EricV

Repair services are available and inexpensive in the Philippines: every major mall will have a Mr Quickie (not kidding, that is the actual chain name) that does alterations, clothes-, shoe-, bag- or luggage repairs. Small repairs are only P50 or P100 and they are very creative - pretty much anything can be repaired… for more complicated tailoring, there are specialized alteration shops, ie turning long pants into shorts, taking in or shortening pants/shirts…you’ll find them often in the basement or other less prime locations.. there are many different store brands/names - just ask the info desk at the mall or the front desk at your condo building for the nearest one, they’ll know…

I thought this might fit in here: looks like the Thai government is revisiting the tax rules for money transferred from abroad: https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/news/thailand-could-ease-rules-on-income-from-overseas-490793 To early to tell, but might be worth watching...

Do a search for "global expat health insurance" - there are a number of large insurance companies offering health care coverage globally. I don't know your age or health, but the quotes I saw were a fraction of $1,300/mth when excluding USA...

BGC is the Nr1 area to live in Manila, with the most sought after condos, the best restaurants, cafes, bars, stores, spas, hair salons.... It has a pedestrian area at the center, small parks, wide streets & side walks, no street parking ... It's also the cleanest and most organized neighborhood... Makati is the former it-neighborhood, now eclipsed by BGC. It also has all the above, but with old street layout, narrow streets and narrow or non-existing sidewalks, less clean more traffic chaos, older buildings,... Both areas have plenty of educated, middle class (and of course upper class/wealthy) locals and expats. As @bkkmfj2648 has discovered and described in great detail in his Cebu post, your best bet to meet locals, paid or unpaid, is online - and in Manila, your best chances to meet are in BGC & Makati... There is no comparable gay scene to Thailand, with regards to gogo bars and sex clubs. There are a number of spas for men with wet areas/sauna with male masseurs, including in Makati, Infinity Spa is one of the chains...

@bkkmfj2648 glad you rented the moto, drove to the end of the island and had a good experience with the guards. I found that if you smile and are kind, most Filipinos will go out of their way to help you go/do what you want... I did think about other options - high rise beach places - for your trip to Vietnam. Danang is a great choice as your primary base. You could also check out Nha Trang: endless beach, lots of high rise, many tourists, mostly Russian, plenty of tourist infrastructure/restaurants/bars/massage places... Kind of opposite is Vung Tau, about 2 1/2h from HCMC/SGN airport (direct Van available). Lots of high rise being built along the beach, mostly Vietnamese tourists, few foreigners, but English spoken. Can't help with gay bars/clubs/massages in either city, but based on your Cebu report, you are very good at figuring that out. Have fun on Boracay, looking forward to your report.

@bkkmfj2648 I think you did exactly the right thing by going past the security guy down the escalator. Your story sounded very familiar - I've been in that situation, having been sent in circles, getting upset and doing the common sense thing in the end anyway. Now, I try to do the common sense thing before I get upset and while I can still smile at the person asking me to do something non-sensical... better for my heart & everybody involved... A little rule bending here & there will make your life in the Philippines a lot easier... @Travelingguy

Filipinos are actually very creative in finding solutions - just wait till you need a contractor to fix something in your place or your car...you'll be amazed... The problem is that in corporations, the employees are not empowered. And worse, in many cases, they will be punished for any mistake they make or policy violation. If they break something by mistake in the course of their work, the cost will come out of their salary - even if it is a month or two of salary... Also, most (regular) Filipinos abhor confrontation... So, don't be too harsh on them. If something just doesn't make sense, just smile nicely, say no problem, and keep going...

Thanks for the great, detailed trip report - fun to read & very helpful... I'd recommend to get a local eSIM with phone number and data - for longer stays, a local number is very helpful and it's cheaper too. GOMO (brand of Globe, largest PHL telecom) offers a 5G eSIM (works via app, similar to Airalo) with local number and 30GB data for PHP399 ($7), data "never expires" whatever that means, but at least a year... You can convert data to call/text as needed... Installing the app & esim was easy... Enjoy the rest of your stay, looking forward to hearing about your Mactan experience...

This kind of scam typically uses a fake 2G base station. You can protect yourself by not allowing 2G connections. It's a setting under Internet/SIM card...

I'd say the impression that residential buildings in Manila offer more privacy / less security than hotels is incorrect in my experience: Most upscale residential buildings, especially BGC, Makati, McKinnley, Ortigas, will have extensive security, controlling every entrance with the need to register visitors. Some newer buildings actually have digital registration systems and the landlord will receive a realtime notification with name/date/time of all visitors to the unit. Most security guards have been in their jobs for a long time and will know all the people in the building, their unit number and family/friends/staff- anybody who's a regular. Filipinos are generally very socio-economically aware and exceptions (from rules & registration) are made for regulars and/or wealthy or connected (seeming) people. A wealthy local lady, swinging an LV bag, dropped of by driver and tailed by assistant will most likely not be stopped. In fact, the guard will probably be able to tell you what family she belongs to, what businesses they control and what political faction they support... Similar rules, gradually tightening, will be applied to well dressed foreigners or locals. A young, local guy in basketball shorts, tank top and flip flops will face much more scrutiny. Some large buildings with mostly small apartments, like the Beacon, have many, many Airbnb units and may have somewhat relaxed rules - but security still observes and will step in when they deem somebody out of place... If you can afford an international trip to Manila, I would not recommend to stay in any place that doesn't have security - it's not a place you'd want to be as an obvious outsider... I consider the Philippines one of the safest places I have been - but there is a lot of poverty, desperation and violence outside the bubble... On the other hand, there is still a bit of a macho culture, sexcapades or affairs are very common, love motels and mistress apartments are everywhere and staff is very discreet. If you are not worried about privacy, stay at any mid-tier/upscale hotel/Airbnb you'd like and be friendly & respectful to the staff. The security guys are more likely to give you a wink than a raised eyebrow once they notice your shenanigans. Educated, English speaking middle class & up guys from (free) Grindr dates won't have a problem and will appreciate the environment (more than the next suggestion)... If you are greatly worried about privacy or security, stay at whatever hotel/Airbnb you like and take your love interest to one of the countless love motels. Their whole, thriving business is built on security & discretion! If you plan to have lots of visitors, they have regular (low) overnight rates, too, just stay there...

On a recent trip, I ended up using Cabify the most: it has the option to select Taxi ASAP - it was a lot quicker to arrive than Uber or regular cabify (think 5min instead of 15), for like 1-2k more... Granted, some of the taxis were in pretty bad shape, but I got there quickly and alive... most of the drivers were nice, no issues... While Uber has found a legal loophole, some drivers are still hesitant at the airport, prefer for you to sit up front & want you to know their name in case the police stops them... Much easier, if you speak some Spanish...no such issues with the taxis on cabify...

Lol maybe... I think it's just the natural cycle: every few years there are complaints & a clean up is ordered, vendors are pushed back to their official concessions, big officials come to inspect, photos are taken, articles are written, how Pattaya is more family friendly and upscale... Then slowly more chairs are added, tea money is paid and the cycle repeats...

Jomtien Beach looked like that probably for the time it took to take the photo. The beach is filled with chairs all the way to the waterline... Of course, more than half of the chairs are empty, even in high season...

On Lazada / AliExpress, try Chuwi (original store!). It's a Chinese budget brand of reliable tablets and notebooks with several models in your budget. They often use older components that'll be fine for your purposes. Good built quality, I made two purchases & no issues... While fakes might be ok quality for clothes & shoes, I would not recommend buying any of the "fake" phones/tablets/laptops - they often are completely useless scams. The description might resemble a brand product, but the item shipped will decidedly not. Read too many horror stories, waste of money imo

I think most of this devaluation is adjusting the "official" Peso conversion rate to the informal "Blue Dollar" rate. The previous government tried to control currency rates, including an artificial (fantasy) conversion rate, resulting in a grey market where you could get significantly more pesos for your $... Some/most/all (?) of the difference was already passed on in the local prices... Argentina has a tough road ahead; this change might make tourism easier, hopefully contributing to improvements for Argentina in the long run...