I needed to do a visa run and so I came here, the first airbnb room I got at jazz residences in makati, it was great, but then I decided to go to angeles city and leave the room and after that everything went downhill.
Cartimar Fake Shoe market
before I left for angeles city, I went back to cartimar market and managed to make a new video looking for a pair of puma running shoes, and I also went to another mall and picked up a new pair of birkenstocks and reebok classics. the fake shoe vlog market has alot of fans, ironically I didn't buy any fake shoes. all the shoes I got were real deal legit.
Angeles City
I didn't get any of that great angeles city girls videos that I wanted to get for youtube. also my impression of angeles city didn't live up to the youtube hype. it wasn't a place for me. the 4g service kept going out randomly and even though I only stayed there for one night I had to change rooms 3 times at 3 different hotels, and all the rooms I rented all used really cheap foam mattresses.
I have allergies to foam and so this was a big problem. at night time the streets fill up with "massage girls" who hand out business cards with their name on it. there are lots of homeless people on the streets. it's just feels like being in a third world country.
Out of the three spots that I stayed in angeles the overall best quality one was the 950 condotel hotel.
the next morning I got out of there, was really nothing for me there. however, when I got back into manila, had to deal with the terrible manila traffic and had to go rent at a different spot, over at some place that I later found out was about a mile away from the infamous p. burgos street. I rented here because I couldn't get the same room at jazz residences.
Terrible Rooms
I rented at a nice high-rise complex. the problem was the room was stuffy. I was starting to get sore throat after a night here so I checked all over the room and later I found that they had a bucket of open paint under the kitchen cabinet. I was like wtf. I sealed it up and dropped it outside on the patio.
then after I left this room I decided to go back to jazz residences, but couldn't get the same room, the next room had cig smoke scent and it was triggering my asthma, that I guess combined with the super high PM2 air pollution managed to get me sick.
at jazz residences, within half a day I managed to change airbnb rooms about 2 times before hitting midnight mark where they won't let me book until next day.
the next airbnb room I got had neon lights and smelled like someone just finished smoking a whole box of cigs. I got the heck out of there and rented at some cheap motel nearby that ended up having a foam mattress again so I had to sleep on the floor.
Airbnb mess
the next morning, the airbnb site was having issues processing reservations, so what happened was they billed my card 10 times and never gave me a reservation. I was trying to rent at the gramercy, and when I called airbnb support they were super useless and refused to admit that their site was seriously having issues.
so I just decided to go rent at a 5-star hotel and not deal with any of this brick wall of a company. it was pricy but I just didn't want to deal with the stress of having another bad room.
airbnb was no help also, all the previous room charges I eventually got reversed, but not without complaining to their idiotic customer service reps and finally filing a paypal claim against them.
in summary on this trip, I was only there for around 10-14 days and I spent too much money on just lodging accommodations alone. shit ain't that cheap as people make it out to be. next time I need to look for a spot on facebook group beforehand.
and even after the trip there was still aftermath to deal with.
the asthma issues lasted for a few weeks after I left manilla, it was affecting my work capability and my workouts. also the food was garbage here, too much fast food, I had to get a stomach cleanse to get rid of all that garbage food when I got back to vietnam.
Final thoughts
was it a good trip or was it bad? who to blame? if I ever decide to go back maybe it would be only for boracay or one of the other beach islands. manila is great for meeting new friends however the traffic and air pollution is horrible, I recommend sleeping with the windows shut.