Binondo (the world's oldest Chinatown), lechon crispy skin, and a city of 12 million in permanent fast-forward
Manila is the most misunderstood major city in Southeast Asia — consistently underrated by visitors who see only the traffic and the sprawl, and adored by everyone who penetrates past both. The food is the entry point: lechon (whole roasted pig, the skin crackled to the point of shattering, eaten with liver sauce and rice), sisig (the quintessential Filipino snack, chopped pork face and offal sizzled on a cast-iron plate with calamansi and chili), halo-halo (a layered dessert of shaved ice, coconut, sweet beans, leche flan, ube ice cream, and whatever the vendor decides), and the street food…
Manila Bay was home to the Tagalog kingdom of Maynilad when Miguel López de Legazpi claimed it for the Spanish Crown in 1571, founding Intramuros — the walled city whose granite walls and colonial churches survive today as a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Philippines was the first Asian country to be colonized by a Western power and the last major colony to gain independence in Asia (1946); 333 years of Spanish rule were followed by 48 years of American rule, which left a legacy of English as the administrative and educational language. WWII devastated Manila — the Battle of Manila (February…