Manila is chaotic, warm-hearted and criminally underrated. Filipinos may be the friendliest people you'll ever practise a language with — and most will trade you Tagalog for English happily.
- Walk the walls of Intramuros — the Spanish colonial old town: Fort Santiago, San Agustin Church, and kalesa horse carts. Go late afternoon when the heat drops.
- Ride a jeepney at least once — pass your fare forward with "bayad po", get off with "para po!". It's public transport and a cultural ceremony in one.
- Watch the Manila Bay sunset from Roxas Boulevard — arguably the best urban sunset in Asia. Everyone stops to watch; join them.
- Eat halo-halo at a proper cafeteria — shaved ice, ube, leche flan, sweet beans. Order it after adobo and lumpia, obviously.
- Day-trip to Taal Lake — two hours south: a volcano inside a lake inside a volcano. The Philippines showing off.
Filipinos sprinkle English into Tagalog constantly ("Taglish"), which makes it the friendliest language to start speaking on day one. Find a Tagalog speaker below — say "kumusta!"
