Mother of All Malls

I paid a visit to the grand opening of my friend Karl's latest Figaro's branch. His is the largest Figaro's cafe in Manila, located in a brilliant position near the Hypermart (supermarket) of the SM Mall of Asia: what has got to be the most humungous monster of a mall in the galaxy.

Also celebrating its grand opening - this mall let's you feel how BIG it is. It looks like a spaceship dreadnaught, a veritable superdimensional space fortress. Maybe it was designed as our first (and last) line of defense against evil space marauders, with super robots held within its secret cavernous mecha hangars. This is not that big of a stretch, mind you - not while a huge metal globe is displayed a few hundred meters in front of the structure's facade. It may well be it's intra-stellar space-radar to spot early threats.









It looks like at least two Megamalls stetched side-by-side, with an apparent floor area of at least four times that of SM Megamall.
Even if at present it's only operating at 40% capacity, that's still a whole lot of commerce. When I stepped out of Figaro's I thought I'd be near the entrance to the mall proper. My goodness! It felt like walking a whole city block! I think it would take at least two days to explore the mall in its entirety.

Still, I didn't expect so many people. Well, Manila is the most densely-populated city in the Philippines so I shoudn't be surprised. The entrance to the mall is choked by a line of people squirming and wriggling like a giant slug. Needless to say, I had the fortunate wisdom to desist from exploring the mall, new and interesting as it may be.

Well, I think Karl's Figaro will do well in this mall. His cafe is very accessible from outside the mall itself (though you'd be a fool to think that it'd be a leisurely walk - things are deceptively near in this mall). What will be my reason for ever visiting this monstrosity (I'm not a big fan of malls)? That would be the first IMAX theater. I can't wait to see the new X-Men movie in it next weekend.