Stories from my First Trip to the Philippines

The Philippines.

The first time I went here I had culture shock.  Ive talked to other friends who have traveled to manila Philippines for the first time and they echoed my feelings of being in shock at the poverty.  That’s the first thing you notice when you get in the taxi (driver will be very happy to meet a foreigner) from the airport to wherever you’re going.  As you head through the streets you will notice NBA Billboards (Basketball very popular in the Philippines) and old jeep pickup trucks from world war 2 being used as communal taxis.  Large groups of 20 or so filipinos crammed into the rears of these old relics.  You will see many groups of teenagers and children, homeless living in condemned street-side office buildings and construction sites. Manila is total chaos and it is dangerous. 

Once I made it to my Airbnb condo in Makati Manila I had to rest for a minute to let the stress melt away a bit from flying to Manila from Bangkok Thailand, going through customs & immigration for both countries etc, and heading through that city in a taxi.  That first night in Manila I didn’t rest for long though.  I filmed the controversial “white people have lost respect for themselves” video and uploaded it to my Youtube channel, then met up with my Cryptocurrency & Travel Blogger friends from Bangkok who had already been waiting for me in Manila for a couple of weeks. 

Jeez, walking around outside around Makati area and into P Burgos Red Light District was a mess.  I think the difference between this in Manila vs. Bangkok red light district was here in Manila there was no governmental oversight or regulation, the whole area is more or less operated on a ‘money talks’ principle.  This means that money can buy pretty much anything if you have it.  I reckon you could even have someone ‘taken out’ or have a hit put on them for about a thousand dollars US.  At one point that first night I was walking with my friend and some child beggars put their hands on me while their mom waited in the shadows.  I immediately covered my pockets, but as the children took off I thought they had taken my phone from my pocket (I was mistaken) I ran after those little bastards yelling at them so loud their mom came FLYING out of the darkness and swooped them into this massive blanket she had and they took off.  Right when the mom came out was when I realized they had not successfully robbed me.  You gotta watch out for stuff like that when you are traveling in 3^rd world countries.  Child beggars trained by their parents who are watching nearby will mob you begging for money and food and put their hands all over you, many times amid the chaos they will try slipping some small hands into your pockets and extracting phones or wallets.  I’ve had countless situation like this in my travels.  One time during a trip across the Cambodian/Thai border a mother positioned herself with her 8 children on the bridge that connected the two countries everyone would have to walk over.  She had her children not wear any clothes and attack people begging for money.  The children were relentless and the strategy was very cunning, as the vile social situation of having 8 naked children hanging onto your arms and legs and trying to reach into your pockets while begging for money is a nightmare that causes you to want to do whatever it takes to get out of that situation immediately. 

I had heard good things about the Philippines from lots of people in Thailand and was excited to visit there but after 2 weeks in Manila I felt sick about the place and wanted to get back to Thailand as soon as possible.  The last week of that first 3 week trip to the Philippines my friend from NomadPhilippines.com convinced me to travel to Angeles City 3 hours outside of Manila for the remainder of my stay.  Doing this was the best decision of the trip.  Angeles City is a really poor rundown dusty town with a huge rest light district that brings in tons of tourists from Korea and the USA mostly.  The bright part about this city is that it is not metropolitan and you get a much more relaxed and friendly vibe than manila. There is also a huge mall called SM super mall in this city which over the years since this first trip is where I met most of my girlfriends here.

How I met the girl I enjoyed spending time with the most in Angeles City was when i was sitting at a Café after my workout at enhanced athlete world gym down the street from Field’s Ave Walking street.  I usually ate at this café everyday after my workout and when I walked in I noticed a pretty pinay girl with light white skin and big natural boobs (rare in asia lol).  I was going to talk to her before I left but something funny happened.  The café had outdoor seating near the sidewalk which is where we both were seated, when she looked away from her plate for a moment, a bum walked by and snatched her cake, he shoved the entire cake into his mouth in one bite and ran off.  LOL.  Her mouth was just hanging open in shock and I couldn’t help laughing my ass off!  The café gave her a new piece of cake free and my laughter at the situation had broken the ice. I immediately moved in for the kill haha and we talked at the café for about 3 hours then sealed the deal a little while later back at the house i was renting. 

Oddly, and against expectation of some, this is the way I like to meet women in foreign countries.  Situations like that, and also some cold approaching by doing things like asking “hi can you help, do you speak English?” hahaha. Great ice breaker. 

I do enjoy going to a strip club or go go bar and listening to the music enjoy watching the girls dancing but I’m not trying to meet girls at those places.  I don’t like working girls.  Most of them have serious mental issues.  Even though prostitutes in Asia can look like normal sexy girls would look like in America, they have serious twisted expectations about relationships and their relationship to men.  It’s best to just avoid them entirely.  When going from country to country and wanting to meet women, don’t take the easy way out, just be social and play ‘the new guy’ foreigner when in public.  Meet women as they go about their errands during the day time, not at bars.  If you do this you will meet women who are crazy about you and want to please you, and you will experience the ‘worth more than gold’ female charms particular to the women of each country. 

Something common among all people of Asia is they love bodybuilders.  The Philippinos are no exception.  When walking around in public in the Philippines I felt like a minor celebrity because of how many people would look at me, hit a bicep shot, and say “Big Muscle!” hahaha. 

The women in the Philippines love muscle, so if you’ve maximized your sex appeal and built a body in the gym as a foreigner they just go batshit nuts for you, slightly out of their minds.    

My favorite was when I arrived in my Tuk Tuk motor-tricycle (lmao) at a pool party and the hostess nearly passed out saying “So Macho! And So Guapooooo!”

^ I’m pretty damn drunk in this video smh

Now go make your own travel experiences guys. 

Do you like stories like this? Any questions? Want more? Let me know, Got lots more! 😛

-your friend dan the bodybuilder in thailand