Manila's strength is its people. The Filipinos are so warm and friendly. Customer service is important and every where people speak to you. You realize that they value you visiting their city. Manila is huge and very busy. Mixture of run down and up market areas. never have you seen so much food and places to eat and the food is awesome! The roads are jammed and town planning has not coped with the constant influx of people from the provinces. Hairpin bends keep changing your direction and there are few traffic lights. Amazingly the people just hoot and drive but seldomly hit! Houses are built on every available space and they have villages which are walled in and boomed off for security. It is hot and sweaty but wonderful. The church is alive and the city is alive too. Quite a grey city, and can't say it is beautiful but the Filipinos make up for it.
Kuala Lampur, on the other hand, is beautiful and green. parks and flowers are everywhere even amidst the very modern buildings. This is a more international city and we met people from all over the world there. The transport system allows you to get around easily and the city centre is not huge, so you can walk a lot of it. People are friendly but you have to make the first moves. There are a lot of different homes, and many high rise condos. The city also contains some older areas from its interesting history. The national museum gives a great picture of the development of the area. Our favourite area was china town where you can get great bargains and interesting foods. The outskirts of the city are green and much more open.