Philippines
 

My cousin is getting married in Pampanga (outside of Manila) in early January 10' and there's about 30 of us (families, parents, kids, teenagers, and young adults from LA & Vancouver) that are planning on attending. I'm looking to spend Christmas and New Years there to maximize my stay (2.5-3 weeks in total) and take advantage of my vacation holidays from work.

Any suggestions on which nightclubs to go to, historic monuments to visit, malls, and anything entertaining to do for young adults in Manila? We're also looking to head down to Boracay or Palawan for a week just to check out the beaches.

I looked at direct flights from Vancouver to Manila via Philippine Airlines (PAL) and it's costing an arm and a leg at 1400-1600 flights. Are prices in the summertime usually more expensive compared to prices in the winter time?

if you go to Manila during christmas and new yr, you wont have to look for places your natural curiosity will draw you into some places. but i suggest you visit the art gallery and learn about the countries history and visit a park called luneta also around that time there all sorts of shit going on in and outside Mall of Asia.

If you go, i'd check out the Embassy Night Club. I heard that was pretty good. Mall of Asia is good and is massive, also SM mall is good too. Boracay is a nice beach to check out as well, plenty of things to do there too like jet skiing, banana boating, parasailing and even scuba diving

Embassy Night Club

Quezon Avenue has (mystique, hard rock, metallica) for your dirtier pleasures..

+1 Embassy Night Club is awesome.
You can also go to Serendra for night life, it is in the Fort Area where Embassy is located as well. That'll be the best place to go to.

I suggest staying in the Makati area, its nicer and the crowd is better as well.

I'm going too... for 3 weeks. Can't wait!

Any of you guys willing to buy me a couple of shirts while down there?? hehe..if you can.. let me know..thanks!! :)

shirts that say "same same"

take a few days off and go to Boracay.

yoz i'm going soon! Can't wait to take a break from work! 3 weeks baby!

gonna check this mall of Asia out.

No more embassy, It's now called Encore. Again, it's at the Fort (where Serendra is located at as well). I got acquainted with the resident DJ there. Nothing special, reminds me of Boss actually. Just don't steal a Politician's side chick at the club and you should be ok. The street/block where Encore is located, there are pretty sweet lounges to eat out and drink.

Go to "A Venue" in Makati, They have a club right beside it ( Fioma or Government I think ).

As for your flights. PAL should be cheap. My PAL direct flights from Vancouver this xmas is $700 which includes tax. From January-March, they have a sale right now (buy one get one free ). JAL also has some cheap seats as well, but you waste your time by stopping over at Narita.

what sort of cheap souvenirs are good to bring over for co-workers ya think?

- Authentic Manny Pacquiao Nike shirts run around $20-25. The fake ones start at $1..hehe, yet the quality is better than t shirts sold at old navy and gap ( this is what I'm getting for my co workers and my filipino mechanics.. hehe


- food, I got my gf 1 crate of dried mangoes. last year She says it tastes better than the one at costco. I will be doing the same again when I go home this year.

leaving soon in 4 hours!

Damn I wish i was in the philly to watch the Pacman fight. DOH! ah well. Thanks for the recommendations. All my co-workers asked me to get them dried mangoes. I was like, "but you can get them at a local grocery mart here!" lol

Woooo wooo... 3 weekssss Get me away from this rain

yeah the dried mangos are way way way better than the crap we get here.

haha... My flight is this saturday night. Staying there for 3 weeks as well.

Looking for a garment bag or suiter. I need to store my suit properly while on the plane. Does anyone have any recommendations ? I only have the cloth garment bag that harry rosen gives you along with the suit.

they are called.
Hanging Garment Traveler bags. get one, they do come in handy

http://home.earthlink.net/~tvlstore/...ler/Suiter.JPG
http://www.a-to-z-garment-bags.com/i...rment_bags.jpg

december is the best time to go!

go visit trinoma! its beside sm north edsa!

so got back from the Philippines on Sunday--still jet lagged! Argh.

It was fun though! My fiance's family showed us a great time! Went shopping, snorkelling, kiyaking, eating TONNES of food, shooting range, played pool, scuba diving, bowling, massages, movies, damn you name it..

Gifts: We bought a box of CEBU dried mangoes and gave it to co-workers.
Pacquaio shirt: I bought one fake one on the last day. Gotta be careful of them cheap shirts though. I was SO close to buying an Adidas like Chicken Adobo shirt, but upon closer inspection the stitching was coming off! I sorted through the pile and they were all the same.
Malls: Went to Mall of Asia, Greenhills, Mega Mall. Edsa? There are so many that we went to I don't remember their names..
Lounges: Yeah Fort seems pretty hip. We chilled at this place called Amber.
Beaches: Went to Boracay and Bohol. Did the touristy stuff. Tarsiers are so cute!

I'll post up some pics later. But here's a video of my fiance's brother letting loose at the range: http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=2943nl3&s=6 That was my highlight of the trip - got to fire a M4, beretta, glock, colt 45... saweet

Hey jACE, where did you go for the shooting range? I'm currently in Boracay right now and I'm heading back to Manila on Tuesday. I want to shoot the same guns you did in an outdoor shooting range. Also, how much did it cost you?

Thanks in advance!

Hi, pm'ed you.

It didn't cost us anything ;)