(This post was originally written on 26 May 2006. I’m sure that, except the vastness of the place and my aversion for malls, almost all other aspects of my predicament are no longer there =)
I must confess that I’m no mall rat. I hate the congested parking area and the fact that they charge you for parking in order to buy something in their mall. I hate walking from one end to the other just to buy another item. I hate falling in line, a very long line, just to pay for a pair of socks. I always prefer a stand-alone establishment, where you can simply park in front, without parking fees, buy what you need, and go home in a flash. No sweat.
So imagine my horror when my wife, who loves shopping (common to women, I guess), wanted to check out the newly-opened SM Mall of Asia. I vehemently protested. She passionately argued that we have to go. But how can passion in shopping prevail over the well-honed debating skills of a trial lawyer? I tell you, the debate was swift and the victory was decisive. We went to the Mall of Asia this morning.
The Mall of Asia is situated at the reclamation area in Pasay City, near the Senate and Baclaran, and just behind the Blue Wave (how should I call it, a mini-mall?). I frequently pass through Macapagal Avenue and it was the first time that traffic was really heavy. After dropping my wife and company at the main entrance, it took me around 45 minutes to find a parking slot (at the South Wing parking, 6th Floor). The sun was up and it was very hot. There were only two elevators servicing the area where I entered, so I was forced to take the stairs from the 6th to the ground floor. I was sweating profusely, but I was better off taking the stairs because the elevator took ages to go up and down, stopping at every floor. But wait, that’s not all!
The place IS so huge, I tell you. They even have a golf cart to shuttle the elderly from one end to another. Now, if you combine an enormous labyrinth, the lack of maps, thousands of people and [some] closed entrances/exits – what do you get? You get foot fungus. Kidding aside, it took me another hour to look for my wife. But there’s more!
By the time I found my wife and company, we were already hungry. Restaurants abound at the Mall of Asia, but I don’t know what’s wrong with our economy because restaurants – including the more expensive ones – were all packed to the brim. So, we got a priority number, waited for an hour, ordered food, and got to eat after another 20 minutes. Ahhh, glorious food. It was already 3:00 p.m.
In fairness, maybe it just so happened that everyone wanted to see the Mall of Asia at the same time. Maybe things were not smoothly working beause the mall opened only recently. If you’re a mall rat, you’d love the Mall of Asia.
However, as I said, I’m no mall rat. With the ordeal that we went through, nobody wanted to see the mall and watch a movie. We all decided to go home. So, being the driver, I summoned my remaining strength as I limped all the way to the parking area and crawled up the stairs. There were so many of us wanting to get out, yet there was only one parking ticket counter that was operational. In short, it took me an hour to get to my wife and company, waiting at the main lobby.
With that, my wife vowed never to return to the Mall of Asia.
Thank God for small mercies.
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