a blast from the past.

so all the worrying for me was over, now i can relax. the thing that i wanted to do since coming back home is to go to my favorite place to have fun in the metro, which is at makati city.

now, the metro has so many places to go for nightouts, it was not only concentrated in makati city as it was before.  all around the corners of the metro, there are many spots to choose from. but i am, well, old school as makati city is so close to my heart.

as a child, eventhough we live in the south of the metro, my mother always takes me here for a treat. i've known makati city before even it was incorporated into a city, had big boom of skyscrapers, had sky trains or even new establishments had been made. but since then makati always remain the financial district of the metro and in the philippines.

and when i was in highschool days, makati city was my mall ratting place, because my favorite mall is located here, called quad, but it was renamed glorietta and most functions  and exhibitions that my school was now and then invited where at the makati shangri la hotel and hotel nikkon manila garden (changed it's name to dusit) but i dont know if it exists now. me and my classmates from highschool often cut classes and go to makati city just to play games in the arcade, which sadly years, i forgot the name. because it was 15 years ago.

then at my college days, my college friends and me, after school go to a restaurant and bar named friday's - servings of big heap american food and a bar called canary, to drink and to smoke and that was over 13 years ago.

and after, i got addicted to the new mall of greenbelt which was reconstructed with a major facelift and added new wings. my bestfriend also works in makati city, so it just magnets me more to makati city. as i grew older, and semi-retired from mall ratting, my favorite place to hang out was at tower records, not excatly buying cds, but listening to new records by artists at the listening station. hanging at greenbelt, watching international film festivals at greenbelt and eating at my favorite restaurant in greenbelt which was soleil, which served provence french cuisine with a twist of asian style.

time has changed, never be the same, but these memories will forever remain.

and i am excited to see makati again.

so i called my ultimate favorite travbuddy in the philippines - isabel if she can meet me AGAIN (laughs) and have a round of drinks at greenbelt, yes, because i met isabel days after my arrival and asked her if she can round up friends again. it was such a short notice that only apo and dennis came, well i met these two already together with isabel and had some unusual night together.

so we agreed to meet at 9-10 pm at where else? starbucks. hahaha one of the focal points of meeting at greenbelt.

due to heavy traffic jams in the metro, i left las piñas at 8 pm, i had to change two bus rides, at the second bus ride, i took the wrong one! well its been years since i commuted in the philippines! hahaha. but it was the right one, as it will drive straight into the skyscrapers. i was seated at the front, so i can see these tall buildings again. it was pretty strange, as in europe, we seldom have skyscrapers, so for me, everything was new again, i had big eyes like a child and goosebumps on my skin.

i am still familiar with the places, so when i get off the bus, i just passed shangri la hotel and now the challenge was to find greenbelt! i got a little lost and asked a security guard and he directed me.

i was there a little early, so i just walked slowly. a big smile was pasted on my face, well, here i am again. it didnt changed, but one thing i noticed was that it has more people than it used to.

after 30 minutes passed, apo came with 2 women, a tb! diovie and their friend, apprently they were chritsmas shopping in the malls. but isabel and dennis would be a little late.

so we searched for a nice restaurant or bar to settle. i was searching and anticipating to see soleil again, but apparently, there was another restaurant at its place, it was gone. i felt sad, as the place was so very memorable to me.

we found a nice restaurant which served filipino foods, called masas. then ana had to go, as the transportation going to her place would be sticky as it was already 10 pm. then came isabel which looked dazzling that night. then dennis, then after a while diovie too must go, then came dennis' sister, czarina.

our conversation is pretty much hard to write as they were in tagalog, sure, i can translate the jokes, but literally, the humor and pun would go. it will just be written blandly.

after a couple of hours, it was time to go home, as czarina has work the next day and i am hitching with dennis and czarina, because we all live near each other in las piñas. i said goodbye to isabel and apo for the fun night we had.

in the car, it was a swift drive for the three of us and in no time, we were back at las piñas. dennis dropped me off to where i live, but i had to take a small ride of tricycle to enter the village.

but i got hungry, from smoking and laughing, so i went to a 24 hour store and bought myself siopao. siopao is a cantonese cuisine, a bun filled with meat and steamed. there are two kinds of siopao, asado and bola-bola. asado has ground meat for filling, but bola bola is filled with egg and sausages. i like the bola bola the best!

so i devoured my siopao and reflect on the night. it was good.