Manila Ocean Park

Lately, Hubby and I seem to be enjoying spending our weekends doing short trips out of town or exploring famous tourists spots in Manila.  Dinner-movie combo has taken a backseat (or weekday seat in our case) cause there's just so much of Manila, and the Philippines in general, we haven't discovered.  And so last Saturday, you find silly couple conquering the vast Manila Ocean Park.

Oceanarium.  Ok, so I adore colorful fishes. And this was the perfect place for me to come and marvel at the different aqua marine creatures - from a safe tank distance.

Fish Spa.  I've wanted to try this for the longest time.  Especially since Dear Hubby has an old man's feet and he desperately needs to feed Dr. Fishes his dead skin cells.  While they can't claim any real therapy or medical relevance, there has been recorded incidence of Dr. Fishes' eating of the dead skin cells hastening the healing of a wound. Plus, seriously Hubby's feet afterward, was silky smooth!  Definitely worth the Php120 bucks we paid for 20 minutes.

Costs:
Oceanarium: Php 400 (you get 10% off if you live in the Manila area)
Fountain Show: Php 300
Sea World Show: Php 200
Jelly Fish Museum: Php 160
Fish Spa: Php 120

There's some combo promotion but we didn't avail of them as we only wanted to see the Oceanarium and try the Fish Spa.

Wakeboarding at Nasugbu

For Dear Hubby's 28th birthday, I decided that it's high time for some good clean adrenaline-rushed filled fun.  And so we drove the short drive from Manila to Nasugbu, Batangas and got ourselves some beginner's lessons in wakeboarding.

It was a Wednesday and traffic was super light, thank gawd, because we were starving already.

Lunch at the in-house restaurant.  Oddly enough, for a place that has unwashed table linens, prices were surprisingly high, I thought at first.  We both had the steak and it was delicious. So I berate myself silently for my earlier snooty judgment.

 

We mistaken thought that as beginners we would be able to do the ramps, and fly 360 degrees off the air. Umm, yeah. Maybe, next time.

Having a dinner to rush to back in Manila, we decided that it be best we just take the hour trial/tutorial.  It costs about Php 350/hour, wake boarding gear included.

I was able to stand after the second try, which I thought was pretty awesome of me (my blog, my rules!) Most everyone who tried it the first time commented about sore arms afterwards and having done it for an hour and half I thought mine would certainly have the not-so-desired sting effect, but nothing of the sort happened.

I'm not as good as the Hubby, who not only was able to stand immediately, but was able to finish an entire loop without falling flat on his face.


Some helpful tips:
1. Wear a rash guard.
2. Lago de Oro is a man made water park. Hence, the lake floor is a bit gooey when you stepped into it. Best to take aqua shoes with you.
3. Slather some UV45 at least. Unfortunately, there are no trees to block the ray of the sun.
4. Parking is free
5. From SLEX, take the Sta Rosa exit and just drive all the way to Nasugbu Batangas.  Lago de Oro is a good 45 minutes after the Nasugbu arc.
6.) 1 hour of wakeboarding session  costs about Php 350

30 Before 30 Checklist: the Dolphin Encounter

Most everyone I know, who has a proverbial bucket list, counts swimming with the dolphins pretty high up on their Things-To-Do-Before-I-Die or any similar less grimier version... And why not, the dolphins are one of the most beautiful creatures on Earth.  You look at them and you are instantly transported to kid-like state of happiness.

Last Monday, Dear Hubby gave me the greatest sweetest surprised since, well, his last greatest sweetest surprise.  He took me to Subic Ocean Adventure at Subic Bay, Olongapo City for some much desired swim encounter with the dolphins.

Swimming with the dolphins is fast becoming a popular travel activity in the area. However, reservations are still ideal since the park usually only accommodate a handful of lucky participants.  On weekends, swim encounters are suspended due to huge tour group, mostly Korean visitors at the Park.

Subic Ocean Adventure offers a number of ways you can enjoy the dolphins company.

There's the Beach Encounter for only Php 2,800, where your dolphin adventure starts with a big dolphin greeting by the beach shore.  Then you have a chance to touch, hug and even kiss this friendly mammals. And of course, there's plenty of time for some photo ops. (adventure: 30 minutes)

Second, is the Swim Encounter, which is what the Hubby and I did. For only Php 4,200 you have direct water interaction with this lovable creatures.  A 20-minute swim encounter, plus some dolphin training and a handful of other activities (i.e. dancing with the dolphins) Truly a once in a lifetime experience, worth every centavos. (adventure: 45 minutes)

Dear Hubby and I were just all smiles all throughout.  The trainer gives a 5 minute briefing about the different types of dolphins at the beginning of the session.  There we find out that ours is named, Cito, a bottleneck dolphin rescued in the bay area.  Excited as I was I tried very hard to listen to the instructor, but I was more worried about who will take our pictures. (Professional photographers at the park charge Php500 for the first 15 shots they will take) And finally our session was about to start.  We walked towards the beach and saw two dolphins making their way into the shore. *dies of happiness*  The instructor tells me to just grab onto to the fins and lay my body flat on his back.  It was pure awesomeness, I tell you.  Better than bungee jumping and cliff diving combined, IMO. (2 activities I had previously checked off my list, 2 equally exhilarating activity yet still manages to just come in second or third next to the dolphin encounter)

Third, for the dive enthusiasts, there's also the Dive Encounter at Php 5,500+.  Dive instructors will take you to one of the bay divisions for an intimate underwater experience with Flipper. (adventure: 30 minutes)

And lastly, there's the Photo Encounter, if you're like some and all you're after is a photograph and not the actual experience then for Php 500 you get your close-up time with the dolphins.

Total Adventure Cost: Php 6,000/person (includes tickets, meals, snacks, gas, and tollway fare)

2nd Annual Pyrolympics

You just gotta ignite the light
And let it shine
Just own the night
Like the Fourth of July

Cause baby you're a firework
Come on show 'em what you're worth
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"
As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Katy Perry. Fireworks

I have this huge suspended disbelief look whenever I'm in the presence of great fireworks display.  Maybe it's a bit silly, but I never get tired or get any less amazed watching even the cheapest Chinese firecracking powder being lighted up.  But last Saturday, cheap was definitely not on the vocabulary of the competing countries.  For our pre-NON-valentine's date, Dear Hubby and I came face to face with a truly awesome show.

The Pyromusical Competition runs til the end of March with the Philippines and United Kingdom performing the final curtain show.  The actual fireworks display last for a good 20 minutes per country, before that, there's a string of performers from the host country. In our case, a violinist from Korea and a dancer from Spain. Spongecola also performed, but like a kid not getting her candy at once, I decided to tune them out and just prayed that the person in charge of lighting the fireworks is as excited as I am and start lighting those damn things ahead of schedule.

Show starts at 7. But hey, we're in the Philippines, and we're nothing if not consistent, with being late.  Waited until 30 minutes past 7 before we heard the national anthems played.

I absolutely got goosebumps especially towards the end of Spain's show.  It was unbelievable, in the immortal words of Black Eyed Peas, BOOM BOOM POW!

Tickets are sold: Php 1500 (VIP w/ dinner) Php 500 (VIP), Php 250 (Gold) and the cheapest at Php 100 (Silver)

30 before 30 Checklist

My To-Do-List Snapshot

White Water Rafting in Davao

One of the highlights from our Davao trip for sure.  Water was raging and paddling was hell, but all in all everyone had an amazing time.  We started the day rather early, around 8am. Good friends Ed, Tong and Lloyd dropped us off at Davao Crocodile Farm, where our adventure would soon begin.

MassKara Festival 2010

Festival Schedule

October 1, 2010 Opening of the Festival Site ( * Public Plaza * SM MassKara Village)
October 9, 2010 Bacolod MassKara Queen (* University of St. La Salle Coliseum)
October 15 & 16, 2010 Electric MassKara (* Tourism Street, Lacson Street.)
October 16, 2010 MassKara Street Dance Competition 2010 – School Category (* Araneta St. to Public Plaza)
October 17, 2010 MassKara Street Dance Competition – Barangay Category (* Araneta St. to Public Plaza)
October 18, 2010 Countdown to the Charter Day Giant Street Party Celebration (* New Government Center)
October 19 73rd Bacolod Charter Day Anniversary

I just checked Cebu Pacific and they have flights ranging from Php 2300 ++ to Php 3400++ depending on when you plan to arrive. I'm looking at October 16 to 19 though as that seem to be when most of the action will happen.

Photo cred: Out of town blog

Philippine Street Food

I'm super excited for our upcoming trip to Shanghai this September.  Having been to China only once before and traveling to a not so well known small town of Chong Sun, which is few hundred kilometers away from the bright lights of their famed progressive city, gives me even more reason to look forward to this trip.  

While waiting for the chance to scour the city for great cultural finds and gorge on sumptuous Chinese food, here's a compiled list of equally yummy Filipino street food.  I shall try in the next few weeks to document my attempt of feasting everything off the list.

Surfing in La Union

On our trip to Hawaii,  Happy Feet and I relish the thought of hitting the waves and standing on those damn long boards.  Fortunately we were able to cross this one off our bucket list.  So on our just concluded road trip to La Union, I made sure that Hubby gets to experience the same awesome feeling that is surfing.

Trip to Poro Point

Another one of those on a whim kinda trips.  After seeing the gorgeous photos of Thunderbird Resort from a friend's Facebook page, we immediately fell in love with this Greek-inspired paradise nestled in a scenic cliff in La Union and decided to book ourselves a 3 day getaway.

SEAIR now flies to La Union

Friends and I are going on our much awaited Poro Point trip this weekend.  We're doing the whole 5 hour drive to get to La Union.  The blow of butt aches from prolonged car seat exposure is being cushioned with the thought of the awesomeness that is Thunderbird Resort.  However, while web surfing, I found out that there is a better/faster way to get there.  SEAIR is now offering direct flights to the following locations:

Wowowie!  For surf afficionado this means saying bye bye to 5-6 hours worth of leg cramps and hello to sky high swells in just an hour.  They have three schedules that leave in a week, every Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  Although interesting enough it seems their flight timings are better suited for laid-back wanderers than corporate slaves.  Friday departure is set at 10am and Monday arrival at 11:35AM, meaning you still have to take a leave from work if you want to do a weekend getaway.  Either way, still a great news!

Just 3 more days, can't wait!

Conquering Pinatubo

Since I'm on house arrest tonight (damn you stomach cramps!), thought it best to post some much overdue past trips.  This one was taken over a year ago.  One of Hubby's friends organized a hiking trip and probably didn't know any better than to invite sloth-like Wifey.  

There was a 4:45am call time.  And obviously, being the only sane couple in the group, we were the last to arrive.  NO ONE should be perky at this ungodly hour.  But whatdoiknow, I remember Hubby's friends acting like a bunch of Energizer Bunnies, in stark contrast to my very own Dead Man Walking, that morning.  Where do they get all the energy? I wonder. 

It was a three hour drive to get from Manila to lahar zoned Pinatubo.  Good thing though, got to spend the entire time sleeping in the car.  And most likely cursing self for agreeing to hike at this hour!

Siquijor: Mystics and Magic

 

When I was young, I heard a lot of scary stories told about this enchanting island.  Mainly by silly maids, who if memory serves me right wanted nothing more than to scare the living daylights out of prepubescent teens. *sheesh*  A decade later, that memory still haunts me.  The maid's, not her wild stories.

But true enough, growing up I would hear countless more tales about the island's supposed eerie-ness, the home to mangkukulams, sorcery and other Regal Films inspired B-movie plot line.  Fortunately, we were traveling with someone from Dumaguete, who branded silly tall tales as nothing but utter myths and such.

Trip to Dumaguete

While waiting to reach our next travel destination this June, please indulge this silly blogger as she takes a look back at some of her past exploits.

Dumaguete. Negros Oriental. February 2009.

Puerto Princesa, Palawan

Two years ago, I flew to Palawan to oversee an event for Nestle.  It was my second week into a new post and dare I say, no matter the headache the rush requirements gave me, I have no complaints whatsoever over this particular assignment.

Puerto Princesa.  One of the best things that I have ever seen in my life was the underground river or the Puerto Princesa Subterrenean River National Park, safely tucked in the town of Sabang, a good 2-3 hour drive from the city proper.