Weekly Photo Challenge: Urban

The posh Ayala, Makati in a not-so-busy afternoon.

The instructions for this week’s theme says, “photograph your city and the streets where you grew up as they are”. Sadly, I don’t live in the place where I grew up and there’s hardly anything hardcore urban about Iriga City. There have been improvements in the city proper but as whole, I think the city has retained its laid back lifestyle.  So instead of sharing a pic of the street where I grew up in, I took a picture of a place I often go to while living in Manila–Ayala.

Ayala is one of the the better urbanized places in Manila. It’s teeming with shops, fine dining places and relaxation spots. However, the reality about the urban Manila is much much crueler  outside the boundaries of this area. It’s noisier, more disorganized and dirtier. Ayala, in fact, is a slap of reality. But here I am frequenting the area when in fact I feel suffocated every time I would walk in its streets. Oh what an irony.