There Goes The Sky...

   Bitterly saying goodbye to my wide expanse of sky, with all the buildings being constructed.  Electric poles and wires are ugly enough. Shall this, the Sta. Rosa-Tagaytay road, become the next Alabang-Zapote road?  ...and I mean that in a negative way. 

That shop..the big guys, with cheap China furniture. Killer of quaint little village shops that sell local craft. 

   To be fair, I shall try to take photos of the opposite side to these, the new cinema building at the Solenad, Nuvali, and express sadness as well.

So it is another shopping mall.  This will no longer be a place that will interest balikbayans from the US.

    So much for open air shopping.  Anyway, the shops are nothing special. Just more of the same from Metro Manila.  The famed "outlets" in Paseo de Santa Rosa are no longer a draw, either.  New ones have opened, some have closed.


    As for restaurants...still a bit tricky out here, to gauge what will make it and what won't. Sadly, not many special places to eat as inside BF Homes Paranaque's holes-in-the-wall joints and new interiors.  Still the same old fast food joints raking it in.

   

M for Mt. Makiling, the view from here. That view will soon be covered, for sure.
That M (or the bee), in anytown, Philippines...anytown, Asia. No place is sacred.

   Apologies for sounding like Eeyore. Too depressing. That I am.  All because I am losing sky.

Solenad 2

     The landscape is changing fast.  I'm ambivalent about seeing the same retailers along the Sta. Rosa-Tagaytay highway, as those in Metro Manila. On the one hand, they are known brands whose displays are more appealing than the small boutique type shops in Paseo.  Now we really don't have to go all the way to Metro Manila for them (as if we even still do).  Even Paseo 4 is obviously occupied by Stores Specialist Inc. shops.

    On the other, well, what's so unique about this area anymore. The only difference now I guess is that Solenad 2's layout resembles shopping arcades in suburban America with its open design similar to Bonifacio High Street's.  It would have been interesting to have more "Kanin Club" type places---destinations unique to the "South".  Don't get me wrong, I welcome the Pancake House/Max's/Brothers Burger/Army Navy Burger/Contís et al presence.  I suppose it is just that I get disappointed when one town is simply a clone of the rest of the Metro. It's like having the golden arches (or the bee for that matter) towering over a town's central area like a beacon to all.  Welcome, welcome to your shopping and dining comfort zone. Boring. Safe. Economically sound, to be sure. Just frighteningly unimaginative. Welcome, to anywhere shopping Metro Manila.