Manila, Philippines.

A bustling Asian city with a very specific character. For this is the only dominantly Catholic country in Asia, 83 %. It's the Philippines' Spanish legacy. But it's a funny form of Catholism with many typical Philippino aspects to it. Manilla is a wild town too where the morals of Catholism aren't always integrated in daily life although religion is everywhere. Take the red light district for instance. Always crowded and always partytime. But also in politics things don't always turn out according to the ten commandments. A few months before I visited Manila there was a brutal political massacre on the south island. Apparently the son of the local governor planned and executed the whole thing. 34 politicians, journalists and even unlucky passerby's were murdered. The process was still going on when I was there but as far as I could understand the proceedings were frustrated by politicians and involved wealthy businessmen alike.

The streets of Manila are extremely chaotic to say the least. After a while you get used to the constant traffic jams, the continuous beeping and the enormous pollution. I stood in this place for three days and it nearly drove me mad. Thankfully I had the distraction from Enny and his gang of tricycle drivers, the man on the right of this photo. They cycle the inhabitants of this metropole to their destinations in the blistering heat. They find a little relief in a smoke and a few sips of the local hard liquor after each ride. Basically they're mildly drunk all day. They never gave up offering it to me. I had a lot of laughs with this crazy bunch.