Makati

Shelly had a meeting in Makati yesterday, so I tagged along to take some photos of Manila's central business district.

I learned that it is impossible to cross either Makati or Ayala Avenue at their intersection. You can either walk halfway down the block and cross there, or you can walk through a pedestrian tunnel that runs underneath the streets.

While much of the Philippines is poor, with tin-roof covered buildings, Makati's central business district is as tall as any city in the world. According to the city's web site, more than 470,000 people live in Makati, making it the 7th-most populous city in Metro Manila. Makati is well-known for its vigorous enforcement of traffic laws (though not well *enough* known for me to avoid my little traffic misadventure back in March...

And the building continues....as evidenced by this incredibly large pile of rebar spotted near a construction site. When I lived on Guam, I covered the construction industry for a magazine in Honolulu, so construction sites aren't exactly new to me. But I've never seen a pile of rebar quite like this one. Notice the two guys on top of the rebar, kindly posing to add perspective to my photo.