re: Advice for a trip to the Philippines

bus travel and taxi travel and they have Jets between the big islands. Tourist buses are Air con but the mass stuff is not. I think they now have over head light rail in metro manila. Makita area of Manila is the business district and for the most part is like being in the US. Almost any kind of fast food restaurants are there along with grocery stores and zippy marts.

I have a feeling most of my trip won't be in Manila. Is airfare between islands expensive?

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Stay away from certain parts of the Southern big island of Mindanoa. There are muslim extremist who love to kidnap americans for ransom

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Thanks for that advice. I will mention that to my friends from there.

yes..sorry bad spelling. We went to high school together and were on the wrestling team. He and his wife were on a wedding anniversary weekend trip when they were kidnapped.

of all that were kidnapped only two survived. Martin's wife who wrote the book and a Filipina nurse.

Good thing I will mostly be with Filipino friends.
As excited I am thinking of this trip, I won't lie, things like that, do have me a little worried. I will be so far out of my comfort zone.

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Long response incoming with details of my experience in the Philippines last week. Give me half an hour.

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Appreciate it.

I went to the Philippines because I live in a frozen desert in Mongolia, and it is literally 100 degrees warmer there right now. I flew from Ulaanbaatar to Seoul to Manila. Stayed in the Philippines for 10 days.

I took three easy domestic flights on Cebu Pacific Airlines. I highly recommend them. The flights were super cheap, especially if you aren't checking any luggage. Flights were all on time and went off without a hitch.

I stayed in Chinatown in Manila the first two nights because it was Chinese New Year, and that shite was intense. Way too many people, but it was a fun experience. It is the oldest Chinatown in the world. There's no reason for you to stay there since it won't be a holiday in Chinatown. Intramuros is the old Spanish area. I rented a bamboo bicycle from BamBike for an hour and rode around. That was great. You could probably spend a lot of time in Intramuros if you're into the historical landmarks and churches. Then I went to the Mall of Asia because I needed a fix of American stuff, and it had everything. Also saw Deadpool in IMAX there.

Then I flew from Manila to Palawan Island. I stayed in Puerto Princesa. This was an island town, but not exactly on the water. Lots of people travel north 6 hours to El Nido for their amazing beach. Instead, I used the travel agency in my hotel to do an island hopping tour in Honda Bay. That was a very good day. They take you to 3 islands for snorkeling, and there's lunch at the end. It is not an adventure by any means, but it was beautiful and nice to be out on the water. You can also do the Underground River tour, which looked like it would eat up a whole day and be a pain in the arse. It is a new Wonder of the World though, so maybe I shouldn't have skipped it. I was pretty satisfied with their bars and restaurants and live music because I missed all that stuff living in Mongolia.

I flew from Puerto Princesa to Cebu City, and then I went straight to the bus station for a bus south to Moalboal. Maybe it was just Saturday night, but Cebu City was pretty intimidating. Hoards of people out in the streets. The public bus station was pretty crowded, if you don't have a lot of experience with that, you might want to advance hire a private transfer from the airport to the beach you want to visit. It was a non-AC bus, and some people didn't get a seat. It was 3 hours south to Moalboal. The motorcycle taxi guy who I asked to take me to Panagsama Beach said he had a friend who was renting out a room. The rest of the rooms were booked or too expensive, so I rented this guy's guesthouse and stayed in his backyard with his cockfighting roosters. That was a trip. His property butted up against the resort on the beach. I highly recommend Panagsama Beach for snorkeling and diving, that was the highlight of the trip. I hired a boat that went out to an island for snorkeling, then an area for sea turtles, then a "sardine run". Google image that. This was a big time European tourist area. I walked a little off the strip to this bar to play pool, and the family was having a birthday dinner and made me eat with them. Full meal, no charge. My receipt said "Foreigner, 4 beers." The other popular beach in Moalboal was White Beach. The sand was great, but the rooms were limited, lots of people were camping on the beach. It looked like quite a party.

Then I flew back to Manila for a day and a half. This time I stayed in Makati in a nice hotel. That is a really nice area, and it had all the American shops and restaurants you'd expect. There was a "Bourbon Street" in Makati that was super sketchy and absolutely packed with prostitutes and ladyboys. It looked like a great place to wake up without your wallet or kidney.

Overall, the people were awesome and genuinely friendly. Everyone spoke English. I probably took ten taxis, and only one tried to screw me. The taxis are cheap, take the white ones with a meter. There were so many places that I didn't go --> the rice terraces in Luzon, Boracay Island, El Nido. Here's the travel warning about the southern islands to avoid. I'll try to answer whatever other questions you have. I also think there's one guy on the OT that lives in Manila.

Make sure you get the Gary Glitter tour package.

Okay, just bump this thread later and I'll see it. You really don't need to worry about the language, except maybe getting some bonus points for using it.