Manila, or: Why You Should Always Come to Wherever People Warn You Against

We really tried not to come to Manila.
Everyone we met told us not to come, whether because of her traffic, dirtiness or crime. Heck, even the lonely planet insinuates that you might as well head straight to Cebu, if you have diving and beaches in mind.
Combined with the fact that every single weather website we've checked said that Aug-Sep is the worst time to come to Manila/Philippines, due to the monsoons, we really downplayed our expectations.

So how come we got here despite the warnings? Well, that's easy, and in two words: cheap flights! Since the only low-cost flight from Bangkok is to Manila and not to Cebu (about $40 for a 2h international flight), we found ourselves on 5:30am in Manila International Airport, and got to our hotel the following hour.

And? Well, what can we tell you? You won't believe it anyway. We absolutely loved Manila.
From the very first Filipino we met (our taxi driver), we had nothing but great experiences with everyone here:
* We feel like the only tourists around, a good and refreshing change after Thailand. The only other tourists are from Korea and Saudi-Arabia. Our cute UK/IL faces are a blessed change for the locals here, too.
* The weather is amazing here: around 28-32 degrees, rain once every 3 days or so and so far only on night time. Tfu tfu tfu.
* The people are super-friendly. Not the type of friendly (only-because-you're-an-walking-ATM) but really, genuinely happy and friendly people.
* We didn't know it, but everything here is in English, thanks to the American history of the Philippines. The Lonely Planet really does downplay this crucial information. It really is a formal language here, and the English level of everyone here is probably better than that of most of the non-UK European tourists...

Having come here in low-season, it really relaxed here, simply amazing. Prices in Manila are comparable to Thailand: quite a bit more expensive in accommodation ($30 per decent a/c double room) but overall cheaper in food (~$5 for a good meal for two) and transportation ($1.25 for 4h bus).
In Thailand we went to the most-touristy areas, which perhaps explains why we met many service-providers who were already "spoiled" with over-tourism (translating into bad/rude service charging "touristy" prices). We simply don't have that feeling here, at all, and cannot stress enough how great it feels.

So what did we do so far? Shopping. Lots of shopping. (This explains why we don't have lots of scenery photos this time.) We're back in London in a few weeks so now is the best time to buy everything that costs 2-10X the price in Europe. Manila has amazing malls (including Asia Mall - the largest in Asia) and markets, and we simply wandered from one to the other, buying lots of things.
We've also graduated with a PhD in Pearls and bought a necklace and bracelet in great prices in Greenhills Mall. Aside from that we've had some great meals around here (one of which in an Egyptian restaurant with great hummus/tehini/babaganoush) and started planning our Philippines island travel. We can't wait! ....

Bottom line:
Come here in low season, go shopping and have a terrific time. Manila is great, if only for 2-3 days.
And in the next time you hear from everyone "don't go there" - 99% they're right - but sometimes it's worth checking it out for yourselves...

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