#  >  > Travellers Tales in Thailand and Asia >  >  > Philippine Forum >  >  Photothread: Manila & Puerto Galera...

## Bettyboo

Yesterday I arrived back from a last-minute trip to the Philippines, so here's the photo evidence.

I'll say right now that I had a very nice time, and would look forward to visiting the Philippines again; the people were great, the sites were beautiful, it was easy and interesting to get around.

Instead of saving the best til last, let's have the best photo first:



So, I set off early afternoon to the KTX station for my early evening flight (it takes me 2 hours to get to Incheon)...





Had 30 minutes or so before the train, so looked for something to eat.

Perhaps some nice local food:



Instead, I decided upon:



Also took some zanax to help me along with the trip (I hate flying because the plane will be taken over by a terrorist pilot and flown into an American Embassy).

Here comes the KTX, fast and convenient - takes an hour to Seoul then you need to change to an airport train which takes about 45 minutes once you've gone from upper level 2 to lover level 976, 348 where the airport shuttle resides...





Journey to the centre of the Earth begins (alas, I forgot to take photos of the never-ending escalator system down):





The wife sent me a picture; did she think I was gonna miss her and Chokdee??? Why did she think I was going on this holiday...





&... we arrive at Incheon (that's the Royal 'we') with plenty of time to get a couple of beers before my Jeju Air flight which takes 4 1/2 hours.

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## happynz

...and? Carry on. Good stuff so far.   :Smile:

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## Bettyboo

Last time I flew Jeju Air (to Danang) it was horrendous in every way, so I was extra zanaxed-up in preparation because I intended to stay mellow at all costs...





The Q was fine, getting through immigration was quick, so it was onto the beers section of flying. I had decided not to mix too much beer and zanax because I was arriving in manila after 10pm then staying a night before getting up at 6am for an early bus, so I didn't wanna go crazy...



Now, look at that price above, 30 bloody dollars for 2 beers and a salad... For reference, on the way back I paid $15 (or so) at Manila airport, in departures, for a lounge that offered so much more for so much less (don't worry, there's pictures - including one that Dilly won't even need to photoshop...). I took another couple of zanax with the beers and was starting to feel nearly there for take-off.

A last couple of sneaky wines before take-off should do the trick (and I put a couple in my bag in case JejuAir run out of alcohol; best to be prepared...).



&, for those of you who have never seen a plane before, this is what one looks like - a nice 737-800:





&, because this airline offer awful legroom, I paid the extra $30 each way for emergency exit seats - well worth it. & look, I have all the space to myself; probably lucky for other passengers as the alcohol and prescription drugs has me in quite a state by this stage - Mr Slaps would be proud of me...  :Smile: 





A couple more before take-off, for good luck, won't hurt, especially as there's nobody around for me to inanely bother...



Looking good. So, let's get those wines out:



Oh, look what happened here...

Lucky, lucky ladies...



What a fun time we all had; who would've thought the three of us would have so snuggly fit into that toilet cubicle...

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## Looper

Hardcore Betty. Lovin it!



This is exactly what never happens to me on any flight ever.

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## Bettyboo

&, we arrive in Manila...

The airport is fine, it was just after 10pm and the immigration wasn't crowded, took 10 minutes at most, and the immigration officer lady was very pleasant (although some Chinese tourists were being sternly told off for not staying behind the yellow line...). First impressions were good.





I only carried one small onboard piece of luggage for my 6-day stay, so I was out the airport in a flash. Nobody gave me hassle, everyone was pleasant, I walked out of arrivals, turned left and a row of yellow metered airport-taxis awaited me. The driver was great, chatted nicely and we headed into Makati to my hotel (cost about $40 for the night, was 24 minutes from the airport and central to a nice nightlife area). BTW, taxis prices and traffic were similar to Bangkok. https://www.agoda.com/en-gb/hotel-du....html?cid=-218



You can see the airport at the bottom; the star where I stayed the first night; the smaller polygon for the Mall of Asia where I was fortunate enough to meet Katie23 on the last day of the trip; top left you can see the walled-city where I visited with Katie23 and have many photos later. 

Here's the hotel (the staff were very friendly and efficient - I don't think I met a single Philippine who wasn't friendly and polite during my entire stay):







I had a bite to eat then had a look around and a couple of beers...



There were nice restaurants which were akin to Thonglor, there were bars and restaurants which were akin to upper-Suk, and there was a street that had a dozen or so interspersed bars with ladies (and katoeys for Papillion) that was similar in some ways to Soi Cowboy, but less tacky, felt less outright dirty, and the people around were much friendlier and less 'aggressive'. I had a good look around, the area seemed safe, people were friendly including the touts and doormen. I had a decent drink and made it back to the hotel just after 4am... I planned to get up at 6am for the bus.

In case one is wondering, I found the Philippine ladies of the night to be very friendly and easy to talk to (I didn't wanna shag anybody, but I did want to get a 'feel' for the area) although personally Thai ladies are generally speaking more attractive to my mind. Having said that, attraction is not only at the surface level, and maybe it was the lack of language barrier, maybe the genuine friendliness, I cannot say for sure, but the Philippine people generally were very nice and easy to be around.

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## kmart

Travel, good looking girls (and boys), and prescription drugs.. This thread has it all.  :bananaman: 

Nice one, Betty. Green owed.

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## Bettyboo

Thanks to all who advised on where to go on this trip and why, especially Katie23's great photo threads. There are so many islands and lovely places to visit, but I decided upon, a bit of a look around Manila, using many different local forms of transportation and most days relaxing on an island doing some work, eating some food, drinking a few beers...

This entire section will look remarkably similar to katie23's thread on PG (I stole most of her ideas, took TD screenshots on my phone, and the actual doing of it was a breeze).

Yes, I got up at 6am, didn't feel great at all, but got up, jumped into a cab to the JAL bus terminal which took about 20 minutes because there was already plenty of traffic on the roads (the terminal is only about 2kms from the hotel - one of the main reasons I booked that hotel...). Got on a bus to Batangas, paid about 200 pesos and fell asleep for 2 hours (I found the seats a strange size/angle, so got a bit of neck ache).



The bus stops at the pier, head left to T3, well signposted, a 2 minute walk mostly under cover, bought ticket for the next boat (12:30, so waited around for nearly 4 hours...). Cost about 300 pesos - not a lot...



This ticket H (as A) was a window seat on this boat.



Paid about 25 pesos as a pier fee (this kinda fee was at all piers I went to, in and out of the island, but it's a small price to pay for the upkeep of the piers, and these were generally good, so...). Had a couple of slices of pizza and a water or 3, cost not very much..., got on the boat which was comfortable enough, full - full-sized folk would have struggled with the seat sizes.








The trip took 90 minutes, and the view was nice (although the window wasn't offering the best view).











& the hair is looking goooooood. I don't care what the wife says, or the management at work, or random looks from folks in the street, I'm leaving it to do its own thing...



Next up, the island itself...

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## Cujo

Good stuff. I do like a travel pics thread. Too few these days.

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## Bettyboo

&, we arrive...



Getting off the boat, first impressions at Muelle Pier are good - it's beautiful, more pictures of this area later; only one for now:



I was staying for the first 3 days at Sabang Beach, so jumped off the pier, paid 20 pesos rr so, jumped into a tricycle and headed to Sabang Beach for about 200 pesos. The journey takes about 30 minutes, the road is being re-laid so is often 1 lane only, and goes up a hill before heading back down to Sabang, at the top you have beautiful views of the sea on both sides because it's a small peninsular between Muelle Pier and Sabang Beach.

Here's coming into Sabang:



By the way, there's a visa ATM in a bank here that was the only one I could find that actually worked - telephone line problems very often for connection, and this one only worked in the afternoons. And what's this bloody Korean restaurant??? There were lots of Koreans and Chinese tourists.



The next few pictures are walking along Sabang Beach to my guesthouse which is at the very end and up a hill. It's a small beach, so we're talking 10 minute walk here (until the last bit with steps...).

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## reinvented

great stuff. and good work on swerving both local cuisines. flipper beer is good though

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## NamPikToot

> Here's the hotel (the staff were very friendly and efficient - 
> 
> 
> .


Well, great thread so far Bets, I have to say that receiving a packet of Scampi Fries instead of the usual chocolate or towel made into a swan gets my vote anyday... :Smile: 



I am a bit disappointed with no Mac Mini porn...

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## fishlocker

Nice documentary on your trip thus far boo. Keep 'em comming.

I did a trip a bit ago as well. I'm still going through things like pics, videos and detox.  It never helps when every where you go folks are handing you drinks.
fish.

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## Bettyboo

Nearly at the end of the beach...





& now the steps, there are 70, pretty steep:





Nearly at the top, a stop to look down at the view:



&, this is the view from the veranda of Grace Hotel (about $25 per night):https://www.agoda.com/en-gb/grace-gu...k=636859185743



The room has a balcony, a big bed, a fridge, a kitchen area and an Asian style bathroom:













Sabang is pretty noisy at times, it's a bit of a party beach with lots of diving going on too, so this guest house was perfect for my needs - quiet, but 5 minutes walk from the closest beer on the beachfront, and 10 minutes walk from the centre of the nightlife.

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## Bettyboo

I was still quite tired from the travel, it was about 2:30pm, but I had a lie down for maybe 3 hours then got up and went for a walk around, tried some food...







This dim sum was from a corner kiosk, local style, cheap - the taste was awful, so I bought something else from the same kiosk, as you do:



At the time, I wasn't impressed, but as things turned out this was one of the best tasting (I use the term loosely) foods I ate from the 10+ different places I tried over the next few days.

OK, I'm gonna say it now, it's not a complaint, but I was surprised when compared to places such as Vietnam and Thailand that both the street food and many of the restaurants that I tried had significantly poorer food. I did find some nice food, and I'll highlight these, but 80% of the time the food I was served up would have been returned if I was given that in England, Thailand or Korea. It wasn't just the Philippine owned places because places like the Aussie bar where you'd expect a nice pie and breakfast also (despite having good ingredients) just over-cooked the food and/or didn't flavour it - strange...

I await folks who live in the Philippines telling me I'm wrong, and maybe I was just unlucky or chose my food stops badly - it didn't put a downer on my holiday or anything like that, but was noticeable.

Right, back to pictures...  :Smile:

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## Davis Knowlton

^You're not wrong re food, in my opinion. I've lived here 24 years, and have never had a really good Filipino meal. My wife is a chef, and cooks excellent other-than-Filipino food, but even her Filipino dishes suck. I also have never really understood it - great fresh seafood, great pork and chicken, same vegetables as neighboring countries, yet they can render even in most basic Filipino dishes barely edible. The country has many things to like, but food isn't one of them.

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## Bettyboo

The next day, I got up, sat on the balcony and did a couple of hours of work.

The weather/air quality was great, and everything in the world was gooooooood...











^ the air quality in Korea is terrible, some of the worst fine dust air quality in the world, so having such clean air felt great.



I put the work away went for a 120 pesos breakfast, including drink (nothing wrong with it, per se, but not very tasty to my mind - I did want to try out the different foods and had heard about the garlic rice and corned beef breakfast; not for me...).

The weather was perfect and really nice views - all felt a bit similar to Thailand 20 years ago (I say that in a positive way).





The Bikini Bar below had a boat which would take you out for a beer on the sea - I thought about going, folks said it was pretty nice, but didn't make it out there; probably should have, but saw a fair few Chinese/Koreans heading out there, so decided not to.






I tried this local dish, it was pork and chicken mixed and tasted ok; again, not my thing.









Had a drink or two here and there, the occasional chat, some beers, and the night arrived...
A very pleasant day, just what the doctor ordered - very relaxed, did plenty of work too...

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## NamPikToot

Bets, I was going to ask about the food, its does not have a good reputation (DK confirms - love the quote re his wife's flippa food :Smile: ) but would have thought being by the sea you'd secure some decent fish and seafood at least. 

Great that you managed to catch up with Katie, and well done her, she really goes out of her way to give info and meet posters.


{QUOTE=Davis Knowlton;3900838] My wife is a chef, and cooks excellent other-than-Filipino food, but even her Filipino dishes suck. I also have never really understood it - great fresh seafood, great pork and chicken, same vegetables as neighboring countries, yet they can render even in most basic Filipino dishes barely edible. The country has many things to like, but food isn't one of them.[/QUOTE]

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## Headworx

> ^You're not wrong re food, in my opinion. I've lived here 24 years, and have never had a really good Filipino meal. My wife is a chef, and cooks excellent other-than-Filipino food, but even her Filipino dishes suck. I also have never really understood it - great fresh seafood, great pork and chicken, same vegetables as neighboring countries, yet they can render even in most basic Filipino dishes barely edible. The country has many things to like, but food isn't one of them.


Concur. There's a very good reason Filipino food has never taken off around the world like pretty much every other country in the region (Indo, Malay, Viet, Chinese, Thai, Indian, etc). But even with good ingredients doing Western food they still fuck it up,  exceptions being many of the $$$ high end restos in Manila. It is what it is.

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## Bettyboo

The next day was more of the same. I tried to get at least 6 hours of work done a day, here and there, ate and drank - drank and chatted quite a lot on one day...

A few more pics here, some of food and one to end of the lovely place:

Breakfast came included at my place, couldn't eat it... 



But, I really fancied a big fry up, so walked to the other end of the beach to the Australian bar which had a full English breakfast. It was terrible... Just looked like they'd thrown decent ingredients all together into a deep-fat fryer.



But, there was a nice little bakery that made up rolls, had some nice cheeses and salamis, so I grabbed a couple of those and headed back to my balcony to do a bit more work.



the weather and air quality were still great and the view was still pretty nice. I enjoyed my time on this beach a lot, but 3 days was enough for what I wanted to do. If you wanted to dive or to go to the numerous bars full of women then you could spend longer. The Korean/Chinese guys seemed to go out about 7pm, pick up a 'gf' from the club/bar, take her to dinner, tour the beach, have a few drinks, fuk the night away and pay up the 4,000 pesos. I did pop into these bars and the ladies were nice, friendly; told me the details that I just told you. There were even a few ladyboys for Paps. &, a few spas which looked nice. There were lots of hawkers, but I smiled, said no thank you, sometimes had a little chat, and everyone was very nice.

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## Davis Knowlton

Photos from most recent posts aren't coming through.......Posts 16 & 19.

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## Bettyboo

^ ok, thanks, I'll check.

The next day, I got a tricycle over to Muelle Pier to stay at Badboyz which was about $40 per night - it's a diving place. I thought about doing some diving, but got into my work, so didn't...https://www.agoda.com/en-gb/badladz-...avellerType=-1

Located right at the pier and next to the coast guard.

It is a beautiful bay, and this place is right on the front, so you get lovely views from the balcony and the restaurant - the food here is decent (breakfast had a Mexican option that I took which tasted good), and the beer was a lot cheaper; here it was 60 pesos while in Sabang it was between 100-350 pesos depending where you were.





The room was quite big, clean, well appointed and the staff were very pleasant and professional.







The little town around the pier is fairly basic with simple shops, a couple of schools, etc, just a normal little community - not particularly well-off, perhaps even the kinda place where Mr Sausage would feel comfortable berating the locals.

I stopped at a few shops buying stuff like toothpaste, water, headache tablets, etc, and the people were very friendly; pace of life was slow.

There was a busy little hole-in-the-wall selling dim sum, so after my previous experience I thought I'd give it a try.





It was terrible. 

Back at the dive resort, I sat down thinking how beautiful the bay was and how good life was when my senses were assaulted in a most unpleasant way - it was so noticeably unpleasant that I took a screenshot of the exact time to remind myself:



Firstly, while sitting at the front, doing a bit of work, enjoying the view, a group of three Chinese ladies, divers, sat down, and they were very loud. One clearly had a cold and was snorting up flem non-stop. Horrible.

Then, next door, the building site started to ramp up noise something awful - I noticed that earlier hence why I went for a walk around town, but they got the big drills out...

The burning of plastic or diesel fumes or something, only lasted about an hour, but I was close to checking out there and then - it made me feel sick, literally.

It turns out that one of the guys from the coast guard was on his birthday, so they rolled the karaoke machine out and started the drinking and 'singing' - to be fair to them they stopped just after 10pm.

That was a shit few hours... But, to be fair to the hotel, none of these things were within their control - it was just one of those days.



Chokdee would not have been impressed at all.

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## Bettyboo

The next day, my last day on the island, I decided that the pier wasn't the place for me thus I headed to the sister resort which was 5 minutes tricycle up the road - had it's own little beach, very quiet and just a lovely place to relax.
https://www.agoda.com/en-gb/badladz-...=-1&tspTypes=4

I stayed there all day, eating, drinking, doing work and relaxing. The food was better than most places although a few minutes less cooking of the Spanish mackerel would have made for a great simple meal; oh well, nearly...




















Did lots of work, relaxed, went inside and out, ate, drank and the entire day cost me 1,000 pesos or so.

Chokdee would have been impressed, and so was I.



I then walked back to town, slept soundly.

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## Davis Knowlton

^No pix again.

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## Bettyboo

Next morning, 5am...

Boat back to the main island then up to Manila to meet up with Katie23!















Just a weird point here: this 'big' boats are slower than the smaller traditional looking boats (90 minutes on these bigger boats instead of 60 minutes on the smaller traditional boats). I don't know why that is, but both Sabang and Muelle piers are having work done to them, and the smaller boats are being phased out - or at least that's what I was told.

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## NamPikToot

See i'm thinking Mac Mini ain't so hot Bets... :yerman:

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## Bettyboo

What? My pics not showing...

But, but, but... 

...they show for me.

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## Davis Knowlton

16, 19, 22 & 24 not showing.

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## NamPikToot

Bets, you know the 6K you spent on the Puter Porn, you did think to include an Antivirus?  :Smile:  or are certain keys sticking

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## Bettyboo

Thanks, Davis - I will have a looksee.

I'm gonna turn this Safari spellchecker off as soon as I can work out how to do it!

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## baldrick

where are you hosting the photos ? the image location show TD , but as per the bottom photo which shows the photos working the posts with photos not showing, they do not seem to have loaded to the TD storage

they are not showing for me either in the same posts named by davis

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## Bettyboo

OK, thanks, I'll go over those posts - I simply loaded onto the TD site, but maybe I did too many in a short space of time or something...

I think I've fixed 16, 19, 22 & 24 - sorry for the delay; we're done and moving onto Manila.

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## Airportwo

Nice - thanks for sharing, PG changed somewhat since I was last there (1983) it has roads and electricity now  :Smile:  
PI food - how many Philippine restaurants do you see around the world? - says it all!
Cheers

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## reddog

Bettyboo,quality travel report and pics.
I love flying so it is a pity that it is a bastard for you when have too,liked your homage  to the goat thread with the pic.

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## HuangLao

Another outstanding travel thread, Betts!! :bananaman: 
Cheers.

...didn't realize you were such a good looking fella.  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

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## Bettyboo

Here we are arriving back in Batangas, feels like the reversal of 5 days pryer:



I did not take any pictures (there's a stock one below for folks that don't live on planet Earth and know what a jeepney is), but instead of getting the bus directly from the pier I got a couple of local jeepneys to the main bus terminal; just to have the local experience, really - and I enjoyed it.



I was meeting Katie23 in the Mall of Asia which she later told me is built on reclaimed land - it's a nice area, clean and modern; the mall itself is like a Central. I went straight to Starbucks and brushed my hair in eager anticipation.



The Starbucks coffee and a chocolate cost more than the trip from the pier, so I quickly got my calculator out and worked out it cost about $5 - that's about half what it'd cost in a Korean Starbucks.

The weather was nice, cool in the morning, high 20s in the afternoon, much less humid than Bkk. The air was not as nice as the islands, but better than Bkk or Korea, imho.



Katie23 arrived, as lovely as we all know, and she suggested a nice restaurant where the owner had won a Michelin star as a street hawker - the food was good.



Reasonably priced too.

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## Bettyboo

After lunch, we got a taxi to the walled city, about 30 minutes - the traffic was as per Bkk; not good.

The walled city is the old part of town that the Spanish built and walled off to keep safe from terrible invaders such as the British and Americans... It feels very much like a Spanish city, it's a lovely place to walk around. There are a few churches and a cathedral, and you can go in as long as mass isn't on; there was a wedding at the cathedral - if you are gonna get married, not a bad spot to do so...

(If you look closely, you'll see a photo of Katie23 looking fine...)

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## Bettyboo

We walked around the walled city for a bit longer, and very nice it was too. Katie has good knowledge of the city's history, and along with a couple of cab drivers, one who was particularly chatty..., I got a full tour which was very interesting.







Notice the eco-tour bamboo bike.











I'd had a thoroughly enjoyable day, many thanks to Katie23, but it was time for Katie23 to head home and for me to head to the airport.

The places I went in Manila were very nice - it's an interesting city, vibrant, with many different parts; I stuck to the nice parts.  :Smile:

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## Bettyboo

Sadly, alone, I headed to the airport...

(well, not totally alone as the taxi driver did enjoy a chat and was good fun...)

I had a few of these before check-in:



(Still had a fair few zanax left; even took a few home with me - pretty unusual for me not to devour all)

Check in was ok because I got near the front of the Q.



Now, you may be wondering just how 'fresh' I was at this point, after the 5am start, a full day's activities... I was prepared, I had researched and I went straight to a lounge in departures - 750 pesos, had a shower (everything provided) and set about the alcohol and food while recharging my phone, dropping some zanax and just getting in the right frame of mind (wasted) to fly back to Korea.

(I did have a happy naked shower shot for youse all, but decided it might be in bad taste; &, I don't want Papillion touching himself while looking at my naked body!)



See that bottle of wine below, that's all mine that is... Had a couple of SMs too.













Terminal 1 departures, $15, you can't say fairer than that - if you're flying out of Manila T1 then you'd be a fool not to, imho...

Chokdee would have been very impressed...

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## Bettyboo

Flying back...

Strangely, the front row seats were not as good as the emergency seats because Jeju Air had put a 'wall' up which took away all the legroom - in many years of flying I have never seen this before; bizarre...

I did have a free seat next to me and ok legroom.





Had a Korean traditional meal:



& just enjoyed the view while falling into a zanax fuelled sleep...

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## Bettyboo

The fly was over before it had begun...

In Incheon before 5am, and had to wait around for 25 minutes until the first airport express into Seoul (it was full of noisy Chinese tourists!):





In Seoul, up 7 escalators, bought a ticket then had a bit of time for breakfast:



I spent an extra $10 on a first class seat because I was full of $$$ having bought money back with me from the Philippines. The early train was not busy...





^ that bag carried everything I needed for the 6 day brak - T57 would have been impressed.

Got home, and in the evening the wife took me out for a meal (tasted good).



I was looking good, the hair was irrepressible, Chokdee was impressed although as he was taking this photo he's not in shot...

To sum up: thoroughly enjoyed the holiday, better than expected, would look forward to visiting the Philippines again. Many thanks to Katie23 for helping me to have such a great trip.

Of you haven't visited the Philippines, you just go to Thailand year after year, then try the Philippines - you will be pleasantly surprised.

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## beerlaodrinker

Burster of a thread betty. You should of necked a few of those red horse beers i spotted in the fridge. Go well with the zanex them.

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## qwerty

Great pics/report.  

The hair reminds me of somebody...    somebody named Boris.  :UK:

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## Davis Knowlton

Great thread, nice to see good reviews......other than for the food, which were sadly accurate.

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## Dillinger

> would look forward to visiting the Philippines again


Awful food- check
Awful traffic- check
Awful singing - check
No sign of any  Flippa pussy 
And the beach looked like their answer to Rayong.

Why on earth would you want to return? :Smile: 


Nice hairdo btw, looking a bit like Rab C Nesbitt :Smile:

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## Headworx

^
*Google's Rab C Nesbitt pics, laughs out loud*  :Smile: 

Top thread Batty, thanks for sharing.

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## NamPikToot

Great report Bets, thanks.





















Here you go Buttfly  :Smile:  hacked Bets Mini and got a shower cleaning scene

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## Airportwo

Enjoyed the trip & came to the realisation I may have had a misspent "youth" lived in manilla for three years and never made it to any of the places you did! though I was like a walking encyclopaedia of the bars on Mabini !

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## Bettyboo

> Great report Bets, thanks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I think that's somewhat better than the reality!

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## Bettyboo

> Burster of a thread betty. You should of necked a few of those red horse beers i spotted in the fridge. Go well with the zanex them.


That is the very reason I avoided them; they looked dangerous... A bottle of wine, 5 SMs and about 5mg of zanax (before getting on the plane) was about right - I didn't wanna go silly... 




> Great pics/report.  
> 
> The hair reminds me of somebody...    somebody named Boris.


I probably do need a haircut in that case...




> Great thread, nice to see good reviews......other than for the food, which were sadly accurate.


The Philippines is nice, and with a bit more time there's so many interesting places to visit; probably 1000+ better beaches than the ones I went to are lurking around the many islands.




> Why on earth would you want to return?
> 
> 
> Nice hairdo btw, looking a bit like Rab C Nesbitt


I would have been happy to stay longer. Sabang Beach, if diving (muff or scuba), would be nice for a week or 10 days although you'd probably need to escape to other parts of the island from time to time.




> ^
> *Google's Rab C Nesbitt pics, laughs out loud* 
> 
> Top thread Batty, thanks for sharing.


I was thinking that over-cooked breakfast at the Aussie place would have bought tears to your eyes! The eggs were cooked ok though; consistently the meat was over-cooked and under-seasoned.




> Enjoyed the trip & came to the realisation I may have had a misspent "youth" lived in manilla for three years and never made it to any of the places you did! though I was like a walking encyclopaedia of the bars on Mabini !


I suspect most folks on here have done similar at times - perhaps not for the full 3 years though!  :Smile:

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## Dillinger

> I suspect most folks on here have done similar at times - perhaps not for the full 3 years though!

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## Bettyboo

You are a bad man...

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## Takeovers

Great thread, nice photots. Thanks a lot.

BTW we have one Filipino restaurant in Berlin. Visited it with a group of Filipina friends. We solemnly swear we will never go there again. They had a nice big Salmon on the buffet and managed to make even that inedible.

Mall of Asia is nice, I liked the place. An airconditioned area open to the sky to let light in for the trees was new to me. But the Starbucks there stuck in my memory. It was my first and only encounter with Starbucks. Don't know what was about the coffee but I can say given the choice of drinking that coffee or 3 days of heavy migraine I take the migraine without hesitation. The chocolate cake was great though.

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## Looper

top thread booboo

nice buns katie

 :tumbs:

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## katie23

^hello Loopy dahlink. Me and my buns thank you for your appreciation. Heh.  :Smile:  

Yes, TD peeps, I did meet with Bettyboo. He was a dashing, polite gentleman, and because of that, he was able to get a free guided tour of Intramuros, the old walled city of Manila.

I'm now in a minivan, headed back to Manila from the North (Ifugao province). I've just finished hiking my first 7/9 mountain and my legs & knees ache! I'll prolly update my hiking thread when I get back home if/when I've got time. Most of my hike mates are asleep now. As for me, I've slept on/off the past 5-6 hours, so I'm awake for now and browsing TD in case Mr Boo put up a thread. 

Cheers Betty, it was nice to meet you. I'm glad my thread and other tips helped.  :Smile:

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## baldrick

you can see battys future

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## Bettyboo

The sooner I get there the better...

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## katie23

This was the food at Hawker Chan restaurant. There's also a branch of this resto at Terminal21 mall, top floor, near Asok in Bkk - saw it during my trip last year. There are also branches in SG. 

I first read/heard about Mr Chan from a news article (BBC or CNN?). He's based in SG but originally from Malaysia. He's a rags to riches story - very inspiring. His business started out as a small hawker stall/kiosk. Then word got out - long queues for his food. He was awarded a Michelin star, and after that, his business boomed. I was pleasantly surprised to see his restaurant in Bkk and also in PI (Mall of Asia) - I ate there with some friends last year. 

Cheers all, and regards to you, Betty, Mrs Boo and Chokdee!

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## Bettyboo

> This was the food at Hawker Chan restaurant. There's also a branch of this resto at Terminal21 mall, top floor, near Asok in Bkk - saw it during my trip last year. There are also branches in SG. 
> 
> I first read/heard about Mr Chan from a news article (BBC or CNN?). He's based in SG but originally from Malaysia. He's a rags to riches story - very inspiring. His business started out as a small hawker stall/kiosk. Then word got out - long queues for his food. He was awarded a Michelin star, and after that, his business boomed. I was pleasantly surprised to see his restaurant in Bkk and also in PI (Mall of Asia) - I ate there with some friends last year. 
> 
> Cheers all, and regards to you, Betty, Mrs Boo and Chokdee!


&. here it is.

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## TizMe

> Then word got out - long queues for his food.


It always makes me shake my head when I see long queues at restaurants or hawker centres.

When I was living in Singapore, there was a show on TV that would travel around and try different hawker centres. Any that recieved a good review would have long wait times every day after that.

Even here in BGC, Marugame Udon (Ramen) always has a long queue at meal times, and newly opened Tiger Sugar regularly has a wait of upto 1 hour.
%&#@ that. I've got better things to do with my time.

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## reinvented

^
totally agree Tiz
its not as if there aren't 7000 ressies next door with almost as good/ noodles/ rice/ veggies

would only wait for a table if there was a bar

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## Hugh Cow

Thanks BB looks like a similar trip to that which I am planning. Given me a few hints. On Reflection would you stay at PG or Sabang?

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## TizMe

Unless you are going there for ugly cheap hookers, or intend diving.... choose White Beach.

Or my favourite place, The Manor in Yacht Club Road, which ironically is near the yacht club...

Here's a video I made 2 years ago when I went there with my lady, my daughter & her husband.

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## Hugh Cow

Thanks TM. I hope to get some diving in and a bit of drinking time. The hookers not so much. Was thinking of just staying in PG not sabang. White beach is nice but I live next to a beach in Qld.

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## katie23

^Sabang is in PG. It's one of the barangays/ villages in PG. White Beach is also in PG, but different area - opposite direction. There are many beaches in PG, White Beach being the largest, while Sabang beach is where there are lots of dive/tours and bars/hookers. Lots of Koreans & Chinese too, when I visited during Easter break. Saw a bar in Sabang near the beach, most of the clients were whiteys. Beach/shoreline in Sabang is short and not really a "lounging" beach.

Cheers and enjoy your vacay!

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## TizMe

We had a couple of days in Puerto Galera last weekend.

For a change we stayed in Talipanan, which is about 4klm west from White Beach.

It was pretty quiet for the most part. I'm not sure if that is usual, or just a consequence of what is happening due to COVID19.

Anyway, we enjoyed the peace and quiet at the Infinity Resort.

Here's a video I created..

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## sabang

As of Oct/Nov 2019 the best, and only consistently good, restaurant in Sabang was Tamarind. Yes, it costs a bit more but I doubt you'll regret it. Lovely bamboo & wood premises too, right by the beach, and it's been going about 30 years now- that says something. Wish you'd checked Betts! Tropicana used to be good too, but I think the Swiss owner was away- or maybe it's just gone to pieces. Seashore bungalows (towards the Grace hotel) is generally OK, their arroz caldo is a standout. Fairly cheap beer too, for Sabang. Surprisingly, a pretty damn good Italian pizza place in PG (up the hill some from the ferry pier, towards the RoRo terminal)- but it's a bit out of the way. He's a wine wholesaler, so if you like wine make a beeline. Other than that, check for the BBQ night at Captain Greggs- just charcoal grilled, with salad and spuds. If you want your steak just so, cook it yourself. Sabang is no foodie destination. Certainly not if you eat tapsilog & that awful version of siu mai they do at Chow King!

But I do like Sabang, some might even suspect I named my nic after it :Smile: . Used to have half of a small resort there- not far from the Grace actually. Next time, do visit the Ponderosa, a nine hole golf course & club up on the mountain. Absolutely spectacular views, and a nice white knuckle ride in your motocab to get there. So you didn't check out Sabs small red light area? You didn't miss much, but worth a poke into the Sabang or Village disco. You're quite right- one of the pleasures of the Filipines is the people you meet, and how easy it is to engage with them.

Thanks for sharing mate, enjoyed it. A heads-up for Katie too, nice of you to be such a gracious host. more visitors to Manila should check out Intramuros- but you have to brave manila traffic to get there.

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## TizMe

On the Friday night, we left the resort and first went to the Hamsa Restaurant about half way between the resort and White Beach.
Food there was excellent.

After dinner we went down to White Beach for a couple of drinks.
White Beach was dead... had never seen it like that before. There was hardly anybody there.

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