The Philippines is a majestic land, filled with vibrant colors, a simple yet admirable culture, budget conscious activities and products (cheap stuff!), and total individual control to do what you want when you want. When I retire, I hope to decide to stay in a paradise half as perfect as this one. There’s a lot to do in the Philippines, so I’ve narrowed it down to the top five things to do or see in the Philippines items right here. When I mention prices, I’ll roughly convert them to dollars to keep it simple. Remember, it’s just me doing math in my head, and I really suck at math.
Just so you know right now, I’m a 26-year-old male, so this article is aimed at people in their 20s and 30s. There is a lot of history and modern activities in the Philippines, so these are the best things that I enjoy or at least I think everyone should see at least once in their life.
1. Stay on Boracay’s white-sand beach for a holiday weekend.
2. See Angeles City and Bar Girls.
3. jet ski
4. Shoot the Uzi
5. Visit LA Cafe in Manila, Philippines
Staying in Boracay during holy week, when everyone is out of school and work, is an amazing experience. On Friday and Saturday nights, the beach is especially packed with partiers ready to experience the nightlife that Boracay has to offer. The entire beach is lined with clubs and vendors selling alcoholic beverages, fresh fish, jewelry, and clothing. The White House, Boracay, Philippines is a good affordable place to stay that is in a central location right on White Sand Beach. Be careful when ordering the fresh fish from the counter. Notice how all the fish is sitting on ice with ice on top. I know, it looks delicious, but that fish was caught around 6 am and you’re getting ready to eat it at 8 pm and there’s no refrigeration, so the fish has been sitting on ice all day. It’s really not that cool. Not to mention, all that ice comes from nasty Filipino tap water, unfiltered. Trust me, stay as far away from tap water as possible. I have been sick twice from the water in the Philippines. Once I was so hungover and dehydrated that I didn’t even realize it, I just drank a glass of water. You always want to ask for bottled water. The other time was on the beach in Boracay – I only tried two oysters, but it was after my friend had eaten a whole plate, so the ice on top had completely melted on the oysters. My friend was in more pain than me, but it was still horrible.
I missed out on Friday night in Boracay because of the glass of water I drank. He was better on Saturday night, thank goodness, because it’s something everyone needs to experience. Every few meters there is another club playing music with people dancing all night. I recommend the hookah bars and any of the nightclubs; It just depends on your musical taste.
Anyone who has traveled to different countries knows that red light districts exist all over the world. Amsterdam has the most famous, but not necessarily the best, as I found out after my visit to the city of Angeles, Philippines. I have traveled more than anyone my age and have never seen anything quite like Fields Ave., Angeles City, Philippines. It was crazy! The whole street has nothing but bars full of hookers, a gyro place with amazing gyros and a 7-Eleven. The best thing that Filipinos have been able to organize in the Philippines is prostitution in Angeles City. The girls receive a comprehensive STD checkup once a week. We go through the health clinic where they are checked and each bar has a different day of the week that they go to. Man, this place was busy, and understandably because there are so many bars, too many to go to, even after living there for over a year. There are literally hundreds of these bars. There is never a gate fee or entrance fee to enter these places. A waitress will seat you and then usually stand next to you. Then anytime you need something, let them know. If you see a girl you like and make eye contact with her, feel free to wave her over to her and buy her a drink. The biggest and best place I saw was Atlantis. It was three stories high and there must have been at least 200 girls there and every single one of them was beautiful. It’s a little more expensive, but it’s worth it. Buying a girl a drink there won’t cost you more than buying a drink in America. Now, when you buy yourself a drink, it costs about $1.50. When you buy a “Lady Drink”, it costs $3.00, but the girl gets half of this money and drinks the drink. She will sit and talk to you and she will rub you down. It’s great when you can find someone with a good personality who can be sarcastic. It’s so much fun just talking to these girls and getting to know them. Some of them have crazy stories to tell. I’m pretty quick to ask about personal matters like friends and family.
If you think you’re hooking up with a girl and you like her, and you want to ask her if she’d like to go with you back to your hotel, then ask her a series of questions. Let her know that you like her and ask her if she would like a Bar Fine. She will say yes or no. It is possible that she doesn’t want to go home with you, that she has her period, or that she is a “cherry girl”, which means that she is a virgin. It’s important to be respectful and realize that all these girls are not necessarily prostitutes. These places are like strip clubs, only they leave their clothes on. They could give you lap dances (much better than anything you can find in the US and only cost a couple of bucks) or have a drink with you and chat. If she says “yes” when you ask her if she wants a Disabled Fine, then follow up with a few questions and tell her that you’re happy she wants a Disabled Fine, but you have a few questions first. . Ask her if she’s on her “mens hers.” This is how they refer to her menstrual period. You don’t want to take her back to the hotel and find out that you can’t do what you wanted because she’s bleeding. Ask her what time she has to go home in the morning. You don’t want her to leave that night (or maybe you do), but it’s better if she doesn’t leave at 5 am because she has a kid or something. If she’s ready to go, then tell her waitress that you’re going to ticket her. She will bring you the total bill from her. She costs $20-$25 to fine a girl. The girl will go change and then you will leave together. When they return to the hotel, they will both shower. Use a condom even though they are checked every week. Don’t mess with your life. It’s up to you if you tip. She will get half of the “Bar Fine” the next day when she returns to the bar anyway. It’s sad that these girls sell themselves and only make about $10, but they would only make maybe two or three dollars a day if they had a regular job at the mall, plus they would work 13 hour days at another job. What would you do? Would you work a lot harder for a lot less money? Many of these girls come from the Province, which means they are from poverty, unlike any poverty we have in America. They are from remote islands or small towns and are trying to send money home.
Riding jet skis in Boracay is amazing! You feel like you are in a Jay Z music video. It is simply the most amazing scenery to ride a jet ski. At some point you realize that you have died and gone to heaven. It’s between realizing you’re on this little tropical island in the Philippines, on the other side of the world, and dancing with the most beautiful women and the clubs. They love to dance. Actually, the three things that people in the Philippines love are Obama, hip hop and basketball. Anyway, back to the jet skis. It was a little over a dollar a minute, but it was worth it. We signed for 30 minutes, but I think they gave us 45 minutes. That was a good amount of time. I was ready to stop when I did. He was licking people. It’s okay to pass others (or at least no one yelled at me for it) as long as everyone is going the same way. You should never go in the opposite direction of someone.
My friends met a guy named George within an hour of their arrival in Manila. This guy was a con man and he knew everyone in town. He at first he tried to sell Viagra to my friends. By the way, there are a lot of people selling Viagra and Cialis on the streets of Manila. Then George asked my friends if they wanted to shoot Uzi. This caught the attention of my friends. “Hell yeah, we want to shoot Uzi.” So George took them around the corner to a shooting range. This was probably the most expensive thing anyone did on our trip. It costs $1 per bullet to fire Uzi. It was worth it because now they have a fantastic story to tell people.
LA Cafe is a bar in Ermita, Manila, Philippines. This is where a lot of girls hang out. Some of them are working girls, but they didn’t charge us because they were just happy to hang out with some cool guys. Be careful not to get pushed in this place. I went there with three of my friends from California. As soon as we walked in, all the girls turned and looked at us. I’m 6’7″ and we’re all white so we stood out everywhere we went. We went into the VIP area upstairs (it’s only a couple bucks per person to get in) and got a table. We each got we went to different times because that’s what we always do I rarely go back to the hotel with my friends I get distracted too easily I left after hanging out for an hour and a half I knew my roommate was already gone So there should have been two of my friends left at the bar. When I left I said goodbye to one person and gave him $30 for drinks and I assumed the other friend was in the bathroom. I was wrong. Our other friend he decided to leave. without telling anyone. Never do this! Always let the other people you’re with know when you leave or decide to do something else. Anyway, my friend was left alone at the bar and there were all these girls who they kept inviting their “cousin” to drink and they were all drinking wine and asking for going salads. Then the bill came and anyway, my friend was expected to pay everything. The girls there never pay anything because they are broke. The bill came to 5,200 pesos (over $100, not much considering how much we drank). My friend only had 5000 pesos and he finally convinced one of the girls to pay the other 200 pesos. He left the bar and took three of the girls to the hotel lobby, but then they started complaining that one girl had to pay 200 pesos and they wanted my friend to refund it. He explained that they drank a lot of drinks and ate so they should pay something and he still paid way more than his fair share. Note that this argument was over $4. He then pointed to the front door and said, “well, there’s the door.” These girls are all scammers so be careful. Other than that it was a fun place to hang out and play pool. We stayed at a nice hotel in Emita, Manila, just a few blocks from LA Café, and it was $100 a night, but it had a living room with a sofa bed and a bedroom with a queen size bed, plus two bathrooms. , so I split it with one person and it was $50/night/person.
The Philippines is an amazing place to visit. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for an adventure. It’s cheap, the people are nice, and the natural beauty is second to none. It is important to stay safe whenever you travel to the Philippines or any other third world country. Visit travellingmiller.com for more information on staying safe and having fun in the Philippines. There is also a video of Palawan, which is another great destination in the Philippines.
