Metro Manila
Manila was both our first and last stop in the Philippines.
Our first arrival had us worried for what lay ahead in the Philippines. After a 2+ hour delay on our already miserable red-eye flight from Saigon to Manila, we arrived in Manila at 7:00am with one task at hand, staying awake until our 2pm check-in time (after being up all night for our flight). By 10:30am we found ourselves in a Denny’s (yes that DENNY’s) booth about ready to give up when our Airbnb people messaged that the apartment was ready early (we had asked for early check in but they couldn’t promise anything). Too tired to even pick up our bags (which we had stashed in luggage storage) we raced to the apartment to lay somewhere that wasn’t the Denny’s restaurant booth.
Also worth noting when we arrived, the Philippines, particularly Luzon, was experiencing the effects of two tropical cyclones on either side of it. While well out of the way of the center of the storms, the outer winds and rains on both sides of the islands were making for some weird and ominous weather.
Our front end visit was mostly us stocking up on some travel essentials so we didn’t do too much exploring of the sights at that time. This worked out because the weather was meh, we were exhausted, and the Olympics were in full swing. We were content with running errands, cooking dinner, and watching the Olympics.
Our return to Manila two months later was for a short few days before catching our flight to Singapore and we used this return time to see a different side of town and catch some of the more touristy sights.
During this return visit we stayed in the BGC (Bonifacio Global City). This area of town was STARKLY different from our first visit to Manila and further emphasized the huge wealth disparity in the region (that we write about in our Philippines overview). This metropolitan area of town was lined with shopping malls, skyscrapers, trendy restaurants and wide sidewalks (never a given in Asia). It was a very different side to the city that had us feeling like we made it to Singapore early. We enjoyed our few days here with the close proximity to a variety of things like modern grocery stores, movie theaters, and a plethora of restaurants (after 2 months traveling through some rural and remote areas it was quite nice). We also visited the National History and Anthropology Museums on the other side of town. They were both free and enjoyable experiences, but not must-do items.