Planning trip to Anilao in December, what to do for a day in Manila?

[diver 85]

Wow, diver 85! You covered alot of ground in about 5 hours! This is great info. Great photos too!:glad:

Do you remember how you found the tour?

---------- Post added September 30th, 2014 at 07:43 PM ----------



How long would that take?

........Our group leader lined that up--& I don't know she did that.........

 

[FT]

Plenty of pleasure to be found in Makati for a day. Dec 6th is a Saturday, right? Salcedo market. Many of the same vendors are at Legazpi park market on Sunday. The Spa for reliable, inexpensive massages. Greenbelt Mall for restaurants and a bookstore whose paperbacks will get you through those long idle evenings in Anilao. Ayala Museum is worth a couple of hours.
Further afield, Walk This Way tours will make Intramuros come alive for you. Maybe save it for your stopover on the way back, if there is one. Likewise on the Corregidor tour. Your time may be tighter than you think on the 6th-7th.

 

[Aquavelvet]

Unfortunately, I have to confirm that Manila is basically a pit. A couple of us had an evening to spend before our flights out the next morning, but after the ridiculously slow shuttle ride from the domestic airport to our hotel, we decided to just have dinner at one of the hotel restaurants. I opened my window briefly at one point on the 8th floor and smelled diesel smoke.


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[WOODMAN]

Unfortunately, I have to confirm that Manila is basically a pit.

You are SOOO right. I have been through there a few times now, and the abject squalor which is visible everywhere is mind numbing, at least to our american sensibilities. I mean, we knew that's the way it was, but to actually have yourself thrust into it is a mind bending experience. I sat up front in the van/shuttle and was just awed by it. We stayed overnight at the Paco Park Oasis hotel the last time we were there, and we got out and wandered around a little outside the hotel looking for supper. Wow! We eventually found a little local restaurant about a block from the hotel, which was incredibly cheap and had an impressive menu full of Philippine specialties. My wife is still trying to duplicate one of the dishes we got there. I suppose we could have gone to the hotel restaurant instead, but where is the travel broadening in that? Some indelible memories of that area, let me tell you.