When I was just starting to work in the Manila area, I was culture shocked. I grew up in Quezon City and studied there all my life so I am used to its residential and more or less safe atmosphere. Also, having worked in Makati for four years, I was used to its towering buildings and clean sidewalks, and my idea of relaxation from work was having coffee at Starbucks and spending hours inside Powerbooks which was a good fifteen minute-walk from my previous office. So imagine my disgust when I realized that one of the things I had to get used to when I started working in Manila, aside from the pollution and the extreme difficulty of getting a cab, was the scarcity of a good bookstore in the area. Read the rest of this entry »