Singapore and Manila

Talk about a study in contrasts:

Singapore, the world's only engineered city. Everything in its place. Ordinances for everything. No spitting, no chewing gum, no cars over five years old.

Clean, modern, very urban. Some friends and I took a boat ride on the river that flows through the city. When we floated by the "Merlion" (the statue in the picture) there were hundreds of people in the open area behind it--line dancing, to American country music.

Manila, sprawling metropolis, crowded, dirty, and poor.
Shanty towns everywhere. Still, the people keep moving from the country to the city. Somehow we gotta reverse that migration, give the farm boys a reason to stay on the farm.

Over sixty people were killed in the typhoon that came through when I was there (Sept. 28). Do a google search for Milenyo, the name of the typhoon. There are also some videos on YouTube. Incredibly devastating.