MANILA OCEAN PARK

Until yesterday, I've never been to Manila Ocean Park since it opened a few months back. From what I heard, it's a very kid friendly place. There've been a lot of oversized aquarium parks that have been opened in this country before, and they say that this is one of, if not the best.

Now the good thing about doing tourist guide duties is that you get to travel to places you've never been to before. And since I've heard of my cousin's plan of bringing her son to that place, I took advantage of the opportunity.

So Sunday afternoon I joined them in visiting the park. As you all know, Sundays are considered family days, so the place was packed. And since we were all first timers, we didn't know you have to get a number at the entrance first before you can purchase a ticket. LIke I said, the place was packed. We were 809th in the line serving at that time the 505th group. Crap!!!

So we ate at North Park. The good thing about the line, is that they serve customers quickly, so we waited only about an hour and a half. I know, it's a long line. Just a tip, if you want to visit the place, go on a weekday. It's P400 per adult and P350 for kids.

The place has about six spots: The Flow, Reef, Fishing GRound, The Living Ocean , The Deep and the 2nd Floor Activity Area. The Flow is the first part of our journey, where we got to touch starfishes and contains some freshwater fishies. The reef or Bahura showcased some Philippine fishes. The Fishing Ground has some deep sea fishes, while The Deep features different schools of fishes. One of the main attraction of the Park is the Living Ocean which is a 25-meter tunnel that showcases a wide variety of marine life and how they interact with each other. The 2nd floor meanwhile has the glass bottom boat ride area, shark viewing area and my favorite fish spa.

Anyway, the place is nice. Lots of fishies. I was happy to see fishes from Finding Nemo, but to tell you honestly, clown fishes are really boring. The real Dory is actually just like the character in the movie. I wanted to take a picture of it, but it was hyperactive. As in it was just swimming round and round inside her aquarium. And since I'm only using my camera phone to take the picture, I wasn't able to get at least a clear one. The whole time I was looking at Dory, I was saying "just keep swimming, just keep swimming." Seriously, it was just spinning around.

Being a natural jerk that I am, I got acouple of anecdotes from my trip there yesterday. Pardon my Tagalog. I tried to translate it in English, but it just doesn't sound good.

Mommy: Baby, look o fish. That’s his eyes. That’s his mouth. That’s his hands. (hala… mukhang interesting ang usapan ng mag-inang ito)
Anak: Saan yung nose nila?
Mommy: Hahaha, ang baby ko talaga. ANak, walang nose ang fish… hindi sila humihinga. Hahahaha
(Kawawang bata, anu-ano pa kaya ang tinuturo ng nanay na ito sa anak niya)

**********

Sa Fish Spa…
Girl: ayaw lumapit sakin nung fish.
Guy: Wag mo kasi galawin paa mo, kapag lumalapit sila sa’yo.
(di nga ginalaw nung girl yung paa niya… after 2 minutes)
Girl: eh wala pa rin eh
Guy: eto… (nilapit ni guy yung paa niya kay girl)
(Matapos ang isa pang minuto…)
Girl: ayaw talaga eh..
Guy: ang panget daw kasi ng lasa ng paa mo kaya di sila lumalapit
Girl: panget lasa ka diyan, ang sabihin mo ang dumi-dumi ng paa mo kaya ka pinagpipyestahan ng mga gurami!!! Loko!
(di na humirit si guy… at tinaas ang paa sa tubig)