McKayla-ed

With all the talk about SM Aura, I made it a point to visit it this weekend. 

Yes, there have been horror stories about the traffic going there, and the descent of the Divi crowd to BGC, but these didn't deter me. Today, I went to the mall, not just to check it out, but to attend the Uniqlo event as well. (Fine, and score some loot from Uniqlo.)

After seeing, feeling and exploring SM Aura, here's my assessment:

It's just like one of those hollywood films that everyone is raving about, but when you finally see it, you find out that it's not that great after all. That was my initial reaction to this mall. Mainly because of the following:

1. River Island is still closed.
2. The Mall itself is small and the corridors are narrow.
3. The interiors look very ordinary. It reminds me of SM Annex in North EDSA.
4. River Island is still closed.
5. The restrooms were dirty! (Considering it was just opened yesterday.)
6. The crowd was rowdy.
7. River Island is still closed.

Despite the fact that I'm McKayla-ed, there are certain parts of the mall that I like. Their Sky Garden looks awesome, and I can imagine it to be a hit once all the trees have bloomed and the grass has turned from brown to green.

The SM Store looks very nice and tres classy! It reminds me of Lane Crawford.

Also, they're having a San Pedro Calungsod Chapel within the mall, and it looks very promising.

That said, I won't be going back to SM Aura anytime soon. It looks like River Island isn't opening anytime soon, so that's okay.

Maybe when it opens and I come back, some impressive changes might have happened already.