Alone at the SM.

All through my trip, we were always busy. There was something going on due to my wardrobe and dress for the wedding day. There was one time when my wife had to get her hair done. Normally that would take a very long time and take most of the day. So one day my wife gets her hair done and I am around the SM Mall, alone.  She said “Are you going to be okay?” Yes. Even though I am comfortable in malls when I am home, but here in the Philippines, I was worried. Of course, I am here in the Philippines and enjoy it every day but being alone in the mall, I will get attention.

With the laptop as my friend for the time being, I stopped at every coffee shop and just took my time. I would look at my Facebook account and communicate in that way. Lunchtime, I stopped at Greenwich Pizza for pasta. The bill was 135PHP. After lunch, I was off to another coffee shop. This was on the second floor overlooking the mountains of Baguio. It was my second hot coca and my laptop was almost out of power. I found a seat with an outlet to charge it back up. Not much outlets are here at the mall. You would have to find anything since I always have a habit to keep my laptop plugged in which I found out now is not good for the battery.

I was just enjoying my drink and looking through until something happened that I was caught off guard. A group of people sitting not far from me, one of them a woman struck up a conversation with me and asked me if I can look at her laptop. I declined at first and then after thinking about it, why not. I asked her if I can look at it. Apparently she said that she can’t access the internet. I tried for a couple of times. The battery is low and it seems there was not a Wi-Fi setting on her laptop. Apparently, one of the people saw me alone and they knew I was a foreigner and this woman is using her laptop as a way to communicate with me. In the mist of all of this, the worker at the coffee shop came up to me and asked me to remove the power from the laptop. I have two things going on and it felt like a culture shock. I told the person that I will. I felt I was not welcomed anymore at that place. I told the woman that I can’t get it to work and you don’t have a Wi-Fi card. I finished my cup and then I said bye to the group and took the mug back to the worker. I apologized and I was off my way.

I normally don’t know how to react to under those circumstances however it was a learning experience. I believe when you are a foreigner and you are in the Philippines, you are perceived to be something that you are not. That is something that I am thinking of writing next since I have been seeing a lot of it online. 

SM City and Wal-Mart are not too different.

When I first landed in the Philippines in June of 2010, I really didn't know what to expect. I knew Manila and every town was crowded and traffic is a nightmare but what I didn't expect is the amount of malls especially the SM city malls. I have knew of the malls that a lot of people frequent because of the shopping and the air conditioning since not a lot of people have air conditioning in their homes. However lately, I heard more of these malls are starting to pop up. On the way to Baguio, I see a lot of them. North EDSA (which is the biggest on the Philippines), Pampanga, Tarlac, and Rosales. Some of these happen even in the remote of places in the provinces.

SM City Mall in Rosales

Right now there are 48 of these supermalls in the Philippines including 4 in China. One blogger popped up a question if the SM malls are good for the towns when it comes to jobs, or does it damage the charm of the town or the city? This pretty much is the same question when it comes to Wal-Mart in the states. We have a lot of Wal-Mart's and some of them are converting them into Supercenters, but they are mostly in the suburbs. There is one Wal-Mart in the Chicago limits and the company wants to build more but is causing controversy because Chicago has a lot of small businesses that it thrives on. Same with Baguio. There are lot of shops along Session Road and just noticed that more people flocked to the mall. Is this good? Well I have nothing against wrong against SM City and Wal-Mart when it comes to it. Both companies are a money making machine they have to do what to do. I heard and read that they are going to build another SM Megamall in Cebu. Cebu has one and Cebu is not like Manilla in any ways but they are planning a bigger mall that it will be become the 4th largest mall in the Philippines over the SM Mall Of Asia. Cebu? Really? So another question comes up, will it kill the charm that Cebu has or will it bring more jobs the city and the people need? That is a ongoing debate but it will be interested to see where it goes from here.

The SM City Experience

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I have been to a lot of shopping malls back home and I was thinking the same thing when I got to the Philippines. In Chicago, we have one of the biggest malls in the USA, but when I went to the Mall of Asia (check previous entry), all those things I thought I knew went out the window. I was at the SM City Baguio for all the times that I was there. It was crowded every day. Families, groups of people, teenagers and kids roam through the mall every day. People would come to eat, shop, or hang around after school. It is more like of a family experience. In the states, you would shop, get something to eat and then leave but not hang around for the whole time. That is one difference I see that makes the malls in the Philippines different from anything else I went to. I was mostly at the SM City in Baguio to get anything to eat, shop or take a break away from our quarters. With the wedding a couple of weeks away, it was getting into a routine.

The SM City in Baguio is not the biggest one in the world or in the Philippines but it was mostly unique since Baguio is on a high elevation and a mountainous area. This is the only mall that doesn't have Air conditioning and the third floor has plenty of light that makes unique to the other SM City malls. This is one of my favorite places to go.

On the top floor overlooking the fence, you can see Baguio and all it's beauty. It was one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen and the one that really sets your mind into somewhere else. 

The mall has everything. Everything with the wedding we got it here. Photography, barongs, clothes, shoes and everything that you can imagine that you don't really get at the malls back in the states. That is one thing I really enjoy when I am in the Philippines is the malls and there is nothing like it.