The Manila Diaries?
It’s been on the cards ever since we arrived in Singapore, and it looks certain that we’ll soon be headed to Manila. As such Jo and I thought it might be an idea for me to visit with her, before I move there totally blind.
So last week we decamped to Makati City (the CBD) for a couple of days of work and condo hunting. The city on first viewing is an archetypal third world Asian metropolis, somewhat resembling a smaller slightly more shambolic Bangkok. Shiny skyscrapers rub shoulders with slums on the journey from the airport-of-many-futile-queues.
After landing we were chauffeured to the Peninsula, the site of a the recent coup attempt and disappointingly there were no bullet-holes and the tank used to charge the entrance was nowhere to be seen. However, were I ever to stage a coup I would certainly choose the Peninsula, it’s all glamourous colonial design; marble floors, chandeliers and excellent service.
Our first (and continuing) task over the three days was to find a flat, or at least to scope out what was on offer in Makati. Despite the air quality, work has to be walkable from where we live because for driving read sitting in traffic. In Makati using a car is an exercise in futility – you can stroll across it in half an hour. However it seems the white-collar Philippine nation is allergic to walking, taking the car on journeys where the trek to the basement car-park and subsequent navigation of the various one-way systems can turn a ten minute stroll into an hour’s ordeal.
The initial flats we saw were in the second-newest building in Makati – alleged to be 3 years old but from appearance finished in 1985. The dark wood panelled lift took us to a couple of laminated flats, including one peculiar duplex flat with a balcony bedroom encased in frosted glass, resembling some sort of cell. The final stop was the 27th floor which had a fabulous view of the city, as long as you went on tiptoes to over look the concreted balcony! I also swear I could feel the movement of the building beneath my feet.
None of the flats we particularly nicely decked out, the large spaces were not exactly filled by the plywood dining tables! However the second set of flats we saw were much nicer, older but better kept and with a bed I actually thought I could sleep in without it breaking beneath my weight. Plus pool on the 30th floor. Nice.
I also did some wandering of the streets to check out the serviced apartments, which might serve as a backup if we get to Manila without having secured any accommodations.
The Walking Tour
Makati (despite the coup and ongoing political strife) is fairly safe. Every doorway has a security guard, every underpass has two (with guns). When Jo, on her first visit, asked a colleague what they were there for he pointed straight back at her. Imagine an light airport check in at the door to every shopping mall and you are pretty much there.
The American influence is definitely apparent, even in the multitude of Starbucks (with security guard) that sit every twenty yards. We will not be short of caffeine in Manila.
Another thing was transvestites; this, I was informed by several of Jo’s Filipino colleagues, was a highlight of Makati. However the one I saw raised only one question:
“If I’d bothered to do my hair, makeup and slink into that dress, why couldn’t I be arsed to shave?”
However hirsute men in dresses were not the most surreal moment of my brief sojourn to Manila.
That moment was reserved for dinner with the entire Manila team in an all-you-can-eat-of-all-the-worlds-foods buffet (price per head: £7/S$20). As I sat tucking into sushi, the roving acoustic house band appeared and begun to play to our table. They began with a local Pinoy song before breaking a country and western version of Rihanna’s Umbrella. Which was not only the last thing I expected to be hearing whilst eating Japanese food in the Philippines, but better than the original.
Andy 10 March 2008
Commenting is closed for this article.