|
I'm considering going to the Philippines to see a friend (who's Pinay), but I'm wondering if there any advice people can give, eg: - When's the best time to go? I heard basically anytime except March-May is good. I'm leaning towards summer because winter is family holidays. - Any places to go, or not go? My friend recommends the Cebu City area, so probably in that region. - Any special food, etc? This'd probably be about a week long trip, give or take.
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2016 20:27
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 28, 2024 05:12 |
|
|
The thing that surprised me most about the Philippines was the pastries/baked goods. Holy poo poo do they make some extremely good and exotic (to me) pastries. If you see a little hole in the wall selling 30 different kinds of pastries for ~10 pesos, try as many as you can. Trust me. They're soooooooo goooooood Jeepneys are fun to ride if you need to get around town. Just make sure you have a general idea of where you're trying to go, they're cheap and everywhere. Some are vividly decorated, I even saw a Denver Broncos themed jeepney! Which is my home football team who also happened to win the super bowl this year. That was cool to see, too bad it drove by too fast for me to take a picture  I never did make it to Cebu so for detailed things to do in that city I can't help much. The Philippines is great though! Wonderful people
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2016 03:25
|
|
|
The Philippines are great and the people are incredibly friendly. Our car broke down on the side of the road to Baguio and while we were waiting for the mechanic a family came out of their house and brought us lunch completely unsolicited. It was delicious and we ended sitting with them for several hours just chatting and eating food.
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2016 03:29
|
|
|
Pastries and other baked stuff in general is the best part of Filipino food and gotta try that while you're there. Pan de sal is the simplest thing ever yet you can have some divine experiences eating the legit stuff. Apparently there's regional differences in lechon (spit roasted pork) and my family says it's pretty amazing in the south/Cebu.
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2016 03:46
|
|
|
computer parts posted:I'm considering going to the Philippines to see a friend (who's Pinay), but I'm wondering if there any advice people can give, eg: Get out of Manila as quickly as you can. The traffic and crowding are just oppressive. If you like malls you'll have a great time but otherwise there really isn't a lot you need to do there so go somewhere better. Corregidor is a cool day trip though. My vote is for Bohol and Cebu. Palawan is also fantastic but not as close to other places. For food, eat all the veggies you can before going out there because you won't find many in Filipino cuisine. I LIKE COOKIE posted:Jeepneys are fun to ride if you need to get around town. Just make sure you have a general idea of where you're trying to go, they're cheap and everywhere. Some are vividly decorated, I even saw a Denver Broncos themed jeepney! Which is my home football team who also happened to win the super bowl this year. That was cool to see, too bad it drove by too fast for me to take a picture Hopping on a random jeepney in different parts of Manila is a great way to get mugged if you look like a tourist. Make sure you know exactly where you're going (and where it's going) before you get on one.
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2016 13:27
|
|
|
Are you single? Do you like to party? These are important questions.
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2016 18:27
|
|
|
computer parts posted:I'm considering going to the Philippines to see a friend (who's Pinay), but I'm wondering if there any advice people can give, eg: Are you only going to be with your friend, or also hopping to other places (alone or with friend)? Is it a romantic friendship? What do you like to do - sightseeing, cultural stuff, food, party, watersports, diving? The big cities in Phili are not really interesting, but serve as good hubs for going elsewhere. Manila sucks balls, it's by far the least inviting and un-walkable city I've been in, the only good thing is the red light district. Cebu is okay, not super walkable (but taxi-able for pennies), there's a slew of things to see and eat, but it requires some research on the internet. In Phili, you don't just walk down the street and stumble upon nice bars, restaurants, cafes and roadside food joints like you do in European capitals; they are almost all centralized in malls, ranging from small strip malls to gargantuan ones. That's just how it is. You take a taxi through where-the-gently caress-am-I areas, and boom, you arrive. Bring a phone with GPS and pre-downloaded Google Maps for offline use, so you can assist in finding where you want to go. There are endless malls, and Cebu also has good nightlife - plenty of places, friendly people, and not too overrun by hookers nor tourists. I know a great disco in Cebu if you want a tip. It's awesome to take small trips outside of the big cities to beach towns with quiet, fresh air and palm trees all over. I've been to Bohol and Moalboal so far. Rent a motorbike and go nuts. I've also been to Davao, which feels a bit like Phnom Penh in terms of size and building size (almost no high-rises). Fairly calm and down to earth city, and supposedly a very safe city because the mayor runs a tight ship. Philippine food is also close to the worst local food I've tasted, it's often full of greasy meat, yucky sauce, and just unappealing in appearance. You can get a few basic things like barbequed pork or chicken that's good, but I can look through an entire local menu card (those with pictures; which doesn't neccesarily indicate low quality) and not find a single thing interesting. Luckily, you can get good international food all over; whether you like pizza, burgers, thai, korean, chinese, sushi, italian, TGIF, you name it. All in all the food is good and cheap, I just don't like the local food. The street food is really simple, made for people with low income, like deep-fried dough or factory made sausages - worth trying once, then that's it. While they are some of the best at speaking English in Asia, it's really nice to have a local with you in order to find your way around, haggle and prevent getting overcharged. Most of Phili is not really setup for tourists, particularly the public transport (jeepneys) is very intimidating and tourist-unfriendly. With a local though, it's fun, but alright, sometimes I wonder to myself why on earth I am wasting time waiting on a jeepney in order to save $1 on a taxi. Ah well. Regarding time to visit, I've visited in January, February, July and October. The Western winter (Dec-Feb) is the best because there's very little rain over there and it's slightly cooler, but hey, rain doesn't ruin your vacation over there since it's so warm, so you dry fast and it doesn't feel so uncomfortable. You risk some typhoons, though, I was in the middle of one in July a few years ago, but fuckit, I still went out and about. Pilsner fucked around with this message at 22:05 on Mar 23, 2016 |
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2016 19:19
|
|
|
Seconding Phili food being not very good in general. Everything is very fatty and greasy, good luck finding vegetables that haven't been drowned in oil and sauce. As someone else mentioned, pastries are pretty much the highlight. Beautiful country though, I'd go back in a heart beat if given the opportunity.
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2016 19:48
|
|
|
Whip Slagcheek posted:Seconding Phili food being not very good in general. Everything is very fatty and greasy, good luck finding vegetables that haven't been drowned in oil and sauce. As someone else mentioned, pastries are pretty much the highlight. Beautiful country though, I'd go back in a heart beat if given the opportunity. For real, I'm struggling to think of another non greasefilled vegetable dish besides this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinakbet Besides the fat, yeah a lot of Filipino food involves weird/funky/fermented or innard/offal type poo poo in general like blood or bagoong. I do feel slightly bad just talking poo poo about Filipino food even though I do agree with everything said here (I was born in Manila and live in the US now), but I've spent my life opening friends up to some of it, so here's some other stuff you could try: Garlic fried rice (this stuff comes with anything ending with -silog for breakfast) and pancit palabok (noodles with egg, shrimp, and crunchy chicharron) are probably my favorite Filipino dishes. I've never seen taho executed properly outside of the Philippines: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taho If you are feeling brave, kare-kare (oxtail with a peanut type curry) done well is loving phenomenal. air- fucked around with this message at 20:02 on Mar 23, 2016 |
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2016 19:57
|
|
|
Visiting Malaysia soon with a buddy. specifically Sabah on Borneo for beach, diving and jungle stuff. Anyone has any recommodations for us ? Be it places to stay, do or look out for ? I am open to everything, so throw it at me. We are two 30 year old dudes who can afford something, if that matters to the tip.
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2016 21:00
|
|
|
air- posted:For real, I'm struggling to think of another non greasefilled vegetable dish besides this Eh, not really that hard unless you're talking about vegetarian dishes only. You got pinakbet, bulalo/nilaga, sinigang, tinola and sotanghon. All of the above are super common dishes and most are pretty iconic Filipino dishes. You guys are missing out if you haven't tried those. The greasy and fatty dishes have the problem of all being kinda samey, so I'm with you guys there.
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2016 21:48
|
|
|
Constellation I posted:Eh, not really that hard unless you're talking about vegetarian dishes only. You got pinakbet, bulalo/nilaga, sinigang, tinola and sotanghon. All of the above are super common dishes and most are pretty iconic Filipino dishes. You guys are missing out if you haven't tried those. Strictly vegetarian was my context. Actually now that I think about it, pinakbet does have shrimp/fish sauce so  hmm... oh, ginataang saba or ginataang talong, but hell even those might even have pork or something in the broth. There might be more stuff with eggplant? gently caress, I hope I never have a vegetarian/vegan friend ask me for advice about the Philippines.
air- fucked around with this message at 22:25 on Mar 23, 2016 |
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2016 22:18
|
|
|
Advice for a vegetarian going to the Philippines: Sorry about your luck, mate. Bring some protein bars from home.
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2016 23:11
|
|
|
It's so smokey in Chiang Rai today that you can smell it strongly and it's blotting out the sun. I really like living here on the whole, but gently caress this.
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2016 05:14
|
|
|
Yeah, my friend who lives in Chiang Rai decided to go on a nice trip to Koh Samet. Burning season isn't nice.
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2016 07:28
|
|
|
Just got my holiday times locked and it's in July... 5 weeks starting from 1.7.2016. I'm going to book a flight to Bangkok and decide from there depending on the weather. I'm thinking about Philippines (Cebu, Bohol,?) as i have never been there. Never been to Laos either so that could be one option too. Not a big partier. Good food and some nice pubs are good enough for me. If the weather allows, i would like to spend two weeks on some island just napping on a hammock and reading a book... Just turned 40 so no Swedish surfers or strung out Israeli backpackers plz. Any suggestions for places that could have ok weather in July? County doesn't really matter. I have been in Thailand multiple times so that's not very high on my list. And as for budget. Well it's flexible. After flights umm about 500 euros (558$) a week for hotels and everything else. Looking forward to meeting some Goons again 
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2016 07:40
|
|
|
Negligent posted:Yeah, my friend who lives in Chiang Rai decided to go on a nice trip to Koh Samet. Burning season isn't nice. Yeah I'd do the same except for my son starting school soon and relatives already having booked flights etc up here in a couple of weeks. It sucks and it can't be doing any of us any good, let alone the fact that we're forced to sit indoors if we don't want to be sucking in shitloads of carcinogenic fumes all day long.
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2016 08:31
|
|
|
Negligent posted:Yeah, my friend who lives in Chiang Rai decided to go on a nice trip to Koh Samet. Burning season isn't nice. The same in Chiang Mai too. Sadly, I have to work and can't go anywhere. At least the office is air-conditioned...
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2016 09:21
|
|
|
When does it usually get OK again? May, right?
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2016 10:58
|
|
|
Vogler posted:When does it usually get OK again? May, right? Yeah, whenever we get a heavy rain it clears up for a day or two, but it won't stop completely until the rainy season starts, so late April, May.
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2016 11:19
|
|
|
Pilsner posted:
I'll probably only be with her, it's not romantic (though she might introduce me to some people). I really like hiking, but I'm also a fan of that other stuff to some degree or another. The rest of your post was very informative! It's still in the very early planning stages but January is looking attractive.
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2016 16:16
|
|
|
FortMan posted:The same in Chiang Mai too. Sadly, I have to work and can't go anywhere. Last year I flew in for Songkran and stayed until June, it was ok I didn't die of smoke inhalation... this year I had to go back home in February, just as the air was getting smoke tinged. I really miss Chiang Mai for a lot of reasons but from all reports, this was a burnoff to really miss.
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2016 16:23
|
|
|
Barfolemew: 4000 islands, Laos.
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2016 21:11
|
|
|
Barfolemew posted:Just got my holiday times locked and it's in July... 5 weeks starting from 1.7.2016. I'm going to book a flight to Bangkok and decide from there depending on the weather.  There's nothing resembling British pubs in Phili. They have girly bars (don't be scared), KTV bars (girly bars with karaoke), and regular modern bars (some a combined restaurant+bar; restobar) with beers, cocktails and the like. All can be good depending on what you're after. Make sure you go outside of the big cities if you want to relax in a hammock. In July, it's generally speaking rainy and typhoon season in SE Asia, but don't let it keep you away. The rain isn't that annoying. I'd visit Cambodia rather than Laos. More open, more interesting culture, slightly more touristy in a good way. I think Laos is really closed, plus they're commies and you can't even legally touch their women. Personally I draw the line at about €55 per night for a hotel, but have recently started to prefer getting closer to €40 just for the sake of. 500 Euro per week is €71 per day, sure you can keep it within that depending on the hotel. Starting in Thailand is great. I'd recommend hopping to Cambodia after that for a week, then try Vietnam, then Phili, then back to Thailand and then home. All are interesting countries in their own merit and you will get a mother of an experience.
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2016 21:50
|
|
|
Pilsner posted:Starting in Thailand is great. I'd recommend hopping to Cambodia after that for a week, then try Vietnam, then Phili, then back to Thailand and then home. All are interesting countries in their own merit and you will get a mother of an experience.  That's a lot of traveling for a five week vacation. Personally I'd cut out Phili and save it for another trip, especially if you're looking to sample food.
|
|
#
?
Mar 25, 2016 00:26
|
|
|
Whip Slagcheek posted:
You really think visiting 4 countries in five weeks is a lot of traveling? Dang, I seriously get bored if I spend more than four days in one place. To each his own.
|
|
#
?
Mar 25, 2016 01:21
|
|
|
Well I suppose if you enjoy more time in airports and planes than actually doing stuff... to each their own indeed.
|
|
#
?
Mar 25, 2016 01:38
|
|
|
I don't think four countries is bad per say, I just wouldn't want to deal with Wherever -> BKK -> NAIA -> BKK -> Wherever plus whatever bus/train/plane/ferry he would be using to go between Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand. Not for a five week trip anyway, that's a ton of days you're sacrificing for travel.
|
|
#
?
Mar 25, 2016 01:39
|
|
|
It also depends on who you are with really. Only hardcore Chinese tour groups can bus around Europe in 10 days. If you are traveling alone and wake up early every morning then yeah you can clear the major sites in each city easily within a few days. Or you might be with a significant other and take your time to leave your room each morning and don't walk around as much. It really really depends on the person. For me if I'm going to sea I don't give a poo poo because it's so close to me so just go out and try different restaurants. If I go to Europe I would wake up 7 each morning and go everywhere
|
|
#
?
Mar 25, 2016 01:47
|
|
|
I just feel that when I've been somewhere for more than 4 days, I start doing the same. Same hotel, same streets, same taxi route, same eating places. While being on vacation beats the gently caress out of the work hamsterwheel at home, I just have a longing to try new stuff. I mean honestly, the cities over there don't have so much "cultural" stuff that you can use 10 hours for 7 days looking at them. Frankly, most of the places I've been to, I've knocked out the attractions in a few days, but alright, I also prioritize nightlife, drinking, city walking and sleeping late higher than museums and tourist attractions, and the latter are more often than not a letdown. Remember that while there's a lot of overhead when flying (checking out, taxi to airport in good time, waiting, etc.), it only takes 1 hour to fly between Thailand and Cambodia, 1 hour between Cambodia and Vietnam, and approx. 3 hours from "mainland Asia" to Phili. That's not so much. You can check out of your hotel at noon and be ready to head out in the next country at 6 PM. 4 countries in 5 weeks is only a plane every 8 days, that's nothing.
|
|
#
?
Mar 25, 2016 01:57
|
|
|
I find that I'm too hungover to leave my hotel when on vacation.
|
|
#
?
Mar 25, 2016 02:40
|
|
|
My first long trip across SEA was 5 countries in 3 weeks. It was mostly capital city hopping and meeting goons. Slightly rushed but still manageable
|
|
#
?
Mar 25, 2016 02:48
|
|
|
But you can also stay in a closer region and check out the nature and different national parks and all. It really varies on what people want
|
|
#
?
Mar 25, 2016 02:50
|
|
|
I think city hopping is more manageable than actually seeing the country. If he wants to just do Bangkok, Hanoi, Phnom Penh, Manila (ew). Then yeah sure whatever, he'd probably be bored honestly. I'm talking hopping around each country. That would be exhausting for a five week trip, but I guess that's just me. I'm pretty content sitting on the beach for days at a time swimming around and eating good food.
|
|
#
?
Mar 25, 2016 03:05
|
|
|
For the most part, I do touristy stuff alone so I can dictate the pace. However, I don't like feeling rushed and while I'll have some sort of plan/rough itinerary, I prefer to have room to allow for side trips or detours if say I run into some cool poo poo like some local event I hear about upon arrival or I meet travelers who I click with. That one hour plane ride also needs to factor in the time to get through security/immigration plus getting to/from the airport to the city. That's usually 2, 3 hours right there.
|
|
#
?
Mar 25, 2016 04:25
|
|
|
As someone who has to be on planes all the time. gently caress planes. The unruly passengers clamoring to leave the plane yet still have checked luggage, bull poo poo security, bull poo poo traffic and trains. gently caress planes. High speed rail rules by far
|
|
#
?
Mar 25, 2016 04:31
|
|
|
[quote="caberham" post=""457856800"] High speed rail rules by far [/quote] Even sleepers are okay out here. BKK sleeper to Ubon was old and rickety but the aircon worked well enough and I didn't get bedbugs. Victory as far as I'm concerned. Anyone know where I can pick up some second hand motocross or motorcycle boots in Saigon? Don't say Binh Thanh, gently caress that place.
|
|
#
?
Mar 25, 2016 05:15
|
|
|
Anyone have specific airline recommendations? I am travelling to Bangkok with my wife and 2 kids in May. The two we have been looking at, mainly due to price, are Emirates with a layover in Dubai or United with a transfer to All Nippon in Tokyo. Our previous experience was with Korean which was fine but their prices are like double for the time period we are looking at. Anyone have experience with either of them or recommendations for other airlines to look at?
|
|
#
?
Mar 25, 2016 05:53
|
|
|
I haven't flown United in a long time but from memory they were kind of like stuffing bees up my urethra. I'd fly anyone else.
|
|
#
?
Mar 25, 2016 05:56
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 28, 2024 05:12 |
|
|
Don't fly any American carrier that's for sure. Emirates is great airline. ANA is climbing up. Actually you can even settle for euro poo poo and still be happy
|
|
#
?
Mar 25, 2016 06:28
|
|