To keep a long story short, the company I work for is relocating me to Manila in the Philippines, to work in the new up-and-coming office there. This is a good thing, it’s an excellent job, I get to escape a lot of the financial turmoil in the UK and I get to move out of Edinburgh which I’ve wanted to do for a while.
I went to Manila for a week to check it out before accepting the job, so this thread isn’t a plea for advice about deciding to go or not. I’m too far down that road now …
No, this thread is a general appeal for information, I want to find out as much as I can about the Philippines and Manila in particular. I’ve read through the guide books and the obvious websites, toured around the city a bit and now I’m looking for some more information.
I’d like impressions from people who’ve been there or live there, ideas for things to do/visit at the weekends, warnings about where not to go and what not to do, general thoughts on the people and culture. Bonus points for info on the poker scene in Manila which I now is quite big.
I’m pretty self-sufficient and I’ll have a good deal of help from the company and the people in the office but I’m keen to collect as much information as possible.
Advice on any of the nearby countries would be good too, I plan to travel as much as time allows. I know there’s a few dopers living in the that part of the world.
I know this is a bit vague, but I’m not too sure exactly what I want to know (I don’t know what I don’t know, you see). So take this as an invitiation to share your stories, good and bad, about that area of the globe and we’ll take it from there.
SD