Philippines!!

[JrFear]

Hello APS,

Just curious if any one has been to the Philippines? As i plan on doing some traveling thru SE Asia next year and want to go some where abit different to your usual places like Thailand Bali etc....

So if you have been is there any you can suggest to do, see or go?

i plan on getting my PADI while im there so i can do abit of diving aswell, the misses will be joining me and even tho she will dive its not all she wants to do unlike myself!

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers
Jesse

 

[Zanks]

My neighbours are Philippinos, they couldnt wait to leave the place and will never return. :lol:
Although I get the fact that every country has good and bad areas.

 

[JrFear]

Hahaa fair enough, sounds like me and Australia!

 

[longqi]

There is some awesome herping over there
Dont get bitten because hospital care out of the city is non existent

Northern area more populated but still plenty of good stuff away from the cities
IMO the cities are pretty rank but some wicked night life
Women are drop dead gorgeous so buy some shades or your missus will bust you every 5 minutes

Just be careful in any of the Southern part
Lots of tourists vanish down there
Very wild country with pretty wild people in the middle of a long quiet war

Google Hydrosaurus or sailfin dragon
Worth the whole ticket price to see one of those swimming

 

[JrFear]

There is some awesome herping over there
Dont get bitten because hospital care out of the city is non existent

Northern area more populated but still plenty of good stuff away from the cities
IMO the cities are pretty rank but some wicked night life
Women are drop dead gorgeous so buy some shades or your missus will bust you every 5 minutes

Just be careful in any of the Southern part
Lots of tourists vanish down there
Very wild country with pretty wild people in the middle of a long quiet war

Google Hydrosaurus or sailfin dragon
Worth the whole ticket price to see one of those swimming

Thanks Longqi
youve kinda put me off with the people vanishing part!
is there any where safe to go there or should i give it a miss and go some where else?
ill be dropping thru bali most prob as well so ill make sure i look u up while im there!

 

[Stevo2]

I went there on a work trip in 2009 and had a ball. You should be relatively safe if you go no further Sth than Cebu.

Do a lot of research and reading up on the country - have you read what is on the Smartraveller: The Australian Government's travel advisory and consular assistance service | Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade site?

I spent a week diving at Puerto Galera and highly recommend it to any divers

Diving | Puerto Galera Online Services

Would love to go back there given the opportunity!

 

[Bananapeel]

We had some friends who went. They said they didn't enjoy it all that much but if you never experience it you'll never know and that's their opinion. It's not everyone cup of tea but you might love it.
I lived in Singapore (before moving back to Aus) and we had a maid (no opinions on this please, it's just how it works in Singapore.) she was filipino and had 2 sons living back there while she worked here. Her family lived in poverty there. So some parts of the Philippines aren't so nice but I love visiting places in poverty especially when you give things to schools etc that are struggling.
But it's got some beautiful scenery and most the locals are very friendly hardworking people who make the most of what they've got.
as I said though, you'll never know unless you go. plus I'd imagine it would have some pretty nice exotic herping!

 

[bluewater]

Highly under rated IMO, like Steve I spent a week in puerto gallera and also did a week on sangat island, first class diving (tho sangat is a bit more advanced ie, deep ish wrecks) but as a whole loved it, just keep your street smarts and be (relatively) sensible

 

[JrFear]

thanks for the information guys!
ive done abit of reading and thinking we might avoid it and go some where abit safer!
i think it would be okay if it was me and a few of the guys but not with the GF!

we will be doing thailand and malaysia contemplating indo

 

[longqi]

thanks for the information guys!
ive done abit of reading and thinking we might avoid it and go some where abit safer!
i think it would be okay if it was me and a few of the guys but not with the GF!

we will be doing thailand and malaysia contemplating indo

Its only the South where you may have problems
Awesome place to visit
Get out in the jungle and its real jungle
Some great diving and lovely people
Huge country with a million things to see and do

Or you could ask bali reptile rescue to tee up a herping/diving/fishing/treking trip to Papua??????

 

[mic772]

Palawan similar to Northern Borneo but no oranutangs. Plenty to see. Bohol travel inland towards Loboc and for a donation you may be able to get a photo with the tarsier they also have a flying lemure there and a large python similar to the Burmese python they feed it whole pigs. there are some nice caves there too and some loverly caves to go swimming in on panglao island. fantastic jungle and major problems with the Rebels. Luzon the main island has a place called the hidden valley I found fantastic and worth a stay overnight. Mindanao is a loverly place with a bad reputation. Go if you must but only go with a local you can trust.

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Palawan similar to Northern Borneo but no oranutangs. Plenty to see. Bohol travel inland towards Loboc and for a donation you may be able to get a photo with the tarsier they also have a flying lemure there and a large python similar to the Burmese python they feed it whole pigs. there are some nice caves there too and some loverly caves to go swimming in on panglao island. fantastic jungle and NO problems with the Rebels. Luzon the main island has a place called the hidden valley I found fantastic and worth a stay overnight. Mindanao is a loverly place with a bad reputation. Go if you must but only go with a local you can trust.

 

[spotlight]

Go to the the local zoo in Manila talk to the reptile keeper he will tell you some good safe areas , don't go past the taal volcano it has a good zoo as well and retics are found in the area near the water , another good place is libertad pasay market you can look around for just about any animal you want a real eye opener you can buy anything from a monkey to a cobra and many Aussie snakes as well if you don't see them just ask .
What ever you do stay away from people you don't know don't trust them or go any were with them we look expensive to them lol.

 

[Stevo2]

I always felt safe and secure whilst there, but that may have been because of the armed escort we had with us..... *lol*

 

[Pinoy]

As a Filipino myself with family there, I have chosen not to go back at this time due to recent political riots and violence.
My grandparents were in Manilla recently and have advised me not to go for a while.

Malaysia is ok, cleaner than Indo and cheap if you like shopping lol.

Singapore is great, very clean, a lot of people speak english and many beautiful things to see.

Thought about Hong Kong? I love that place, would live there if I could lol.
So many things to do and lots of great food lol.

 

[JrFear]

Thanks again guys will be skipping Philippines in general!
my grandparents live in KL so will be staying with them for about a week or so!
will be doing the usual stuff in Thailand! May consider Hong Kong have heard a lot of good things about it and maybe even Singapore!

i just wanna swim with whale sharks!!! For cheap hahaa

 

[Endeavour]

There is some awesome herping over there
Dont get bitten because hospital care out of the city is non existent

Northern area more populated but still plenty of good stuff away from the cities
IMO the cities are pretty rank but some wicked night life
Women are drop dead gorgeous so buy some shades or your missus will bust you every 5 minutes

Just be careful in any of the Southern part
Lots of tourists vanish down there
Very wild country with pretty wild people in the middle of a long quiet war

Google Hydrosaurus or sailfin dragon
Worth the whole ticket price to see one of those swimming

Youre right about one thing the night life can be wicked (in more ways than one).


Kindest regards


Endeavour

 

[Fuscus]

Wife is Filipina and mostly reiterates what has been said before, some parts are more dangerous than others. You are going into an impoverished country with an abundance of guns, minimal to no law enforcement and a perception that all westerners are rich and easy prey.

 

[Bananapeel]

I lived in singapore for 5 years. It was sensational! the only real danger there are the bloody macaque monkeys. They're annoying and aggressive and steal your sunscreen! We got to do a lot of travelling there and places I would recommend are:
Vietnam, Cambodia, China, there is a beautiful island off Malaysia called Rawa which we went to at least once a year. Caught heaps of garfish and there is the occasional yellowfin barracuda when we went night fishing. Very nice snorkelling (we saw black tip reef sharks) but not entirely sure about diving as I didn't go there.
Another of my favourite places was an island off Malaysia called Tioman. It has beautiful snorkelling great diving I would imagine. Snorkelling in the sea and through the mangroves where we saw some reef sharks. I just walked throught the jungle while I was there and it has some of the most amazing wildlife I've seen. snakes, beautiful lizards, more monkeys, eagles, huge millipedes and this other bug which I can't remember the name of. something like a trilobite. similar to those extinct bugs. They glow or something at night which is cool.

Yeah i loved those places just if you care haha.
Highly recommend Hawaii though :lol: beautiful diving there! nd boogie boarding over turtles and swimming with dolphins etc etc.

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oh and tioman have these black and gold flatworms which are really cool!

 

[Pinoy]

oh and tioman have these black and gold flatworms which are really cool!

I've been there. I was chased by a monkey cos I got too close to a group o babies lol.

Big monitors all over that island too. Almost got attacked by one as I didn't see it under the bank I was standing on when I was looking at the wierd cichlids in one of the ponds in the golf course haha. Was only there for a day for a sport outing for work but it was awesome!

I'll dig up some pics later if you're interested?

 

[Bananapeel]

Yeah some monkeys started growling at us when we were there.
And there are some beautiful big monitors there and smaller lizards like forest dragons and one lizard I remember was called something like a flying lizard. sort of like a sugar glider with that flap of skin but in lizard form. They were all very pretty.

There was also a gliding mammal thing called a colugo if I remember correctly. They were amazing to watch at night gliding from tree to tree. Amazing place IMO.

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and feel free to upload some pics. I have absolutely no idea where my pics are. unfortunate really because there were some amazing sights there.