[DirectDanger]

Another thread on Manila and the Philippines? WTF! Enough already.

I hear you...

Hopefully this thread will have its own unique twist to it.

I arrived in Manila over a week ago and have just leased a condo for the next 6 months. This thread will be about my experience living in Manila. I am sure many of you guys will be visiting over the next 6 months so please chime in and add your thoughts and advice.

What you should know about me so you can understand my perspective on what I write here.

The basics...

In my 30's
American
White
Work as a consultant online about 20-30 hours a week. Don't ask specifics.
Budget around $3,000 USD
Years of experience living and traveling around SE Asia.

Legendary threads on the Philippines started by Fisto, TravelHardCore, 20Nation, scotian and others already exist so by all means make sure you do a search and check those out.

Hopefully I will be able to give you guys lots of insights into what life is like when actually living here and not just passing through. I will do my best to answer any questions I think I have enough knowledge about to give a solid answer too.

For those visiting Manila send me a private message or find the thread in the meet up section on Manila.

Let the adventure begin...

[DirectDanger]

One way ticket to Manila.

Many of us like to travel with out much of a plan and part of that is flying on one-way tickets. When flying to a city like Bangkok this is not a problem. At no point does anyone question you about proof of leaving the country. This is one reason why Thailand's tourist industry is so far superior.

When flying to Manila you will need to prove you are leaving within the 30 days given to you on your visa.

Who is actually enforcing this? You would think it would be immigration when you land in Manila. This not the case. They actually never asked anything about onward travel.

What has happened is the Philippines Bureau of Immigration has put the enforcement on the airlines before you get on the flight. You can read about it here...
http://immigration.gov.ph/index.html?opti...&Itemid=78

"The Bureau of Immigration (BI) will start imposing administrative fines on airlines that allow foreign tourists bound for the Philippines to board their plane even if they do not have return tickets."

What happens is when you go to check in for your flight at the airport the airline representative will ask about your onward flight. How strict they are about proof is going to vary from different airlines and probably different people working the check-in counter.

When I checked in for my flight they asked me for my departure date, flight number, and airline. At no point did I have to actually show them any documentation. She did enter all that info into the computer. I had purchased a cheap flight on a budget airline to play it safe.

Could I have gotten away with not buying an onward ticket and just gotten flight details and tell them that? I think that might have worked in my case. But is it worth the risk? I bought a budget flight on tigerair.com for under $30 from Clark airport in the Philippines to Bangkok.

Here are some other peoples experience with this...
http://indianajo.com/2013/05/entry-requi...pines.html
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/th...ID=2235979

The safest thing to do I think is to go ahead and eat the cost of a plane ticket you are never going to use. If you plan ahead you can find a ticket on one of the budget airlines like tiger air, air asia, etc... and save yourself from a lot of stress. I have no doubt it is possible under the right circumstances that you can get away with out buying one and just having the details on a flight ready to give, but you are taking a risk. For less than $30 it seems like a big risk.

[Soma]

My method for dealing with it:

Soma Wrote:

I've never been asked anywhere before, but to be safe instead of paying for an actual ticket I always print out something that looks in every way like a real ticket but isn't. For example, if you book a flight on Singapore Airlines from the website you'll get to a point before you have to pay where you can email the itinerary to yourself. When you get the email it looks pretty much like a real ticket, you just haven't paid for it yet. Print that out and no border official could know the difference.

Actually, earlier this year when I flew to Bangkok the airline check-in asked me for proof of onward travel, which I wasn't expecting since I'd never been asked before for Thailand. I told them I would be taking the train to Singapore but the ticket had to purchased in Thailand, and they seemed fine with that.

[DirectDanger]

@Soma
I think your strategy has a very good chance of working. But after paying $800 for a flight to Manila I chose to play it safe and spend the $30 on booking another flight. Just depends on how much risk someone is willing to take to save $30.

[JayJuanGee]

(11-06-2013 02:36 AM)DirectDanger Wrote:  

One way ticket to Manila.

DD: I thought that in recent months, the Phils had changed some of its tourist visa requirements that would allow six to twelve months stay on a tourist visa - and in that regard, you may be within an allowable window, no? And, accordingly, you could have your return ticket already purchased for six months down the road, no?

In that regard, since i am planning to travel for two months in February, probably, I should secure a visa prior to purchasing my flight ticket. I was going to purchase a round trip ticket.

[DirectDanger]

@JJG
Yes you can get a 6 month visa when your 30 day visa on arrival is done. I am not positive what happens if you have an extended visa before you arrive or even what your options are. I have read on some forums of people having trouble at the airport with return tickets past 30 days even though they have extended visas that put the return date within the time on the visa. I just don't know the answer. You will have to do a lot more research on the topic.

Just remember you are dealing with the airline ticket counter that knows nothing about the immigration and visa rules of the Philippines just that they are required to make sure you have a return ticket. It will be of little use to argue with them. They won't have a clue what is going on.

Seems to me it is easier just to be cautious and spend less than $30 on a budget ticket to be safe.

[DirectDanger]

Must have smart phone apps

If you come to Manila with out a smart phone (iPhone or android) you are missing out. Your social life and ability to keep in touch with tons of girls will be at a huge disadvantage with out it.

2 must have apps for Manila...

Viber
This is similar to whatsapp but much more popular here in the Philippines. I am guessing 70%+ of the girls I am talking with use this app. It is basically a free texting/calling app. It lets you see if the other person has read your message which can be useful.

Skout
Basically a social/dating app that uses your location to find people near you. I have found the quality to actually be higher on here than the online dating sites. A girl must be able to afford a smart phone plus lots of girls who wouldn't consider getting on a dating site see this more as a social networking site.

I usually get the girls on Skout to quickly move over to Viber as it is a much better app to communicate on. Skout can be a bit slow at times.

[iknowexactly]

height and are they eye-fucking you on the street?

[WanderingSoul]

Awesome man. Looking forward to reading about Manila.

Just one question, what specifically do you do to make money online?





Kidding.

[Sp5]

It's pretty easy to make up an e-ticket for any date you want, just edit a previous e-ticket and put in a flight number and date that makes sense.

Print it out show it to the counter agent. They just want to cover their asses.

[WanderingSoul]

DD, where in Manila are you living? Why did you decide to go there as opposed to somewhere else in SEA?

[Thailand_Veteran]

Enjoy your time DD!!! While living in BKK, always when I needed a break from Thailand, my first option was Manila and its beautiful female inhabitants . I really loved the city for a short visit. However I couldnt imagine to stay there longtime, due to convenience of BKK.

[Vacancier Permanent]

Awesome stuff DD! I will be following this thread very closely as Manilla as this appeal that makes it a great city once you know where to go.

[DirectDanger]

Why Manila?

Some background on me...

Over the last 10 years I have spent most of my time living and traveling around SE Asia. I slowly traveled through several countries spending a month or more in Burma/Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Singapore. I have lived in Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines. I lived for years in Bangkok.


Remember that all of these things I talk about are either personal preferences or restrictions I have due to my work. So this is not me claiming that Manila is the best choice for everyone.

So then why Manila?

It is mostly due to a process of elimination.

- I must have a stable and decently fast internet connection for work. This in itself is a limiting factor excluding many places in SE Asia.
- I prefer cities over beach lifestyle. I have lived the island life before and it takes about 1 month before I get tired of it.

Because I have spent so many years living and traveling around Thailand I knew I wanted some place different. I could easily be happy in Bangkok or Chiangmai but Thailand was starting to wear on me. Anyone who has spent a long time in Thailand can come up with 100 reasons why it is amazing and why it is incredibly frustrating.

Manila just seemed like the obvious choice.
- Big city with plenty of things to do. Remember I am working during the day so I am not doing toursity things. Manila is a shitty tourist destination.
- If you live within "the bubble" it is a fairly nice city. I will explain "the bubble" in another post soon.
- Cost of living is similar to Bangkok
- Everyone speaks english. This is HUGE. What a difference in life when you can talk to every person you come across.
- Easy to make filipino friends.
- Easy long term Visas. No more bullshit trips to Laos every 3 months.
- Girls

Ultimately it was just me eliminating all other options. Not necessarily that Manila is some utopia and obvious choice for everyone.

[DirectDanger]

More Apps

Line
This app has the same basic functions as Viber. But it seems like some girls only use this app. Having these free texting apps is crucial. A lot of these girls never have any credit and can't text back as it cost 1php. If they have a wifi connection they can use these apps to chat.

[Cyclone]

Fantastic work, DD. And by that I mean all your past trips throughout SEAsia as well.
As a guy who's recently moved to Singapore (in hopes of exploring the rest of the region) your experiences are gold for me. Although JKT is my next stop in terms of real estate / lifestyle/girls, I will be giving Manila another chance soon. Looking forward to hearing about this bubble.
.

[Mentavious]

(11-07-2013 03:03 AM)DirectDanger Wrote:  

More Apps

Line
This app has the same basic functions as Viber. But it seems like some girls only use this app. Having these free texting apps is crucial. A lot of these girls never have any credit and can't text back as it cost 1php. If they have a wifi connection they can use these apps to chat.

Girls love this line app in Tokyo and Bangkok.

They love those stickers. They only cost like $2 so you can buy one as a gift.

[DirectDanger]

Preparing now for a category 5 Typhoon that is said to be one of the strongest in recorded history to hit here shortly. Looks like it will stay a bit south of Manila but any of you guys in Cebu need to get ready and stay safe. Everyone is going to be reading about the massive destruction of this storm when they wake up tomorrow.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world...n/3465779/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24846813

[rvlefty]

GL with that DD, I managed to avoid any kind of typhoons in my 3 mo there.

I had varied success finding fast internet in my condos. Hopefully you have better luck than me, I had to go downstairs to the cafe to do anything of significance when I was living in one place.

[DirectDanger]

Strategy for renting a condo.

Every city requires a different strategy when trying to rent a condo/apartment. The strategy might be different even in the same city depending on location, price range, or length of lease you are wanting to rent.

What I am looking to rent...
6 month lease
studio or one bedroom
price range $700 to $1,000 USD per month.

Finding the right condo is extremely important for me as I am going to be sleeping, working, cooking, seducing, and fucking here. This means I spend a good amount of my time everyday in the condo so I am not about to skimp out on it or take the first decent option that I come across.

My strategy in Bangkok was very different then here in Manila. In Bangkok I wanted to live in the Thonglor and Ekamai area. My strategy there was to walk or hire a motorbike taxi and look for rent signs to call directly or just go to reception desks and ask about rentals. I never went through a broker.

In Manila my strategy was the opposite. If you want to live in Makati or Fort Bonifacio it is almost all huge skyscraper type of condo buildings. The few I tried to walk in and ask about renting a condo looked at me like I was crazy asking them and told me to talk with a broker. I was in a rush to find a place as I had only rented a condo on airbnb for a week and I wanted to move in to a new place ASAP so I decided I would try some brokers.

This strategy I used might seem obvious but I am not sure if many people have done this as almost all the brokers I met up with told me they were amazed at how many brokers I had looking at condos for me. The system of broker and condo owner relationship is not exclusive here. One condo owner might have several brokers showing their unit. This is a huge pain in the ass because you get lots of brokers wanting to show you the same condo.

The strategy...

Sulit.com.ph is the most popular listing site in the philippines. Most brokers who have condos in Makati and Fort Bonifacio have listings on here. If you look to the right of each listing on the page you will see the brokers info. You may be tempted to see that email address and write them. Do Not email! I got a response rate of maybe 25% and on average taking 2 days to hear back from them. Here is the key strategy.

You must text them.

On each listing you can click a button under the brokers pic on the right side and it will show you their phone #. When I would text them my response rate was 80%+ and most of the time within an hour!

I did not text them about a specific listing that they had. What I did was to figure out the exact buildings I wanted to live in. Then find all the brokers who had listings on sulit.com.ph in those building in the last 30 days. Then I would text them something like this...

Looking for a studio or 1 bdrm condo.
Price range 30K-40K.
Only in XXXXX, XXXXX, and XXXXX.
6 month rental.
Move in ASAP.

I sent this to 15+ brokers. I got responses right away and was looking at my first condo within 2 hours. Over the course of the next 3 days I saw around 20 condo units. All the brokers knew I was in contact with a bunch of brokers so it set up a bit of a competition mentality for them that worked in my favor.

When looking at this many condo units you must stay organized. If I thought there was any chance I was interested in the condo I would take pics and write down notes about it. After viewing lots of condos each day they can all start to mix together. Organization is key. I use Evernote to keep track of pics and notes on everything.

Ultimately I found a great studio condo in a great building in a prime location for 35K php ($815 USD) a month. I was required to pay 2 months deposit and the first 2 months rent up front, so no small amount that is for sure.

My broker was also able to find a maid for me. She will come once a week for 300 PHP ($7 USD). Most importantly she will clean up all this fucking black hair! She will also wash and iron my clothes. How awesome is that.

Key take aways...
Know the exact buildings/area you want to stay.
text brokers do not email.
stay organized when viewing condos.
Fuck bitches.

[Vacancier Permanent]

Awesome strategy DD! Thanks for sharing it!
Regarding the condo you selected you had to pay like 4 months up front in a 6 months lease? Did I get this right? Do they have a month to month deal in the Fort or the Mak or not?

Keep us posted on living in Manila!

Cheers!

[Vaun]

DD, anything you can report from the storm, looked pretty bad in the american media

[iknowexactly]

(11-09-2013 10:31 PM)Vacancier Permanent Wrote:  

Awesome strategy DD! Thanks for sharing it!
Regarding the condo you selected you had to pay like 4 months up front in a 6 months lease? Did I get this right? Do they have a month to month deal in the Fort or the Mak or not?

Keep us posted on living in Manila!

Cheers!

Big thanks for the detailed and precise method to land a nice place. Shit I'm cheap I'd be very worried about getting the $1600 deposit back... is it in the contract how fast they have to pay it back?

[jj1up]

@Rvlefty/Iknow exactly I'm actually in Manila and going off of Schotians advice fort Bonafacof is great heres a link to one age ncy with good deals http://vigorretravelerlease.com/category...acio-city/ They have listings in all the places you named I found them on CL which is my favorite site to find anything I need. Hope it helps as far as Typhon is concerned I've been staying in Makati and there was nothing wors more than a slight drizzle but down south it was a lot worse lots of floods and thousands of casulties.

[DirectDanger]

Quote:

Awesome strategy DD! Thanks for sharing it!
Regarding the condo you selected you had to pay like 4 months up front in a 6 months lease? Did I get this right? Do they have a month to month deal in the Fort or the Mak or not?

Yes I paid 2 months ($1,600) as a deposit which I am supposed to get back. I also paid the first 2 months ($1,600) rent up front. So I will start paying rent on month 3,4,5,and 6.

This seemed standard and not really negotiable with most brokers I talked to. The price on the condo was negotiable. The asking price on my condo started at 39K and I got it at 35K. It seemed like many of the condos could be bargained down from 3k to 5K from the asking price.

There are month to month leases. You will pay more for them and there are fewer options. My guess would be that a condo similar to mine would cost you 42-45K if you wanted to rent it month to month. Remember I am renting a pretty bad ass condo in a one of the nicest buildings. Don't think there are not cheaper options because there are.

Quote:

DD, anything you can report from the storm, looked pretty bad in the american media

Almost nothing here in Manila. Got some heavy rain and strong wind for an hour Friday night. But really nothing more than on and off rain for a while. If I did not read the news I would have never known a typhoon hit. It all went south and from what I hear it was terrible.

Quote:

Big thanks for the detailed and precise method to land a nice place. Shit I'm cheap I'd be very worried about getting the $1600 deposit back... is it in the contract how fast they have to pay it back?

Yes I had a long discussion about this. In the contract it says it must be paid within 30 days. The reason being that bills all have to be finalized first. Things like water, electricity, and internet bills need to be all paid up. Then you can get the deposit back.

I am able to pay water, and electricity here at the condo on the day I leave so that is not a problem. Internet I was told I could pay by showing the past few months of bills and then paying that to the owner when I leave. Supposedly they will try to pay me on my last day in the condo if I get that all settled. I think it is unlikely. I am taking a risk.




The contract was a standard long ass version you would get in the USA. Lots of details about every little thing. All parties signed multiple copies and everything was notarized. Feels really legit, but I would hate to test it in the legal system.