Metro Manila is congested with a registered population of more than 11 million people. 2009 estimates raise that number close to 20 million. Manila is noisy and polluted – just like any other mega city in an emerging country. Manila is suffocating in its traffic. Everybody who is commuting to work (using public transportation like I do) will share my frustration.
Unless you are hiding inside gated subdivision neighborhoods poverty is right in your face wherever you look. Sometimes a face looks back at me and smiles. That's when I'm reminded that beauty is not just on the outside. I admit it is hard to see the beauty of Manila at first sight.
But it's there. It has to be – otherwise I wouldn't be living here for more than three years now.
It is the (way too loud) friendly greeting at the mini stop store, the (almost lethargic) please-don't-rush mentality, it's the sunset at (polluted) Manila Bay, the freshly chopped coconut (at a foreigner mark-up) in Intramuros, it’s the international airport (and its corruption scandal) from where I can travel to the nicest destinations in the Philippines, it's my friends (without exception!) who care for me.
Manila's beauty is not on the outside (unless your vision is really blurred). In Manila the Beauty dances with the Beast at all times.
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