There's Manila, the capital, and there's Metro Manila. Manila the capital is just one city within the multi-city metropolis that is Metro Manila. I was born in Manila, the capital, and grew up in Pasig City, one of the cities of Metro Manila.

I work in Makati City, the central business district of Metro Manila, the hub of urban life, the country's direct line to global influences. My office is right across Greenbelt, a small mall that has recently metamorphosed into an urbanite's dream, spawning three more Greenbelts set amidst the skyscrapers, all catering to the upper class market.

Greenbelt's main attractions for me are its restaurants (Greenbelt 2 and 3), followed by the bookstore (Powerbooks and Sketchbooks, Greenbelt 3) and the record store (M1 who bought Tower Records, also in Greenbelt 3). On any afternoon when work gets too crazy in the office, I slip out and walk the too-clean and too-scented (I feel grungy by comparison) Greenbelt 3. Sometimes I treat myself to Lush --- I definitely love the mint body wash, or maybe a few pieces of Leonidas chocolates. In a Greenbelt mall, it is sometimes hard to believe that the Philippines is a third world country.

And for moments of sanity restoration or creative sparks, I find myself a nice cozy coffee shop --- there's more than a dozen in the area --- and lose myself in a caramel macchiato or some exotic sounding tea. Coffee shops are considered cool places to hang out in. To be in a Starbucks cafe is to be "in". Hence, if you find Starbucks too crowded, I suggest Figaro. Figaro serves Filipino liberica coffee, locally called "barako", and they serve a really, really good piece of chocolate cake!