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Chillin’ at Snow Village

Posted on by xerox

To cap off our “Trails to Antarctica” package tour at Manila Ocean Park, we were lead to what I originally thought was just a room fully adorned with Christmas ornaments which they dubbed as Snow Village.

But before we were allowed to enter, we were made to wear thick coats.

So as I was putting a coat on, I jokingly thought to myself that we’ll be going inside a gigantic freezer.

And I couldn’t be any more right.

Snow Village is actually just a walk-in freezer designed to make Filipinos sort of experience winter even if it’s in the middle of summer! Totally cool! Pun not intended.

Be careful as you step inside, the floor is quite slippery. So it is advisable that you wear shoes which have slip guards. 

No fake snow falling from the ceiling though.

To be honest, there’s really nothing much in Snow Village save for a cute designated area for nice photo ops…

 

If you’re someone who hasn’t experienced winter like us, you’ll enjoy trying to freeze yourself inside Snow Village until you can’t feel your fingers anymore just to test if you have what it takes to survive bone-chilling temperatures. Trust.

Feeding the Penguins at Manila Ocean Park… Not!

Posted on by xerox

Before anything else, I wanna tell you guys that I had a VERY TOXIC week. I just got myself a new job. So no more bumming around for me anymore because I now work as a video editor for an online school.

I really LIKE my job. But because I was experiencing too many technical difficulties during my first week, I wasn’t feeling it at first at ALL. I was absolutely stressed out (my face broke out!) and I had a hard time trying to regain momentum with EVERYTHING really. So that’s why I wasn’t able to find the time to actually continue writing about our Manila adventure. Well, not until now that is. Thank God!

So anyway, right where we left off from last time… After we’ve breezed through Luneta Park, we headed straight down to Manila Ocean Park.

Of course, I was very excited to see Manila Ocean Park!

Fineeee… I lied. Sort of.

Since I’ve been to Hong Kong Ocean Park back around 2010 (I was with my aunt, ex-boyfriend and a friend who happens to be my ex-boyfriend’s cousin), I was just excited to see the penguins because there were no penguins in Hong Kong Ocean Park when I was there apparently.

Look at me squatting and grinning right below the sign signifying that I was there and very much ready to see the penguins!

Manila Ocean Park may not have a theme park but look at this… 

Did you know that this is the largest Oceanarium in Asia? Hong Kong Ocean Park has got nothing on this breathtaking walk-through Oceanarium! Trust me, Manila has it SO MUCH better!

And there’s my boyfriend goofing around. And look at that guy behind him. Don’t you just envy his job? Come on. Who doesn’t want to go swimming with fishes on a daily basis and get paid for it? I so wanna steal his job from him (if that’s even possible).

Now this may not be the prettiest picture of the bunch (flash photography isn’t allowed in the Oceanarium by the way) but look at what’s behind me. A tank FULL of sharks. You don’t want to be in there. 

Too cute not to share.

I think I lack the proper apparel for this. This is the closest thing to bringing myself to Antarctica (for now).

And finally, the star of the show…  

No, it’s not my boyfriend… THE PENGUINS!!!

For 250 pesos, you can feed the penguins and have your picture taken with them. We chose not to avail the offer though because I thought it wasn’t worth it at all. Really. I expected that with that amount I could feed a bucket load of fishes to all the penguins but no. You just get to feed just ONE ridiculously TINY fish to ONE penguin. Not only is it unfair to the rest of the penguins who don’t get the fish, it’s unfair to me as well. But with that disappointment aside…

I’ve never been happier! A total dream come true for me!

Next post, Manila Ocean Park’s Snow Village. Keep your eyes peeled!

Just a Quick Stroll at Luneta Park

Posted on by xerox

Before we headed to Ocean Park on our second day in Manila, my boyfriend took me to Luneta Park, also known as Rizal Park, because this is one of the major attractions in Manila.

It is a historical park where the national hero of the Philippines, Jose Protacio Mercado Alonzo y Realonda Rizal (his full name is such a mouthful) was executed during the Spanish regime. His execution was the catalyst of the Philippine revolution against the Spanish Empire during the 1800s.  

As you can see from the photo above, his monument is the actual focal point of the park. But did you know that this park that commemorates his death is a direct disobedience of his final instructions prior his execution save for putting a fence around his grave? Know more about it here.

A closer look of Jose Rizal’s monument. It is closely guarded 24/7 by honor guards.

Other than the monument, there’s really more to see in this park such as this (and suddenly a colorful photo)…

A ginormous clock. Why am I so fascinated by it? I don’t know.

Other interesting areas of the park include a Japanese Garden (which we didn’t get to see because it was closed on that day), an open-air auditorium and more.

Unfortunately with our very limited time, we weren’t really able to appreciate its entirety. Definitely looking forward to having another stroll there next time.

Tarakumain sa Tadakuma

Posted on by xerox

I KNOW. “Tarakumain sa Tadakuma” has just got to be the lamest pun title I ever came up with. And yeah, I just had to kinda force it. I bet you must have rolled your eyes. MOVING ON…

Tadakuma is a Japanese restaurant that just opened at Don Ramon Chavez Street, Cagayan de Oro City.

My best friend’s boyfriend, Miguel took my boyfriend and I there for lunch. Sadly, my best friend, Ritz was not with us because she is currently living and working in London (we miss you!).

Originally, my boyfriend and I planned to have our lunch at Kogi Bulgogi (a Korean restaurant that just opened at Lim Ket Kai). But sometimes, things just don’t go as planned. But hey, who said I was complaining?

Tadakuma is very cozy and modern. Actually, when we got there, it was REALLY busy. All the tables were full and so we had to wait for a table for a little while. By the way, the photo above was taken after everybody else already left the restaurant with happy tummies.

Nothing but a cute random bowl. If only I could take one home as a souvenir. Just kidding. Or am I really?

Oh, before I proceed to talk about what we had, can I ask you a teeny favor guys?

Umm.. can you please not hate me for forgetting the names of what we had? I was soooo hungry that everything just went completely out of my mind. I am crossing my fingers that the photos will just somehow make up for it. Here goes…

This is a bowl of plain minced raw fish on top of a bed of rice. And those two tiny blobs that you see on top are wasabi paste and pounded ginger. To eat this, you have to properly mix everything in together so to evenly distribute the flavor. It has just the right punch of heat and that zing of flavor coming from the pounded ginger. It’s like a different take on “kinilaw”. If you don’t have problems eating raw fish, you’ll definitely love this!

A bowl of ramen noodles with three thin slices of meat, a slice of fish cake, a slice of boiled egg and a few greens. It looked like it could need a little more stuff though. However, the soup is like no other. 

So that’s all we had. Blurred in the background is Miguel’s Tempura Udon. For some reason, I can only remember his order. Shoot me.

Tadakuma is a tad cheaper than Ramen Tei. In average, everything costs around 200~300 PHP per dish. The servings are delicious and quite generous so you do get your money’s worth. To the last peso. Give this place a go and I’m sure you’ll love it too!