Interesting things in Manila and Singapore?

dickydonkin

Voyager2002 wrote: »

I lived in Manila for two years, and for various reasons have revisited since. So my experience was very much one of meeting local people and experiencing the "culture" (such as it is there) rather than visiting resorts. The over-riding sensation is of frustration from the constant traffic jams, pain from the choking air pollution, and annoyance at the loud disco-pop music from a hundred different and competing sources, each trying to drown out all the others.

The only way to protect yourself from most of these annoyances is to spend fairly substantial amounts of money in order to live in a way very different from most local people, which to me rather defeats the point of travel.

Another point: most people who choose to visit the Philippines do so in order to experience natural beauty, islands and snorkelling on coral reefs. Such people, like me, are likely to be particularly upset by the environmental nightmare that is Manila. The best advice to them is to spend as little time as possible there. It is unfortunate that tourist literature perpetuates the myth that the Manila experience is in any way a part of the visit to the Philippines that most tourists seek.

Many of the 'negatives' described above could apply to many destinations in the world and are certainly not unique to Manila.

Many people do indeed travel to experience natural beauty but I really believe you have to see the warts of a destination to learn about the place.

I recently visited Mumbai. - a city with many of the issues you described. Yes, the temples were nice, the legacy of the British was there for all to see, but I also asked to see the slums of the city which believe it or not was a fascinating insight to how locals can defy poverty.

Some may describe loud noise and heavy traffic as an annoyance in a city-others may describe it as vibrant and adds to the atmosphere.

It is apparent that Manila does not appeal to you, however, speaking to guests in our hotel, it would seem that there were many returning visitors to the city.

As I alluded to earlier, let the OP make up their own mind.