Our introduction to the Philippines came as quite a surprise, it started off pretty much as we were imagining with funky jeepneys (converted US army jeeps) running around and typical houses we've seen in most of SE Asia, but as we'd landed in Clark which is about 3 hours North of Manila we were really surprised as we made our approach to this huge capital city. For a country that has parts among the poorest in SE Asia, Manila seems to be bucking this trend with some of the hugest billboards we've seen in our lives lining most of the highways through the city advertising mostly expensive jeans & make up that even in England you would think twice about affording. Add to this the countless huge shopping malls and the massive skyscrapers that you can
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