Laguna Trip...

Laguna Trip…

Critical Commentary on space

Our trip consists of the following

            -Paseo de Santa Rosa

            -SM Calamba

            -UP Los Baños

            -Liliw

            -Courtesy call with Governor Ejercito (bonus trip)

 

Paseo (thank you Han for the pic)

Paseo was the first place we went to in Laguna. Immediately upon arriving I felt as if I were in Bonifacio High Street due to the open area motif of the place. As an area it is very big and it felt like I was in a mall minus the open space. The stores that are in Paseo cater to the middle to upper class. Most of the stores there are for the financially abled people but since most of the stores that are there are outlet shops so probably it can cater to people that are not in the classes I’ve mentioned above. There are also some boutique shops. The reason why I classified the area as for middle to upper class only is not really because of the shops since it is open space, there are parks in the place and even though you don’t really have money you can go spend time in the park however the place is exclusive due to the fact that there are no jeepney stations or taxis in the place so that means people that go there have cars. Another interesting part in Paseo was the bars, of course there are restaurants that are considered as high class but there are bars (inuman) in the area and typically inuman places tend to devalue the class of the place. And since I didn’t get to experience to be in Paseo during night time I don’t know what it’s like when the bar’s are open.

Scenic view inside SM Calamba

SM Calamba is the typical small SM that caters to the middle to lower classes. It is considered as the mall of the “Masa” although inside I can also somehow see higher class establishments, overall the vibe of the place is for the middle to lower classes. Although unlike the usual SM here in Manila there are particularly less high-class stores, the stores here are Bench, Penshoppe. I can also see that some of the things in they’re store are considered to be already outdated in Manila, well I’ve noticed that the Smart telecommunication store in SM Calamba still uses the old logo of Smart. The place however is extremely less intimidating for people to just go to the mall and not buy anything unlike in Paseo.

UP Los Baños is the dorm that we lived in during the trip. It is almost the same with the UP in Diliman wherein there are jeepneys inside. The place was very nature oriented for there are many trees and plant in the place. It really feels great inside because being there feels like an escape from the urban world.

 

Modern part of Liliw

Liliw was like the Marikina of Laguna. In Liliw there are many stores that sell shoes. The place is famous for it’s slippers and I saw the quality of the slippers and as much as I want to buy shoes and slippers I forgot to bring money and thus I wasn’t able to buy anything. So basically since I didn’t bought anything I just turned the place into a tourist spot for me and like a foreigner I checked out every area of the place. I saw that there are old houses that feel like I’m in Vigan. There are also entrepreneurs

Traditional Liliw

who sell items from knives, belt, wallet and small crab. From my observation as we walk further from the bus the place becomes more traditional, since near the bus there are stores such as 7/11 and there is Chooks 2 Go. While as you walk further the items that they sell becomes more traditional from the first part, they sell rubber shoes, flats, heels and to the latter part of the place they sell slippers and sandals, overall the place is a hybrid or sort of a community and each and every one of them practices capitalism in some form that is the Liliw community.

Courtesy call with Governor ER Ejercito (thank you again Han for the pic)