Dating My Mom at the Manila Ocean Park

I had to take time off to bring my mom to the Manila Ocean Park. She booked my schedule a month in advance for the "tour," hehe. It is so easy to get there, from Roxas Blvd, just go near the Luneta Grandstand, and voila, the newest oceanarium is within your reach!

I was with my mom, her sisters and my late grandmother when we visited the Biodome de Montreal in Canada. The biodome was built in a stadium used in the 1976 Olympics. It was converted into four different ecological habitats - rain forest, polar, marine and forest. It was great to see the ecosystem at work! Cute penguins too! I won't compare the two but at least we now have a new attraction to enjoy.

Here are the "Dont's" of our local ocean park:

This is the dome in the middle of the waiting area and ticket booth.

These are cool colorful seats for the visitors.

It's lunch time, folks! Fishes gorge up their meal.

And now, presenting the marine life...

A blue starfish where visitors can touch...

Yellowtail coris

Longhorn cowfish

Lionfish

Estuarine Stonefish

Finding Nemo...Carpet Anemone

Surge Damselfish

Sharks

Porcupinefish

Pajama Cardinalfish (They are very deadma...not moving at all!)

Snubhose Pampano

Spotted Garden Eel---aren't they cool!

Friendly Stingrays

This is my favorite---a hospitable stingray :)

The Oceanarium
Opens Mon - Friday 10AM to 9PM
Sat - Sun 9AM to 9PM
Adults P400 (If Manila resident, P360---bring your ID)

Discovering La Mesa Ecopark

La Mesa Ecopark is a new discovery for me. It is a surprise that it is located at Quezon City's East Fairview Subdivision! Yes, you enter a village :)

The La Mesa Watershed has 2000 hectares of forest and the watershed is the primary source of drinking water of 12 million city residents. The Ecopark is a good hideaway from the chaos of city life. Fresh, breezy air, tall trees, a lagoon where you can fish, clear blue skies greet every soul who walks on the park.

In this lagoon, I saw a man fishing using a bamboo pole (you can rent it for P20). Families can have picnics too. There is also a mountain bike trail for the adventurers. A big swimming pool (P80 adult entrance fee) awaits the guests. Other amenities include boating and butterfly trail.

To reach this level, lots of sweat and aching legs hounded us. But it is worth it! One can just sit all day and have a terrific time with nature! It is pure bliss.

From the lagoon, a stairway leads you to the dam. As you puff and huff your way with every step (quite steep), when you reach the top, you get to see the dam but there is a sign: NO CAMERA/VIDEO TAKING! But I still managed to click on my cellphone camera. May location hunting si Direk e.

Visit http://www.lamesaecopark.com/index.php for more information