My personal Top 5 things to do in the Philippines

Rice terraces near Bontoc - to tell the truth, the pictures shows an area where wheat is planted instead of rice
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The best things I've done in three weeks:

• Rice fields in the North (Bontoc and Banaue) and the bus ride to get there (Halsema Road)
• Vigan (a Spanish town like 500 years ago - and then left to the Philippines)
• Boracay (the most beautiful beach so far)
• A Massage (for as low as 3 Euros/hours it is very cheap and makes one forget the trouble in the streets)
• Travelling in a jeepney, a tricycle and a pedicab (public transport more or less uniquely Philippine)

and some don'ts

Vigan where horses are still used for daily transport purposes
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The worst things I've done:

• Staying in Manila (just don't, if you arrive in Clark go North directly. There's no need and no use for the detour to Manila)
•  Taking a slow non-aircon bus for a long distance ride that took an eternity due to lunch-, piss- and I-don't-know-breaks topped by a stop to get a passenger on or off every five minutes.
• Taking taxis/tricycles/pedicabs waiting in front of a bus terminal/hotel/touristic sight/... (that way I paid up to 10 times more compared to flagging one down that is driving by - i.e. never using waiting transports)
• Paid 35 Euros for a night in a crap room - happened in Manila of course