Ocean Adventure Nov 2010

It was in November 28, 2010 when Mom brought us along to the Subic Ocular inspection. She is a District Supervisor in Cabuyao, Laguna and a tour agent offered a free tripping to Subic. Purpose of the free tripping is for the elementary school teachers to do ocular inspection in that place and consider the location for education field trips.

We left the house as early as 4:00 am and proceeded to Cabuyao, the meeting place. We waited for the bus and were able to leave for Subic at almost 6am. Unfortunately, we committed a road accident at SLEX. Our bus bumped on a Mitsubishi Strada slowly moving between Sucat and Bicutan express way while being driven by an old man. To make the long story short, we our trip was delayed because we dropped by and waited at the Taguig Police Station to settle everything. We proceeded the journey at almost 8am.

It was a long trip. There was lots of free food (from the travel agent) and we had lots of sleep, chats, picture-taking and scenery viewing during the travel.

Finally, we reached Subic! We headed straight to Ocean Park and spent almost the whole day there. Since we were late, our schedule was delayed and we need to adjust our pre-set visit to the attractions. As a result, we were only able to visit Ocean Adventure the whole day and we had no time to visit Subic Safari. Our family had been there anyway but the other ocular inspectors were not able to see the place.

The first stop was the Dolphin Show! Witty dolphins showed their tricks and impressed the audience. They were really amazing! I really admire the patience and perseverance of the trainors!

After the dolphin show, we had lunch at the cafeteria and rested for a while. While resting, we took photos around the area and took photos of the dolphins entertaining us by the seaside. Later on, we passed by the Aquarium area and proceeded to the Learning Center. We were not able to take photos but we enjoyed watching the sea creatures by the aquarium area and learned a lot about dolphins in the Learning Center. It was amazing to know the dolphins sleep for a total of 8 hours a day at short, frequent session of 5-minute sleep. Many other trivias about dolphins were shared by the trainor.

Our next destination was the Seal Lion show. Unfortunately, the sea lion seemed tired and didn't perform all the tricks well. They were good at the start but later on did not follow the instructions of the trainor. Wel, I understand... because they are animals. Like humans, they get tired and irritated.

Next stop was the Walk on the Wild Side. It was a very informative atrraction and taught the audience about forest survival. There was a good demonstration of cooking using bamboos, building fire through friction, etc. It also showed how to take care of the wild animals and their habitat using real animals for demonstration--- bats, cats, snakes, eagles, dogs, rats and more.

Our final stop was the Adventures of Olongapo Jones. It was very informative and entertaining as well. Trampoline acrobats served as actors to tell a story of how to restore and maintain the cleanliness of our surrounding.

That was our last stop. Since we have no time to visite Zoobic Safari, we visited Duty Free instead for final shopping. But before that, photo-shoot session happened at the Ocean Adventure facade.

It was truly a freat experience at ocean adventure. It was very informative and very entertaining. It's not only for kids. Adults can learn and be entertained as well. Thank you for the free trip! :)

Tacloban City 2010

My trip to Tacloban City was not actually a pleasure trip but a business trip. I was supposed to be destined to Cagayan de Oro on Oct 11-13. Due to conflict in schedules, I flew to Tacloban City instead on Oct 4 to 6, 2010.

I just would like to share a few photos of the van we that took us to our hotel! The can was dull of butterfly and flower decorations! I wonder who designed it :)

Meanwhile, we stayed at Hotel Alejandro at Tacloban City. We actually found the place eerie as the lighting is quite dim, the structure is old and the building is full of display photos, antique furnitures, old staircase, etc. It was only when we met the salesman who assisted us with the activity, that we knew that Hotel Alejandro was a museum converted to a hotel. Now we understand why the place is quite weird.

Our first lunch were taken at Otso a restaurant located at the heart of the town. We ordered different dishes of vegetables and seafoods, their specialty.

I can't tell more stories about the place and the trip. I can't give tips to travellers as I was not the one who arranged it. But still, I can show some pix of basically 2 attractions we visited, the San Juanico Bridge and the Mc Arthur Park.

After a series of interviews withour consumers and after, basically, finishing our tasks, we asked the driver to bring us to Mac Arthur Park.

The weather was quite cooperative when we were on our way to the Park. It was quite cloudy--- not too warm to stroll around, though not too good for picture-taking. Unluckily, as we were taking photos, heavy rain started to pur down!But that did not styop us from taking pictures, until it came to a point when we were all wet, we ran toward the van and decided to go back to the hotel first before we do some trade visits.

After a series of visits to the supermarkets, wet markets, and distributor, our next destination was San Juanico Bridge, at least before we take our dinner.

The San Juanico Bridge is the longest bridge in the Philippines, with a length of 2 km. It crosses the San Juanico Strait, bridging the islands of Samar and Leyte. It is also known as the Marcos Bridge, it is said to have been presented as a Gift and "Testimonial of Love" by the Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos to the first lady, Imelda, a native of Leyte. We took some photos on this historical bridge before we headed for dinner.

Dinner was taken in a restaurant in the middle of the farm named: Rafael's Farm located at Babatngon, Leyte. We appreviated the beauty of the farm much but it could have been better if we arrived in the place at daytime. What we appreciated was the light effects on the farm, and of course the sumptuous dishes. The Farmer's Salad and the Baked Scallops are the best for me! :)

Sad to say, I did not bring our DSLR, as this is a business trip. I only had with me my point and shoot and I was not happy with the photos. Honestly, this made me realize that I need to upgrade my point and shoot---either to a small DSLR or to a higher-performance point and shoot.

These are the only places we visited for pleasure. Upon our departure for Manila, I saw the Tourism corner in the airport and realized that there are still lots of tourist spots to visit around Samar and Leyte area. This just means one thing... that I need to go back and explore the Waray islands!

By the way, I took some aerial scenes from the plane on my way back to Manila... God is really so great that he made our Mother Earth a beautiful home.

!