After spending twenty years going to sea I’ve heard a lot about the Philippines. Filipinos make up a large portion of the world’s maritime workforce and many sailors enjoy spending time there when they’re not working aboard a ship. One thing I hadn’t heard about in all those years was the Filipino customs observed during Holy Week.
Everyone knows the Philippines a heavily Catholic country. Around 80% of people there identify as Catholics. Still, it never occurred to me that celebrating Holy Week there would be dramatically different than how Catholics observe Easter in the US.
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My plan was to fly into Manila and hang around for a few days checking out the city. When I’d seen enough I’d just pop open Skyscanner and book a flight to El Nido or Boracay. One beach is as good as another really. Flights around the Philippines are typically inexpensive and hotels are very affordable. That is, if you can book them.
Search the Map: Philippines Beach Stays at Hotels.com
I had no idea that during Holy Week Filipinos do one of two things: go back to the provinces for a family reunion or have the reunion at the beach. As you can see above, nearly every hotel room at that beach was sold out. Every beach looked exactly like that when searching for rooms. The few rooms that were available were either extremely overpriced or leftover rooms in questionable hotels away from the beach that no one else wanted.
Every day I’d check prices for various flights and hotels and every day they were all much higher than usual. It looked like I was going to have to ride out Holy Week and spend Easter in the city.
Stuck in the City During Holy Week
This wouldn’t be so bad, right? I was staying in a hotel on points so the budget was’t a concern. Manila is a huge city and one could go somewhere different every day and still not see it all in a week.
Unfortunately I didn’t particularly enjoy Manila. I wasn’t finding much of anything to see or do that was interesting. The Philippines has a number of attractions and things to do but I had white sand and palm trees on my mind. Going to see an old church, a monument or a fort was a low priority. When you figure you’re going to be sitting in Manila traffic for an hour each way to get there it was more appealing to just hang around in Makati.
I had arrived a few days before the start of Holy Week, but when Palm Sunday arrived my situation went from bad to worse.
Escaping the Philippines
Beginning on Palm Sunday the city started to empty out day by day. Everyone but me was on their way to the beach or out to the provinces. By Ash Wednesday the normally chaotic streets had become eerily quiet. I was not able to get my laundry washed. Counting Easter Monday I had five more days until Holy Week was over and it was not entirely clear that I’d be able to even feed myself over the weekend.
Anything that remained open, like my hotel, was operating with a skeleton crew. Manila is not a place that’s known for friendly people and great customer service. Managers and senior people were all absent from their work and poor attitudes were apparent all over. A poor experience with the staff was the last straw. It was time to book a plane ticket out no matter the price.
The Philippines isn’t the easiest country to reach by plane. Getting out the same day for a reasonable price during Holy Week left me limited options. I could go back to Hong Kong, which was tempting, or to Singapore. Every other flight with a decent fare was a Singapore connection with a 24 hour layover so visiting Singapore made the most sense.
Book Early: Check Prices from Manila to Singapore
I spent a very long day in the Manila airport before my evening flight. It’s a horrible airport with no amenities outside security and not nearly enough seating. Going out into the city for lunch was all but impossible with nearly everything closed. I even suffered a small delay but mercifully my discount flight finally took off and I was leaving the Philippines, and Holy Week behind.
The Silver Lining on the Philippines Cloud
I know that my experience was not typical. I’d certainly give the Philippines another chance at a time when the beaches are more accessible. Although I think I am done with Manila. Even in the best of times there are cities I’d enjoy visiting more.
The one thing about the Philippines that really stood out to me is this: it’s ridiculously easy to meet women there.
I didn’t have trouble meeting women anywhere in Asia, but the Philippines was on a whole other level. If you’re going over there as a single guy don’t even bother messing around with P Burgos Street (which sucks, by the way). It’s not even necessary to download one of the local dating apps. Just open Tinder or Bumble as soon as you land and there will be hundreds of women who have already matched you. After 20 years of listening to sea stories featuring women in the Philippines it’s safe to say all my shipmates were underselling the country’s virtues.
