I’ve lived in this country all my life, grew up commuting between Mandaluyong and Quezon City to go to elementary school, Mandaluyong and Pasig for high school, lived in QC near UP Diliman for college and the first jobs I held after graduation.

It took forever before I learned to drive myself around the city, and while that had its perks, I enjoyed taking the MRT to go see exhibits on Pasong Tamo, or whenever I needed to get myself to QC for errands. I walked when I could, up and down Shaw Boulevard, to the nearby neighborhood groceries, or to the malls on EDSA-Crossing.

Doing the arts and culture beat from 2011 to 2013, it always only took me an hour to get from Mandaluyong to Quezon City or Manila, to go to, say, UP Diliman or the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Add 30 minutes to that if it rained.

None of this holds true in 2015. (more…)