Manila, The Philippines things to do: Expert tips from an expat

MIRO GRGIC

Miro Grgic is no stranger to adapting. He arrived in Brisbane from Croatia as an immigrant war refugee at 15, and is now a multi-instrumentalist, sound engineer and event producer. He flew to Manila 'as a corporate suit' in 2010, only to stay, and create Malasimbo Music & Arts festival, now in its 10th year, malasimbo.com

SEE

Despite its economic reputation, there's a lot of wealth in The Philippines, and the art scene is big. My wife, Olivia d'Aboville, is a textiles designer using silk and native fibres such as abaca (from pineapple). Really, she sculpts textiles. She exhibits in various local galleries, so you'll find us in Altro Mundo, the Local Art Fair and Leon Gallery, See oliviadaboville.com, altromondo.ph, leon-gallery.com

DO

Skiing is my favourite activity, but not something I can do here, obviously. So I walk a lot in La Mesa Eco Park. It's the last rainforest in Manila. I'd say nine out of 10 residents don't know it exists, but you can taste native food, go swimming, rent a bike and ride around the rainforest to breathe in Filipino trees. This year, we're holding our music festival, Malasimbo, here.

EAT

I love the spices in Indian food, but there's not enough Indian restaurants here. Queens at Bollywood at Greenbelt 3, in Makati, is owned by a really cool guy. He works hard, and he's a good guy, so his food is good because he's good. My go-to is veg samosa and the chole (chickpea) masala. They also make an authentic butter chicken and proper naan, queensatbollywood.com