Insane Welcome for 2025: Metro Manila, Philippines 🇵🇭 | City on Fire | Thoughts and Reflections

What’s the deal with New Year celebrations in Metro Manila? Search for “Metro Manila NYE” fireworks online, and you’ll find countless videos with hundreds of thousands of views. Headlines scream: “You won’t believe how insane Manila’s fireworks are!”, or "Must See Crazy Manila Fireworks" Every year, videos of the megacity’s New Year’s Eve celebration go viral. And yet, Metro Manila is leagues away from the likes of New York, Tokyo, or London. It doesn’t exude the New Year vibes of Paris, Sydney, or Bangkok, each with their iconic architecture and carefully curated celebrations. Home to more than 15 million people, Metro Manila is made up of 16 cities, one municipality, and a handful of business districts. This sprawling metropolis welcomes the new year with no central program, no master plan and no script. Just pure, unfiltered, unapologetic chaos when the clock hits midnight. Each neighborhood stages its own mini-spectacle, a celebration as disordered as the megacity itself. There isn’t a polished show or a choreographed display. Fireworks burst randomly across the skyline. Small, fiery rebellions against the night. And by morning, the city is wrapped in a thick smog, a hazy memory of the fire that lit up its skies just hours before. And yet, there’s something captivating about it. A city on fire. From a decent height, you can see the megacity turn into a pot of popcorn, each kernel violently sparking a fleeting moment of fury, brilliance, and surrender. I may be biased, but I prefer this kind of New Year’s welcome. Unpretentious, organic, almost unplanned—save for the synchronized eruption at midnight. Disordered, dizzying, and noisy. We often greet the new year with high hopes and grand resolutions, setting ambitious goals for the months ahead. And while there’s nothing wrong with that, sometimes we need a reminder that not everything is within our control. What better way to welcome a new year than with the realization that life is chaotic, unpredictable, and full of surprises? Maybe that’s the point. To embrace the chaos. To find beauty in the unexpected. So let this chaotic city on fire remind us to revel in the madness, the fleeting wonder, and the raw, unfiltered moments of life. And when the smog clears, when the noise softens to whispers, you can begin again—ready to bring your own kind of noise and chaos to the world. Bring on the madness! ======= Thoughts in Transit: creative diaries, thought dumps, and random reflections.