Manila, Philippines (02/14/2015-02/17/2015)

Manila, capital city of the 100 million strong archipelago nation, is where roughly 10% of Filipinos call home. This arguably can be as high as 25% if you consider the encroachment into neighbouring provinces.  Most people live within the surrounding suburbs, such as Makati, Quezon City, and Taguig, each with different characters and feels.   Central Manila is the site of old Spanish colonial sites, old heritage buildings that managed to survive WWII, while Makati looks a lot like Manhattan with the occasional palm tree (even down to the street naming and signage). 

I had the rare fortune on the weekend prior to my meetings to go on a walking tour with Carlos Celdran, a theatre actor, and infamous pro-choice activist (a dangerous stance in a strongly Catholic nation) who gave us a colourful and emotional view on this country's rich and tragic history.

As a hard working, well educated, English speaking nation fluent in American culture, one would think that it would be well on the way to being a rich and developed nation, but this is unfortunately very far away from the truth.  The building blocks are there, but something has held it back - which I won't speculate on here.  The good news, is that there is a sense of optimism and recent developments suggest that there may be hope.  

The Philippines pre-World War II was well on its way to this path - with Manila having the first modern sewage system, first cinemas, and Air Philippines being the first airline in Asia, but the war, and subsequent bombing flat of old Manila put an end to this, and it could be said that the city never really recovered.  

Perhaps due to some of the cultural similarities, it felt a bit more closer to home when a young child begs for money in fluent English and explains his situation articulately vs. a similarly unfortunate doing the same with hand gestures and a few broken words, and I'm happy to be doing some work in this country to try to help improve things in whatever small way. 

The food is great, both local and international - people really have a zeal for eating, and the focus on locally sourced 'real' food, really makes the experience just that much better.  The number of local farmers markets, night fairs, etc. exemplify this trend. One thing I am perplexed by is how, at an average of 6 meals a day, and diet rich in sugar, meat and fat, the nation isn't yet extremely obese (perhaps it will be soon).

The people here we've met are very warm, kind, and we were touched by the hospitality we received - whether friends or complete strangers.

I look forward to spending more time in this country - but for now here are just a few pics from Manila itself.