Manila Ocean Park

Just recently, I got to visit Manila Ocean's Park for the first time, along with 3 of my friends. We have already planned this since the opening early this year, but have just finally settled last month. If you don't know where this is, it is situated behind the Manila Grand Stand along Quirino Street. It was Saturday around 930 AM when we got there, and we paid 400 pesos each for the tickets. Because it was weekend, there were a lot of people who were mostly little kids on a field trip.

As soon as we entered the park to start the tour, a tour guide have given some reminders and the primary thing I remember is that cameras are allowed as long as the flash is disabled. Anyway, we went on explored the Oceanarium (the park's main attraction) and discovered different sections. I have listed them below in the order of the tour:

Agos (Flow)
Bahura (Reef)
Laot (Fishing Ground)
Buhay na Karagatan(Living Ocean)
Ang Kalaliman(The Deep)
Pagi - Overhang tank
Pating(Shark)

I guess my most favorite section was the "Buhay na Karagatan", which is an underwater tunnel where you get to be surrounded by the water creatures, as if you're under the ocean. It isn't a very long tunnel, but it is good enough for you to enjoy the sight of these marine animals, and take pictures, of course!

Besides exploring the Oceanarium, we were able to try having foot spa at the Fish Spa section. As the name suggests, the fishes are the ones who does the spa on the feet! They are called the doctor fishes, they eat dead skin cells from your feet. We payed 100 pesos for a 20-minute foot spa. The fishes eating dead skin cells on my feet, really tickled me and I couldn't really stand soaking my feet on the water for a long time. Hehe!

There is also a major restaurant there which have mainly seafoods on their menu. We weren't able to take our lunch there, but the place did look good and their food seems good. There is also the so called "The Mall" which isn't really finished yet.

Anyway, final verdict? It's a good place to visit, as it is first of its kind here in the Philippines. Definitely worth going to. That's all for now, folks!

Boracay Island

Last weekend, I was in Boracay together with some friends. It was two weeks just right after the typhoon Frank struck the province of Aklan. Fortunately, we were all glad to witness that the island and its beach were just as wonderful as it was. The place has been restored back to normal, and business establishments resumed their regular operations.

Last year when I was in Boracay, we stayed at the Nirvana Resort, where there are units which are good for groups of 4 to 10. The units included bedrooms, dining area, and a kitchen where we can cook our own food we bought from the market. We had 4 days and 3 nights of stay for 10,500 pesos.

This time we stayed at the La Carmela Beach Resort. We were a group of 9 and we took 3 rooms, spending 2,475 pesos each person. But take note, this deal also includes full set meals for all our lunch, dinner, and breakfast. What’s more interesting is that you can upgrade to buffet or “eat-all-you-can” for an additional fee of 60 pesos. It’s pretty affordable. But of course, if you’re the kind of person who wants a variety of food for the day, you’d like to eat in various places. Some of my friends ate at the Nigi Nigi Nu Noos e Nu Nu Noos restaurant, which they recommend because it wasn’t that expensive but the food was great. The name’s a little weird though, huh :)

Anyway, for most of my friends I was with, it was their first time to step their feet on the island. We then took them for a boat trip, spending 500 pesos each person. That includes all expenses including a buffet lunch. First stop, we went snorkeling at the Crocodile Island. Next, we went to the Crystal Cove and enjoyed the stay at the two caves. Then we had lunch in another island. I forgot the name of the island, all I remember was how hungry we were. Haha. And we finally went to the Puka Shell Beach and bought souvenirs for our loved ones back home. We had this activity for the whole day till late afternoon.

We stayed at Station 1 to enjoy the rest of the time on the White Beach. It was windy and the water was wavy. There were some guys who were kite boarding impressively. While we were there, we also took some time to slurp on the delicious Jonah’s Fruit Shakes.

I guess those were the highlights of our trip! I really think the 3 days 2 nights stay was not enough, at least for me, as I was wanting more time to relax and have fun on the beach. So I will certainly be back there sometime soon! Any resort or hotel you recommend? Feel free to comment :)

SM Science Discovery Center

When I was a kid, I have never really learned science in a very fun and interactive way, but only through my teachers, my science books, and my science projects. And just last Friday, our plan (me and my office friends) to go to the SM Science Discovery Center at the SM Mall of Asia, finally came. I was so excited for this was my first encounter of a real science museum. I think this is a first of its kind here in the Philippines.

We paid tickets for 330 pesos per individual and we went in at almost 6:00 PM, just right in time to catch up the show at the Digistar Planetarium. The Digistar Planetarium is perhaps the most highlighted part of the museum, as it is located just right in the center. It is like a movie theatre inside a big ball-like structure. Inside, the screen is across over the ceiling and the side walls. The seats are inclined in order to see a full view of the show. We've taken a seat in the middle area and waited for the show to start. The show was entitled "The Search for Life: Are We Alone?" and was narrated by Harrison Ford. I just wished the seats were adjustable to have them incline a little more. I had to move my head really up to see the view behind us. Nevertheless, it was 30 minute good show and it actually felt like we were in a space shuttle traveling across the earth, the planets, and the stars.

After that main event, we checked out the rest of the museum. Let me give you a list of the sections and my experience with them.

Imageport - This is a section of imaging, more like a photo studio. One of the walls tackle about the history of cameras. You can also pose, have the attendant take your picture, and he can change the background to something else, like a space background.


SMART Media City - This section is where you can use the computers to surf the internet and play different kind of games. Aside from those plain computers, there are two areas where the games are physically interactive. You can play soccer, volleyball, or basketball by actually doing the act, just like playing the Nintendo Wii. Here however, an image of yourself is captured and you watch yourself playing against the computer or someone else. For me, this was the area I had most fun with.


Transportation Nation - This is where you can learn about vehicles and their history. There is also a flight simulation area where you can experience flying an aircraft. Unfortunately, I don't think it really simulates a real aircraft because the only control you have there are simple joysticks at your right and left hand. The buttons right below your view screen are just for display and isn't really working.


Grossology - Just by the term, you can immediately guess what kind of section this would be like. It is all about the disgusting and gross facts of the human body. There is so-called the Sniff Area where you will smell an odor and guess which part of the body smells exactly like it. I tried one and it really smelled so bad that I thought it was the anus. It turned out to be actually the mouth! Eeewww!!! I didn't bother smelling all of the other stuff as I think I would throw up if I did. There is also a simulation of how burps are created. Nothing exciting but it was funny. Then there is a quiz show area, where the questions asked are still all about gross things.


Spaceship Earth - There is an Earth structure in this section where you can locate certain cities by pushing the appropriate button. Inside this structure would seem like being in a space ship. But there wasn't anything else in there. Perhaps there is something being shown, only during the scheduled tours.

Virtual Reef - This section is an aquarium tunnel, but since it is virtual, there isn't any real sea creatures in here. The only thing that would get everyone's attention would be Mr. T, the animated talking fish. You can talk to the fish and he'll answer back like being in a normal conversation. Some kids were talking to the fish at the time but once they were gone, we ourselves talked to the fish. He was really funny and can talk Filipino. We weren't fools, we knew a person was hiding behind the wall with a computer and a hidden camera. Hehehe!


City Science - A section where you learn about different cities around the world. It was boring for me, to just read through the walls and the computers about the cities. So we went immediately to the earthquake simulation, still part of the City Science section. I was hoping for an intense earthquake like event but then I expected too much. The ground just move a little, not enough to move you out of balance.

Robot Inc. - This is a gallery of robots. The section shows you the historical evolution and importance of these machines. Again, a boring gallery is situated here. The robots are not real and no interaction can be made. The only interactive thing here are the remote controlled car-like robots.


Lego Mindstorms Robotic Center - This section was closed and is only open during scheduled tours.

Lifeclock - And finally, the lifeclock section. The only thing we did here was save an email in their so-called "Time Capsule" and schedule it to be sent at a particular day in the future.


All in all, it was a new experience so I am still recommending the SM Science Discovery Center for anyone who's interested. The whole center lacks a lot of things as you have seen in my review. However, I think that with the Digistar Planetarium, the center is worth going to. It'll be best if you have kids with you for I'm sure they would enjoy it. We went there, we weren't kids, but we felt like we were kids and so we enjoyed it.

For more information about the center, you can visit their website at this link: SM Science Discovery Center.

Bonito Island

It's midsummer already, but I haven't got any plans yet going somewhere for fun and vacation. Oh, I did went to Splash Mountain last week with my best friend. Splash Mountain is a resort in Los Banos, Laguna where there are a lot of pools. The water comes from natural hot spring and so it was soothingly warm. That was fun but I still long to go to the beach and swim in the sea.

I remember that last summer, we went to Bonito Island (in Batangas). If you're from Manila, and can't afford to fly away south like Boracay or Palawan, this is a good alternative. We accidentally came across the Bonito Island Resort through the internet. Their website looks good, rooms and facilities seemed nice, and so we decided to schedule our beach outing there. We went to their booking office in Makati and reserved 6 slots. As we found out, slots are limited for any schedule. If there's one thing I like about Bonito Island, it will be about the sense of privacy. There won't be a lot of people there and you can even have the island by yourselves, if you're a group of 10 to 15.


So we were a group of 6 and we needed to go to Talaga pier to catch our ride going to the island. It was just a little ferry boat and there was also another group (of 4) with us to go to the island for vacation. It was like a 15 minute trip to the island and upon arrival, we were immediately greeted with some welcome drinks. We then were given our keys and guided to our respective rooms. We had two connected rooms in a nipa-hut like structure. We rested for a little while and fixed ourselves to go out and explore! The shore is white but rocky. There's a lot of dead corals around. You're gonna need some foot protection and so the resort have booties available for rent. Despite that, the water is crystal clear and you can see small fishes swimming near the shoreline. We took goggles, life vests, and food from the resort, and went to the snorkeling area to feed the fishes. And wow, there are a lot of fishes, different variety.

Anyway, other things and services in the resort includes a pool, a small basketball area, you can avail banana boat rides, kayaking, island hopping, and they also offer diving experience. About the food, we had buffet style for all the meals: lunch, dinner, and breakfast. They were all satisfying, and different every meal. But one thing that was always present was kimchi. Not all people like it, but I do :)

That's it for now, check out some of pictures below. You can visit their website at http://www.bonitoresort.com/.