Heads up

I’ll be flying to the Philippines next Thursday (March 5) and staying until March 24. I don’t have a clear travel plan yet, aside from spending a bit of time in Manila with some friends I haven’t seen in a while, but I’m definitely going to check out the famous rice terraces farther north in Luzon. Are there any readers in the Philippines, particularly Metro Manila? Any readers with particular recommendations on places to visit?

5 thoughts on “Heads up”

  2. I have the Lonely Planet book for reference, and I’ve been to the country once before for a much shorter trip (about 10 days vs 19 this time). I also have like a half-dozen friends in Manila that used to study with my in Japan, so I’m very hooked up while in the Metro area, and I can get plenty of advice from them once I get there.

    And Philippine cuisine was actually a really nice surprise when I went before! I didn’t know much of anything about it previously, but almost every I ate was really good.

    Do you have any particular places in Luzon, or maybe a reasonable ferry ride away, that you can recommend?

  3. When I went in 2000, it was a with a delegation of Japanese Rotarians who were there to participate in a signing ceremony for some scholarship they were setting up. Over two days, we visited a soup kitchen/job training center in Quezon City (we ate delicious fruit there that later gave me diarrhea), followed by a school under construction on the grounds of the massive “Smokey Mountain” landfill/shantytown. Oh, and in Manila we also ate at a McDonalds and I bought shoes at one of those enormous malls. Great experience, but I am not sure I would recommend any destinations except the mall. I was tempted to try the translucent 25 cent Coca Colas they had for sale everywhere.

  5. I’ll email the girl who took me to that village and ask her if she knew what it is. I actually think the “mochi pounder” guess is very likely.

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