Manila: 10 Things to Do
Introduction
City Guide:
Manila
It's cosmopolitan and chameleonlike, equal parts cool and kitsch, and animated with an irrepressible vitality that's capable of reinvigorating even the most world-weary among us. Yet for many folk Manila remains a city less traveled, because its myriad attractions are obscured by a flawed p.r. machine. The city's cultural gumbo of Malay, Spanish, American, Chinese and Arabic influences is heady and rich, but takes a while to fully appreciate. As in many developing-world cities, the traffic is stifling, the poverty pervasive and the urban sprawl daunting. But it's the Philippine capital's very elusiveness that gives it the edge over places that readily reveal their spoils. Embrace its beautiful chaos, even for just a day, and you'll be rewarded.
Connect to this TIME Story
Time.com Best & Worst Lists
Most Popular »
- Shopping for Cool: Yahoo! Board Reportedly Set to Weigh $1.1B Tumblr Deal
- Is 'Star Trek Into Darkness' Too Dark?
- Timelapse
- Science's Brilliant Blunders: How Oops Moments Became Eurekas
- After Fighting Over Mountains, India and China Lock Horns in the Indian Ocean
- The Angelina Effect: TIME's New Cover Image Revealed
- Why Warming Oceans Could Mean Dwindling Fish
- 'The Office' Watch: That's What She Said
- Don't Drink the Pool Water! It Contains a Surprising Amount of...Human Waste
- Twitter Data Maps Show How Interconnected Our World Really Is
- Millennials: The Me Me Me Generation
- Forget the IRS — There's an Olive-Oil Scandal Afoot
- Sorting Out the Scandals
- Bangladesh to Raise Wages for Garment Workers
- Tips for Lowering Your Medical Bills
- How to Unfriend on Facebook Without Offending
- Australia's Costly Asylum-Seeker Policy Contributes to Nation's Deficit Woes
- Weak Financial Literacy Scores Threaten a Global Education Movement
- Who's in Charge Here?
- The End of Insulin?
