Libotero – Philippine Travel Photo Blog

Part 5 of the Libotero Baguio-Banaue Roadtrip series

DAY 1.

After lunch at Skyrise Hotel and Restaurant, it was the perfect time to climb up the Lourdes Grotto to shed some calories. Since it was just less than a block away from our hotel, we were at the foot of the hill in an instant.
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Libotero was one of the shoppers that were made to relive and experience the fashion of the American West with “The Country Style Fashion Show”, one of the activities prepared by Ayala Center Cebu as part of the Fil-Am Friendship Celebration. The event was held at the Ayala Center Cebu Activity Center yesterday.

The audience, including myself, was blown away as models strutted in style wearing items from some of the well-loved stores/boutiques that participated.
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Part 11 of the Libotero Pampanga and Malolos Heritage Series

DAY 3.

Located just a block away from 950 Condotel is SM City Clark.
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Part 9 of the Libotero Pampanga and Malolos Heritage Series

DAY 2.

After a brief visit to Barasoain Church, I took a tricycle back to the van terminal at Petron along the MacArthur Highway. It took at least 30 minutes for the van to get filled so I took the opportunity to take a nap. I was just back to my senses when the driver started to collect the fares then zoom, zoom, we were off to SM City Pampanga. On the trip, I fell asleep once more LOL.
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Part 7 of the Libotero Pampanga and Malolos Heritage Series

DAY 2.

From the San Guillermo Church in Bacolor, I walked back to the main highway and took a jeepney to SM City Pampanga. The trip only cost me P10.

SM City Pampanga may be the only mall which is shared by two local governments. The mall’s east wing falls under Barangay Lagundi of Mexico, Pampanga, while the rest of the mall is located under Barangay San Jose, City of San Fernando. Cool!

SM City Pampanga is the very first SM Supermall in Central Luzon when it opened in 2000. It is now the biggest mall in Central Luzon, and the longest mall in the Philippines, with more than 820 meters sprawl of mall shopping area after it was expanded thrice to accommodate more shops in Pampanga’s ever bustling economy. It is said that Kapampangans have one of the highest purchasing power among Filipinos! The mall also sits on the largest land area for any SM Supermall with 31.6 Hectares of land!

Loooooooong!

After opening its newest annex a few years ago, SM City Pampanga now has more than 700 shops and boutiques to satisfy every consumer’s needs.

As I got inside the mall, I was really shocked as it was really very long! Although it is the longest mall in the country, it isn’t the largest though as the title belongs to SM City North EDSA. Most of the mall is only made of one level. Only the original building which houses the foodcourt and cinemas, is three storeys tall. Even the department store is only one level. That explains why the mall is very long.

SM City Pampanga main building, shares a lot of similarities with SM City Fairview’s main building, SM City Davao, SM City Cagayan de Oro and SM City Batangas, all built within the same time period

When you think about it, navigating through 700+ shops scattered on just one level, across 820 meters is quite a hassle but since SM City Pampanga is the best performing SM provincial mall, it gets all the updates first.

The mall is among the first few provincial SMs that sport the most recent SM Department Store design featuring the new unified SM logo.

SM City Pampanga is also the first provincial SM mall to be equipped with an interactive digital directory.

But besides all those, the reason why I visited SM Pampanga is because it is a major transport hub. Jeepneys to all points in Pampanga, and even other modes of transport to Bulacan, Tarlac, Zambales, Nueva Ecija and other nearby provinces, can be found here!

(…to be continued)

Part 18 of the Libotero Bohol Series

DAY 3.

After the mass at the Tagbilaran Metropolitan Cathedral, we checked out another shopping center in the city, BQ Mall.

Strategically located in the middle of downtown Tagbilaran, Bohol Quality Mall (more popularly known as BQ Mall), is the second largest shopping center in the province.

Ample parking slots are available in the mall’s basement and rooftop. Once I stepped inside the mall, I was like, “Woah!”. I thought Island City Mall was Bohol’s best but I actually think BQ Mall was better. Yes, taste is subjective but I felt that BQ Mall was more modern, attractive and sophisticated. Here are some photos:

Escalators at one of the mall’s main entry points

Like the Island City Mall, BQ Mall is a full-fledged mall complete with staple local and international fastfood chains, boutiques, service centers, technology outlets, a department store and supermarket, and cinemas. Plus, it has an international amusement center, Timezone (amazing, to think that most Timezone outlets are in Ayala Malls and in flagship SM Supermalls)

The main atrium

I actually noticed that most of the mall-goers are youngsters.

While exploring the mall, we chanced upon a dancevaganza contest at the mall’s rooftop event area.

Basically, ICM and BQ Mall share almost the same tenants, except that the latter was smaller and quite cramped but more intimate and enticing. We thought we’d be having dinner in another fastfood until we found Gerry’s Grill at the top level of the mall.

It was the perfect dinner for our last night in Tagbilaran as the resto was overlooking Panglao Island and Cebu Strait, Alcoy and Boljoon on the horizon.

Tagbilaran City Port as seen from Gerry’s Grill BQ Mall

The lovely sunset

“No goodbyes, only later!” – Sun

Twilight

(…to be continued)