Thursday, March 10, 2011

How to ride Jeepneys in the Philippines

After the Philippines was granted Independence in 1946 and the US Army pulled out, they left behind hundreds of thousands of Army Jeeps. Filipinos greatfully converted these Jeeps into public transport buses. The Jeeps are now custom made for this purposes and ferry around thousands of commuters every single day. The funny video below shows the correct etiquette for riding these buses.

Is it safe to walk the streets of Manila?

Many tourists are concerned about safety in Manila. It is true that Manila has serious issues with poverty and crime. In reality, however, the crime problem is little worst than places like London or New York. Most crime tends to be opportunistic and is therefore usually Filipino upon Filipino. Tourists are very safe here even walking around some of the rougher districts.

It should be added here that some common sense remains your best bet to avoid crime. If you do, for whatever reason, need to go into a rougher part of town then make sure you dress down, don't have any jewellery on display etc. All common sense things you would do to avoid crime in any major city. 

More on this in future posts.

Manila MTR

One of the best parts of living Metro Manila is in the MRT (Metro Rail Transit System). It allows a quicker way of geting to your destination as opposed to the busy and often dangerous Manila roads. The main MRT system is MRT3 which runs along the main EDSA thoroughfare. It has 13 stops between North Avenue and Taft Avenue. Fares are between 10 Peso and 12 Peso. These trains are clean and efficient and have air-conditioning. Unless you are having to travel around Manila during rush hour, using the MRT is well worth the effort.

More about the Manila MRT in future posts.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Living in Manila, Philippines

Hi, my name is Paul and I'm 29 year old guy from the UK and this blog will be about my experiences living Metro Manila in the Philippines. It will discuss how to get around, where to meet people, the cost of living etc for others considering living in the Philippines.