The story so Far (3) - Moving in

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Jeepney "Gift of God"

 Over the next days, while still staying at the hotel, we did some exploration mostly local. The traffic can be impressive at first sight. Pedestrians do not have priority , de facto, even though this is theoretically the case, therefore crossing streets is done with some care. On the main roads jeepneys are everywhere, being the most common form of public transport, together with taxi's. Each jeepney, some shiny and new, some less so, is decorated and baptised, with names such as Gift of God, Makati Star... and so on.




We discovered some of the bars and restaurants in the neighbourhood (Salcedo Village). While at the hotel, Alexa's Deli and Wine Bar became our regular apéro spot. They have a Chilean house wine that is quite acceptable.

Alexa's Deli

We ate at the Indian restaurant , The New Bombay, across from the Hotel that Soph and Natalie had tried when they came for the recruitment of the team in January, and it is one of the better Indian restaurants I have eaten in. It seems authentic, at least to my European soul, with simple decor and excellent food. Soph's colleague of Indian origin say's that it is "quite acceptable".

We also discovered the "Mall Attitude" prevalent here. At least in Makati, about 95% of shops (including supermarkets) are concentrated in gigantic malls. One can walk for kilometres in the cool air conditioning without going outside. Our closest complex was the Greenbelt malls which are connected to the Landmark Department store the Glorietta Malls and the SM department store. All that spread over about a kilometre.

These malls, apart from the practical aspects, are a weekend outing destination for people and their families. They offer the occasion to chill out while (window) shopping  - by far not everybody has air con at home - taking a coffee and pastry and in the evenings going to eat and drink in the numerous restaurants also in these malls.

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Some days later about two weeks into our stay at the Hotel, Soph asked me to visit an apartment with Lourdes, the dynamic administrator of the Service Centre, as she was not available herself , she delegated her full confidence to me to decide if the condo was ok for us. It was further up Dela Costa street in a highrise Condominium on the 26th floor. I decided fairly fast that it would do us fine. Being high up it was fairly well exposed to the light, which can be a problem in Makati if you live on the lower floors, adjacent highrises block out the light of day. Sophie was not disappointed when she saw it (phew!)

The deal was sealed fairly quickly and we were able to move in the following week.

The condominium was furnished and on the day of the inventory prior to moving in we selected things that we did not need and that the owner would remove. Basically we kept the furniture and two bedside lamps and asked for the cutlery kitchenware lamps paintings flower arrangements etc. to be removed. We would replace them with our own choices.

It is a two bedroom flat with two bathrooms and a kitchen/dining/living area with a small terrace. The pictures and paintings/drawings show some aspects after we had put our mark on it.

We still had to get cable TV and internet with fixed line phone installed and these were installed in due course after a delay that is not unusal here.

We bought lamps, including two Japanese style paper stand lamps, we bought cutlery, we bought bed and bathroom linen. We bought orchids and plants for the terrace - We bought a whole bunch of stuff to try and feel at ease here. And surprisingly we quite soon felt at home.

The view from the terrace it quite impressive, and at night even takes on a kind of beauty.

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