Manila among Australian paper's 'awful' places to visit

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines capital has been included in the list of an Australian newspaper's "ten awful places you should still visit" for being both disorderly and passionate.

David Whitley, writer for Melbourne-based daily The Age, said Tuesday that Manila is a "chaotic, disjointed mess" as admitted by Filipinos themselves.

"These supposed grotholes may be bywords for crime, industrial bleakness or urban decay, but they do have something about them that makes them worth casting aside the prejudices for," Whitney said of cities places in the list.

The journalist did not elaborate about Manila's negative characteristics, but he went on describing the city's "passionate boisterousness missing from other Southeast Asian cities."

"The garish jeepneys and wall-to-wall karaoke bars are the best examples of this," he said.

The Age also encouraged travelers to drop by Intramuros, Manila's "walled city," as well as the Ayala Museum in Makati City and the American Cemetery and Memorial in Global City.

"The sweeping rows of graves marked with crosses and Jewish stars have a memorably humbling effect," the paper said of the world's largest heroes' cemetery.

Whitney also hailed Ayala Museum for depicting the country's history in a "fascinating and unique" way.

The paper also included Detroit, Baltimore and Pittsburgh in the United States, Bogota in Colombia, downtown Johannesburg in South Africa, Belgrade in Serbia, the Rurh in Germany, Beirut in Lebanon, Kingston in Jamaica as among the cities that do not completely deserve their awful reputation.