LA vs Phoenix
my bro has been kidding me about staying in cali during our recent trip to LA. he kept telling me he'll live me behind cause he supposedly knows how much i miss manila. tempting, but no. not now at least.
LA is a really big center. its quite hard to discern up to where LA really is. and its cause of this that their freeways are clogged. even on weekends. sure they've got a lot of freeways but if its full, then commute time would climb to more than an hour. add to that the seeming lawlesness of the drivers, that makes for a really dangerous place to drive in. more dangerous than that in manila. back in manila, sure we don't really have laws in the road except for swerving, which is also debatable depending on who is enforcing it(i've encountered a croc in blue who defines swerving as traveling in a straight line), but its not that dangerous, nerve wracking but not life threatening. in LA, it hasn't come to the point where everyone is changing lanes all the time and variable number of lanes in a road. but they do change lanes without warning. while traveling at 60mph. and with their bumper to bumper(meaning close formation driving at 50mph) freeway traffic, using the horn is a must, especially to get the attention of those cars exiting to the right from the leftmost lane. my sister-in-law calls them crab drivers, cause they move sideways with little forward movement.
on the other hand, metro Phoenix is definitely smaller than LA. its got an efficient freeway system. you can virtually reach any part in under an hour. furthermore, the freeways in the city are well-lighted unlike in LA where it isn't lighted at all. the onramps and offramps are spacious, alowing for 40mph entries and exits, compared to the really cramp ones in LA which only allows 20mph. the traffic lights are synchronized so you'll almost always have a green light. but most of all, the drivers are corteous. horns aren't used here its almost illegal to use them. drivers signal when changing lanes. people respect your right of way. all in all a much pleasant experience.
whats also interesting to note in LA is that they go for the bling bling. on the road, you're more likely to be traveling alongside a bmw or a lexus or a chrysler rather than a civic, which is the norm here in phoenix. their malls are also more upscale, you'd find bebe, coach, lacoste, nordstram, neiman marcus and other like them than gap or old navy or wal-mart. everyone is more conscious of what they wear there, compared to the i-don't-mind-if-my-clothe's-got-creases-on-them attitude here in phoenix. i think its more of that being the way of life there and has less to do with bigger pay slips. when you look at salaries, the pay in LA is generally just about $5k more. plus, basic necessities there costs higher. i think people here can live like those over there but they don't cause there's no need to.
LA is a really big center. its quite hard to discern up to where LA really is. and its cause of this that their freeways are clogged. even on weekends. sure they've got a lot of freeways but if its full, then commute time would climb to more than an hour. add to that the seeming lawlesness of the drivers, that makes for a really dangerous place to drive in. more dangerous than that in manila. back in manila, sure we don't really have laws in the road except for swerving, which is also debatable depending on who is enforcing it(i've encountered a croc in blue who defines swerving as traveling in a straight line), but its not that dangerous, nerve wracking but not life threatening. in LA, it hasn't come to the point where everyone is changing lanes all the time and variable number of lanes in a road. but they do change lanes without warning. while traveling at 60mph. and with their bumper to bumper(meaning close formation driving at 50mph) freeway traffic, using the horn is a must, especially to get the attention of those cars exiting to the right from the leftmost lane. my sister-in-law calls them crab drivers, cause they move sideways with little forward movement.
on the other hand, metro Phoenix is definitely smaller than LA. its got an efficient freeway system. you can virtually reach any part in under an hour. furthermore, the freeways in the city are well-lighted unlike in LA where it isn't lighted at all. the onramps and offramps are spacious, alowing for 40mph entries and exits, compared to the really cramp ones in LA which only allows 20mph. the traffic lights are synchronized so you'll almost always have a green light. but most of all, the drivers are corteous. horns aren't used here its almost illegal to use them. drivers signal when changing lanes. people respect your right of way. all in all a much pleasant experience.
whats also interesting to note in LA is that they go for the bling bling. on the road, you're more likely to be traveling alongside a bmw or a lexus or a chrysler rather than a civic, which is the norm here in phoenix. their malls are also more upscale, you'd find bebe, coach, lacoste, nordstram, neiman marcus and other like them than gap or old navy or wal-mart. everyone is more conscious of what they wear there, compared to the i-don't-mind-if-my-clothe's-got-creases-on-them attitude here in phoenix. i think its more of that being the way of life there and has less to do with bigger pay slips. when you look at salaries, the pay in LA is generally just about $5k more. plus, basic necessities there costs higher. i think people here can live like those over there but they don't cause there's no need to.
my golay, such bonggaciousness!
lastly, there are a lot of filipinos in LA. serously. you won't find a corner where there's not a filipino around. in fact, two filipinos are pitted against each other for the mayoralty position in today's election. chowking, jollibee, max's, red ribbon, goldilocks... all there! though they call the sago(or black pearls) boba. and of course, being the usual filipinos, pabonggahan nanaman pagdating sa trabaho, kotse, bahay at damit. thats probably why cali is a filipino magnet, cause the way of life is a snug fit to their churvaness. even those who were born here inherited the mapangmata attitude. golly gee, pinoy na pinoy! i have nothing against filipinos but if i wanted to experience manila, i'd fly to manila for a genuine experience.
phoenix has its own charm. streets are clean, places aren't crowded, people greet each other, everyone's generally more corteous... stuff like that. that's why i'm not in a rush to move to cali despite the weather and lack of activity. maybe someday i'll move to cali to join in on the chaotic madness, but not now. i'm more into the relaxed way of life at the moment.
phoenix has its own charm. streets are clean, places aren't crowded, people greet each other, everyone's generally more corteous... stuff like that. that's why i'm not in a rush to move to cali despite the weather and lack of activity. maybe someday i'll move to cali to join in on the chaotic madness, but not now. i'm more into the relaxed way of life at the moment.
5 comments:
Sigh. He'd 'LEAVE' you in Cali, not "live". Dammit Mike! (Misha slaps self in forehead)
lol! strike two! same word! erm, no, opposite pala. last time it was leaving for living! am i the only one who's finding this extremely funny? hahaha! well at least i know someone's been proofreading m posts.. hahahaha
ditto what mish said. i take it phoenix is your paranaque: an urban setting less the city hubbub.
no its not! i refuse to allow the city i'm living in be compared to paranaque! =p its more of if you take manila, then stretch everything wide til you reach the point where shanties become houses. but dont get me wrong, i don't like paranaque the city, but i love paranaque the people. =)
ho hum, if only we could stretch stuff in real life, like that damned alabang-zapote road >_<
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