I love visiting The Philippines and have done many times mainly for work reasons but I can well understand why the average tourist does not . An image I have of Manila is driving through a spaggetti junction type underpass late night in a traffic jam , dry hot and dusty with the roar of Jeepneys echoing off the greyish/black concrete and spewing exhaust smoke everywhere lit only by vehicle headlights and yet hundreds of people eeking a living on the narrow sidewalks , its about the only time I have felt intimidated by the blackness , noise and oppressive atmosphere , I think a typical tourist would have found the experience very offputting . Fortunately I also know the good side of Manila , I cannot remember ever having a stomach upset through eating in a restaraunt or takeaway and I have dined in some cheap gaffs mainly on seafood yet I have suffered plenty after eating in 5 star hotels in Hong Kong and Singapore over the years and this is probably the opposite to the experience most tourists expect . I had to go into Makati hospital once , no travel insurance and was expecting a large bill but got excellent and immediate treatment for not much more than the cost of a meal in a restaraunt , the fact everyone could speak better english than me helped take some of the anxiety out of the situation . I contrast this with a visit to hospital in Japan which really scared me mainly due to the difficulty I had communicating with the medical staff and that visit resulted in a very large bill . I agree let the tourists go to Thailand and Malaysia for now , eventually Philippines will catch up with these destinations but I cant see it happening soon .
