Lushly green, this shopping mall is appropriately named, "Greenbelt". It is toted as the premier shopping destination in the Philippines on Wikipedia and I can attest to the validity of this claim as it truly does come complete with a raft of restaurants, high-end fashion shops, cinemas, and an open-air chapel. It possesses a dynamic, almost throbbingly alive atmosphere and we have found ourselves soaking in its vibrancy while listening to live music more than once or twice on a Saturday night. During the week, I will often meet a friend at a coffee shop overlooking the pond where two turtles live.
Counting the number of global stores that have hung a shingle here, you could be forgiven for thinking it is a generic mall but the incorporation of the outdoors into the design makes it unlike shopping centres I have experienced anywhere else we have resided. It does become a sticky steam bath during the rainy season and you are likely to be hit with fat drops of water as you scurry between covered areas, but nonetheless, it remains a unique space in a city where urban sprawl is fast spreading its tentacles and choking any greenery in its path. When we arrived in Makati for the first time in February 2001, there was only Greenbelt 1, which multiplied relatively quickly in the following years to become Greenbelt 2, 3, 4, and 5.
The origins of the mall also reflect the history of the Philippines as it was developed and is managed by the real estate arm of Ayala Corporation. This is a family business established in 1834 which has diversified to the extent that its services reach into every home in some shape or form. The list is long, but I will include it for demonstrative purposes: real estate development, banking and financial services, telecommunications, water distribution infrastructure, electronics manufacturing services, automotive dealership, overseas real estate investments, business process outsourcing, renewable energy and power. One of the company's most visible accomplishments is the development of the Makati to become the central business district of Manila and a residential hub. The family traces its roots in the Philippines back to the 18th century when their forebears immigrated here from Germany and Spain (the Spanish side of the family has aristocratic links). Please see here if you are interested to learn more . Needless to say, this family is a prime force in the affairs of the country.
Coincidentally this week, while by day I was navigating the complexity of this modern mall with its labyrinthine floors and connecting escalators, by night, I was being transported back to a simpler time, courtesy of a book I had started reading entitled, "The Women in Black" by Madeline St. John. It was set in the Sydney of the late 1950s in a department store during an era when women would do all their shopping in the one department store and their clothing purchases were altered to fit them. As someone who has spent more than my fair share of hours within change-room confines, there is a part of me that laments the loss of such all-encompassing institutions. My grandmother used to make special shopping forays to Melbourne around the same time of the book's milieu and was said to have had, "really beautiful clothes", and I could almost imagine her walking through the doors and placing her order with one of the characters vividly depicted in St. John's novel. I was also struck by the fact that the author herself was an expat and wrote the book while she was living in London.
Is it distance that focuses the eye, I wonder? This return to Makati I am forcing myself to look anew at my surroundings, which quite often means shop buildings and street pavements. I am aware that it only takes a few short shuffles past a place before familiarity fades the seen into unseen. Life is too short for everything to become predictable too soon so I am hoping my third eye will allow me to experience a new world full of curiosities and awe during this next stay. I wish I could peer into the future, but since I cannot, it is a case again of having to wait to see what the future holds.........................???
Counting the number of global stores that have hung a shingle here, you could be forgiven for thinking it is a generic mall but the incorporation of the outdoors into the design makes it unlike shopping centres I have experienced anywhere else we have resided. It does become a sticky steam bath during the rainy season and you are likely to be hit with fat drops of water as you scurry between covered areas, but nonetheless, it remains a unique space in a city where urban sprawl is fast spreading its tentacles and choking any greenery in its path. When we arrived in Makati for the first time in February 2001, there was only Greenbelt 1, which multiplied relatively quickly in the following years to become Greenbelt 2, 3, 4, and 5.
The origins of the mall also reflect the history of the Philippines as it was developed and is managed by the real estate arm of Ayala Corporation. This is a family business established in 1834 which has diversified to the extent that its services reach into every home in some shape or form. The list is long, but I will include it for demonstrative purposes: real estate development, banking and financial services, telecommunications, water distribution infrastructure, electronics manufacturing services, automotive dealership, overseas real estate investments, business process outsourcing, renewable energy and power. One of the company's most visible accomplishments is the development of the Makati to become the central business district of Manila and a residential hub. The family traces its roots in the Philippines back to the 18th century when their forebears immigrated here from Germany and Spain (the Spanish side of the family has aristocratic links). Please see here if you are interested to learn more . Needless to say, this family is a prime force in the affairs of the country.
Coincidentally this week, while by day I was navigating the complexity of this modern mall with its labyrinthine floors and connecting escalators, by night, I was being transported back to a simpler time, courtesy of a book I had started reading entitled, "The Women in Black" by Madeline St. John. It was set in the Sydney of the late 1950s in a department store during an era when women would do all their shopping in the one department store and their clothing purchases were altered to fit them. As someone who has spent more than my fair share of hours within change-room confines, there is a part of me that laments the loss of such all-encompassing institutions. My grandmother used to make special shopping forays to Melbourne around the same time of the book's milieu and was said to have had, "really beautiful clothes", and I could almost imagine her walking through the doors and placing her order with one of the characters vividly depicted in St. John's novel. I was also struck by the fact that the author herself was an expat and wrote the book while she was living in London.
Is it distance that focuses the eye, I wonder? This return to Makati I am forcing myself to look anew at my surroundings, which quite often means shop buildings and street pavements. I am aware that it only takes a few short shuffles past a place before familiarity fades the seen into unseen. Life is too short for everything to become predictable too soon so I am hoping my third eye will allow me to experience a new world full of curiosities and awe during this next stay. I wish I could peer into the future, but since I cannot, it is a case again of having to wait to see what the future holds.........................???
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