FACEBOOKISH, SO unoriginal yet so fitting – “Angeles City, I like.”
So what’s there to like in Angeles, what’s there to like the city for?
At random and in full blabber now…
Clark Freeport. Once bastion of American imperialism and the very reason for the city’s being, now the engine of economic growth, the locus of industry, leisure, entertainment.
Clark airport. So every Juan can fly. How unoriginal there too.
Tigtigan Terakan keng Dalan. So very Juan can dance, drink, and be totally happy. Fields Avenue. More exotic, less erotic now. Where East meets West, the twain totally melded. Facelifted – holes-in-the-walls morphing to grand facades and ritzy interiors. And the ladies notches up in pulchritude to boot!
Sisig. Mere mention of the dish of a thousand delights unleashes the taste buds, makes the salivary glands go on overdrive. As sisig makes Angeles, so no other place can make sisig this good as Angeles.
Food, glorious food. Pastas at Cioccolo’s. Chilean mussels of Azzuro’s. Panizzas of ‘C. Seafood shabu-shabu of Fortune. Angus steaks of International Bistro. Burritos of Zapata’s. Bulgogi of Il Mi. Sukiyaki of Yu Fu In. Buro and grilled hito of Cely’s. Stir-fried kamaru and betute of Everybody’s Café. Halo-halo and pancit luglug of Razon’s.
Kakanin of Susie’s. Everything at Bale Dutung.
Yeah, there’s simply no way for the most discriminating gourmet and the avaricious gourmand not to find Angeles to their liking.
Coffee Academy and Beatico. Add Starbucks, Michel’s, La Nilad, Diva’s, Krispy Kreme and Cinnabon too. They all serve the best brew. (Damn the unsanitary Xtremely Xpresso though.) One coffee republic, Angeles definitely is.
Signature spa. Indulgence. Jencen. Footsie. Royal Siam. Refreshing, revitalizing, renewing.
Roman – ah, simply uplifting.
Lewis Grand. Hotel Amsterdam. Savannah. Grandview. ABC. Fields Plaza. Changing for the better the skyscape of Angeles. Even as old and venerable Marlim remains.
Grand Palazzo Royale. In a class all its own.
SM City Clark, getting it all. Marquee Mall, offering some more. Nepo Mall, Jenra and Robinson’s. Sheer, compulsive consumption!
So is there anything left for the soul?
The Center for Kapampangan Studies at Holy Angel University, repository of the spirit of the Mekeni race.
Museo ning Angeles.
The Pamintuan Mansion, site of the celebration of the first anniversary of Philippine Independence.
The Holy Rosary Church. Truly magnificent edifice of faith.
The Apu and La Naval devotion.
And then there is the essential Angeleno, most manifest in the forebears and heirs of Henson and Suarez, Lazatin and Nepomuceno, Tayag and Angeles, Gomez and Abad Santos.
And then again there is EdPam and Miniang – more than enough reasons to like, aye, to love Angeles.
Love Angeles so much that I spend more time in the city, day-after-day-after-day, than in the City of San Fernando where I “officially” reside.
