Man@40s: Makati - A city less travelled

By a stroke of providence, I was asked to attend a regional meeting in Manila on 4-5 March. There was a little bit of excitement I must admit (secretly). The chance to visit and explore a new place, sailing through uncharted water (from my perspective) is always something that kind of "re-ignite" me.....

Makati, Makati, Makati....... (not to confuse with our MM Lee's famous "Merdeka" incitement, during the pre-independent era) Where on earth is this place? I bet not many Singaporean except those who have traveled to Manila (mostly for work) and some well read people would know that this is one of Metro Manila's famous city that houses the major financial and commercial institutions. I seriously doubt the value conscious Singaporean would want to dig in to their pocket to go and tour Manila (as they believe there are more exciting place with the equivalent dollar spent) though some may want to venture into Cebu outside Manila for it's exotic diving, the beautiful beaches and seaside resorts....

Anyhow, I reached Manila Ninoy Aquino International airport T1 at about 10min to 6pm on 3-Mar. First impression, to be frank, nothing impressive. The place looks like a typical south-east asia airport (except Changi, KLIA). A clamp type of feeling... not overly crowded in the arrival hall at that time. The customs staffs are reasonably friendly and efficient. No language bearer.

After clearing the customs, I was greeted and escorted by hotel transfer staff who then led me to the cabby that was scheduled to drive me to my hotel. It was about half 6 when I reached the city area and the place looked as dark as half 7 in Singapore's equivalent. I then quicky checked-in and spent the next few hours roaming around the vicinity area.

Dusit Thani Hotel (where I stayed) is located very close to the shopping belt, which boast to house the biggest mall in Asia....( well i take that claim with a pinch of salt nowadays ;) ) As I'm not that much into shopping, so my assessment after a quick comb of the area is that, yes, indeed you can find Katong, Queensway, Lot1, People's Park, Takashima all in around the same area, either link by an overhead bridge, underground passage or a short traffic light. As usual, the "People's Park" type of complexes are crowded with shoppers and the higher end mall (I suppose those around GreenBelt area) are less crowded. The disparity is distinctly clear. There are few night-out area with pubs and restaurants mainly around the Greenbelt area that are mainly crowed with lot's of foreigners and the upper class pinoys....

Rather unfortunately, my experiential knowledge of this M city is contained within the limited few hours of care-free roaming on the first day of arrival... Due to work, I am restricted myself to Hotel meeting room, dining area and my temporary hotel room for most of the 3 days stay.

Finally, I took some photo shots on the last day, 2 hours of R&R before I head back to the airport. Below were some shots I took from my phone camera.