The Cubicle is empty!!!

There are malls and there is the Mall of Asia.  We all know how fond Filipino’s are of fond of shopping, especially for shoes, just google search Imelda Marcos here, but this mall takes it up another notch.  BAM! BAM! BAM! (emiril legase imitation here) 

The SM Mall of Asia is the largest shopping mall in the Phillipines and the 7th largest shopping mall in the world in terms of gross floor size.  It opened on May 21, 2006 with an amazing display of fireworks which you can check out in YOU TUBE.

The Mall of Asia was constructed within the reclamation area, west of Roxas Boulevard in Pasay City, aptly nicknamed “Bay City.”  It is built on 19.5 hectares of reclaimed land and has a gross floor are of 386,224 square metes.  The mall is located at the southmost tip of EDSA.  A roundabout was constructed in the front of the mall with a huge bronze globe simialar Universal Studio globe design.

The SM Mall of Asia mall grounds consists of four buildings interconnected by walkways; the Main Mall, the Entertainment Mall, and the North and South Carpark Buildings.

The Main Mall includes shopping and dining establishments and the food court. The Entertainment Mall is a two-story complex, a majority of which is open-air, facing Manila Bay.

The mall’s 5,000 parking spaces are divided across two, six-story parking buildings conveniently designated the North and South parking buildings. The South Parking building houses the mall’s official SM Department Store, while the mall’s supermarket, the SM Hypermart (don’t laugh at the name, because it surely describes the ongoings in a busy day, which is everyday) is located within the North Parking building.

One of the mall’s somewhat-unique features is a 20-seater tram traveling around the mall grounds to ferry shoppers around.  Also, the ice skating rink in the middle of the mall is interesting.  It was fun to see kids and adults alike skate and fall on their bum!

One can spend a day and not go thru all the stores.  But I did everything here from getting toiletries supplies to booking airline tickets.  Shopping at the SM Mall of Asia is a good way to spend your day because the air condition is set to the ultimate lowest here.  If you’re sweating shopping it’s because you just went thru hypermart.

 Had a relaxing time in Manila.  Got to meet some relatives and went out for fresh seafood.  Went to the Dumpa Seafood Market near the Mall of Asia on Diosdado Macapagal Road.  Pick you seafood tell them how you want it cooked and whala, fresh seafood dinner.  Excellent!!! night to end my stay in Manila.

 Until next time, bahala na………………………….

See My Links D mall of asia for pics.

Our first full day in Manila started with a breakfast buffet at the hotel. Wow!! A filipino breakfast with fried rice, longinisa sausage, talapia and aros caldo! yummy!!!

Saw the popular Rizal Park and the changing of the guards at the monument. Went to Intramuros to see Dad’s alma mater MIT (Mupua Institue of Technology) where the guards were amazed that a graduate from 1964 would come and visit the school all the way from the US. Saw where the CE classrooms where and the gymnasiums was packed with ping-pong matches going on. This was saturday and classes were being conducted. It was a lively campus.

We then started to head out to look for the church mom and dad got married in. That’s when we heard about the stampede tragedy. Mom and dad had considered going to the event, but decided against it ’cause of the weather and the number of people. I did get a few e-mails to see if we were safe. While taking a taxi and navigating thru the Manila’s infamous traffic jams, we saw on more than one occasion as ambulances were speeding as best as they can to get to the tragic site. This happened not too far from where we had been.

We never did get to the church where mom and dad got married, but we were getting tired from the hustle and bustle of a big city. We had the taxi for about 3 hrs and it cost us less than PhP 1,000 that’s equivalent to less than $20.

That night we met mom’s brother Pepe his wife Gina and their kids Sabrina and Markos. Markos is a cutie and full of energy. He could keep still. We went out to eat. This buffet place had everything from traditional filipino dishes and fruits to steaks on order. Of course I ordered grilled squid. Yummy good. The Lechon (pork roast) was excellent as usual. The mariachi band was awesome! Dad requested about 3 songs. It was fun to see uncle Pepe again and it’s been awhile since I’ve seen him too.

Overall a great day, as I had my first legal drink of San Miguel in the PI.

until next time, “bahala na.”