A Magical and Musical New Year's Eve in Makati!

MAKATI BARES PLANS FOR MAGICAL, MUSICAL NEW YEAR'S EVE COUNTDOWN

posted by : icrd on 12/07/2011

After a two-year hiatus, the New Year’s Eve Countdown in Makati is poised for a spectacular comeback this year with a non-stop concert featuring famous bands, a magical show, a pyro-musical display, and a raffle draw offering a brand new luxury car as the grand prize, among the events lined up by the organizers.

Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin S. Binay said the countdown will be mounted at the intersection of Ayala and Makati Avenues with the theme, ‘Magical, Musical Makati 2012’, where revellers will be enthralled by the magic tricks of Jeffrey Tam and entertained by the performances of Antimano Band, Bloom Brothers, Grupong Pendong, The Dawn, The Company, and many more.

“The city government and its private sector partners are pulling out all the stops to ensure that this year’s New Year’s Eve Countdown will outshine all previous countdowns we had staged.  We aim to derive the utmost enjoyment of residents, visitors and tourists, especially those who have missed it for the past two years and are excited to once again take part in the festivities,” Binay said.

The mayor also said that the event offers the public a safe yet exciting way to welcome the New Year with renewed hope and optimism, and provides a venue for the people of Makati to come together and give thanks to the Almighty for all the blessings received in 2011.

This early, major hotels in the city are coming up with special New Year’s Eve packages, and are expected to be fully booked on December 31. 

At the countdown, food booths of traders from the Ayala Center, Salcedo Weekend Market, and the major hotels in the city will provide revellers with a wide variety of Media Noche choices for the traditional New Year’s Eve meal. Six five-star hotels will also provide catering for invited VIP guests.

Meanwhile, mime performers, clowns and fire dancers will be doing their acts along the main stage area to add to the festive atmosphere.  

In between the performances will be a series of raffle draws with valuable prizes and a brand new luxury car as grand prize.  A 15-minute grand pyro-musical show will cap the countdown to usher in the New Year.

This year’s event is also expected to raise funds for Makati Festivals Foundation. The Foundation fund has been used in various relief assistance operations in calamity-stricken communities.

The Makati New Year’s Eve Countdown is supported by Ayala Land and Makati Commercial Estate Association (MACEA).  

***please note that I just got this news from Makati's Official Website. For further information, click here.

****So what do you think? Are we ready to par tey here in Makati??? :D

xoxo,

Yeps

What Topics Do You Want GetLostInMakati To Tackle?

As much as I want this blog site to be the perfect place to share my adventures in Makati with others, I also want to know what my readers (and even future followers) would want me to talk about that is of course related to Makati.

This is because I believe that not only will I know what my readers would like to see in my blog site but it will also give me an idea on what are the other things that I can explore and experience in this dynamic city.

So tell me my dear reader, what are things that you want to see being talked about here in GetLostInMakati? =)

xoxo,
Yeps

Starbucks: Just How Many of This Coffee Shop Does Makati Have?

Starbucks. Whenever I hear that name, the first thing that enters my mind is fancy coffee. Anyway, I have a reason for calling it fancy because not only Riju calls everything that he thinks is expensive or overpriced fancy but also because a Starbucks coffee, really IS expensive and well, what do you know! Fancy.

As far as my memory serves me right, I had my very first Starbucks not so long ago. I think it was just a couple of years ago or so. Now, don't be so shocked. It's just that I really think spending more than a hundred bucks just to get a sip of coffee is too much for me especially if I will drink it as if it's my own brand of water. A little splurging every now and then is fine but buy Starbucks coffee everyday? I'm gonna have to pass on that.

I did a little bit of research about this coffee company and found out that it was first introduced to the consumers during the early 1970s by three brilliant men in Seattle, Washington. And after the opening of the first Starbucks coffee shop in the whole planet, like what most people say, the rest is history.

Going back to Starbucks Philippines, I just could not believe my eyes when I noticed that almost everywhere in Makati where I set my eye on, there it was! That famous logo where a siren (or mermaid) mischievously smiles is starting at me! I know that I have not explored the whole of Makati yet but so far, I think I must have seen at least 5 of it already!

I think the biggest reason why there is so much of this world's biggest and most famous coffee shop in the business district of the Philippines is because of the fact that there are a lot of young career people who are working in this area and that somehow, Starbucks was able to integrate itself in these people's daily lives. This is most probably because many of these working class actually works during the night and that they need a good dose of caffeine to keep themselves awake and performing well in their job.

Anyway, I think I managed to try 2 of the 28 Starbucks Makati. Not that I'm planning to try all of them because anyway, the location, the staff and the store decor may change but at the end of the day, they all offer the same menu. It just so happened that Riju and I had a date night and we topped it all with some Starbucks drinks and a slice of Oreo cheesecake somewhere behind Glorietta 4. Geez. My apologies but I forgot to take note of the exact location of that branch. And then the other branch, Jem, a friend of mine, and I had a quick coffee after our dinner in Bonchon sometime last month in Ayala Triangle. Again, I forgot which branch was that but I think it was the one in Ayala Office Tower 6750.

Riju and I's order at Starbucks

For those who are wondering about the 28 Starbucks Makati branches, I provided a list below that you can check out.

STARBUCKS MAKATI BRANCHES

Starbucks - Makati City -- 6788 6788 Ayala Avenue
Starbucks - Makati City -- Allegro G/F Allegro, Pasong Tamo Extension
Starbucks - Makati City -- AOT - 6750 - Office Drive 6750 Ayala Avenue
Starbucks - Makati City -- Ayala Tower 1 Ayala Tower One, Mezzanine Level
Starbucks - Makati City -- Cristina G/F Cristina Condominium
Starbucks - Makati City -- Enterprise Center Level 3 Tower 2, Enterprise Building
Starbucks - Makati City -- Glorietta 4 Glorietta 4, Theater Lobby, Ayala Center
Starbucks - Makati City -- Glorietta 4 Level 1 Ground Floor, Glorrietta 3, Ayala Center
Starbucks - Makati City -- Greenbelt 1 Greenbelt Mall
Starbucks - Makati City -- Greenbelt 3 G/F, GreenBelt 3 Mall
Starbucks - Makati City -- 28 Jupiter Street
Starbucks - Makati City -- G/F Alpap I Bldg., Leviste St., Salcedo
Starbucks - Makati City -- Magallanes Paseo de Magallanes, San Gregorio St.
Starbucks - Makati City -- MSE - Ground Floor Entrance Ayala Ave
Starbucks - Makati City -- G/F Pacific Star Building
Starbucks - Makati City -- Pearl Bank 146 Valero Street, Salcedo Village
Starbucks - Makati City -- Plaza 100 Herrera cor Dela Rosa Street
Starbucks - Makati City -- Powerplant Cinema Level R-1 Store #103 L Plaza Drive
Starbucks - Makati City -- Powerplant Mall Doppio 3rd level Power Plant Mall
Starbucks - Makati City -- RCBC Plaza - Tower 2 - Relocation 6819 Ayala Avenue
Starbucks - Makati City -- Rockwell Landing (Relocation) 6 Rockwell Drive
Starbucks - Makati City -- G/F San Antonio Plaza, Mckinley St.
Starbucks - Makati City -- Security Bank Building, Ayala Avenue
Starbucks - Makati City -- Lot 2,3,4 Aguinaldo Highway
Starbucks - Makati City -- The Columns Tower 3, Ayala Avenue
Starbucks - Makati City -- G/F Valero St.
Starbucks - Makati City -- Waltermart 790 Chino Roces Ave. cnr. Antonio Amaiz
Starbucks - Makati City -- Yupangco Bldg - Ground Floor

What To Do In Makati

I have been living in Makati for almost 7 months now and yet, I know I still have not explored the whole city as of the moment. I can give you several reasons why I was not able to do just that but I have decided that instead of that, I will share with you what I know you and others can do while you are around the area.

Since Makati is the business district of the country, what one can expect to find here are the gigantic buildings that house different kinds of business establishments such as banks, BPOs, call centers, fast food chains and the list goes on. 

If you are a person who likes to do some shopping wherever you may be, this city will definitely offer you several shopping malls, from the "maka-masa" or average type of mall such as SM Makati to the higher end ones that have Louis Vitton, Hermes, etc, like Glorietta and Greenbelt that you can raid the whole day and grab great finds and on-sale items.

And if you are someone who likes to try out new places to eat, well, Makati will definitely not disappoint you. This is because it has almost all kinds of restaurants and fast foods that you could think of. And it does not matter if you are on a tight budget or not because the food options in this place are so varied that they will have something that is pleasing to your palate and approved by your wallet too at the same time.

Moving on, if you want to try something new and something unique about Makati, what you can do is you can try riding an electric jeepney or e-jeepney and just tour yourself all over the Wall Street of the Philippines and if you get hungery, just get down at the famous Rada street and eat at a Jollijeep stall. Just be ready to wait for your turn to order since a lot of Makati workers buy their food from these food stalls.

And for those who want to get their rides get pimped, the Evangelista street in Bangkal, Makati, is known for providing automobile services such as car repair, upgrading and window tinting to all interested automobile owners. As you pass by this street, you will see a lot of auto repair and upgrading shops that provide services to almost all kinds of automobiles one could think of.

Lastly, for those who would like to see some wonderful art creations, what they can do is they can check out the Ayala Museum and Yuchengco Museum for some art appreciation experiences.

I believe there is so much more to explore in this vibrant and colorful city that is waiting to be unraveled by adventurers. Later, I will try to make a post of the other things what one can do while staying in or visiting Makati. And at that time, I will try to list down things that people do not usually do or try (but are worth checking out!) while they are in this city.

Anyhow, it's already 4 in the morning! Gotta catch me some snooze now.

Laters!


xoxo,

Yeps

Get Lost in Makati's Contents

I figured out that before I start blogging away the things that I want to include here on this blog, I want to make sure that people who will be spending their time reading away here will know what to expect. I am going to blog about different kinds of things with the assurance that they are all related to Makati. The list would include the following:

1. Directions on how to reach a Makati establishment
2. Places to eat (restaurants, fast foods and what not) in Makati
3. Places to check out (museums, shopping malls, etc.) in Makati
4. Any news that is related about Makati
5. Events in Makati
6. Basically, everything and anything that can be related to Makati

Apart from what was mentioned above, I might insert from time to time topics that may be distantly connected to Makati such as directions or events or restaurants near Makati area just to give people more information about the things that they would like to know.

Hopefully, this is going to be the start of a great journey ahead for GettingLostInMakati and the future readers and followers!

Welcome to Get Lost in Makati!

Finally! Getting Lost in Makati is up and is ready to run a very long road ahead of him.

I have been dreaming of putting up this blog site ever since I moved in to this very famous and probably the most talked about city in the entire country.

I only have one reason why I want this blog to be read by my future readers, to help them.

You see, I was (and will most likely remain) a probinsyana or a promdi as others would say it (from the province) my entire life until I got married and had to move out from my humble abode in the province and started a new life together with my husband here in Makati.

And just like any other promdi who meets the big city for the first time (technically, I think I've been to Makati before I got married about more or less 5 times already for some job interviews), I am clueless when it comes to most of the places around the city and I know that I had to familiarize myself about the how to get there's, the which route to take's and all that jazz if I want to make the most out of my Makati life.

Moving on, I have noticed that a lot of people are still looking for assistance when it comes to directions, places to eat (both affordable and pricey), places to hangout or checkout and things to do in this bustling and ever growing city. And I know the feeling of helplessness when you just do not know where to go. That is why I would like to help these people out as much as I could by giving some tips and even advices when it comes to getting lost in Makati and enjoy it at the same time as I continue to explore the beauty and the not-so-pretty things about Makati as I try to juggle around my other career hats at the same time.

See you around!

xoxo,
Yeps


PS. The photo above was taken by yours truly a few months ago. It is the night view from our apartment's rooftop. No, we do not live in a high-end condominium. We are just average people living in an average housing in Makati. =P