International Airport

NAIA I is long in the tooth but functional. NAIA II is relatively new and gleaming white. Both have currency-exchange counters and ATMs after customs in the arrival areas. Passengers changing terminals can use shuttles inside the airports before they exit the terminals.

Airport

With the exception of Philippine Airlines (PAL), international flights to and from Manila Airport (MNL; 877 1109) use the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal I (NAIA or NAIA I) in Parañaque. International and domestic PAL passengers use NAIA II (also known as the Centennial Terminal).

The Ninoy Aquino International Airport is the Philippine's most used gateway to the country and is the largest international airport in the country as well. Unfortunately it is divided into four terminals - Terminals 1, 2 and 3 and the Manila Domestic Airport - without easy connections between them and the only way of hopping around terminals is through taxis and jeepneys.

There are buses outside the arrival area heading to downtown Makati City and Quezon City via EDSA or Efipanio de Los Santos Ave. This arrangement is preferable for those with only one light backpack heading for the mentioned areas.

Airport metered taxis are colored yellow, and have the right to stop and pick up passengers and line up the porte cochere area as you step out of the arrival hall. Each departing taxi is registered by a dispatcher. The base fare is ₱70.

For those penny pincher budget junkies, go up the elevator to the departure level and "hijack" those white painted (standard color for all city taxis) taxis that have just dropped off their departing passengers and are heading their way out of the airport. Fortunately, they don't pass any airport fees to passengers they may pick up and that's the advantage. The pay back is since the yellow ones have the exclusive right to pick up passengers, security guards are under orders to shoo away non-yellow (and non-registered) taxis picking up passengers in the departure area. But based on experiences by other travelers, yellow cabs, although registered, tend to have faster calibrated meters. So it may end up that a white cab can get you to your destination for less than half the fare it cost you to use the yellow cab.

It would not be easy updating the list of airlines using which Terminal as it's still in a state of flux and confusion. Airlines keep on moving their landing/take-off locations between the three within a year or so. However, the rule of thumb is all international airlines use Terminal 1 while Philippine Airlines uses Terminal 2 and Cebu Pacific uses Terminal 3.

Binondo is the "Chinatown" district in Manila. It became the center of commerce during the American occupation. Many of Binondo's commercial establishments were destroyed after World War II, with companies moving to Makati, one of the financial capitals of the Philippines.

Binondo was created by Spanish Governor Luis Pérez Dasmariñas on 1584 for a settlement for the Chinese Immigrants (called Sangleys), with the intentions of converting the Chinese to Catholicism at the initiative of the Spanish Dominican Fathers. Spanish officials forced the Chinese to convert into Catholicism and if not they'd be executed. Luis Pérez Dasmariñas played a prominent role in the massacre of 24,000 Chinese after the Chinese revolt in 1603. The reason for the massacre was that he wanted to avenge his father's death under the hand of the Sangleys. Binondo's population grew rapidly with many Chinese Mestizos, products of intermarriage between the now-Catholic Chinese and local Filipinos. The district is therefore known as the birthplace of the Chinese Mestizos, including St. Lorenzo Ruiz, who became the first Filipino saint, and Mother Ignacia del Espiritu Santo, a Mestiza de Sangley who was the founder of the congregation of the Religious of the Virgin Mary.

Cash and Credit

The unit of currency is the Peso and judging by the impressive performance of the economy and its big foreign currency reserves, the peso is at US$1 to 40 and dollar is still sliding down. Bill denominations are in 20, 50, 100, 500, and 1000 while coin denominations are in 25¢, 50¢, 1, 5, and 10. 25¢ has always been very common and the jeepney fare has decreased to a base fare of 8.00 (January 2013).

Banks and Money

Changers are available in the airport but it's better to change money outside where competition abound. Money changers are everywhere and most homecoming Filipinos prefer to change them here than in banks or, Western Union or M. Lhuillier. There is no commission. The farther it is from the Tourist Belt Area, and the nearer it is around a town or city public market, the better the exchange rate is. Safety is not a problem especially if you change them during busy hours (safety in numbers). Be sure to count everything and put them safe in your person before you leave the premises.

Money can be withdrawn from ATM and they are also everywhere. The Philippines are one of the countries with the most available ATM machines per capita.

Credit Cards are accepted almost everywhere especially at all upmarket shops.

A part of the Philippine's bustling capital is a remarkable melting pot of Asian, Oceanic, and Latin cultures, which are thick with history and flavor in tune with most traveler's interests. The best way to get a feel for Manila shopping is to go to a ‘tiangge’, a market of stalls where everything can be bargained. Market! Market!, St. Francis Square, Greenhills Shopping Center and Tiendesitas in Pasig City are examples of such. There are shopping centers catering to handicrafts, antiques, and curio souvenirs. Aside from Ilalim ng Tulay in Quiapo are the shops in the districts of Ermita and Malate around M. Adriatico, A.Mabini, and M.H. del Pilar.

Shopping is one of the things tourists love about the Philippines. One of Asia’s largest bargains are found in the Philippines, with items cheaper compared to those in neighboring Asian countries. Not only are the products cheap, they are also of good quality.

Three of the biggest shopping malls in the world, SM Mall of Asia, SM Megamall, SM City North EDSA are all located in Manila, Philippines. Other well-known shopping malls are Robinsons, Greenhills in San Juan, Greenbelt, Glorietta, Power Plant Mall in the city of Makati, TriNoMa and Gateway Mall in Quezon City, and The Podium in the Ortigas Business District.

If you are interested in a Western-type mall, you cannot pass SM Mall of Asia, currently the 4th largest mall in the world. Warning to shopaholics and their spouses: You could spend a day there and still not see every shop or have to time to ice skate. That's right, there is an ice rink as well.

Public markets are one microcosm of Manila. Practically, Manilans from all walks of life come here to buy their everyday needs. They are as lively and colorful as any market in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, or Vietnam. Generally, they are divided into wet and dry sections and another section for dining. Dining is very cheap and can be wholesomely hygenic. Just look out for the huge block of ice dragged along the floor on its way from the delivery truck to a stall. If you see one delivered in that manner, never mind, don't eat there, ever. Joking aside, a filling meal will cost you as little as US$1.25.

Ukay UkayIf you happen to see just about every Tom, Dick, and Harry in a blighted neighborhood in Manila wearing Abercrombie & Fitch get-up & Levis jeans, chances are it's original and bought at Ukay Ukays. How can they afford it? Ukay Ukay is the answer. It's the Philippines' answer to Salvation Army. Nowadays, they are everywhere and Manilans love them. It's actually a contraction of the Tagalog word "Hukay" meaning to dig, the description for the exact action done while rummaging through the bins of clothes. But there are actually no bins installed in those stores, only clothes neatly hanged on the racks. For less than $2, one can find hand me down good qualities of branded wear. The more enterprising provide home delivery and roaming services by hanging them on racks installed on pedicabs, as they make the run on neighborhoods. Judging by the unafforable cost of living to most of the middle class and the soaring gasoline prices, they may be here to stay.

It's also great for the budget tourist who would not want to have the hassle of packing and carrying tons of clothes by simply buying them here, then discarding them somewhere as his piles of souvenirs accumulate.

Make sure you buy the traditional barong Tagalog. These are long shirts made of very light-weight, semi translucent material, often with Filipino arts and decorations and are worn by both men and women on most special Filipino and formal occasions. Cotton varieties are much more affordable, but for the real deal, go for one made by the strands of a pineapple leaf. It is worn outside trousers, i.e. not "tucked in".

If you really want to look the "bee's knees" travel to the Visayan island of Negros and buy some barongs hand woven from Abacá fibre (used to be called Manila Hemp made from the trunk of Musa textilis, a species of banana native to the Philippines) with geometric design details from the mountains to the west ofBais City.

Manila is a huge city, so individual places to eat are not listed here but rather in the individual articles on the various Manila district.

Manila is a national hub of regional cooking and has almost all the regions of the Philippines represented either in exclusively regional eateries or featured with other cuisines. General restaurants, either catering for the working class or the elite, can offer varied dishes coming from every region and cater for almost everyone's taste palette. For example, the northern region called Ilocos has its favorite fare called Pinakbet approved by practically everyone but still closely identified as Ilocano fare.

Northern Luzon Island Region or Ilocos (Ilocano) Ilocanos are known as industrious and thrifty people who living in the limited cultivable strip of land bounded between the sea and the Cordillera mountain range.

Central Luzon Island Region (Kapampangan) Pampaguenos lead in the art of combining the best of Spanish and Chinese legacies.

TASKS