(01-28-2016 09:09 PM)Brodiaga Wrote:  Guys, not every trip to Asia is a successful one, especially for those of us who can only come for a couple of weeks or so.

Brodiaga, it's not really the mishaps or any percieved lack of success that have stirred up the beehive here (many of us have had our ladyboy run-ins, for example). There are quite a few of us who poke fun at our own mishaps and tell hilarious stories about our blunders all the time, and the forum laughs along with us. No one is expecting a flawless entry into a new country - no one implied a matter of days was enough to become an expert but him, and people were picking on the screw-ups in contrast to that implication. It was what came across as posturing that riled everyone up, and in fact, I'm pretty sure there are quite a few long-term guys here who felt like saying something but resisted the urge because he's a respected member.

Anyhow, I spoke with DVY via LINE again. My assertions about the line of posting still stand, but at least for me, I'm certainly not going to hold it against him. I was impressed by his ability to remain good-natured and cordial even in light of my criticisms here. Based on his handling of this conflict, I would go ahead and take an opportunity to meet him in person at this point. In any case, I think I speak for everyone, including him, when I say we'd probably all rather move the discussion on to other things.

I don't think anyone here is eager to make enemies, especially with a fellow long-term contributor.

Well said BB, I would meetup with DVY also if the opportunity was there. I enjoy his posts but obviously we're going to call him out if we disagree. Any friend should do that.

Also, he has his way of being and I have mine. What works for him probably wouldn't for me and vice versa.

He's pretty honest in his posts really. He landed there and had a great time enjoying typical Philipino hospitality which can make you feel like a star. Now that he's been there for more than a week he's starting to see flaws in the shiny diamond and he's been honest about that too.

The bravado of locking down the city and all the rest is comical, but I like hanging out with a guy who has a personality.

(01-28-2016 04:19 AM)262 Wrote:  Relax DVY. Keep your frame, don't take anything emotionally, and don't react emotionally.

Folks are always going to hate on folks dropping $$$ - and that's coming from someone who doesn't drop $$$.

Also, my personal opinion is that while $$$ is required for certain social circles, there comes a point where you can't shortcut a time investment.

I figure that's even more true in old money circles, where they're constantly spammed by all the new, temporary, or fake money trying to break in.

Weird how guys like Global Entry, Fisto, Vicious, Gringuito, Scotian, etc. can blow through money traveling without anyone saying a thing. If you look through my previous posts, I'm constantly telling guys to focus on the higher end girls, hit higher end venues, etc.

The people who catch flack are the ones who constantly talk about money and pretend it's the be-all and end-all for game or life. Not-so-coincidentally, the two guys who caught the most shit for this in the past were also quoted by DVY in this very thread.

Where has DVY's spending gotten him? He just admitted in his last few posts that almost everyone he's met has been a bullshitter and he's having trouble relating to native Filipinos. This is what guys have been saying all along.

I don't want to pile on DVY anymore. He's said he's bowing out, and I honestly think he's a cool guy. I just think he should spend less time hyping himself up.

But I couldn't help addressing this recurring argument that people on the forum constantly "hate" on anything high-end simply for the sake of hating. That's just an excuse. Way more guys get called out on this forum who aren't running high-end game than those who are.

I met DVY in Taiwan and can confirm he's a stand up guy. Very far from "socially miscalibrated" or anything like that. I can kind of understand how his particular approach might rile up people here in the forum, maybe also has to do with his writing style, but he is a smart dude - if whatever he's doing isn't working, he'll stop doing it.

(01-29-2016 01:46 PM)Enigma Wrote:  But I couldn't help addressing this recurring argument that people on the forum constantly "hate" on anything high-end simply for the sake of hating. That's just an excuse. Way more guys get called out on this forum who aren't running high-end game than those who are.

Yeah, I meant it more generally, from a Western society perspective, rather than a forum one.

As myself and other have posted before, The Fort is not a great place for girls to come meet you. Some girls would even say they didn't know where it was, whatever that meant, maybe just an excuse. The general feeling is that mainly it was just difficult to access (or leave to get back home) from other parts of Manila due to traffic which is completely true. Once I moved to Makati near Greenbelt it was a whole different ballgame, my location never came up again as a problem/reason to meet.

^ I've also met girls who've asked me "what's the fort", and I didn't even ask them to come there. Try "BGC", "SM Aura in Taguig" and so on.

Does dropping a lot of money in Taiwan help you get high end?

In my experience I didn't think you needed to do that there, provided at least you got obviously the cash to pay for the basic accommodation, food, club entry to good clubs (which can be expensive) and buy some drinks.
Actually i thought the girls in the clubs were pretty westernized in Taipei and a lot of them could be Dtf. A lot of the girls are not that wealthy either the ones going to the clubs there. The wealthier ones are in more closed circles. Sure, If you are dropping a lot of money sure it can increase your chances, like getting a table etc.

Haven't been out in Manila a lot at night but from what I guess from going out few nights is that the club scene is a lot more smaller in terms of the segments of society it attracts. In contrast, Basically anyone working an average marketing job can afford to go to a club in Taipei so it might be more westernized and similar to the US in that aspect.
I just think there are very different styles in Taipei and Manila. What works in one place, especially night venues, might not work in another. In Manila you have to be or more patient as everything works slower and I would suggest hit up online while you are not doing much during the day, get some time occupied and hit up night venues as a bonus. Taipei does have a more "bad girls" feel for the girls there in clubs and a lot of them love it that way. The normal girls also dress abit more slutty but p4p is almost none existent in mainstream clubs.

(01-30-2016 11:08 AM)worldtraveler3 Wrote:  Does dropping a lot of money in Taiwan help you get high end?

In my experience I didn't think you needed to do that there, provided at least you got obviously the cash to pay for the basic accommodation, food, club entry to good clubs (which can be expensive) and buy some drinks.
Actually i thought the girls in the clubs were pretty westernized in Taipei and a lot of them could be Dtf. A lot of the girls are not that wealthy either the ones going to the clubs there. The wealthier ones are in more closed circles. Sure, If you are dropping a lot of money sure it can increase your chances, like getting a table etc.

Haven't been out in Manila a lot at night but from what I guess from going out few nights is that the club scene is a lot more smaller in terms of the segments of society it attracts. In contrast, Basically anyone working an average marketing job can afford to go to a club in Taipei so it might be more westernized and similar to the US in that aspect.
I just think there are very different styles in Taipei and Manila. What works in one place, especially night venues, might not work in another. In Manila you have to be or more patient as everything works slower and I would suggest hit up online while you are not doing much during the day, get some time occupied and hit up night venues as a bonus. Taipei does have a more "bad girls" feel for the girls there in clubs and a lot of them love it that way. The normal girls also dress abit more slutty but p4p is almost none existent in mainstream clubs.

No more $ isnt better but buying shots of high quality alcohol will be received well. The key is to mention how this is your favorite alcohol and she will watch how much u pay often. Its human curiosity.

I was drinking for free at a bunch of rich singapore guys tables because i could bring 5-10 girls each time especially at elektro,

In fact i did nothing special.. just said lets go drink their alcohol and then dance. Thats last little bit is the key to getting girls to come. Nobody wants to sit at the table and just talk in taiwan, Dancing is the reason they go to the club. Because it wasnt my alcohol they would follow me around to new tables and drink their shit. I would just laugh at them. But the guys will soak up any female attention. Game> $.

So yes it can help to a degree but in my experience the table is worse than being free because you have no mobility plus often these girls have their own tables so wtf does it do for u. If you have a big group that dynamic changes because then you have a home base, but if you are rolling 2-3 peeps its really not that worth it.

I hopped from singapores table to a group of 5-6 HK girls adjacent to singapores guy table. Thats tough if you are locked to a table. I did leave all the girls at the sings table. They were drinking mac-12 and veuve cliquot. Like that impresses anybody. Tons of tourists from HK come to party there because its half price of HK or singapore. Balling out is standard.

(01-30-2016 06:36 AM)rvlefty Wrote:  As myself and other have posted before, The Fort is not a great place for girls to come meet you. Some girls would even say they didn't know where it was, whatever that meant, maybe just an excuse. The general feeling is that mainly it was just difficult to access (or leave to get back home) from other parts of Manila due to traffic which is completely true. Once I moved to Makati near Greenbelt it was a whole different ballgame, my location never came up again as a problem/reason to meet.

The fort might as well be an island somewhere for a lot of manila girls. A lot of girls aren't familiar with it because they have zero reason to travel in that direction to begin with.

I've always talked about how overrated and saturated Makati is. It's mostly a tourist place filled with call centers, hoes, and girls living off sponsors/daddy.

If you want real high society girls go try your social game in Alabang. It's not a party place but every other girl you meet there in their nearby shopping centers will most likely be high end. It's not that easy.

If you want middle class go to Quezon City or thereabouts where there's plenty of middle class girls.


Makati is mostly IRT, arabs, and johnny come lately western tourists. It has some good qualities to it but it's very overrated on here. A lot of girls are very jaded. You could even draw a 6 mile radius around that area and figure out what their attitudes and experiences will be before ever meeting them.

Can anyone recommend some websites for monthly hotels or monthly apartments, or drop general advice on that theme?

Mainly interested in second tier cities like Cebu or Davao. Possibly Cagayan de Oro.

I did airbnb/agoda but thats tourist prices. Id recommend doing it like BB or fisto have talked about. Book a short stay, get a local girl to help you look around and bargain for it.

Expect longer term furnished apartments to be cheaper than short term.

Its not worth that jazz for short term trips. Just do airbnb or agoda. Pay up for less headache

(02-01-2016 01:16 PM)DVY Wrote:  I did airbnb/agoda but thats tourist prices. Id recommend doing it like BB or fisto have talked about. Book a short stay, get a local girl to help you look around and bargain for it.

Expect longer term furnished apartments to be cheaper than short term.

Its not worth that jazz for short term trips. Just do airbnb or agoda. Pay up for less headache

What can we expect monthly rents to be in neighborhoods like Makati vs Fort vs QC, etc?

Also would be good to compare these numbers to rents at Cebu and Davao.

Fort runs 30k-80k pesos/month for furnished. Probably 40-50k is right about the sweet spot and youll find something fast. This is from talking to moneyed phils.

I know a Asia based finance guy who married high-end. They are paying ~125k/month (don't want to blow his cover) but they have one of the poshest places (few bedrooms, beautiful view) in Makati. Ultra high end. Thats about the tippy top.

Other places probably are lesser range bound. Wouldnt know TBH. Other guys prolly know better.

(02-01-2016 01:29 PM)DVY Wrote:  Fort runs 30k-80k pesos/month for furnished. Probably 40-50k is right about the sweet spot and youll find something fast. This is from talking to moneyed phils.

Too rich for my blood. I'd prefer something more modest, maybe a studio or 1BR with a balcony for around $500 (or 22k php) per month. From what I hear, it's going to be difficult to attain within the Fort... but easier to cut a deal like this in Makati?

(02-01-2016 12:47 PM)dispenser Wrote:  Can anyone recommend some websites for monthly hotels or monthly apartments, or drop general advice on that theme?

Mainly interested in second tier cities like Cebu or Davao. Possibly Cagayan de Oro.

I'm not sure what you mean mate. If you're apartment hunting then OLX, Property 24 and Cebu Classifieds will do the trick for you but there's very few short term places on there.

The vast majority of landlords will want at least a 6 month contract, last month's rent and a deposit. So if you're only looking to stay for 1 month AirBnb is still your best option.

(02-01-2016 01:21 PM)CleanSlate Wrote:  What can we expect monthly rents to be in neighborhoods like Makati vs Fort vs QC, etc?

Also would be good to compare these numbers to rents at Cebu and Davao.

For 15K you can get a nice studio in Cebu - eg in a building with a rooftop swimming pool or the like. I've also checked 10-12K places and while liveable they're not really for a person used to European standards.

Eg there's condos in Mabolo which are so famously crowded that in the morning chances are water isn't running because there's too many people taking a shower already.

Hey Leap, sounds good man. If I enjoy my five nights in Cebu I'd definitely be up to get a studio with a rooftop pool.

Note that at The Fort most all the accommodations are fairly new, with maybe a slightly higher perceived value at the East end nearer to the malls.

Whereas the "City of Makati" is relatively large and includes the prime areas around Greenbelt and Ayala Ave CBD, but it also has other areas with open sewers and shanty buildings.
For primeness and cost, start with the accommodations immediately around Greenbelt/Glorietta then as you move further away from there the costs will drop.
You will find modern or new apartment buildings at more reasonably prices at the North end of Makati Ave around the Burgos "sexpat" area and over on the West side.
Of course, the trade off is that you are just that much further away from where you want to meet and hang out. Often a bit to far to walk in the heat, but not quite far enough to bother with a taxi.

I would think that if you could find a tidy 1 brm or studio within 3 - 5 minute walk of Greenbelt or Glorietta for a month or less for php1500/day, it would be a bargain.

(02-01-2016 01:55 PM)CleanSlate Wrote:  

(02-01-2016 01:29 PM)DVY Wrote:  Fort runs 30k-80k pesos/month for furnished. Probably 40-50k is right about the sweet spot and youll find something fast. This is from talking to moneyed phils.

Too rich for my blood. I'd prefer something more modest, maybe a studio or 1BR with a balcony for around $500 (or 22k php) per month. From what I hear, it's going to be difficult to attain within the Fort... but easier to cut a deal like this in Makati?

(02-01-2016 04:59 PM)Antipodean Wrote:  I would think that if you could find a tidy 1 brm or studio within 3 - 5 minute walk of Greenbelt or Glorietta for a month or less for php1500/day, it would be a bargain.

I hear you on the walking vs cab with distances to the best areas. But the 1500 php/day is what I can get for airbnb for a few weeks stay in those areas. I would expect to pay less than that for long term rentals, 6 months or longer. How easy would it be to find a place near Greenbelt/glorietta for $500/mo?

Maybe I can get one of my girls in the Phils to negotiate for me... she's in the real estate business

(02-01-2016 07:32 PM)CleanSlate Wrote:  

(02-01-2016 04:59 PM)Antipodean Wrote:  I would think that if you could find a tidy 1 brm or studio within 3 - 5 minute walk of Greenbelt or Glorietta for a month or less for php1500/day, it would be a bargain.

I hear you on the walking vs cab with distances to the best areas. But the 1500 php/day is what I can get for airbnb for a few weeks stay in those areas. I would expect to pay less than that for long term rentals, 6 months or longer. How easy would it be to find a place near Greenbelt/glorietta for $500/mo?

Maybe I can get one of my girls in the Phils to negotiate for me... she's in the real estate business

At the end of 2014, the cheapest I saw was about 17,000 pesos for a studio located between Gamboa and Benavidez. I don't think it was furnished, but that's a 5 min walk to Greenbelt.

Your girl should defiantly be able to help you, that could be a great resource.

Cleanslate, check rentpad.ph.com.

(02-01-2016 10:45 PM)Beyond Borders Wrote:  Cleanslate, check rentpad.ph.com.

Bookmarked. Thanks!

Hey guys,

I have been in Manila for a couple of days and will stay for 3 more weeks. If anyone wants to do nightgame (or maybe daygame) together, PM me. Should be fun.

PS: Can somebody recommend some nightgame venues here that are currently good? So far I only have Valkyre on my radar.

Dr. Feelgood, I was there just for 2 1/2 weeks so this should be answered by more senior members, but....


Vaklyre is pretty good if you are a solid night gamer. The clubs in Burgos not so much because they are not big enough, although I really enjoyed the music in Time (went there 4 or 5 times). I think you can do well in clubs in for example Malate, I have heard great things, but I haven't been myself.

Valkyrie is a great club, but no so much to pull. The club is classy and it is huge. You can walky freely between Valkyrie which is indoors and Palace which is outdoors and has a pool. This is great as you can go outside to Palace to chill and talk a bit, then go back inside Valkyrie to dance. You can choose to enter whichever club at first, it doesn't matter as you'll be able to go back and forth between the two once inside.
Valkyrie has a great party atmoshpere with many people dancing, and it is packed on weekends. However it is quite empty on weekdays.

Now compared to the overall absurd easiness of the Philippines, Valkyrie is not the best place to come pull. You will have a lot more competition in terms of white guys, many girls are at tables and not impressed at all by the white god factor. I have a much easier time pulling from a club in Singapore than from Valkyrie for instance. I've found it's best to go to Valkyrie already accompanied by a girl and their friends, and just game them.

There's another place that I can highly recommend, in the Tomas Morato area, in Quezon City.
It is a long street full of bars and clubs, that caters mostly to students and young Filipinos. I've been to one place in particular several times, called Guilly's.
It gets kicking quite late, after 2am, and even on weekdays it gets full. Music is mostly hip-hop/house, there's a good atmosphere and people drink a lot. They have two levels, and you can play beer pong on the top one. I've had some pretty fun nights there, and while I didn't get a same night lay from this place, I got several numbers that all yielded me a lay in the follwing days. So I would suggest to go and have fun there, collect numbers and try for the SNL as well.