Questions about traveling to the Philippines. Registration of ACR I-Card

The Republic of the Philippines is one of the few countries with developed tourism and a simplified visa regime for Russians. In 2020, Russian citizens will be able to enter this country without requiring a visa, provided that the trip lasts no longer than 30 days and will be of a tourist, business or transit nature. In the future, every foreigner can extend his period of residence in the country without any difficulties.

If the 30-day visa-free period seems insufficient for a holiday, you will need a visa to the Philippines, which is issued at the diplomatic missions of the state located in the Russian Federation. In total, residents are allowed to reside on the islands for 16 months, then you must leave the state.

Visa-free entry

Entering the country without a visa, the traveler has the right to reside in the Philippines for 30 days, and the day of arrival is not taken into account. At the border you must provide:

International passport with a “reserve” of 6 months;
Return ticket in original form or as a printout.

Moreover, in rare cases, border guards have the right to ask for proof of financial well-being to ensure that the traveler has the means to live in the country.

After checking the documents, an entry stamp with the date of arrival is placed in the passport. There is no need to pay any fees or duties or fill out a migration card.

Extension of visa-free entry period

If 30 days for rest is not enough, you can choose one of the options:

Immediately upon arrival, apply for a 59-day visa at the Immigration Service office located at the airport. You will have to pay a fee of 50 USD+510 PHP and fill out a visa application form, to which you must attach a package of documents. But only Russians who arrived in the Philippines for the purpose of vacation can apply for a visa on arrival.
14 days after entering the state, contact the Immigration Service. After filling out the application form, providing a number of documents and paying a fee (about 3,000 PHP), the entry stamp will be extended by 59 days. (Addresses of the Immigration Service offices are available at the link: immigration.gov.ph/index.php/information/directory-of-transactions).

In the future, extension is allowed for another 59 days or immediately for 6 months. The number of extensions is limited: you cannot stay in the country for more than 16 consecutive months.

Video: Visa extension in the Philippines

Registration of ACR I-Card

After living in the country for more than two months, each foreigner is issued an ACR I-Card (Allien Certificate of Registration) - a plastic card, a kind of local identity card, which indicates individual information about the traveler, including his photograph and address of residence in the Philippines. You can use it to open an account or issue a card at a local bank.

An ACR I-Card is required to be issued at the Immigration Service office when a tourist applies for an extension of visa-free entry or a visa after two months of residence in the country. To receive it you will have to pay 50 USD+500 PHP and fill out. Applying for a card is a fairly lengthy process: usually a tourist can pick up the document only 1-2 months after submitting the application. This is due to the fact that the cards are made only in Manila and it takes time to send them.

Medical insurance

A medical policy is not a document required to visit the Philippines. However, it is recommended to take care of purchasing it. Medicine on the islands is completely paid; only emergency care is provided free of charge. In case of sudden illness, injury or other troubles, the tourist will have to pay for the doctor’s services on his own. Therefore, obtaining health insurance is highly desirable, because in this case all expenses will be covered by the insurance company.

Obtaining a visa at the Embassy

If you are planning a vacation in the Philippines for more than 30 days, or visiting the state is not related to tourism, you will need a visa, which is issued at the country’s Embassy. The entry document is also issued at the Consulates General of St. Petersburg and Vladivostok.

Documents needed:

International passport with a “reserve” of 6 months and a copy of the page with personal information. The document must have at least 2 blank pages.
. It is necessary to fill out all fields of the form.
An invitation from the Filipino side indicating the purpose and time frame of the trip (for a guest visit) or a hotel reservation in the form of a printout from the Internet or fax (for a vacation).
Color photograph measuring 3.5x4.5 cm.
Round trip tickets with a specific departure date.
Documentary confirmation of payment of the consular fee.

To open a visa you must:

Contact the Philippine representative office in person or through an authorized representative with the above documentation.
Pay the consular fee in cash or by bank transfer to the Embassy's account.
After 3-5 days, pick up the finished documents.

For children

Minors over 14 years old leave the Russian Federation only with their own passports. It is allowed to include young children in the parents' documents.

If a minor is traveling to the Philippines only with mom or dad, it is necessary to prepare consent for the child to leave the Russian Federation with notarization from the parent remaining in the homeland. If it is not possible to provide such a document, then confirmation of this fact will be required (death certificate, certificate of a single mother, court decision on deprivation of parental rights, and so on).

In cases where a minor under 14 years of age travels to the Philippines without parents, a visa will most likely be denied.

For each child, a visa application form is filled out, a package of documents is prepared and a fee is paid.

So, The complete package of documents for a child visa will look like this:

Visa cost

The consular fee for issuing a single-entry visa for 90 days is 40 USD. To receive a multiple for 6 months you will have to pay 80 USD. An entry document for 12 months with the possibility of multiple entries will cost 120 USD. The cost of a visa for a child is the same as for an adult.

Visa-free stay, as mentioned above, is completely free.

Extension of long-term visa

The visa can be extended without leaving the state at the offices of the Immigration Service located in the capital and 44 other cities in the Philippines. To extend for 59 days, you must contact the Immigration Service with documentation no later than 7 days before the expiration date of your visa:

, where the full name, address of residence in the Philippines, the period for which the visa is extended, passport details and information about the issued entry document are indicated.
One photograph measuring 3.5x4.5 cm, which should be pasted into the application form.
A copy of the international passport (pages with individual information and visa sticker).

The documentation is submitted to the nearest Immigration Service office (immigration.gov.ph/index.php/information/directory-of-transactions), and a fee is paid there. When extending a visa after two months in the country, the amount is about 4,900 PHP. The cost of issuing an ACR I-Card is additionally paid (50 USD+500 PHP).

In the future, the visa can be extended for another 59 days or immediately for 6 months. The number of such extensions is limited and the foreigner cannot reside in the Philippines continuously for more than 16 months.

Leaving the country

If the total continuous period of residence on the islands is more than 6 months, then before departure from the country each tourist must fill out a special (Emmigration Clearance Certificate) - this is a kind of exit permit. The presence of a certificate indicates that Philippine law enforcement agencies do not have any claims against the traveler. The certificate indicates the period of time when the tourist can leave the country. The absence of this document can become a serious obstacle to leaving the state.

The certificate is issued at the Immigration Service no later than 72 hours before departure. For this you will need:

International passport and a copy of the page with personal information, as well as a spread with a visa or arrival and renewal stamp;
Receipt of payment for the last renewal;
Copy of ACR I-Card;
A copy of the return ticket;
Photo measures 2x2 inches (5x5 cm).

In addition, during the process of obtaining a certificate, you will need to undergo a fingerprinting procedure.

Customs regulations

The amount of foreign currency allowed to be imported into the islands is not limited. Funds in amounts exceeding 10,000 USD are subject to mandatory declaration. Import and export of national currency is limited to 10,000 PHP. Information about cash available to the traveler in non-cash form ( bank cards, checks) are not subject to inclusion in the declaration.

The Philippines is one of the most attractive countries in South-East Asia, thanks to its stunning beaches, natural landscapes, smiling and carefree people and... visa policy. The main advantage of the Philippines is the opportunity to stay here without leaving for up to three years.

Visa to the Philippines for Russian citizens

To visit the Philippines for up to 30 days for citizens Russian Federation no visa required.

Examples:

A. If you arrive on April 1 (30 days in a month) and depart on May 1, then you do not need a visa. When you arrive, you simply receive a stamp in your passport, and another stamp when you depart from the Philippines.

B. If you arrive on April 1st (30 days in a month) and depart on May 2nd, then you need a visa.

Q. If you arrive on April 1 (30 days in a month), and depart early in the morning on May 2, and plan to go through passport control on May 1, then you do not need a visa. By and large, the border guards at passport control don’t care when your flight is, they look at the information on the day you cross the border. Although, most likely, you should officially fly out exactly 30 days after your arrival.

Important! A return air ticket or air ticket to any other third country is required to visit the Philippines! Officially for the period until the expiration of the visa, and in the case of visa-free entry for up to 30 days. However, in fact, even with visa-free entry you can have a ticket from the Philippines in six months or a year.

As a rule, a ticket is requested at the airline's check-in counter. That is, you will not be able to fly to the Philippines without a return ticket or a ticket to a third country. At all airports in the Philippines, all you need to do is present e-ticket on your smartphone rather than making a paper printout. This also applies to return tickets. However, it is officially stated that it is necessary to have a paper copy of the ticket.

If for one reason or another you do not receive permission to enter the Philippines, you will be required to take a ticket to your country of residence at your own expense.

Visa to the Philippines for citizens of Ukraine and Belarus

Citizens of Ukraine and Belarus should obtain a visa in advance from the Philippine consulates in their countries.

Visa to the Philippines at the Moscow Consulate

Applying for a tourist visa at the consulate in Moscow is the most ineffective way, as it requires additional documents that are not needed with other methods of obtaining a Philippine visa. For example, confirmed hotel reservations. A visa issued at the consulate does not provide any preferences; the final say on whether or not to allow a person into the country always rests with the border service officers. Having a visa does not exempt you from paying to extend your stay directly in the country.

Philippines visa on arrival

At the airport in Manila or Cebu, it was previously possible to register a stay in the country for 59 days immediately before passport control. However, in Lately This service is not available at Manila airport - officials send tourists to immigration centers on site.

The cost of a 59-day stay in the country if paid at the airport of arrival is 2,750 pesos. In immigration centers - 3150 pesos.

Visa to the Philippines on the spot

You can extend your stay in the Philippines at the Bureau of Immigration at any time before the end of your 30-day stay in the country (a week is recommended). Immigration offices are located in any major city in the Philippines. The procedure takes 15-30 minutes. You only need to have your passport and a completed application form (issued on site).

To extend a visa, you do not have to come to the office yourself - you can entrust this to a special representative (notarized) or intermediaries from local travel companies providing similar services.

Approximate cost of extending a visa to the Philippines at the immigration center:

3150-3650 pesos - for 59 days (including 30 days of visa-free stay). This first extension is always for up to 59 days only. Can't do more long term.

8300 pesos (including tourist ID card) - “Second extension” for 60 days. It can be done after you have already extended for 59 days.

13650 pesos (including tourist ID card) - “Second extension” for 180 days. The most preferable option for those who are planning to stay in the Philippines for a long time. This is a fairly new opportunity; previously it was possible to renew each time only for a maximum of two months.

The second extension includes the mandatory receipt of a tourist ID card. This is a special laminated card, internal document in the Philippines. Its cost for a year is just under 5,000 pesos, which is included at a time in the price of the second renewal. All subsequent extensions will cost about 2,500 pesos for a month, 3,600 pesos for two months or 11,500 for six months.

Philippine Visa Extension

Russian citizens can officially extend their visa to the Philippines for up to three years (there are cases of refusal to renew after two years). Citizens of Ukraine and Belarus - for up to two years. In this case, the maximum possible one-time extension can be for a period of no more than 6 months.

When leaving the Philippines

All stamps and visas are canceled when leaving the Philippines. In fact, you can avoid renewing your visa to the Philippines by traveling to the Philippines each time before the expiration of the free month. neighboring countries on Visa Run.

The tourist ID card is valid all year, regardless of whether you left the Philippines or not.

Departure from the Philippines after more than six months

Those who are in the Philippines for more than six months are required to obtain a special document - Special Travel Exit - before leaving. It is obtained from the same immigration office and costs 500 pesos. However, you must also provide two 2x2 photographs on a white background. Special Travel Exit production times may vary from location to location. Sometimes it only takes about an hour major cities or a week in provincial ones. Having such a document when leaving the country is mandatory only for those who have been in the Philippines for 6 months or more!

Philippines visa violation

Violation of the visa regime is punishable by fines depending on the length of stay in the country. Without paying a fine, you can leave the territory of the Philippines by registering black list— ban on visiting the Philippines for 5 years.

In the event that a foreigner is living in the Philippines without a proper visa extension, anyone who denounces him will receive a reward of 20,000 pesos (approximately $400).

If you cannot buy a ticket, you will be placed in a special institution (prison?) and wait for forced deportation (which can take about six months).

Vitaly Safronov, especially forwebsite

If you decide to conduct fabulous holiday on, then for Russian citizens you can stay in the country without a visa for the first 30 days. Upon arrival, you simply receive a stamp in your passport for 30 days. It is very convenient for no more than this period. If you want to stay in the country for more than a month, then read on what you will need to do for this.

Residence in the Philippines without a visa for 30 days in 2017

To obtain permission to stay in the Philippines in 2017, you just need to go through passport control at the airport upon arrival, where you will be given a free stamp for 30 days. However, it is worth remembering that for this the following conditions must be met, so you will need:

International passport, which is valid for another 6 months after leaving the Philippines, i.e. if you have a trip for a month, then your passport must be at least 7 months before its expiration, but of course you can hope for chance and think that you will be lucky, but you don’t have to do it once in a while. In the article: “” - you will see that it is easier to get a passport than to then stand stupidly at a foreign airport
Return tickets to Russia or, if you are traveling further, to another country. Before your trip, be sure to print out your return tickets if they are electronic. You may not even be allowed on the plane without it. I recommend reading the article: “” - by finding the best deals, you can travel much more interestingly
Confirmation of financial status (unlikely). They may also ask whether you have enough money to live in their country.

Your passport will be stamped upon arrival, but you can still go and extend it to 59 days immediately at the airport (this can only be done during the day) or only then contact any immigration office. And then you can extend your visa once every two months up to about 16 months without leaving the country (they say that you can extend it up to 24 months, but they haven’t checked it themselves yet; when I find out the information, I’ll write).

Visa for 3.6 months or 1 year stay in the Philippines at the Philippine Consular Section in 2017

If a long-term train to the Philippines is planned and it will last more than 30 days, then it will be more profitable for Russians (both in time and money - it will be cheaper than on the spot) to apply for a visa in advance at the Consular Department of the Philippines in your city.

What types of visas are there for the Philippines:

3 months — This visa can only be obtained with a single entry. Those. If you entered the Philippines using it and want to leave before it ends, then it ceases to be valid from the moment of your departure. Consular fee for such a visa is 40 $ USD
6 months - multiple entry visa, i.e. You can enter and leave several times. Consular fee for such a visa is 80 $ USD
1 year- only it requires mandatory prior permission from DFA Manila - consular fee for it is 120 $ USD

Documents required for a Philippines visa:

You need to fill out a form to submit to the Consulate - the form will be issued there, on the spot.
A foreign passport is valid for at least 6 months from the date of entry into the country, and I also advise you to make a copy of the first page of the passport, where the photo is.
Two color photographs measuring 4.5x3.5 cm
By tourist trip may require a hotel reservation, or if there is an invitation from the person who is waiting for you there (whether it is an individual or a legal entity). You can, of course, try to come and without a hotel reservation (or invitation), maybe you will get through and issue a visa, or they may refuse a visa, and in this case no one will return the money for the consular fee to you. In the article: "" - you can read about how to find the most profitable housing
Round-trip tickets to the Philippines (or tickets to another country, if you are going to travel further, be sure to have a final date), which you can book right now using the affiliate search form at the bottom of the article (and it’s cheaper for you and tell me “thank you”)
Of course, you need a consular fee for a visa, approximately $40.
Insurance is also not required to obtain a visa, however, since 2015, the Russian authorities have passed a law stating that every Russian traveling abroad must have it with them. Yes, and it’s better to pay a small amount when purchasing an insurance policy at home, rather than paying tens of thousands already on the spot, if God forbid something happens on vacation, read about insurance and purchase an insurance policy online through a resource we have verified:

It is important to know that this visa is VALID FROM THE MOMENT OF RECEIPT for 3 months, i.e. do not receive it completely in advance, you need to receive it immediately before the trip, some short time in advance.

Visa extension in the Philippines in 2017

Whatever visa you have (or really didn’t have - I’m talking about a 30-day stay without a visa), you can extend your visa at any Immigration office.

You can find the Immigration office using this link: http://immigration.gov.ph/index.php/information/directory-of-transactions

You need to apply for a visa (or stamp) extension when there are less than 30 days left. A visa is issued quickly in 15-20 minutes. You need to take with you: your international passport, copies of the first page with a photograph and copies of pages with Philippine stamps, write down the address of the hotel or house where you live, and you can also take photographs (4.5x3.5 cm) because You need a photo to issue an ID-CARD.

If your stay in the Philippines is planned for more than 59 days, then along with the subsequent visa extension, you will be given a personal card with your data and photo (ID-CARD), which is why you need a photo.

To receive an ID-Card, pay 50 USD+500 PHP and you also need to fill out an application for it. The card itself is issued in Manila, so you will not receive it right away.

Renewal terms

We arrived and got a stamp for 30 days - free of charge, without a visa.
If you want to extend this stamp to 59 days, then we go to one of the Immigration offices and do this (there is an office at the airport - open during the day).
If you want to stay for more than 59 days, then we go ahead and extend it for another 59 days (plus we get a card with your data and photo) and so on up to 16 months (i.e. every next two months), the only question is the price.

Price issue

if you had a visa-free stamp for 30 days, then it can be extended to 59 days of stay in the country for approximately 2500-3000 pesos
extension of a visa (which was for 59 days) for another 59 days - about 4800-5000 pesos (and somewhere else 500-600 pesos per card)
And then subsequent renewals - here the price varies from 3000-4250, it’s different for everyone, only after 8 months it stabilizes at about 2900 pesos.

Leaving the country

If you're going to the Philippines, there are three options for which city to see first. You can fly to Manila, Angeles (Clark) or Cebu. Each has its own advantages. Clark is the cheapest and well located. From Cebu Airport you can walk with your suitcases to the paradise beach. But I chose Manila because I was going to buy a motorcycle for my “12 Islands” trip and naively thought that it would be easiest to do this in the capital of the country.
This is the first post about a motorcycle trip to the Philippines, in which I will tell you about how a simple Russian guy Sasha came to the Philippines and what happened to him in the first days of his stay in this country. You will also learn the whole truth about the crazy city of Manila.
I left St. Petersburg on November 17, 2013. The cheapest and fastest way to fly to the Philippines is via Hong Kong. Considering that this supercity is visa-free for Russians, it would be a sin not to stay there for a few days, which is what I did. Hong Kong turned out to be so incredible that for the first time in my life I seriously thought about moving for a long time. It’s a long story, so I plan to write a separate post about it with delight and colorful photos.

After three wonderful days in Hong Kong, I went to the airport, walked up to the check-in counter and happily handed the girl with the Philippines Air badge my passport and a printed ticket.

Your return ticket, sir! - she said, smiling sweetly.

Why do I need to show my return ticket? - I asked and began to frantically figure out what to answer, since I didn’t have a return ticket

This is a requirement of the immigration service. Without it, we won't be able to put you on the plane.

Eeeeeee... You know, I don't remember where he is.

No problem, sir! Please provide your last name and departure dates. I'll check the database.

I don't remember the date \ It's not mine \ Call my lawyer \ Please!

Unfortunately, there is no way without a ticket. If you don't have it, you can buy it now at our counter. You can’t do it via the Internet because the sites do not confirm the purchase immediately, and the departure of your plane is in an hour. At our counter, confirmation takes place immediately, but since you buy your ticket at the airport, it will cost the maximum fare.

There weren't really any options. I had to buy a ticket from Hong Kong to Manila for 400 bucks! By the way, the flight from St. Petersburg to Hong Kong was cheaper. But the ticket was refundable and I was able to return it in Manila, although it took a couple of days of suffering. At first they said that I needed another return ticket, and when I bought it for 50 bucks, they said that it was not needed. As a result, after 15 days they returned the full cost to the card and did not even charge any commission. But the situation at the airport was certainly nervous.

Therefore, advice number 1. If you fly to the Philippines, always buy a return ticket!

On the plane, I came to my senses from the charming view outside the window. Flying through the South China Sea is very beautiful! You immediately notice that there are many different clouds everywhere. This is one of the main features of the Philippines that guarantees unique sunsets.

The clouds are like a pattern that complements the equally endless sea, the calm of which is disturbed by smoothly sailing ships. And next to the island of Luzon there are millions of small “banka” boats. The flight is only an hour and a half and, to be honest, I want to fly further, continuing to look at natural scenes.

Another surprise awaited me at the Manila airport. There was no cash, so I naturally went to withdraw money from an ATM. It turned out that for unknown reasons some local banks do not service my card (Alfa-Bank Visa). At that moment I was confused when I realized how dependent I was on the card. I'm in new country and I don't even have money to drink coffee. Luckily, there was a friendly ATM at the other end of the airport that gave me the money. This is how I first got pesos.

The first taxi driver traditionally tried to scam me. At first he said that it was 10 pesos per kilometer, and when we drove off, he said that it was 100 or a fixed price of 1,500 rubles. But such things don’t happen to me. If you spent 10 months of your life traveling around India, then you have a nose for scams and a refined technology for eliminating deception in the bud. I quickly said everything I thought about the driver and he brought me back to the reporting point. The journey with another driver cost about 400 rubles. Moreover, airport drivers and even the cops vying with each other said that it is better not to get into ordinary city taxis because no one is responsible for your safety.

Before leaving, I read a lot of stories about local dangers. If you believe what they write on the Internet and say on TV, then the Philippines is a country where everyone walks around with guns, robs and kills until they are all washed away at one moment by a typhoon or hit by an earthquake. “There are cannibals in the north, and terrorists in the south,” a person who has an official connection to the Philippines once told me. What can we say about Manila! There, it’s generally better not to go out into the street and not talk to anyone because in the capital the concentration of everything bad reaches its maximum and every Filipino you meet sharpens a huge knife behind your back.

I understood that these were all stories, but there were so many of them that I gradually began to believe. Therefore, upon arrival, I hung locks on my backpack, assumed a menacing appearance and began to walk quickly, looking around. This is an overall great recipe. Everyone sees that you are acting like a fool and prefers to give you a wide berth.

Then I became convinced that everything they were talking about was nonsense. The locals are wonderful hospitable and kind people who are always ready to help you. But many understand these stereotypes in the head of a foreigner and skillfully use them. Taxi drivers talk about the dangers of traveling with strangers, in hotels they say that their security guard with a shotgun will protect them from all harm, and in a tourist restaurant there is always a man with a pistol proudly hanging. All safe, dont vorri, diar sir! In this way, you can sell unnecessary security, which foreign tourists are asking for.

There is no need to talk at length about Manila. This is a multimillion-dollar urban agglomeration, which consists of different cities. Actually, Manila is a small part of it. There are several dozen more different areas that consider themselves separate cities: Makati, Pasay, Ermita, Valenzuela, Quezon, Pasig, Taguig, Parañaque, etc. If you really want to understand this, then you definitely can’t do without San Miguel beer.

The general opinion about Manila is that it is a terrible city. Tourists mainly use it as a transit point between their country and beautiful beach and often spit, remembering the capital of the Philippines. But there are also those who like Manila. I relate more to the former.

Manila is absolutely nothing of itself. There is a skyscraper district in Makati with beautiful avenues, but after Hong Kong they seem the most boring. There is a fake restored Spanish fortress. And everything else is a typical low-rise Philippine building, which is interspersed with huge shopping centers and large highways. This city's coat of arms should feature traffic jams and street food. Most of the time, motorists stand still, and passers-by are constantly eating something.

The first thing that catches your eye is the unique public transport: jeepneys and tricycles. The jeepney is an example of how the Filipinos absolutely loved the American military Jeep Wrangler. Since at that time there was no cooler car on these islands, local mechanics began to copy the design of the jeep, but make cars designed for passenger transportation.

This is how incredible minibuses turned out, without which it is difficult to imagine modern Philippines. Each driver decorates his jeepney in his own way. Everyone is trying to stand out, and that’s why tacky works of art are roaming around towns and villages, dousing passers-by with black solar smoke.

Tricycles are the Philippine version of the auto rickshaw. For some reason they chose the option of a motorcycle with a covered sidecar.

Tricycles are everywhere. This is a national type of individual transport because it is cheap and, if you suck in your stomachs, it can accommodate 10 people. Each region has its own unique tricycle design and you can use them to study the culture of different Filipino peoples.

Thus, during your first time in Manila, what attracts your attention the most are jeepneys and tricycles. The rest is not interesting.

I am deeply convinced that Manila, in terms of tourism, is intended only for masochistic tourists. If you want to spend time in this mediocre city and realize it's only a stone's throw away... snow-white beaches, incredible mountains, volcanoes and lakes, then you are undoubtedly harming yourself. True, there is one exception. You should go to Manila if you have been sitting on a remote beach for a month and miss civilization. There you can sit at Starbucks, shop and taste fast food.

But I’m not saying this because something really spoiled my impression. I didn’t really go sightseeing, but did business. Maybe that's why I had this opinion. But on the other hand, we got a more independent assessment of this city. It's really boring there.

Manila has a strange quality. There, in the morning, nothing works out for you and all your plans collapse, but in the evening everything is resolved favorably and your plans return to normal. For three days, every morning was nervous and incomprehensible, but in the evening I calmly sipped coffee with a feeling of accomplishment. In India, if it doesn’t work out, then nothing will change until you understand what you’re doing wrong. But here it all depends on the time of day.

On the evening of my last day in Manila, I accidentally met a group of Filipinos at my hotel, who turned out to be wonderful guys, gave me important contacts in different cities and told me about interesting places on the route. This was the first meeting of which there will be many in this country. I did the right thing by drawing up a rough itinerary for the trip. It will be constantly ruled by chance encounters.

In the next post I will tell you in detail about the long purchase of a motorcycle, which I did not make in Manila.

Read the posts about Manila that I wrote in the VKontakte travel community -

This is the first post about a motorcycle trip to the Philippines, in which I will tell you about how a simple Russian guy Sasha came to the Philippines and what happened to him in the first days of his stay in this country. You will also learn the whole truth about the crazy city of Manila.

I left St. Petersburg on November 17, 2013. The cheapest and fastest way to fly to the Philippines is via Hong Kong. Considering that this supercity is visa-free for Russians, it would be a sin not to stay there for a few days, which is what I did. Hong Kong turned out to be so incredible that for the first time in my life I seriously thought about moving for a long time. It’s a long story, so I plan to write a separate post about it with delight and colorful photos.

After three wonderful days in Hong Kong, I went to the airport, walked up to the check-in counter and happily handed the girl with the Philippines Air badge my passport and a printed ticket.

Your return ticket, sir! - she said, smiling sweetly.

Why do I need to show my return ticket? - I asked and began to frantically figure out what to answer, since I didn’t have a return ticket

This is a requirement of the immigration service. Without it, we won't be able to put you on the plane.

Eeeeeee... You know, I don't remember where he is.

No problem, sir! Please provide your last name and departure dates. I'll check the database.

I don't remember the date \ It's not mine \ Call my lawyer \ Please!

Therefore, advice number 1. If you fly to the Philippines, always buy a return ticket!

Another surprise awaited me at the Manila airport. There was no cash, so I naturally went to withdraw money from an ATM. It turned out that for unknown reasons some local banks do not service my card (Alfa-Bank Visa). At that moment I was confused when I realized how dependent I was on the card. I'm in a new country and I don't even have money to drink coffee. Luckily, there was a friendly ATM at the other end of the airport that gave me the money. This is how I first got pesos.

The general opinion about Manila is that it is a terrible city. Mostly tourists use it as a transit point between their country and the beautiful beach and often spit, remembering the capital of the Philippines. But there are also those who like Manila. I relate more to the former.

Manila is absolutely nothing of itself. There is a skyscraper district in Makati with beautiful avenues, but after Hong Kong they seem the most boring. There is a fake restored Spanish fortress. And everything else is a typical low-rise Philippine development, which is interspersed with huge shopping centers and major highways. This city's coat of arms should feature traffic jams and street food. Most of the time, motorists stand still, and passers-by are constantly eating something.

The first thing that catches your eye is the unique public transport: jeepneys and tricycles. The jeepney is an example of how Filipinos absolutely loved the American military Jeep Wrangler. Since at that time there was no cooler car on these islands, local mechanics began to copy the design of the jeep, but make cars designed for passenger transportation.

Tricycles are the Philippine version of the auto rickshaw. For some reason they chose the option of a motorcycle with a covered sidecar.

Thus, during your first time in Manila, what attracts your attention the most are jeepneys and tricycles. The rest is not interesting.

I am deeply convinced that Manila, in terms of tourism, is intended only for masochistic tourists. If you want to spend time in this mediocre city and realize that all around you are just a stone's throw away from white beaches, incredible mountains, volcanoes and lakes, then you are undoubtedly harming yourself. True, there is one exception. You should go to Manila if you have been sitting on a remote beach for a month and miss civilization. There you can sit at Starbucks, shop and taste fast food.

On the evening of my last day in Manila, I accidentally met a group of Filipinos at my hotel, who turned out to be wonderful guys, gave me important contacts in different cities and told me about interesting places along the route. This was the first meeting of which there will be many in this country. I did the right thing by drawing up a rough itinerary for the trip. It will be constantly ruled by chance encounters.

In the next post I will tell you in detail about the long purchase of a motorcycle, which I did not make in Manila.

Read the posts about Manila that I wrote in the VKontakte travel community -

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