Metro Manila //city of contrasts

[Bronxwood]

Is that a "double-decker sidewalk" in pic #44!? First time I've seen a thread on the real Manila, thank you. Honestly, Asian cities and Latin American cities are on a whole other level of 'hustle and bustle' not seen in North America. This is truly chaotic. Manila looks very interesting albeit kind of on the ugly side. I'd love to get lost in those streets. How much of the old district of intramuros is actually still standing? Looks like quite a bit actually survived the bombings.

[Chef]

I really enjoyed this thread.

[sabotai]

Originally Posted by Bronxwood

Is that a "double-decker sidewalk" in pic #44!? First time I've seen a thread on the real Manila, thank you. Honestly, Asian cities and Latin American cities are on a whole other level of 'hustle and bustle' not seen in North America. This is truly chaotic. Manila looks very interesting albeit kind of on the ugly side. I'd love to get lost in those streets. How much of the old district of intramuros is actually still standing? Looks like quite a bit actually survived the bombings.

They're basically pedestrian overpasses connected to the LRT. You'd have to be insane to cross some of the larger roads.

Intramuros seemed mostly rebuilt, but almost a ghost town compared to everything around it. Apparently San Agustin Church was the only building to survive WWII.

[POLA]

sick photo tour.

[STLgasm]

Damn, you're a good photographer!

[Nineties Flava]

I remember walking by that 7 Eleven in the fourth pic a few months ago. Manila's a very interesting city to say the least... There's definitely a ton of contrasts that more often than not exist next to each other. World-class malls are a block away from open gutters and brand new railways are abutted by permanent squatters. There's a big expat population and culture that caters to wealthy Spanish/mainland Asian/American businessmen and their families, particularly in areas of Makati and further south. There's a ton of depth to the city and it's very difficult as an outsider to begin to scratch the surface of it. You definitely did just that... Thanks for an incredible thread.

[stepper77]

I've never seen the street level of Manila before. Nice job, thanks!

[Ex-Ithacan]

Wow, what a trip that was. Pic#38 kind of sums up the contrasts. And #3 is crazy. I did get a good chuckle seeing the little guy in #80. Thanks for the enlightening tour.

[ChiTownCity]

Everything I was expecting plus some. They serve fried chicken at their McDonalds?:


SAB_0861.jpg by sabotai, on Flickr

[sabotai]

Originally Posted by ChiTownCity

Everything I was expecting plus some. They serve fried chicken at their McDonalds?:


SAB_0861.jpg by sabotai, on Flickr

Hells yes they do! It's pretty decent too.

[IMBY]

My body has been ruined by too much living in the low humidity desert, and I know better than to even think about going there, as much as I'd love to spend time in those open-air markets, riding those colorful buses and tuk-tuk's!

All that humidity would probably stop my heart, dead in its tracks!

I just read the book The Marcos Dynasty and I recall, one time, in the 70's, they were having a World Bank convention there, the U.S. had given the Marcos's some money to clean up some big eyesore shantytown in downtown Manila, develop some housing for the poor there. Of course, that money was squandered, and worried some U.S. official would investigate the progress being made in this shantytown, Imelda came up with a great idea: She forcefully relocated some 6000 families and their possessions, transported them by garbage trucks to the outer edges of the city (out of sight, out of mind!) and leveled the Shantytown!

Often wonder, what became of that land that was cleared?

[gatt]

soooooooooo different.

[Tiger Beer]

Manila is always a cool-looking city....if it didn't have such a big crime and poverty reputation, I think more people would go and see it first-hand.

[Echoes]

Some of these street scenes looked so bizarrely familiar to me it's as if they're snapshots of my own memories of Manila.

Then I was reading the comments and see that you stayed at Friendly's in Malate, where I stayed when I visited in 2014.