Philippines - Manila

Manila is bigger than you think for how poor it is. It is surprisingly spread out so staying somewhere “close” to anything is somewhat pointless. I wouldn’t say I felt safe on the streets at night, but I did find that there was security and police everywhere, so there is that.

Burgos street in Makati is fun people/women watching. They have some regular bars where you can sit on the patio and drink beers for 50 cents and watch the traffic go by. The other bars in the area try to get you to come in and watch a very strange spectacle of clothed women dancing on a stage, presumably waiting for you to grab them and buy them a drink. I visited one such bar called Ringside where they actually had a boxing ring, and every 30 minutes they have either girls or little people box, yes I said that right and yes, it was disturbing and I couldn’t look away. Most of the girls who want you to buy a drink for them are really trying to get you to pay a bar fine and take them home with you (more like Thailand than Korea). They are pretty and fun to talk to and I think the girl drink was only 5 bucks so I sat for a while.

The dollar goes really far in the Philippines. A long cab ride is still only about 6 bucks. Regular beers are usually under a buck and food generally under 5 bucks. Tipping is not expected, but still, throwing 2 bucks their way is so appreciated. I usually doubled the cab fare…you feel bad you know.

The Pasay area (where the Solaire Casino is) is just as dirty and ramshackle as everywhere else…however, they do have a bunch of things being constructed right now. In the future this could make for a really nice home base while touring the various shitholes.

The City of Dreams is fine enough, but it’s really just a few giant hotels with one giant casino. Brand new, modern places, great restaurants, lots of people, and great pools. If you need a break and can’t be on the beach, this is a pretty sweet place to be.

Notes to self:

-The airport is shit. Get there as late as you possibly can. Even business lounges are slightly worse than your below average US train station.
-Gotta love casinos where you can bet 50 cents. High rollers here were doing 25 dollar hands. In the US you need to be betting 100 for someone to even bat an eyelash.
-The Mall of Asia is humongous, and not traditionally laid out. It’s almost like a hodgepodge of malls. The stores are good enough. The movies theaters suck ass, at least in this mall.
-Oh my god getting to the City of Dreams took forever. It’s like a mile away from the airport and it takes an hour. You literally do not move. They are building a highway but it is completely ridiculous right now.

Grand Hyatt Manila - Oct 2015

I mean, if you take away the children, what’s not to like? Great pool area. Great views of the pool area from the room. Great room service with 24 hour service and breakfast dishes all day! Pretty good TV system with full pay per view action, but no 24 hour plans! Mini bar is only lacking wine. Room is big. Bed is cozy as shit. Lighting is good. Bathroom is ginormous with a cool deep tub and a separate and close to perfect rainfall shower area (could be slightly bigger).
The casino is good. I would argue the casino/hotel/restaurant area is only missing some sort of a store. Like where do you even buy water? Though I was looking for wine, and as far as I can tell you can only buy it from the restaurants and they do not fuck around, like 50 dollars for the cheapest bottle.
The casino gave me 2 glasses of vodka every time I ordered…and I loved being a high roller with 10 dollars on the blackjack table
The steakhouse is really nice (Ruby’s) but it’s a concept from Tokyo so it’s super expensive and I don’t think it has a chance. It was dead as shit. I mean seriously, where’s the casual burger bar? haha. The restaurant area overall was good though. Mini Vegas style.
The 24 hour café, a staple in every casino, was fine, just not as American as I had hoped…go figure in the Phillipines.
Loved the pool. It was slightly weird because it was right next to the Nobu pool (which is bigger and had zero kids!) but you can’t use it even though all of the hotels in this area are sort of connected. In any case, this pool was nice and big enough and the service was spot on.
The spa at the adjoining hotel was actually pretty nice and my massage was spot on. The only bullshit part was some jack wagon who was sick or something trying hock up a lugee for like an hour inside of the “public” areas of the spa (sauna, hamam, giant whirlpool). I asked him if he needed a doctor, nope just a chinese dude with no manners, pretty typical.
The casino has some oddly nice entertainment that would play every couple of hours, almost like a cruise ship production.

Notes

-I’m a fan.

Solaire Casino - Nov 2013

I honestly would’ve stayed in the Dusit Thani another night, but I only booked 1 night originally (didn’t know if it would suck) and then they sold out for the following night…so I found myself in search of a new spot. I ran across an article saying that this hotel was the newest and best place in Manila, so I felt obliged to try it.

This hotel is not close to anything. I mean you ain’t walking anywhere. They are supposedly building a shopping and casino mecca all around it but other than a couple buildings being under construction, there is scant evidence of that.

That being said, this is a nice place, especially if you want to stay in a casino (which I don’t really want right now but whatever). The lobby is pretty similar to what you’d expect in any mid size casino…games are almost at the front door. They do have a very nice lobby/casino bar and numerous restaurants sprinkled around. They also have a food court which I found hilarious, as it wasn’t done by a retail owner necessarily, it was done by cuisine (all probably owned by the hotel). So you didn’t go to McDonalds, you went to “America”, or Hong Kong, or Philippines. Kinda funny thinking that they tried to appeal to all cultures and wound up appealing to none.

The room is nice. Good size, large bathroom, big bed and tv (but no pay per view), 24 hour room service, nice mini bar. Views aren’t much to speak of, though it is on the bay.

They have a pool area that is actually pretty nice…the problem is it’s a few floors up so there is a view, but man it’s probably the worst pool view ever. Construction, shacks, construction, polluted bay…despair.

Dusit Thani - Nov 2013

This hotel is in the Makati area of Manila, which could be considered good, but since nobody wants to walk anywhere in Manila at night anyway, who cares where it is. The hotel itself is nice enough, but not modern. The lobby is huge and while I was there they were setting up massive Christmas displays, and I mean massive. I love Christmas, but this sent the wrong message to me right from the get go.

They did have 24 hour room service. I did in fact order some food at like 3AM and when they came to the door I rushed and put on one of their lovely robes, which I guess was made for a girl because when I wrapped it around I still had complete full frontal nudity going on. So the room service guy got quite the show! haha, just kidding, I always answer hotel doors naked. They did have pay per view but no adult. Nice mini bar but all canned beer. The bathroom was fine, but the shower was tub style and old.

I got a “club level” room, which really just gave access to the club itself, which kind of looked like a standard airport lounge. They have snacks and beverages available most of the day, and a free cocktail period every night…which is fine I guess.

Probably hard to beat the general idea of this place in Manila.