So – you are going to Manila in the Philippines? For business? Love maybe? Could even just a random act of wanting to go somewhere different?
Manila is an interesting place. I do not claim to be an expert! I have only been there once, but am planning on going several more times; the earliest again hopefully will be April 2009 (over Easter). What makes Manila interesting?
Ok straight away I would like to say the following… abet it may sound bad but it needs to be said
Westerner = probably better off in terms of financials compared to the equivalent Filipino so you need to be careful with your money. Do not take it all with you! Do not splash 10’s of thousands of Peso’s in your wallet or purse when you go and buy a 200 Peso compo meal in McDonalds.
Do your research: If you are going to buy something like a watch – do your research first. There seems to be a lot of fakes around – even in a shop inside a mall. Work out which brand you are interested in and find out what it should cost you and go from there. Read a little online so you won’t get a fake or replica.
Water: If you are going out and about – bring a bottle of water if you can. If you are re-filling your bottle – make sure it is with boiled water (of course, wait for it to cool down before putting it into a bottle) or brand new with a sealed cap (probably from a shop… but I guess off the street would also be suitable)
Wasting stuff: If you are over there to meet your GF/BF and/or their parents… don’t waste much! Make sure you don’t waste food, drinks or things. They are really big on using everything they can – from food to re-using packaging such as plastic bags and paper.
Treat everyone the same: Of course – treat others as you wish to be treated. Show respect and you should get respect back. Don’t act like an ass and think you are better than everyone else because you are not.
Tips: Yes you can do this. In retail at a shop, don’t bother. But if you get a massage or someone has helped you like a taxi driver – then it is appropriate. Don’t go overboard – anywhere from 20 peso onwards is ok. I tended to give ~50 to 100.
Street food: Be careful with things produced on the street. If you are with someone who is local – they should know what is good to eat and what is bad. But of course, don’t be scared to try something. I think a good way to tell if something is good / bad is how long the place seems to have been there for. If it is a street vendor who can travel – probably a bad idea. If it is more of a shop front with a guy at the front – then it should be alright. I say this because if he can travel then if he didn’t do so well (ie, people got sick) – he can just move somewhere else and there is very little accountability.
The people: Everyone seems to be friendly – from a Taxi to a Jeep or tricycle driver. You do need to be careful about charges – sometimes people will see a westerner and decide to charge more because they feel they can get away with it. If it is a tricycle driver for example – you have room to bargain before you are off on your trip. A taxi – a bit harder to tell as they could have a dodgy meter but even if they ripped you off, the cost compared to what you would have paid at home is still a lot lower.
Shopping: It is a wonderful place to shop! I found most things I had purchased to be around half the price of what I would have gotten it back in Australia. A branded t-shirt costed me between 400 and 600 peso’s (the current exchange rate was around 30 PHP to $1 AU) so it was around $15AU per t-shirt for brands like Van Heusen. Jeans costed me between 800PHP to 1500PHP ($35 to $45AU) for brands like JAG and Levi’s. Brands such as Lacoste still cost a lot – probably similar to what we pay in Australia (around 4500PHP for a decent t-shirt)
Filipino’s like their brands and it shows. Even with Lacoste costing a ton you can still see a lot of people wearing their shirts etc.
Meeting a partner: If you meet someone on the Internet, your partner had to go home for some reason or found someone when you were over there – be careful of PDA (Public Display of Affection). They can be funny in this area. It is not like a western country where you can see people getting-it-on at a shopping mall or outside a club – they do not like to really display too much besides holding hands. So get an idea of what your other-half is comfortable with first.
Hey Joe! You will get this often, especially if you go somewhere which is not really a tourist place. It could be a taxi driver or a vendor somewhere trying to get your attention.
English: Almost everyone speaks it over there and can you speak at your normal pace without problems. You will find people use very formal speech – like Sir. If their English isn’t at your level or they have problems with your accent – they will do what they can do to help you still such as finding someone else at the same shop to assist you.
Pollution: It was not as bad as I had originally thought it would be. Of course there are bad places, like when a building is taken down often it would gather things like rubbish in its spot and can be colourful because of that. Overall – the smog etc is not that bad. A few days it looked pretty bad, but often the sky is still blue and you don’t cough a ton if you are not used to it. I guess it is at a level which is expected for a country with such a population level situated in a third world country. Car’s are not that bad… the Jeep’s can be bad. I guess probably more of where you actually go in Manila. You won’t see many people wearing face masks for example.
The airport: Arrival is easy – just follow everyone else. Present passport etc and you will be out in no time. Make sure you have your baggage recept from when you checked your luggage in as they will want to see that before you leave the airport. When on the flight – make sure you bring a pen with you as you will need to fill in a document. Easier to do it on a plan then when you have landed (better use of time). I guess a pen on a flight anywhere is useful.
The airport: Leaving – is a little harder. Give yourself a lot of time. There are many checks there. The first is actually entering the airport. They want to see your passport and flight information at the main entrance to the airport. Once in – you need to check yourself in. Present passport/flight detail print outs. Afterwards, you need to fill in a form (the same one as you did on the plane when you first came in) and pay 750 PHP in airport taxes. Then you need to go through security once again – this time they have an x-ray machine and ask you to take your shoes off. I got the funny feeling the people on the other side of the x-ray machine are there to take your wallet so be careful! (Probably me just over-reacting). Now there are a few shops to buy stuff if you want like water or food. Then you need to go into another security area to board your plan in which they check your bag (everyone’s bag gets checked). So in all – give yourself more than three hours before you are meant to fly to ensure there is enough time for everyone – especially if it is a busy time of the year).
Drugs: Don’t do it! You have to be a 100% idiot and fool to do any kind of drugs in almost any Asian country as they have things such as the death penalty if you are caught. Safer to just not do it. Of course, you should not really be doing drugs in your home country anyway!
Security: There is security everywhere. If you enter a metro station, they check you. If you go into a shopping centre they check you. They want to look into your bags and they also want to give you a quick pat-down. Often they have a ‘male and female’ line and sometimes additional ‘bags and no bags’ line.
The news: The news is pretty graphic compared to most western news places. Common to see unedited/raw footage of events where there may have been people hurt so just be careful when watching news on TV if you are not used to it.
Travel insurance: Probably a good idea to get insurance – but I guess this could be seen in any visit to anywhere in the world. You never know when you get sick or fall victim to something.
Getting robbed: There is always a chance in a crowded place that you will get pick-pocketed or something so be careful (the same is anywhere in the world). Be careful of people who try to get your attention as often people work in groups to target people. One may try and get your attention while another tries to get your wallet. In a crowded place, people may bump into you / push you around a little so you might not notice something happen. Play it safe – have some money hidden on (in your sock?) you case something happens and you need to get home. Don’t take all of your credit cards/id’s with you.
Mobile phones: Probably just easier to keep / use your current sim card and mobile phone. You might not want to take your iPhone because it is such an expensive unit. If you do not plan on making / receiving many calls, just use your current sim card because a) you will have all of your normal contacts and b) you don’t need to tell everyone you have a different number for a few weeks. Just be careful of how often you use your phone and possible charges.
Laptop etc: Why bother? You are on holiday… if you need the internet or something just go to a cafe. Maybe the only reason for a laptop is to download your pictures from your camera… but the cost of storage these days… maybe easier just to get another memory card which means you don’t have the weight of a laptop in your bags so you can buy more clothes.
Stocking up: Things are very cheap here. You might want to bring back stuff such as toothpaste and other things which often cost a bit in the western world. It is exactly the same thing as you get from a local shop in your home country. Just make sure the item is not illegal to import into your country like medicines without a prescription or a banned product like something from China with tiger parts.
Duty free: There is none that I could see. Get your duty free items when you return to Australia at the airport. Easier as you don’t have the extra weight to carry around with you.
Electronics: Yes you can buy stuff there. BUT!! You have a few things to check first… such as if there is warranty in your home country for said items and if it actually is cheaper. I noticed my TV in Australia was a lot cheaper than if I had gotten it from the Philippines. In Australia – it costed me ~$1700AU but from a few shops over there, it would have costed me ~$2700AU. This is partly to do with our AU$ going down in value to the US$ but our product prices remaining the same. Also be careful of things such as a Play Station Portable (PSP) as they might be in a different region then your home country and you might not be able to buy games for it in your local country because of this.
Have I made a mistake somewhere? Do you feel I need to extend something? Got something to add? Was this helpful? Comments please!