After 25 years I finally got my chance to come back and visit the PI. I was surprised at what I seen, lots of changes and somethings seemed the same. The wife and I spent 10 days in Pangasinan with family.
I noticed Manila was clean. I seen no trash on the streets when we came in and out of the city. SM Mall was awesome, I thought I was at home in a mall in the US. Even the smaller Magic Malls were nice. It seemed everyone now has a scooter or tricycle. I seen quite a few SUV's too. One big thing, no one seemed notice me. Last time I was there people surrounded the house to see me. I did see a couple foreigners in the SM Mall in Rosales.
People seemed to be doing a little better. However still lots of poor looking areas. Land is now real expensive!
Duder
Trip, back after 25 years..
Welcome back! Look around, Malls are everywhere
Did it take longer than before to get to Pangasinan? In 1994 it took 7 hours to get to Santa, Ilocos Sur, this time it took 9 hours. Did you ever get up north like you had planned? I know 10 days with the family after being gone for 25 years must have taken up most of your time, a whole new generation or two.
I just changed jobs and had a week of vacation so I couldn't really do much. Working in Korea now so I could not pass up the opportunity to go for a visit. The roads are much nicer, we took a Five Star bus to the province however we went all over the place. It seemed faster but I was so tired, I think the bus left around 1:30am and It was getting light when we got there, had to transfer to a Jeep too.
The Family took all the time, one Aunt came up from Mindanao to see us. We went around to some of the surrounding towns shopping. I was just blown away by SM Mall, they have an Ace hardware store in there. We talked about going to Baguio but something was always going on.
I seen some giant Jeepneys there too, they were strange to see, almost like a motor home.
Duder
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