FURTHER IMPRESSIONS

After spending a whole 20 hours in Manila I had two extra things to add to my initial impressions. The first is that after visiting Intramuros, literally 'Within the Walls' the colonial part of the city surrounded by 20 foot high, thick, stone walls built in an attempt to protect the continual ransacking of the city by pirates and other colonial powers, I was struck by the overwhelming sense of having arrived a little too late and missed the city in its prime.
Perhaps it is the curse of colonial cities, as I was reminded of the same sort of feeling when I visited a number of old cities in Latin America. (Curiously though Cartagena in Colombia is an exception which stands out, the old city is still full of charm) I started to imagine how the grand buildings must have once been grand, and a city that was full of people rather than drowning under the weight of the noise, pollution and traffic generated by cars.

After thinking about it for a while, I largely the blame lies on the automobile and the refusal of governments to invest in the maintenance of public infrastructure. Cars ruin the charm and cover everything in a black soot which slowly eats away at buildings, which due to lack of investment deteriate more rapidlly than they otherwise would. All in all it generates the feeling of a slow decline and the absence of hope, which is in stark contrast to the cities I had just visited in Malaysia and Thailand. And somehow it seems to rub off on the people as well.

The second was the food, whch in a word was crap, Everywhere I looked there was pig on the spit, and everywhere else was some other form of meat, usually deep fried. The breakfast on offer at the hostel where I stayed was stoggy rice, egg and a choice of 6 different types of meat. After my little incident on the flight with Phillipine Airlines (see below) I might be a little biased, but I don't think you would go for a holiday to the Phillipines for the food.