Manila Tourist Traps

before getting on the calesa for a leisurely trip along baywalk or malate area, please make sure that the rate that the driver has quoted is for your group and not individually priced. they normally give out a low price (say 500 pesos) only to find out at the end of the trip that the 500 pesos quoted is PER person and not per trip.

Unique Suggestions: you can always take the calesa ride at intramuros instead where they have a relatively fixed price for the tour/ride

Fun Alternatives: go to binondo instead, and ask for a short round trip ride that will cost you about 100-200 pesos per ride, although not really going through the scenic places.

http://asiabill.pages.web.com/id2.html
HOW SPECIAL our place is by maintaining a friendly, family atmosphere. We appreciate your feedback and hope you will return the favor of recommending our place near the Manila airports should someone ask you

that is asiabill homepage and some comment he wrote in homepage .

but this is all lie .he is not interested in management of the hostel.he only
is interestead in income from guets who believed his words.

u will know this if u check reputation of casa camilla which is run by same owner.

bill say he made hostel for budget traveller.because he had bad experience from his travel during asia and africa when he was budget traveller,

but now he gives other budget traveller worst memory in there travel and gets money to live with his filipina wife.

do not believe all comments of ASia bill.

I would just like to warn tourists who hire a horse drawn CALESA to be careful on dealing with them as there are some of them who duped tourists by charging them more than what the price you've agreed to EXAMPLE..... THEY SAY THAT YOU WOULD PAY HIM 500.OO PESOS for the cith tour BUT WHEN YOU'VE GOT OFF ON THEIR CALESA & PAY HIM THE AGREED AMOUNT,,THEY WOULD ASK U $500.00!!!!! SO THIS SHOULD SERVE AS A WARNING TO TOURISTS WHO WANT TO HIRE A CALESA!!!!!!!!!!!

Unique Suggestions: CALL THE POLICE!!!!!!!! SCREAM!!!!!!!!

When converting your cash into the local currency, avoid touts who offer good rates. They will bring you to an unauthorized Money Changer outlet and you will get ripped off. First is they will request you to change more than what you need. The reason being that they are offering you a good rate and in return you should reciprocate the favour. Later, they will count the money in front of you and asked you to count again. After you finish counting, they will count again and hand over the cash to you. Once you put it into your wallet, any short change will be your responsibility, because you have been short change of at least 30 percent. This is how they make money by offering good rates.

Unique Suggestions: If you do not have any choice, this is what you should do. Count your money several times with a friend and never let them touch the money again.

Fun Alternatives: Always go to the authorized money changers whose licences are being advertized clearly on the front of the office/counter.

there will be people offering a tour around the cemetary with charges of 480 pesos.
since that the cemetry is big, we agreed with the offer.
The tour guide will bring u round n explain wat he knows about the cemetary, of coz we wouldn't know which is true or fake.
however, we still continue the tour till the end until he mentioned the charges, I was in the shock of my life!!.. it costs me 2000 pesos!! as he said its 480 pesos PER HOUR!!!... I'd gv the amount if its worth of money.. but this jz the CEMETARY!!!!...
It's less den 3 hours though, but he insisted that we've walked for more den 3-4 hours.. WHAT A CHEAT!!!...

Unique Suggestions: DO make sure the charges PER HOUR...
DO make sure HOW LONG IS THE TOUR...

Be cautious alwix with what some people offers you.. as they would alwix assume that you r rich and be able to pay...
even though this might be a way for them to earn some extra money... but sigh~~... this will just restrain ppl from coming another time... and they might even earn less....

Fun Alternatives: You can just go round the trip yourself instead of with a tour guide...
there is nothing much though...
Even though the area is big, but wat i can say... it's just of cemetary that is built tall...

Greenhills is known for its flea market-type environment. It is an indoor mall full of individual stalls where you can buy almost everything, particularly local products and native Filipino gifts. It's great for presents to take back home!

Two warnings:
1) If you are thinking about taking home a purse, a pair of shoes or some perfume, chances are it will be fake. I'm sure you'll be able to tell by carefully inspecting the product. The store people know its fake but they are not going to be the first ones to tell you that. And if you do ask for its authenticity, please do it politely as to not embarass them. Ask with a smile or a gentle laugh. The store people will more than likely assume that you will be aware that it is not the real thing anyway.

I have regularly bought various fake items from Greenhills and people back home love it, as some items look pretty darn close to real!

2) Negotiate!!! Some if not most vendors will "knock down" a price for you voluntarily anyway however in cases when they do not, ask for a lower price. If they know you can handle a good bargain, chances are they will give you the "local" price just to make a sale. But remember, never settle for the first price they offer you.

Hope these help.

Traffic on Roxas Boulevard
Red streaks from traffic that travel along Roxas Boulevard as dusk sets over Manila.

I have read some other pages about Manila. I think the worse thing about Manila is traffic. I cannot help it but that is the one biggest problem in the city. Thank God, I live now in a place with less traffic. I love Manila; they have plenty of beautiful and different kind places to go (especially if you are a night person) around the city. Forget about the traffic. Me, I'm used to it when I visit Manila. I still go and have fun going to Manila, especially at night. Nighttime is the best hour to explore the city itself, lots of new places you can go and have fun.

We are an Asian Country. We are not a rich country compared to other Asian countries. I don't know what will my fellow Filipinos going to say about this text or message I'm going to say about my country. I don't want people to expect too much about my country. We have some ugly place you can see or I can say we have lots of slum area in some places here at Manila or in some different places here at Philippines. I don't want my fellow members to expect too much of my country. I don't want to be hypocrite to you since I want to be honest regarding my country. I know that traffic is one of the biggest problems in our country. But our second problem is slum area of the poor people. Our government is doing everything to help poor people to relocate them to some nice places they can stay or they can live. I hope I can do more about this kind of problem. People from provinces go to Manila to achieve some goal. They thought living in Manila is very nice, since they were going to stay in the city (civilized place). They did not know that
living in the city is the hardest of all.

Unique Suggestions: Just ignore... :-)