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Published: November 22nd 2006
this is going to be my first entry from the philippines. my first stop was to manila on november 1st, 2006. manila is made up of 12 smaller cities to make one giant. i chose to stay in the malate district because it had the best combination of sights and nightlife. my first impression of manila was not too great. the people were the reason to go. the city itself was a little dirty, but there are much worse. it was a lot safer than i thought it would be. there were armed guards everywhere, which if you do not mind the site of guns, made me feel more secure. it was more of a show of force to intimidate would be robbers. at no time did i feel nervous. when in manila i was able to make two good friends (farrah "frankee" and John). they showed me around the city and helped out by teaching me some good tagalog phrases. one of the main highlights of the city, for me, was the intramuros center. it was a former spanish fort and housed the manila cathedral in the center. it had cobble stone streets throughout and showed the most character. the
other highlight was the amount of malls and starbucks in the city. every few blocks were a giant mega mall. they were a nice escape from the heat and had anything you would want to buy. the amount of starbucks was a surprise. i thought the US had a lot, but manila could come in a close second. they were on every corner and were always packed. if i came to shop, manila would be a good choice for a visit, but i came for beach and ocean, so i'm heading south.
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Scottie
non-member comment
hey brah', lookin' good!!
Well, Toki it looks as though you're enjoying your time down there in the Philipines. Please let me know where you would like me to meet you, although as you know I would prefer India/Tibet in about 11 1/2 months. Aloha