Makati City, Philippines

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Just going through the collection again and have a few more to add here.

Pizza Hut and Burger King.

I've not eaten at a Pizza Hut here but the BKs are almost the same as the US. Everything is smaller, tastes a bit strange and comes with rice.

The BEST pizza that I personally have had there is from Shakey's Pizza. Although that "belly buster" pizza was actually the same size as an American medium, it was fantastic. Deep dish pizza with all the meats on it ( except monkey ).

The total bill for one good pizza, 4 cold medium sized beers, 2 sprites, and two chicken and rice meals.....just under $18. Not bad.

The beer was cold too, something that's not always the case.

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What's it like there riding around the city in a cab?

It's hard to describe accurately but here are some things that are fairly consistent.

1. The cab is going to be small. Not "Pakastan" Suzuki car small but small.

2. If the driver is an older man he's going to be listening to American Music from the 1950s and 60s. That sort of music is not my interest but was recoznizable. Dean Martin, Sinatra...the old style music where the artist could actually sing.

3. The driver will try not to activate the meter. Check the meter right after to tell him where you want to go. You should see it register "30" (pesos). If it's not, just politely ask him to set it. Trust me, you want them to set the meter. You can be generous or stingy as you want with a tip but make damn sure the meter is set. The cabs are cheap as far as cabs go, but they CAN be expensive if you get the "dumb white guy" rate. Take a second to check.

4. You will be sitting in the car in the street for much of the trip. Notice that I didn't use the term "traffic". The definition of traffic has the word "movement" in it. What you will be doing in the cab is sitting in the car, in the street.

5. There will be delivery bikes riding around you as you sit in the street waiting for whatever the fuck is holding up the flow.

This might be from some jackass unloading commerical goods from the middle of the street or someone trying to rebuild their jeepny on the fly.

The bikes will wiggle between the cab and the traffic in the next lane if possible and as soon as you stop many will jog around the traffic.

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It was surprising to see what is available at their malls. We were in the electronics section of one of the biggest mall chains ((SM, a Chinese company.) and they have a wide selection of LCD and wide screen TVs. The biggest one cost 1.5 million PHP ($30k).

Who is buying these if things are so bad there? I don't know. I would have but we couldnt find the one that I wanted.

These are pictures from the street of the SM malls.

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This photo is from the Fiesta part of the Market Market mall in Makati.

It's the food section of the mall.

There is a big roof as you see that covers the food shops and seating areas. Under the roof are smokestacks belching out bbq smoke visible in the photo.

If the wind doesnt blow the smoke smell is very strong and distracting. This day the wind wasnt blowing much.

There is also a reasonably big sign that says very clearly that there is no drinking of alcohol. Imagine turning the camera 90 degrees to the right.

There is a vendor that sells a variety of domestic and imported beer.

What? You're supposed to take it with you unopened from the mall to drink it?

Yah right.

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Another shot of the milk

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This is the Uni-Mec grocery store in Comembo.

There is a grocery store, drug store, fruit market, bike shop, bakery, pawn shop, Infotech office and police station right here on the end of this block.

It's one of my favorite places to sit back and watch people.

The grocery store has a line of tricycles next to it. When you exit the store you can step right into one, no muss no fuss. Not exactly perfection because of the size and quality of the trikes but convenient for sure.

This store as many others also has a room out in front that you can leave your bags of goods from other stores. Step up and put your bag on the counter. They take it and put it into a space underneath and give you a plastic card. On the way out grab your other bags and you're off.

Once inside the UM store you'll find a very packed store but it is air conditioned. The carts are small and there's normally a lot of kids playing around either with the carts or each other.

As I've said many times before, Filipinos dont know how to flow. This is true in the street and on foot. People stop right in the middle of the flow and start talking to someone or answer a cell call all the time. In the US it's generally regarded as normal to get the fuck out of the way of the flow when you have to do something other than move forward. They don't flow.

Once you get around 50 people screwing around doing this or that you'll find the items that you're looking for...and 50 people will somehow be unable to get around YOU.

Everything is tight Everything is small.

But the great part of it all....

Everyone is polite and smiley.

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Here are a few more of the Ospital.

Quite a modern looking building considering this neighborhood. I've been inside and it's modern and nice looking inside too but I've not used any of their services.

Pinang says it's a good (H)ospital but she's never been to the US.