I arrived at Manila International Airport terminal 3 late, as seems to be usual with Cebu Pacific! The terminal is the newest one and is very nice and shiny, which is a bit of a contrast from the city!
I was a bit concerned because everyone keeps emphasizing how dangerous Manila is. I stayed in Makati, the business district, or CBD. That helped since it’s full of banks and IT firms. However, all in all I would not consider Manila any worse that any big Asian city as long as you are careful and don’t do anything stupid.
Rizal park is quite nice. There are some people on the street in this area but there is also a lot of police and private security. Nearby is Fort Santiago and Intramuras, both of which are good to see.
My hostel offered a free tour and my awesome tour guide was playing amateur photographer. This is taken at the fort. There is an interesting contrast here as when you look the other way you can see the slums of Manila.
The sun was setting, so it’s a little hard to see, but it looked very rough on the other side of the river.
The river itself smells terrible. There is no easier way to put it, it’s very polluted. There is garbage and sewage floating in it. It’s reminds me of a biohazard off some kind of end of world movie!
Getting around is similar to the rest of the Philippines, jeepenies ply the streets in set routes for 8 peso or so. City buses run set routes as well for a little more money. They have an elevated train, LRT, but it has a very limited service area.
Serious crime exists here, but it will most likely not effect a tourist. Pick pocketing is really bad though, so you should watch your belongings closely, especially in public transit. Just to be clear, I still encourage travelers to Manila to use public transit. Most Filipinos are genuinely helpful, but you should be on guard and remember where your wallet and phone are.
Taxis are a rip off and rarely use the meter. In my opinion they are best avoided unless you want a frustrating and expensive experience. This is different from the rest of the country where I found taxi drivers to be helpful and honest.