Rental Car Tour: Manila: Rich and Poor

It is always preferable to end the first visit with some affection for an urban area and even a desire to stay longer. This is the feeling that I have had in leaving most urban areas. In only one case was no affection developed for the urban area, which is described in the Kolkata Rental Car Tour. In others, an attraction developed, but there was no reluctance to leave, such as in Mumbai. Manila is in the majority --- an affection was developed and I would have preferred to stay longer.

Arriving at Manila’s Nonoy Aquino International Airport evokes a sense of history more than most. The airport is named for Benigno (Nonoy) Aquino, the opposition leader who was assassinated at the airport upon his return to the Philippines in 1983. Events led eventually to stolen election (by President Ferdinand Marcos), his deposition, a peaceful revolution and the installation of Corazon Aquino, wife of Nonoy Aquino as president of the Philippines. The main thoroughfare of the urban area, EDSA (below) was the site of this peaceful revolution and another in 2001.

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