bangkok and manila
 

going for a couple days in each for business

will have sunday free in bangkok - staying at:
Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit
250 Sukhumvit Road, Bangkok

and then off to Manila - staying at:
The Peninsula Manila
1226 Makati City,
Metro Manila,

any recommendations for things to see, places to eat, hang out in and around these areas? As said, given the whole day free in bangkok on Sunday, i can go a little further afield to see stuff (want to see a Buddhist temple at least and eat local food)

any advice much appreciated!

ride an elephant!!

Most of the elephant related stuff is quite a ways out of town. Bangkok is a fantastic city in that you can really do anything you want - shopping in a modern part of town, visit the floating market and some of the temples for a more cultural experience, definitely eat some great food regardless.

However, if you want an amazing way to end the night, I'd recommend bucking up and going for a drink at Sky Bar at Le Bua... Sky Bar | World's highest open air bar in Bangkok | Bangkok Luxury Hotels | lebua Hotels & Resorts Thailand I went when I was there and it was an amazing "once in a lifetime" kind of way to end the night.

http://adrianerdedi.com/wp-content/u...2/06/lebua.jpg

Ever seen a ping pong show?

Peninsula is a great hotel in Makati. Since you're only there for a few days, probably best to stick in the metro manila area. Check out some of the malls, like Mall of Asia or Trinoma, or any of the malls around the Makati/Pasig City area. It's ultra modern and there are a tone of places to eat everywhere.

I would suggest going to Eastwood area to hang out for drinks and good food. Lots of tourists in that area but you probably want to avoid staying out too long as it should be getting pretty intensely hot. If you're feeling adventurous you could try and eat some street food... Bourdain style, or take the trike to a main road and ride the jeepney through the polluted streets of the big city.

There are also plenty of legitimate, and illegitimate massage places in Quezon city and lots of historical places, museums, and monuments to check out. Luckily pretty much everyone speaks English and most people are more than happy to direct you the right way if you happen to get lost.

If you're up for an awesome BBQ dive, check out this place (it's a taxi ride away, maybe 20-30 mins?)

Ihaw Balot Plaza
8 Scout Borromeo
Lungsod Quezon
Philippines

https://www.facebook.com/IhawBalotPlaza?fref=ts


It was brought to my attention (as well as my family) as my aunt's sister in law actually owns the joint. Super nice people, and their food is so damn good. Your money definitely goes a long way there for what you get.

Not the best decor by a mile. Actually, having IBS, it almost caused anxiety attacks lol. But their BBQ food is absolutely top notch. Went there twice. Just remember to drink a ton of beer to wash it all down! BBQ liempo (pork belly), sisig, grilled tuna belly and grilled squid are must haves. Try a bunch of the other stuff if you want to sample everything. Cheap cheap cheap.

Being Filipino I hate Manila actually- it's dangerous in a lot of places, unbearably hot even in "winter", and dirty as fuck (unless you stay in Makati, which is essentially the business district). That said, I will go out of my way to eat here when I go back then GTFO of Manila proper lol

Edit: As for the malls- I find that everything is either the same price or more expensive than here in Van. Trinoma was actually my favorite out of the bunch. MoA is huge, but you'll find that you're just going to walk it if you're not really interested in finding deals. A lot of the world's biggest malls are in Manila, so if you're just curious as to how big malls can get, you can definitely kill some time there. Personally, I'd rather try and find other things to do as the malls tend to get repetitive. The best part of the malls is that in big stores like ShoeMart, there are tons of workers compared to here in North America. You almost get personalized shopping, which is nice since some of the women that work there are quite nice to look at.

If you were to check out malls in Manila, check out Shangri La and Rockwell.

The Peninsula is a good hotel. When you get to their lobby look up at the ceiling, it looks great at night.

If you like shopping and eating stick to the nicer areas like Makati or The Fort. The high end malls like Greenbelt 5 are truly high end and better than anything Canada has to offer.

Lots to recommend but you need to be more specific.

Thanks for the recommendations, pretty much have Sunday full up (temples, and other sights), Saturday was good food and drink - rest of week I won't have time to do anything, and will be taken places by business associates.

The recommendations are greatly appreciated!