Greenhills

It has been a long time since i visited the Greenhills shopping complex. Truth be told, after my father passed away in 2004, i have been to that area a total of 5 times, including my visit yesterday. I miss the old Greenhills area with the open fountain area, the long pond, Unimart and Choo-Choo Junction. When i was a little kid, my parents used to bring me along to Greenhills when they went crocery shopping at Unimart. While my mother took care of the buying, my father would take me to the open parking area near Choo-Choo Junction (yes, the spaghetti place inside a real train). We would watch RC owners race their cars around the hastily-made track.

After that we would meet my mother at the cafe inside Unimart for some chicken mami and softdrinks. As the years progressed, we graduated from mami at the cafe to Luk Yuen fronting the pond area. My father loved their radish cake. We would then walk to Virra Mall where we would buy squid balls (during that time squid balls was virtually unknown to most filipinos). When you cooked the squid balls, it grew to the size of a golf ball, and my father served it as "pulutan" when hi "compadres" come to visit.

It was also in Greenhills where i first got to taste Orange Juilius' orange juice and hotdog sandwhich. It was also in greenhills where i first tasted sugar cane juice, and where i lusted over the imported toys in the shoppersville area. I remember my parents buying me this train set from Tita Oning Banadera's shop. I still have pieces of the train set though i doubt if it still works.

When i went to Greenhills a couple of weeks with my fellow zen members after a meeting at ADB, i was surprised how much greehills has changed -- inside and out. I love what they did to Virra Mall, but can't get over my disappointment at how much the fountain area has changed. What used to be a mini-carnival for kids is now a tiangge. I have to admit i even got lost trying to find my way back to the Virra Mall area.

I decided to go again yesterday to familiarize myself with the place. Still i couldn't get over the fact that my favorite place to visit in Greenhills is now full of people selling everything from old coins to big stone buddha statues. Oh well. They say the only thing constant in life is change. So hey, i'll get used to it.

Gotta go. I'm going to Greenhills.