When your
body clock is used to a faster pace, boredom can strike you when the stay exceeds for one week in this
city of pines.
Besides i need to clean up our
flat from dust and get rid of the common irritating Baguio mold smell due to flat left unused for months. There is an advantage living in a box (condo), not a thing missing, all things are intact. You can expect to see the flat the way you had left it. Its been almost a week since i arrived with Jimboh and i should have another week in
the city before i have to get back to my
Pasig flat to prepare my journey to a continent that was my second home since 1997 to 2010 ( 13 years),
Africa!
With all the traffic , large
SUV's , small roads and the lack of parking in the city, my feet deserves a vacation and rest. I have been dealing with
Metro Manila traffic and when your using a
manual transmission SUV ( which i prefer), foot pain is inevitable. I decided to walk from our flat to town using the
Leonard Wood route ( the pollution is just perfect !). Its a 30 minute casual walk that benefits my health and heart. Getting a taxi from town can be a struggle, i need to line up at SM for at least 45 minutes. Getting a taxi at upper
session road can be more speedy with luck!. During the holiday peak, a taxi driver informed me that only about 300 taxis are servicing the city resulting to people walking. If you happen to be from Baguio, walking becomes fun!. Presently there are 11,000 taxis servicing the city during normal days. Out of this number, 1,000 taxis are not registered according to the taxi driver. I cannot vouch for this information.
Walking has given me a better understanding of the city, its progress and trends. Every available commercial space can either be a restaurant, a cafe, a bed & breakfast inn, a pub, a pizzeria, a mini grocery, a korean school/grocery/church, a lotto shop and even a government agency . The roads of
Legarda, Upper General Luna , Leonard wood and probably more roads of the same type are now commercial areas beaming with bright lights and
taxi stands. Parking can become a problem. What used to be old and large vacation houses which were most of the time empty are now converted into exhibit venues such as the case the white house along Leonard Wood known for being haunted with an entrance fee of Pesos 50.00. Others are converted into bed and breakfast with in-house restaurant facilities. Dining in these places with a home ambiance can be less stressful that when dining in an overcrowded mall.
Life in the city has somehow changed. A place we will always visit for the rest of our lives. If the city becomes our place of retirement, then i am hoping city become conducive to the senior citizens.
An afternoon nap and walk to the downtown area by around 4 pm then back at my flat by 7 pm for dinner , a book and good night's sleep with Jimboh keeps me contended. (",)
Until next time and best wishes to all of us , another year has passed.
Rossano Salvosa Almonia
P.S My Zemanta application seems not to be working and photo links could not be inserted.
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