What to do after arrival at Manila ?

Some of you lone travelers may be wondering what to do on your next trip. We are now preparing our next trip to the Philippines. . Click here to see us We come up with our best ideas during our garden barbecue parties in Neuenhagen. This is a very quiet place and optimal for planning a long trip. It s not very difficult to call the ticket exchange and order three tickets to Manila. I'm always happy walking through the streets of Ermita or Makati and watching all the colorful confusion. After your arrival at Ninoy Aquino International Airport the first problem will be to get into the city for an acceptable price, because the taxi-mafia will overcharge you. Now let's find the best way to outwit these modern bandits. I remember one arrival last year at the Domestic Airport, where a man wearing a uniform urged me with his pump gun into a taxi, giving me the impression that he is airport security and this is an official airport service. The taxi driver overcharged me as much as possible; after a little argument I paid $20.00 USD! Watch out and don't trust anybody. Since that experience I always walk a few minutes away from the arrival area to stop a metered taxi, or take a bus from a different stop than the airport. Going by bus is my recommendation if your luggage situation permits. It's not really dangerous because nobody expects a foreign traveller to take a run-down bus. You need to know only two streets to get on your way. These streets are called: 1) Roxas Boulevard and 2) E. De los Santos Avenue ( EDSA ). The first is the way to your hotel in Ermita, if you want to stay in Manila for one or two days. The second passes throughout the whole city like a vein, and some of the most important bus terminals are located on this avenue. That is all you need to know and it is simple to remember. The first place worth stopping is the Copacabana Apartment Hotel, and not just because of the EDSA-entertainment complex across the street. This entertainment complex contains a lot of bars and nightclubs where you can find that special someone to make your adventure more pleasant. There is a lot more to Manila's nightlife than can possibly be covered in this overview. The best travel books for this subject are those of Jens Peters. Choose your hotel very carefully, because the traffic is very heavy in Manila and you don't want to sit in a taxi all night. Most travelers put up at a pension in Ermita, usually around Mabini Street or Adriatico Steet. This district is not what it used to be, but is still a good place to take your first steps in this adventurous city. Another possibility is to go directly from the airport to Puerto Galera or Angeles depending on your interests and your arrival time. For those people who don't like the hectic atmosphere of a big city, it's recommended to spend a night in Angeles. The nightlife is also exciting, but a little more cozy. For me, there is nothing nicer after a long flight than relaxing with a barhopping tour around Angeles. I like to have a cool San Miguel in an Angeles bar and joke with the girls. The cheapest way to go from the airport to Angeles is to take a bus or taxi to the Victory-liner bus terminal in EDSA, Pasay City. It's not very far from the airport. The trip from Angeles to Puerto Galera and Sabang beach will cost you a day, because of the heavy traffic. The Victory-liner will bring you back to EDSA, where the B.L.T.B. - bus terminal lies a short distance away. This is where you have to change to get to Batangas pier for your boat to Mindoro. It's easy you don't need a travel agency to have fun in the Philippines!

The pictures was taken at Makati around the Burgos Street & Makati Avenue also at Caloocan City around the Bonifacio Monument and Gil Puyat Avenue at Pasay

On our first tour this year while in Manila, we stayed at an inn called Robelle House at Valez Street. This establishment is within close walking distance of Burgous Street where much of the nightlife action in Makati takes place. The inn has a very fine pool, nice and friendly staff, a quiet atmosphere, and a real Philippine flavor. Interestingly, this part of Manila was more like a suburb than a big city. At night, bicyclists would pedal up and down the streets selling balut. Phew! While in Manila, I met a nice tour guide in a bar who acted as my companion. She wanted me to accompany her to her home in Caloocan City to show me her family and where she lived. I agreed to this. The fastest way to get through Manila is the metrorail, so we took a taxi to Gil Puyat Station where we could get on the train. As we exited the taxi, the driver told us to be careful on the metrorail, since much crime occurs on the line. Just what I wanted to hear! To give you an idea of what I mean, officers on the train search all passengers for weapons. Manila is such fun! Before we got onto the train, I bought some spicy chile peanuts and some bottled water. Man, those peanuts were out of this world! Nothing in Europe compares to the quality of those nuts. I was addicted after the first mouthful. We boarded the train and departed to Monumento which is the end of the metrorail line. Now is when the real adventure began. If it weren't for my tour guide, I would most definitely have gotten lost. We boarded several jeepneys and zig zagged all through the city. Then, we ended up on a trike that traversed over flooded streets. Hard rain had pounded Manila for several days and many areas were flooded. We eventually got off the trike where my tour guide led me over wobbly bridges and through very flooded areas. I had to exercise much care while walking through these areas, since falling into the highly polluted water would certainly lead to infections or disease. We finally arrived at her home. The place consisted of a small hut built on stakes. About nine people occupied around nine square meters of space. They lived like sardines in a can! Everything was clean, but it was real, real poverty. This definitely was the poorest place I had ever seen. Her family members were very friendly and hospitable. We engaged in some small talk, and then they began probing into my life. It was obvious that they took an immediate liking to me. They wanted to know all about this Caucasian man who was dating their daughter. Yes, they already had designs on me and my money! I recalled a maxim that a friend of mine once said. "You can take the girl out of the bar, but you cannot take the bar out of the girl." I met my tour guide's family, and it stopped at that. Now that I saw my tour guide's home and family, it was time to get back to Manila where I was staying. Right now, believe me, I was at the total mercy of this girl and her sister to get us all safely back to where we stayed. I was totally lost in a foreign land at this point in time. Since the metrorail stops operating at 9:00 P.M., and it was past that time now, we had to take a series of jeepneys back to Manila. What a colorful journey this was, and man, what a long trek! It took over an hour to get back. We all ultimately arrived safely at the Bonifacio Monument where the girls commenced to show me the city's night life. There were plenty of go go bars to be seen. One main problem here, is that the doormen at the bars will not allow anyone to enter the bar if they have cameras. The doormen will allow you to enter only if you leave your equipment with them. Since I have expensive photographic gear, I would never let a stranger take them from me. We went from bar to bar on Borgous Street and had a great time drinking and partying. I did, however, enter one go go bar that allowed me to enter with my camera, provided that I did not take any pictures. This place is called Jool's, and I recommend it highly. The quality of the entertainers is excellent compared to other areas. The girls are of a higher caliber both in the beauty and brain areas, and the place is frequented by a better clientele. Check out this place and you will know what I mean. Manila was a very worthwhile experience. The Philippines is so vast and varied, that you need to spend time in many of its corridors to get a true feeling for what it is all about. Manila is a real trip! Try it. You will enjoy it for both its pluses and minuses.