Manila Shopping

The shopping in Manila is FABULOUS!! If like many others, you have been to Bangkok and loved the shopping, you will DIE when you shop in Manila.

off to shopping we go!!

Filipinos are so friendly and helpful, the malls have everything you could imagine and the shopping is soo cheap, you will think Thailand is expensive!


Also, if you are like myself and don't speak another language and usually get by, by learning "hello", "goodbye", "thank you" and "how much".... you will find it very easy to get by in Manila, as the majority of the people speak English use formal English. Every morning we were greeted with, "good morning sir, good morning mam" (as I'm typing this I am saying it with a Filipino accent).

I bought this little piglet on our last day in Manila, it is really freaky because it is actually 3D..

your nose pops out and is hard and all! hahaha

While we were shopping, none of us carried handbags, we kept all our valuables in our travel wallets or our bras (mum styles lol), but in saying that, we did feel incredibly safe in the shopping malls. Upon entering each mall everyone is greeted by security guards who check your bags and give you a lite little frisk. You continue to see the guards throughout the mall and with the weapons that they are carrying, you get the feeling stealing $5 from someones pocket would not be worth the risk.

A LOT and by a lot, I mean way more than in Australia, of American chain stores can be found in Manila malls, from Forever 21 to American Apparel. They also have stores like Top Shop and Zara, so again, unlike some other countries, the fashion is similar to ours and you will not struggle to find something you like.

We found a few somethings on our first trip.

Necklace from Zara

 

Apart from the malls in Manila, the 7 elevens and convenience stores are also dabomb.com. Yes, that's right I said convenience stores! Convenience stores in any new country are always fun, but when they sell bottles of STRAWBERRY FLAVOURED vodka for $1.25AUD and chicken skin flavoured chips, they are even better.

Our first night in Manila, we didn't arrive until about 11pm, so we just headed to the local 7 eleven..

 

This was our haul for only $13AUD

and when you drink a lot of that... this is what happens!

In between our shopping adventures, we also sampled, okay DEMOLISHED a truck load of food...

soooo many choices!

Jollibee is a chain fast food restaurant that we spent waay too much time at.

It was delicious and of course cheap!

Yum with cheese please :)

There may have been a few sneaky cocktails at malls too!

Note: arm is not actually THIS huge lol.

Another great thing about shopping in Manila is that in addition to the masses of shops, restaurants and cocktail stops, the malls usually have other fun activities you can do and of course... they are cheap too!

Fair at Mall of Asia

Zip lining...

that is actually us about to take off, for the low low price of $3.

A busker, who challenged my friend to a dance off.

I don't think he has seen a booty shake like that before!haha

  

YES THAT'S RIGHT- they even have mechanical bull riding!!

and after one too many jugs of long island iced tea (in the mall) this is how you end up!! :P

After riding a bull, if you are still a little tipsy and in a mall, you can always head to the game zone!

Sing a little and play a little...

After playing all the games we ended up with TONNES of tickets and no use for them, so we gave them to some school children, who I think thought we were strange, but they loved the tickets anyways!

On a serious note..

This post comes with a WARNING... be careful not to shop TOOOO much in Manila, because if you do, you will end up with thousands of pairs of shoes and they will have to open a shoe museum for you - just like Imelda Marcos :)