Makati City, Philippines

[slang]

Just at the border of Pembo and Taguig there are some interesting sights to be seen .

This is either the Manila American Cemetery or the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

This is the beginning of the beautiful section of Manila.

( note to asawa, I'm showing the part of the city that honors and respects the Pinoys for their committement in WWII, their hospitality in general, and their high intelligence.

No poops or trash are showcased in these photographs.)

[slang]

* note to asawa -- no photos of poops or trash, matangdang babae picking armpit hairs out or spitting.

[slang]

.I've been curious what this "Every Nation" is since I saw the lawn sign for the first time.

Today we walked on the north side of MM to take a look.

Here is the website.

[slang]

This is the Market Market area of Makati ( or Taguig depending on whose judge you believe ).

It's a great place with new streets and buildings. It's the rich and good looking part of the city.

If you see this area before all the others, you may believe that the Phils is a nice place to visit ( depending on what neighborhood you go to ) .

The MM area is very modern and clean. There are also most any shops inside that you could want or need inside the mall.

[slang]

I need to go to Mercury Drug down the street to get some more booze as my asawa has only allotted me two Grande beers for the night and that is not nearly enough.

Slang shall return with more booze and photos of the Phils.

[slang]

If you are here in Makati in the last few years, you know that there are condos being built because you are hit up for sales pitches every other day for one of them.

This is one of many that you may have recieved a broshure about. It's the Serendra

Take a look around the site. The photos are amazing and the details of the condos are included.

The starting price for the condos is $137, 000. That's for the 750 sq ft condo. The cost more than doubles from there for the size of a middle class house in the US.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by slang

I've been taking a lot of abuse lately from my wife.

She tells me that I only post those things on the cellar that make the Philippines and Filipinos appear dirty, dishonest, and stupid.

Not at all. Dirt at street level, up close and personal, happens where ever people live.... it's universal.
Maybe the Mrs has a skewed perspective of the US. We've got the same situation in our cities.
I was reading an article about Shanghai, in Smithsonian magazine. Over and over, throughout the article, he repeated how clean the place is. But then in the photographs showing crowds of people, there was plenty of litter on the sidewalk. I'm sure they clean it up on a regular basis, but where you have people, there's a steady supply of trash.

As for the Filipinos... There are all kinds, good and bad, just trying to cope with the world around them. They've often lived under very brutal conditions, yet they have been smart enough to adapt and survive. But in the end, with all the similarities and differences, they are just humans doing what humans do.

[slang]

This is another part of the rich and beautiful area. It's the food area of the Market Market mall.

It's open to the breeze but shelters from the rains. Sort of an unusual structure here but it's nice.

And...there's this fountain for the kids to play in and for people to take pics of their kids getting all wet.

[slang]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Not at all. Dirt at street level, up close and personal, happens where ever people live.... it's universal.
Maybe the Mrs has a skewed perspective of the US. We've got the same situation in our cities.

Yes, that's true. A part of the objection is that when I am there in the US I do post a thread with pictures of that particular place.

You can find most if not all of the places that I've been to in the past 4 years or so right here in the cellar.

What's different is that I have all the time in the world now to explore, snap and post about those things that I find interesting about Manila.

There is time to go on trips, to get addtional information, to add to a certain sub category of something that I might post later...many more options now that I'm not working.

As the surroundings here get more familiar my questions and explorations will get more detailed.

That's surely a part of the irritation of me posting and commenting here.

[slang]

Here is another example of the building going on here at the Global City.

I'm not sure if this will be offices or homes.

This is the link to the real estate broker.

There is a lot of excitement about the buildings going up in this area and the number of times that I've been handed a broshure or invited to a sales presentation is ridiculous.

Is there anyone out there that might have experience with such quickly growing areas?

I often tell my wife that if all those condos do sell ( and they are overpriced IMO ) then will the surrounding infrastructure support the addtion of all these people?

I'm skeptical because of all the building going on in cities in the US like Miami with their push to cash in on all these condos.

In FL they arent selling or are very soft with sales.

It seems to me that everyone here has dollar signs flashing in their eyes at the thought that they will surely get rich off these small condos.

Who is going to buy them all?

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by slang

As the surroundings here get more familiar my questions and explorations will get more detailed.

That's surely a part of the irritation of me posting and commenting here.

Sure, your stateside posts only highlighted your surroundings.
I understand her concern/embarrassment, but I want reassure her, what we are seeing is interesting, and we're not looking down on her people.
Some things being good, as well as some not so good, is universal and not something she should be embarrassed about.
Hell, if everything was perfect, we'd all move there and then she'd really have a problem.

[Undertoad]

Originally Posted by slang

The starting price for the condos is $137, 000. That's for the 750 sq ft condo. The cost more than doubles from there for the size of a middle class house in the US.

But it's not about the price, it's about the interest rates. Do they have a private banking system? Do you see ads for percentage rates and stuff?

[xoxoxoBruce]

But isn't the average income for Manila about $2,000?

[slang]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

But it's not about the price, it's about the interest rates. Do they have a private banking system? Do you see ads for percentage rates and stuff?

I don't regularly see ads for mortgages. There have been billboards for personal loans for things like LCD TVs and motorcycles.

Loans for items priced over say $5k are a very small portion of the business here.

Here is the link to one of the banks that I frequent here.

Here are the home loan rates

The Frenchman also says that getting a loan with less than 40-50% down is rare.

As you see the ads for new properties some also offer in house financing which is averaging about 10%

[slang]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

But isn't the average income for Manila about $2,000?

These properties are for the very rich here. Foreigners that have moved here for business or have retired here or maybe just have a condo here but only spend a few months total here each year.

Phil-Americans are sending money back here in record numbers, as high as $12B from one source.

The trouble here is that there is a very slim middle class. What does it take to grow the middle class?

I'm listening because that's precisely what is needed here. My BIL says that a civil war is what's needed here. To redistribute the cash and to grow a middle class.

I don't know the how I just know the what.