The capital of the Philippines is technically known as Metro Manila - a grouping of ten smaller urban areas - but is usually referred to simply as MANILA . Today's accepted wisdom is that Manila will never be a serious tourist destination until the authorities deal with the twin evils of traffic and pollution.

Manila started life as a tiny settlement around the banks of the Pasig River. The name comes from the words may ("there is") and nilad (a type of plant that grew near the Pasig). With Spanish colonization, Manila grew into an important port. King Philip II of Spain called it Insigne y Siempre Leal Ciudad (Distinguished and Ever Loyal City). Images of the city in the eighteenth century show grand merchants' houses and schooners moored in the Pasig. The area around Bindondo, later to become Chinatown, was alive with mercantile activity. Before World War II, Manila was one of the most elegant and cosmopolitan cities in the Orient. But when the smoke cleared at the end of Japanese occupation in March 1945, it was in ruins, having undergone relentless shelling from American howitzers and been set alight by remaining Japanese troops. The Battle of Manila lasted 29 days and claimed 100,000 civilian lives. Rebuilding was slow and plagued by corruption and government inertia. As a consequence, the city that greets visitors today is one of emotional counterpoints, with areas of extreme poverty and degradation lying cheek by jowl with tower blocks and designer boutiques.

The great urban sprawl of Metro Manila, home to about eleven million people, is actually a grouping of ten areas that have all been conferred city status in their own right. These cities stretch from Caloocan in the north to Pas Pinas in the south. Tourists tend to see only a few of them, usually Paranaque (where the airport is), Pasay , Manila and Makati . Manila is the key tourist district, fronting Manila Bay along Roxas Boulevard, taking in the neighbourhoods of Ermita and Malate , and stretching north to the old walled city of Intramuros and over the Pasig River to Chinatown , also known as Bindondo. On Manila Bay are landmarks such as the Cultural Center of the Philippines and, at the north end of the bay, the stately Manila Hotel. Makati is the central business district (CBD), built around the main thoroughfare of Ayala Avenue, and home to banks, insurance companies, five-star hotels and all the other paraphernalia of modern life. Leaving Makati and heading north through the heaving traffic on Epifano de los Santos Avenue (commonly referred to as EDSA ) brings you to the newer commercial district of Ortigas , which is trying to out-Makati Makati, with its hotels, malls and air-conditioned theme restaurants. Beyond Ortigas is Quezon City , which has some lively nightlife catering to the nearby University of the Philippines, but not much else.

You haven't seen urban sprawl until you've seen Manila. The city seems to get bigger by the day, and to see the major sights you will have to sweat it out in traffic and be prepared for delays. Most visitors base themselves in the bohemian enclave of Malate , from where it's a relatively short hop to the fascinating old town of Intramuros and Rizal Park . Beyond Chinatown the gargantuan Chinese Cemetery is morbidly interesting, while the business district of Makati is a good place to head for shops and yuppie nightlife.

The urban sprawl that is metropolitan Manila (it's made up of the cities of Manila, Makati, Pasay, Quezon, Caloocan, and Pasig, plus 12 towns) is a fascinating, even surreal, combination of modernity and tradition. In Manila's streets you'll see horse-drawn calesas (carriages) alongside sleek Mercedes-Benzes, Japanese sedans, passenger buses, and the ubiquitous passenger jeepneys -- once converted World War II Jeeps but now manufactured locally.

Built by the Spanish conquistadors in 1571 as Intramuros, a fortified settlement on the ashes of a Malay town, Manila spread outward over the centuries, so that the oldest districts are those closest to Intramuros. Yet very few buildings attest to the city's antiquity, since it suffered extensive damage during World War II, more than any other city except Warsaw, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki.

Because Metro Manila is a conglomeration of cities and towns, it lacks a defined center, and you certainly won't find an easy-to-navigate grid layout. Adding to the confusion is a lack of consistent urban planning. Like many cities in developing nations, Metro Manila has its share of congestion, pollution, and poverty. The large slum of Tondo is dominated by a huge pile of garbage known as Smoky Mountain for the endless burning of trash fires. Here the poor live in cardboard shanties and scavenge for a living. But the 10 million inhabitants of the "noble and ever loyal city" -- as Manila was described by its Spanish overlords -- have a joie de vivre that transcends their struggles.

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