a wire directly to an account, the phil atm card comes in handy as well as it's nice being able to withdraw larger amounts of cash for cashgames at one time directly from an account.

When it comes too girls getting pregnant I believe it's a pretty common scam there, I have heard tons of such stories, not being accused myself as I'm playing it safe, but with many other foreigners I've been hanging out with over there. In most cases they have turned out to not be pregnant, and even if they are there are usually many candidates depending on what kinda girl it is... I have no clue about abortion as I've never had a similar problem, but seeing how many young mothers there are and Philippines being a catholic country it might be illigal/expensive.

FOr night life just go to global city the fort. I went to ascend on a friday and the club is bumpin also the girls are way hot. Make sure you leave your house around 12 am as the club goers come in around that time.

For nice apartelles I would look into serendra heights or one mckinley. Your 1k is good there I think.

Awesome to be back here, just landed today. Anyways, what do you think of the clubs and bars in the greenbelt, any good places there? Or is the area around the Embassy the only place to be?