I'm going to the Philippines

In Manila the rate of infectious diseases is far less than in the provinces and other towns and cities, so if you stay in Manila (and Makati in general) then you should be fine and no need to worry.

Once here, pop into a mercury drug store (they are everywhere) and stock up on essentials like "Off" as mentioned earlier and any other things you might want. As for Ice cubes, I think they are okay in places like Jollybee and if you get served ice that looks like it came from a pipe (is in a tube shape) then no need to worry as these are produced in factories using drinking water.

I have been here 3 weeks and do not have a dickie stomach and have not had one yet.

But of course if using ice from a street vendor you have no idea of what you are taking. Though I have bought the odd small bottle of pepsi max and drunk it out of the bottle... Much safer!

Ice in beer most places is going to be fine, if on the other hand you are paying 30 peso for your bottle of San Mig Light then be careful the ice could be 'yellow' as the locals describe it.

You can buy ice in plastic tubular bags, in about one litre quantities for cooling only, for about 2 or 3 peso I think our neighbours do it at 1 peso, this ice is only for putting in a cool box to keep stuff cool when you are out, never for consumption, it may well be rainwater or tap water from non potable sources.

You will Howerd I'm sure, stay positive mate!

Excellent advice Peter!

And an interesting map, as one would expect the cities are low risk but you get to high risk very quickly if you venture outside the cities.

I agree that the anecdotal evidence is not necessarily the best but it comes from the survivors

I read everything about health and safety before I ever went there and scared myself silly You are right though it can be dangerous but in the big cities it is not really an issue.

I am sorry about being a doubting Thomas, but as I was told a while ago, mozzies cannot read maps......

I understand that it is a map depicting the spread of malaria, and we are not taking into account something slighlty worse...

My wife lost a sister and a nephew to dengue in the last 4 years.

http://www.ifrc.org/docs/appeals/rpts10/PHep29071001.pdf

Dengue is a bigger problem in the cities Dom you are right there.

One problem when talking about Malaria in the Philippines is that Filipinos use the term 'Mosquito' the same we we use the term 'Fly' it means all small flying insects to them.

Real Mosquitoes need standing water to breed and this is less available in the cities compared to the general countryside, this is the main reason that Malaria is less of a problem in built up area's so yes they don't read maps but they are naturally excluded from parts of the map because of development of modern infrastructure in cities, saying that it is obviously still possible to get Malaria in a city, it is just that it is much less likely.

Cool map there Dom, right now I am in the RED!!!

Not as cheap as it once was, Aposhark's advice of about 500 pounds or 30,000 peso a week is reasonable but it is really easy to spend a lot more than that.

Taxi should cost less than 70 peso for most trips in and around Makati, trips outside Makati, well you are getting ripped off if the price gets above 150 peso.

Jollibee is a cheap fast food burger joint they are everywhere, the Philippine version of McDonald's should be about 300 peso for two people, you can find McDonald's as well similar or slightly dearer.

A meal for two in a good chinese restaurant might cost between 600 and 1200 peso, Tokyo Tokyo fast food a nice meal for two 500 peso maybe, my favourite Korean restaurant about 1300 peso for two.

Cinema tickets plus popcorn and hot dogs and other junk, no more than 250 peso per person 500 peso all in, good cheap entertainment in quality cinema's. I would recommend Mall of Asia for the cinema's, huge and about 7 screens plus a separate IMAX (the IMAX is more expensive but still not too expensive) .

Price of beer in an upmarket bar 90 peso for a San Mig light or a San Mig beer, expensive upmarket bar 150 peso per bottle of San Mig light, in the kind of places I like to have a beer a San Mig Light costs 35 to 50 peso but I'm Kuriput (tight or miserly) and I like cheap pubs in Britain as well.

Western beers expect to pay upwards of 250 peso a can, that's 4 pounds for a CAN! It's not that easy to get western beers in Manila but some places will have it, pointless waste of money in my opinion although I did once buy a can of Guinness in the Hobbit House.

Upmarket restaurants, bars and clubs in Makati will cost a bit more than all this, the best European restaurant I knew of in Manila was the Golden Sala, it's run by an ex-pat Brit or Aussie I'm not quite sure which, anyway it is fantastic, the best top notch western food you will get in Manila, in 2006 we paid 4500 peso there for a three course dinner for two, we also ordered a pretty damned reasonable quality wine, actually the best wine I have tasted in Manila, not easy to get a good wine over there. I expect the Sala will be a bit more expensive now.

There are some very expensive and very good French and Italian restaurants, there is a good Italian on the second floor of the Antel Tower in Makati I was not paying though so only remember it was not that cheap

If you visit the entertainment district like Malate in Manila there are good comedy clubs like "The Library" entry fee will vary from 100 peso per person when there is no main show to max of 500 peso per person for a top act, however be careful of these places as a mainstay of the comedy act is to take the piss out of the foreigners in a not so gentle fashion, it is funny though but it will cost you 500 or a 1000 peso to stop the teasing and you may well end up on stage having to play along

There is a great pool hall (they call it billiards but it's American pool) in Malate you can get about 10 or 12 frames, a good meal for two and a good few beers for less than 1000 peso, last time I paid about 500 peso, love that place no idea what it's called but it is just past the pub "Bedrock" just off Remidios circle in Malate and it's on the third floor of its building great place!

If you find yourself being charged 300 peso or more for a beer then you have walked into a "show bar" or a "girly bar", be extremely careful in such places as the bill can escalate to ridiculous amounts really quickly.

A "show bar" can be a reasonable nights entertainment, you will get lots of very skilled dancers in fancy costumes and you will get a good Hollywood style production and some good music if you are into that sort of thing, but you might find that what starts out as harmless artistic entertainment degenerates into something a bit more seedy later on.

For a harmless good fun night out a visit to Star City is well worth while, this is a big amusement park, costs about 150 peso to get in (my memory is getting bad) you can pay more to get free entry to the rides about 300 peso but to be honest sometimes the queues are so long it is just not worth paying the extra up front better to pay for a ride when you get to the individual queue.


Star City Ferris wheel




My son at Star City



Trying to find some other photos of places in Manila for you but getting a bit tired tonight, hopefully try again tomorrow.


One last thing today, she will expect to be treated well and if you are not careful that can become very very expensive , it's not like here when you go out to one place for a night, over there you can go out to three or four places a night, each one might be cheap but together they are expensive

That's good she likes to stay home, but seriously she will want to go out as well, always keep in mind that a Filipino lady needs to be respected and it is not wise to be kuripot, you do have to be sensible with respect to your budget but also you need to be fair as in willing to go out and have a good time together, that means a nice meal some music and maybe a nice dance, really not a lot different from what any nice girl over here would want.

A girl needs to feel that bit special and that is true anywhere in the world.

These days I usually hope to get several nights at home and just one or two nights out a week when I get back home to Manila, that really cuts down the expense, but my partner will also have been stuck at home for months as well and when I am there she wants to let her hair down a bit and relax, she spends all her time looking after the kids and rarely gets out these days so it is hardly surprising that she needs a break as well.

Excellent price guide oss...

Just to add, Chowking and Greenwich Pizza are owned by the same company as Jollibee and they are everywhere too. Chowking does Filipino style Chinese food and you can have a good meal for 99 pesos there, often less if you take on a deal. Greenwich does single meals called overloaded for 99 pesos upwards, 99 pesos will get you a single pizza, small pasta and a drink. If you go to 159 pesos then you get a lot more and to be honest I have been bloated after paying that much.

So in a fast food place you can get stuffed pretty cheap..

Yeah that's the good thing you can eat well very very cheaply compared to western standards if you want or need to and if you are smart and a half decent cook you can cook for yourself for even less.

I know an old retired Scotsman in Manila who is making do on a 40,000 peso a month pension and he's still managing to build a house in Bicol from that spending about 10,000 a month on the construction work.