Manila: A Day In Southeast Asia's Most Dangerous City

On my way to Hong Kong for my China visa run I thought I'd drop by the Philippines to see what it is like. Although Manila is not really representative of what people go to the Philippines for. The Philippines prides itself in having amazing beaches and great weather. Manila is an urban nightmare, the public transport is terrible and the traffic makes it impossible to go across the city quickly enough.

Manila also has a terrible reputation in terms of crime, however were are no guys on the street trying to sell me drugs and there was no-one who approached me in trying to rob me. However, when I was walking through a questionable looking neighbourhood known as San Andres I was approached by a scrawny old man who told I shouldn't be here because it is dangerous. He insisted on getting me a taxi to go to Fort Santiago he even came in the taxi with me and once we got there he tried to get money from me by asking for money for a fare to get back and I just ignored him. I guess that is karma.

The area of Intramuros has beautiful catholic churches and Fort Santiago. An old colonial fort used by the Spanish during the colonisation of the Philippines. The place is really well kept however the stink from the river and pollution cannot be ignored. The cathedral in Intramuros is truly well kept, it made me feel like I was back in South America with the Spanish influence.



What has to be said about the Philippines is that it is incredibly cheap, I took a tricycle from Intramuros to go over to Rizal Park for about £2.30. You could probably live on about a tenner a day and for that once I got to Hong Kong I exchanged my Philippine pesos into Hong Kong dollars.


Rizal park is probably the most iconic site in Manila and it really doesn't have much to it, it's just a park and a national monument to the Philippines almost like the national mall in America. It is being used properly as a park as it is full of people just hanging about. 


One of the things that Manila is centred around is gargantuan shopping centres, the main one is known as the Mall of Asia. It is huge and has everything. A food court with almost every national food so I had some Chinese food for lunch before going over to Hong Kong. 

What I'd say about Manila is that it's not such a great place for solo travel and somewhere you can spend so long in. The fact that transportation is simply awful makes it a challenge to visit.

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