Philippines - Manila

My hostel in Manila was one of the best I recall staying at (and I have stayed at many).  One thing that made it so great was that every staff member had a larger-than-life personality, which I absolutely love. I would describe most of my close friends as having larger-than-life personalities, so I’ve been assuming that I’m just naturally drawn to people like that. There was a German bartender/techie who (stereotypically) took things a little too seriously, an absolute riot of Kiwi who was a non-stop talker and an encyclopedia of knowledge concerning travel within the Philippines, an English-Iranian who was more than just a little reminiscent of Russell Brand (minus all of the revolutionary and spiritual talk), a seemingly never sober Filipino-Chinese accountant, and finally, the laid back but blunt Floridian owner.

In addition to this cast of characters, the whole hostel had an extremely laid back atmosphere.  Manila isn’t necessarily known as a place to do a lot of touristy stuff.  They have some great food and a great night life, but not much do besides that. Therefore a lot of people would just (quite literally) lay around the hostel sleeping off a hangover or just being lazy during the days.  I did this once or twice, and didn’t even feel guilty! 

One night, a large group of people were drinking at the hostel, and we all decided to go dancing at a club called Time, or something like that.  We got a deal on bottle service because there were so many of us, and we danced all night to some great House DJs.  Another night, I went to a pretty ritzy bar and restaurant complex that one actually had to be let into.  At every entrance of the complex were standing guards who apparently wouldn’t let anyone in that looked “poor” or looked like “riff raff” according to the Kiwi from my hostel.  We went to a really good resto-bar called Dillinger’s.  After we paid, two huge bodyguards led us out to the main patio.  I guess they usually do this without asking and the implication is that you must tip them.

In my Lonely Planet guidebook, there is a section that names Manila as “Scam City”.  I had heard that this includes some crooked taxi cab drivers who sometimes don’t turn on the meter.  Luckily, I only got scammed by a taxi cab driver once, but he didn’t even really scam me, he was just a complete asshole.  Instead of taking me to the destination that I had asked, he took me to the other side of the city.  The difference in fares was minimal, because he took the highway. I didn’t even realize it until I asked someone for directions. I hate being dicked around and taken advantage of like that almost more than anything, but I kept my cool and simply got another taxi. 

My time in Manila was short, and that was probably for the best.  I had a good time experiencing the nightlife in Manila, but I don't think I will ever go back there, haha!

Despite this, we did have one wonderful hostel-sponsored trip to an inactive volcano a couple hours away from Manila.  I even hit a golf ball into the middle of the volcano!