My Makati Adventure!

Today is the day I came to appreciate Makati for what it was.

I had an interview at a company whose office is located in Makati, and since I do not have a car, I immediately asked my neighbor Gilbert for directions. Being the resourceful everything-about-Manila expert that he is, he instructed me on how to get there through his trusty friend, the Internet.

Thankfully, I went to Makati with him before and I vaguely remember how we got there, so his instructions for me were not that difficult to follow. Just to be sure though, I printed out the instructions he found for me, as well as a map of the area, courtesy of Google Maps.

To get there, I had to take the MRT, get off, take a jeepney, walk a few blocks, and finally arrive at the building (with AIR-CONDITIONING).

So I took the LRT, got off at Araneta Center-Cubao, walked through Gateway, the footpath, Farmer’s Plaza. (A very long walk, but at least they have those awesome Super Show II banners to gawk at.) And then I am greeted by a very long line (not as long as the first time I took the MRT though. That time, the line almost reached the guard checking the bags near the entrance). Unfortunately, I lost the stored value card I purchased previously (it fell from my bag onto the street while I was in a tricycle going to Ateneo :-o) so I had to line up… Since I’m so smart (I’m not being sarcastic, okay), I bought another stored value card so I wouldn’t have to line up repeatedly in the future. It’s an investment!!!

And whoosh goes the MRT with me in it. After I got out of the station, I was so confused as to where I was supposed to take a jeep. I went down the stairs and asked a guard. Oops, I went the wrong way. I went back to the station and asked for more directions. It’s near Shell (the gas station), says the lady from the pasalubong stall. Shell? I don’t see no Shell! I wandered around some more and left through another exit and basically followed all the other people. And after following them for around 5 minutes, lo and behold! IT’S SHELL!

It’s instinct, is what it is.

And so I asked around for the jeepney stop, and in no time, I was hurtling towards my destination at the speed of light. If said light hits a wall, that is. We got stuck in traffic. Sigh. I was late for my interview, but there was nothing I could do about it. Once the jeepney got around to moving again, Manong Driver was nice enough to stop at every popular stopping place, so I got off at my stop and walked as fast as my little legs could towards where I thought the building was.

But apparently, my sense of direction, which so far has been doing a great job, failed me and I discovered that I was going in the wrong direction. After a 180 degree turn, I got myself on the right path (which I found, thanks to my print out map). AND FINALLY REACHED THE AIR-CONDITIONED BUILDING. Thank you, God, for bringing me there in one piece.

I was late for my interview for almost 20 minutes, but it was okay. The interviewer was super kind and the interview went on great. And then when it was finished, I stopped by Mini Stop to rest for a bit. I bought a creamy milk chocolate ice cream cone (yummy) and a bottle of water and sat down for maybe half an hour to read a bit of my Theo notes in preparation for my oral exams tomorrow.

To get back to the MRT, I had to look for the jeepney stop. I found it quickly, because I knew I had to cross the street so that the jeepneys are going the opposite direction, duh. I may be stupid, but I’m not that stupid. I had to go through an underpass just to cross the street. As I was going through it, I saw around 2-3 people walking around promoting things to people. At first I thought that it was just more marketers who were selling condominiums or houses or whatever, just like the dozens who hang around in Gateway all the time. But this guy approached me and I saw from the large promotional materials (I didn’t see them at first, okay?) that they were from WWF (not World Wrestling Federation! World Wildlife Fund!!!!). And so I stopped, because I was all for the environment (even though I didn’t get to observe Earth Hour because my parents loved TV too much and refused to watch TV without the lights (because we are genetically inclined to have bad eyesight and we wouldn’t want to make it worse) and cute cuddly endangered animals (*coughPANDAScough*).  Unfortunately, he was looking for people aged 21 and above. And I’m not 21. Or above. And so, my dreams of saving the environment were dashed. I never even found out what they were doing. Why would they need people aged 21 and above to save the environment anyway?

One thing I noticed as I walked towards the jeepney stop so I could go back to the MRT, was that Makati was seriously beautiful. I felt like I was in Tsim Sha Tsui (that’s in Hong Kong). It wasn’t just the tall buildings. The people, the pavement, the cars, the stores. THE PRETTY (and fairly clean) UNDERPASS. Everything felt SO different from Manila, or even Katipunan. I loved it. I could totally see myself working there, or even living there. Most importantly, I felt safe. I didn’t feel like every other person I encountered was going to mug me. I could take out my cellphone while walking along the street!

But does that mean I will be voting for Binay as VP? Hm… we’ll see. ;)