After a nice recharging and relaxing Saturday afternoon in Makati, we wrongly decided to spend the following day-Father’s Day at SM North EDSA. Why in the world there of all places? Honestly, we don’t have other reasons but curiosity of that newly built SKY GARDEN and SKY DOME with the freshly renovated SM City Annex.
I had an overdose of that mall in Quezon City when I was in Med school. Every after platings (or quizzes in layman’s) and exams, my classmates and I usually go there to unwind (for the lack of better word). It’s a luxury for medical students at that time (I don’t know now) to have a break inside a mall to have coffee, or watch movies or simply to stroll around after an exhausting duty or examination. I had my four years of med school frequenting SM City North EDSA and I think I had enough of it, even after I saw the changes they’ve done with it, for improvement, to be at par (admit or deny it) with the Ayala malls that are so eco-friendly and our favorites but sadly, all that we saw in SM City didn’t meet my expectations.
Blogosphere, here’s the new SM City North EDSA Sky Dome and Sky Garden
If you haven’t seen it for whatever reason (you’re not missing the world, don’t worry, LOL), it’s a multipurpose theater on top of a carpark (do you like that?!) fronting EDSA and North Avenue (with all the emitted pollution from vehicles in those highways), what’s weird uncommon with it is the presence of a man-made hill with walk way designed after an unfamiliar pattern somewhat like UFO (?) LOL, with fountains, man-made stream and few art whatever. To be frank with what I feel about it, instead of providing cool green environment, it was rather warmer and humid despite the effort of being an eco-friendly SM mall. Ang init, sobra! and I cannot imagine when storm comes, how will the Sky garden and Sky Dome tolerate the pours? I hope they anticipated flood control in those new “attractions”. I’m sorry but I’m not really into it. I don’t get the idea of having a garden on top of a car park in the middle of polluted EDSA. Ang init, talaga! Perhaps if they have airconditioned it, I will think otherwise.
There are few opened establishments such as coffee shops and ice cream parlors along the covered trail of the Sky Garden but these shops are so small with minimal seating capacity except for very few restaurants there. Starbucks Coffee (right) at the Sky Garden is yet to be finished and a promising resto called Persian Grill (left) has the same status. These two food places are located in the man-made stream at the Sky Garden that looks like this… 
What ALMOST impressed me was the renovation of the SM City Annex… If you’re familiar with how it looked few decades ago, look how it changed…
The renovation of the SM City Annex was close to my taste had it not have heavy-looking stairs and escalators. I got dizzy by just looking at them.
Perhaps it’s just my preference and bias with Glorietta, Greenbelt, TriNoma and Shangri La malls. But it also proves that NOT all HUGE are GREAT.
OPINION COUNTS…