A Haven from Adulting

     There are times when you don't have all the time in the world to plan vacations, and I learned that in this stage of my life called "adulting." Responsibilities often hinder us from stretching our legs after a long day of work. Gone are the days when I can easily stroll the streets of Manila with my camera for a quick meal for the soul. Now it's so hard for me to meet friends just a few kilometers away from me.

     But there are days when you've reached the limit of stress and you feel that you've used up the morale tank and feel the dementors reaching for your soul with a death kiss. That's when reason is thrown out of the question and you've just had it.

     Good thing my friends felt the same way, we were all needing the emergency break from life and we wanted to be somewhere that's familiar, we wanted to be the kids that rule our body, even just for a little while.

     And there's no other way of doing that than to be unplugged from the city life. But we still had to fit our breather within the realms of reality to schedule it. And luckily, there was one weekend we actually agreed on. (It's so hard for me and my friends to schedule vacations because we work in different industries)

     Two hours away from city lies a gravel path to Infanta, Quezon Province where I found the most modest home perfect for a weekend rest. The wood cabin is situated on the cliff side of the mountain, where I saw the range of forestry Infanta had.

The Modest Cabin

     The cabin is almost unnoticeable from the road as people would think it's a local house, but it was a safe haven for 4 stressed individuals during that weekend. There was also an unusual coldness that enveloped this part of the road. The weather here is always rainy. I've been here at least 4 times and it was always misty and cold, it always felt like Baguio city at 6AM the whole day.

     What's more lovely here is that it's near a famous stopover for motorcycle riders. This canteen offers some tasty exotics - Mountain Snails, Frog Legs, Wild Rabbits. Yes, I did say Wild Rabbits.

Frog Legs

Wild Rabbit

     In this cabin we could act like high school students once again, pulling out unused jokes for over a decade. We could horse around, except of course, we try not to push each other off the cliff.

The Pool's temperature is at least around 10 degrees.

     In this cabin, we are free from our responsibilities, signal is difficult, a good thing if your boss is already looking for that unfinished presentation deck you left at work. In this cabin, we stretch our legs, pour whiskey, and eat - Which reminds me that we went so far with our stress eating that we ate what was supposed to be our breakfast food.

It is hardest to cook at nighttime

     The cabin doesn't have electricity, which I think is a perfect partner for the cold night. We battle the coldest winds with whiskey and hot food. Yes, food must always be present when I'm telling the story.

Sun breaking the clouds

     I can't explain into words the rejuvenation I get every morning when I wake up here. I always feel new, like the tank is filled and once again I'm ready for the city.

     This place always reminds me that I am human who lives in borrowed time, and this cabin reminds me that a breather is sometimes all we need to endure life.

     Cheers!

Cagbalete: No, we weren't ready

Ever had a well-planned outing with your friends? You've had countless meetings and chats on what to do, what to bring, what to eat, you know the drill. But whatever the preparations we did, we never expected what Cagbalete Island had for us.

We arrived at the island very optimistic, excited for the clear water and the fresh air. It was past 10 in the morning if I remember correctly, the Sun was already up. The island's port had the weirdest port system - Actually, it didn't have a port system! After arriving on the island, our boat was surrounded by several smaller boats trying to get customers ride their boat for a short trip to reach our resort. It was chaotic as the men from the smaller boats swarm our vessel which is by the way a little overloaded already. That was a scare.

Cagbalete Island, as beautiful as it may seem, hides a torturous nature. At around lunchtime, the water retreats at least a kilometer from the shore and we did not expect that, it was not mentioned in any of the previous blogs I've read before going to the island. That was a shocker to us, I was already hoping for an after-lunch dipping.

What the island had in abundance were giant Squids, locally called "Aswang" which they sell pretty cheap, and they'll even cook lunch for you. I actually forgot her name, but if you use this photo as reference, she's a really nice woman to have your meals prepared. 

We were prepared with a heavy lunch of fish and squid, and rice of course, who can have a delicious lunch without rice by the beach, right? And after lunch, the beach had fully retreated from the shore and there was no way of swimming around.

And because there wasn't anything to do out in the beach, we caught some crabs and literally observed them up close, quite entertaining actually.

But what really killed our 3D2N stay in Cagbalete was the damn heat. Cagbalete is by far the hottest island I've been into anywhere in the Philippines. Not to mention the shitty toilets in our resort, it was absolutely disappointing. The resorts also overcrowded the beach, accepting too much people and cramped up the tents all over the shoreline.

The island is beautiful no doubt, but people handling business here should do better.

The highlight of the trip was our island hopping where we went to the mangroves.

Cagbalete is a beautiful island but you have to be ready for the extreme heat it brings. And it's best to bring things to pass the time, a perfect thing to bring would be a book.

Till my next journey, cheers!

The Burias Islands

This past summer a friend from Canada came back after 3 years and so this one calls for a celebration. Not wanting to spend all his 3 weeks in Manila, we quickly put up a plan for a getaway, but since millenials love to travel, all the popular tourist destinations were filled. And for our group who are in quarter-life crisis, we wanted a quiet space in the archipelago for a few days.

Just above the mainland of Masbate lie the Burias group of islands, relatively unknown to the traveling majority. And without hesitation, we booked it.

The Port in Naga City

Going to Burias Island requires a lot of patience, and for me who hates long drives, I tried to bargain on taking the plane instead, but of course, because this is a democratic country, I lost. And so the long 10-hour drive began. There's really a backstory why I don't like to travel that long, because that would mean my life will be in constant danger with how fast my friends drive ( I kid you not) and I love my life, peace to my friends.

We were quite surprise that there was a traffic jam in parts of Quezon province, at midnight. But after that the road was all ours for the taking, much to the pleasure of my friends, because they can put the pedal to the metal. I was so much on guard for my life that I didn't sleep the whole travel, especially when we used the dreaded "Bituka ng Manok" road - A horrifying zigzag with steep climbs which hugged the shape of the mountainside. My heart pounded with each turn, and I was probably palpitating from all the Sting energy drink I was drinking the whole night.

As expected, when we got to the port of Naga at around 5:45AM, I lunged out of the car and threw up. What a welcoming sight for the locals there. But fast as my friends drive, they are really quite safe drivers, except for a few close calls (HAHA)

Roof deck riding

We went on for a 2-hour boat ride going to the island, and it's always beautiful to take the early ride to the island because it's not yet that hot and we got to enjoy the roof deck ride, which they said was not allowed, but no one stopped us, and the seats inside were quite strange because it had no floor, you were at the mercy of the engine's roar which made it really uncomfortable. Remember, always choose the roof deck when going to Burias island.

Arriving at Burias Island

When we arrived at the port of Burias Island, the first thing you have to do is go to the tourist office and register your names, this is very important so that if your trip goes swinging south and you become lost at sea, they know that you're missing. It's a nuisance to to register, but come on, it's only 5 minutes, and a minimal fee.

I was surprised that the port was actually big, but what is surprising that there was only one place to stay in the island for tourist, it was only about 5-7 rooms. Correct me if I'm mistaken but it's the only one I saw throughout my stay there. We only booked for 1 night here and so we were quite in a hurry to head out to sea.

After making negotiations with the boat, we quickly headed out to the open sea, and we were not prepared for what we experienced, nor we were warned - We kind of battled our way to the islands. Big swells of waves constantly hit our boat, and because I was the fat ass in the group and my weight took great effect on the boat's performance, I have to move from one side to another, wherever the boat captain told me to sit. I swear all of us had this eye contact at each other, acknowledging the fact that the boat may capsize any moment.

But after one hour of battling the waves, what lay in front of us was paradise.

Island 1

Forgive me for this, but I forgot all the names of the 3 islands we went to. I know, what a bummer, but if ever you'll go to Burias, use my photo to show to the boatman as reference to where you want to go.

Island 1 was complete paradise, it had a rocky sand beach at one side, big rock formations where you can see thousands of years of water levels. And on the other side was pure white sand that is so nice to look at. What's best was we were literally the only people in the island!

Beautiful Rock Formations

Small hut at Island 1

We stayed for an hour there just relaxing, it was very pleasant there. Then we were off to island number 2, that is where we started noticing problems with our boatmen.

Island 2

When we arrived at island number 2, which had a more grassy feature, it was already lunch time. But because we were in a hurry, we forgot to pack our lunch and we had to resort to chips and bread - this is where things took an ugly turn.

My friend noticed that our bread was opened already and almost halved, also, the cigarettes we brought started missing. No conversation was needed, all we did was converse using our eyes and we talked about it when we swam at the beach, the boatmen were stealing our food.

Not wanting to be frustrated and not wanting to pick up a fight, we let it go. We just thought that they must have overextended their welcome of us offering to share our food. It really didn't matter to us if they ate most of it, but they stole it, behind our backs, I honestly didn't care if they ate all of it as long as they did it in front of us.

I hope the people of Burias would be more careful in handling their tourists, because if these things happen, their tourism will never improve.

Island 3

Island 3 is where we did our cliff jumping. It was my first time and yes, I did it, but my friends think I'm a coward for not jumping in the 10 feet platform, I only did the 6ft platform. But I didn't want to go to the 10 feet because honestly, I didn't want to be the reason for a tsunami.

After the island hopping, we took a rest at our room, talking about how and why they stole our stuff and how it will affect their tourism business if it's frequently happening with other tourists too.

Food in Burias is not that good, best if you stay to eating what your stomach recognizes.

And of course, like real men, we capped off the night doing one thing, no it's not alcohol and women. It's counter-strike! We played until the power outage stopped us, which led us to drinking a bit, yes, just a bit, we know that our bodies aren't getting any younger and we drank just enough to make us sleepy and off we went to bed.

Until next time, cheers!

Intramuros: The Past & The Curious

     As the great Confucius said "Study the past if you would define the future." And yes, I do agree with him. I've always been fascinated with the past ever since I was young, history was my favorite subject growing up and Philippine history was my favorite of them all. I'm not an expert in all parts of our country's history, but if I can be boastful, I do know more than the average Juan. 

     My love for history was further fueled when I began studying inside the walled city of Intramuros. Every time I entered its walls, it warped me 400 years back, and every time I walked the halls of my college, I often wondered if I've walked the same path as the revolutionary heroes of the Philippines.

     My passion for history couldn't be contained by wondering, so I started wandering. I'd frequently go on solo walks inside the walled city, yes, on my own, usually every Saturday when I only had morning classes and I knew I saved enough money for the week to enter museums inside the walls. There are at least 8 museums inside the walls alone so I'd go to one every week. But there was one main museum that was the star attraction of the walled city, and it was Fort Santiago.

A replica of the Tranvia

     Now I have a lot of relatives in the U.S. of A. And it was so wonderful that they all came home to spend their vacation with us! Oh the wonderful chaos it created at home - The hectic schedule everyone had to commit to, the noise that started during breakfast up until the wee hours of the night with wine, whisky, and beer on our hands. My uncles and aunts and some of my cousins grew up here before moving to the states (except for some of my cousins who were born there)

   And luckily there was one Saturday that everybody was free. So then they wanted to go somewhere, and of course, me being a staunch lover of Manila city, I said "Let's go to Intramuros!" to which everyone agreed to. I hastily prepared an itinerary for them, I started with listing all the attractions and asked if they wanted to see something in particular. My cousins wanted to see San Agustin church because that's where their parents got married (San Agustin Church is a UNESCO world heritage site) and so I eliminated the minor attractions and drew out a final plan.

     So at 7AM (Yes, I scheduled our departure that early because we live 12 kilometers away from Manila [Yes, I count distance, too] and with Manila's dreadful traffic, it can mean at least 90 minutes of travel) we left the house and drove toward my beloved city. It was quite fun that my uncles and aunts still recognized parts of the street, they were all "oh, there used to be..." "hey, that was ______ before!" 

     We arrived an hour later (Thanks to a miraculous smooth traffic) and since it was still a bit early to go to the museum, we stopped by the walls in front of Lyceum University because it was where a few of the walls' Spanish cannons were still on display, though it is exposed to the elements. And after a few minutes of walking around, the sun's heat began claiming the land and it was time to go indoors. And so I took them to Fort Santiago, where they can have a crash course lesson on the life and works of our National Hero Jose P. Rizal.

They say that to capture someone's soul, take a stolen photo, and so I did. Look at their genuine, priceless smiles

     There were a lot of people visiting the fort on that day, good thing the weather became cloudy by the time we got in. So just like what a tourist would do, I told a bit of trivia I knew based from my own research (No, I didn't source Wikipedia, don't worry) but of course a professional tourist guide would be much better than me, but hey, this is my family, so I got you, fam.

At the Tranvia

My cousin Lee enjoying Banana Cue

 


  I would tell them things I know, but most of the time I just let them read on to the material available there, I didn't speak if I wasn't sure of my history, it's hard to misinform people, it would be a disaster.

     Fort Santiago has improved a lot compared to the first time I went there alone in 2008, I was a college freshman armed with a camera $2 and my I.D. to have a 50% discount. Back then there wasn't much that was going on in the Fort, it was just an old, dying place where it was treated as "some place where history took place...and where Rizal was imprisoned." - That was that, cameras weren't even allowed inside the main museum then. It was hot, dimly lighted, and HOT.

     Since 2008 I made annual visits to Fort Santiago (Even this year! I was just there a few months ago with other relatives from the states, greetings Militante Family!) so make that 8 years straight of visiting one place. And comparing it 8 years before? It's so much beautiful now, the landscaping was improved, there are coffee shops, photography studios and souvenir shops around. The grounds were kept clean and the most important change was the air conditioning. Yes, it's now cold and the reading materials were also improved to my delight!

One of the improvements inside: The Trial of Jose Rizal

Vast improvements for the display cases and reading materials

          I can say that Fort Santiago is really worth the visit now, especially for the young ones because some Pinoy kids today know Naruto and One Punch Man but has no idea who Juan Luna is. I always believe that our grasp in our identities as Filipino rely in our knowledge and understanding of our past. And if my uncles and aunts who are away from home grabs the only chance they get to visit the roots of the blood in their veins, why can't we? Us who are living here, the museums are open. I think it's time that schools stop field trips to malls and head to museums instead.

I got them to follow Rizal's final journey!

     And after 90 minutes inside of the Fort, we then went to San Agustin Church, luckily the church was open at that time because of a wedding. We didn't go inside the church's museum anymore because you'll need about 2 hours to really appreciate the artifacts there.

     After reminiscing the church and wedding bells, I took them to, well you know, of course, a Filipino restaurant, and yes, it's Max's (To Max's Management: That is not free advertisement, please send GCs.) We had the whole crew munching on chicken, beef, pork, noodles, I think we got all from the menu, even the desserts! And sorry if you didn't see pictures of the food, well we were so hungry.

     With tummies filled and energies replenished, we went to one final stop before we head home. Of course, it's a visit to Rizal Park to see the greatest Filipino (Until Today)

Here's the family, and that's the only angle where you won't see DMCI's Torre de Manila

     I'm glad I had a chance to take them there, it is different when it's family, but it is always a different experience when I tour someone around Manila. One thing is for sure, I won't ever get tired showing people my beloved city of Manila.

I found an old post World War 2 Photo of Fort Santiago and combined it with mine. Amazing how I took it at the same angle as the photographer who took it 70 years ago.

     

The Big Binondo Food Wok - Rainy Edition PART 3

So after we ate Siopao Specimen letter C which you guys also should try, we then ate something for afternoon meals! It's something very very close to the Chinese culture and automatically when someone mentions this yummy delicacy, people thank the Chinese!

Yes people, it's HOPIA. I don't know about ya'll but man Hopia really is one good foody that I eat regularly or whenever it's available! Hopia is being eaten in the country like it is one of the Filipino delicacies!

Inside the Hopia shop

Ivan the ntold us about the history and kinds of Hopia, here watch the video.

After we ate Hopia which I barely finished (Well Niki took a bite and gave the rest to me!) We walked back and almost where we started the tour, there is a a lumpia house which was the final stop of the tour. The place looked very old and I bet that the building's height of popularity was between the 60's to 80's before finally being claimed by dust.

Po-Heng Lumpia house. It has a small courtyard and I'm guessing that the building used to be a hotel.

Now the Lumpia here is not your ordinary Lumpia (well this tour isn't ordinary anyway) wanna know why it's not just your ordinary lumpia?

Stuffed and huge Lumpia!

This one's eaten with either the traditional sauce or hot sauce. Dried seaweeds can also be added and it has this salty-crunchy taste in it.

After we ate the Lumpia, I was stuffed and full but Ivan had this big surprise for us. He gave away the BINONDO FOOD WOK MAP! It is Binondo's Food treasure map and I finally have one! Ivan gave one each for us and boy am I happy! It completed the tour, now  I can go back whenever I want and not get lost while I eat my way inside Binondo.

The tour wouldn't be fun if my friend Niki didn't come with me! The tour is definitely a fun and stuffing way to bond with friends, why not spend sometime together with friends or loved ones while eating and learning at the same time?

Here's Niki, Ivan Man Dy and me

Ahhh, this may be the only walking tour that I enjoyed in my life, I hate walking but this time I did like it, as long as there's a meal waiting for me at our next destination! CHEERS!

The Big Binondo Food Wok - Rainy Edition PART 2

Being briefed about going to our next destination.

Right after we had our first meal at the Mezzanine located just above the Eng Bee Tin, Ivan brought us to the next destination which was a few minutes of walk away, but since it was raining, we were like a horde of Carabaos slowly migrating from one place to another.

Our next destination may well be my most favorite part of the tour, we were headed to a small place called "Dong Bei Dumplings". Yes that's right, it is indeed my favorite part of the tour 'cause I just love dumplings! For a group of 32, this "hole in the wall" can barely hold all of us inside.

Believe me but I 'm already at the corner of the place and our group of 32 were fitted to a room for 20.

Ivan tells us that the dumplings were made from fresh ingredients and is an example of the local Filipino jargon today of "Lutong Macaw" (pronounced as "Ma-Cow") that means "Something quick to cook". The owner of Dong Bei Dumplings was a couple who were no longer than 8 years in country so that means I will finally get a taste of authentic dumplings made by a couple from China! Isn't that just amazing?

Shrimp Dumpling

What's even better about Dong Bei Dumplings is that they don't make the dumplings not until the order is made, that could take some time to prepare but it cooks fast and it is fresher than fast food dumplings!

Fried tastes good as well!

The place was hot, humid and one air-conditioning unit could not hold all of our body heat from eating these delicious dumplings. But nevertheless, I still ate my way to the plates, I probably ate around 10-15 pieces from 3 different dumplings that were served for us.

After the dumplings we walked back again to where we started and stopped at this very small food stall that serves delicious siopaos. This is also interesting as it is another authentic Chinese food stall

While we were eating the Siopao given to us, Ivan started talking and Ivan explains:

"Did you know that there are 3 specimens of Siopao? I call it the A, B and C!

A is for Asado

B is for Bola Bola

and C is for...Well guess for yourselves."

Siopao SPECIMEN C. >:))

As he said the last specimen of the Siopao, I laughed at the children we were with and they were almost spitting the Siopao out but did not, because after all, it is an adventure of Cuisine and the tummy so coming in the Binondo Food Wok tour requires the Love for eating something new!

Still don't have an idea what Siopao Specimen C is? Well you have to get your butts to Binondo to try it! This ends the second part of my Binondo tour! See you on my last part of this blog! Cheers! :)

The Big Binondo Food Wok - Rainy Edition PART 1

At last! After 2 years of planning since I saw this on the net I was able to finally get a taste of the lost city of Binondo and what else could be better than eating my way through the streets with a friend, and even better, for FREE thanks to our school publication where I write for the Features department.

We were running low on stories to feature for our August issue when the thought finally came out of my "Travel dream chest", I suggested it and surprisingly they gave the go signal but I didn't want to go alone so I grabbed my fellow feature writer Nikki who also wanted to go.

So I called Ivan Man Dy, the travel guide and co-owner (correct me if I'm mistaken) of "Old Manila Walks Travel and Tours" and asked for a weekend eating spree slot and he said yes there were available slots for 2 young college students hungry for culture and cuisine.

August 27, 2011: 6:00AM - Oh my God I said after just waking up, it was raining hard and I couldn't believe what I was seeing outside my window. I reached for my cellphone and saw Nikki's message "Is the tour going to push through, it's raining hard here" - Like clockwork I automatically called Ivan Man Dy and asked about it and he said "Rain or Shine, it'll push through" - Yeah that's right! I hope.

So at 7AM I met with Nikki at the ancient walls of Intramuros where we took the shortest Jeepney ride of our lives to Binondo Church, just across the bridge. Upon entering the old Binondo church that was built for Chinese-Catholics, I felt its serenity and history flowing into me, ah! It's been a long time since I felt the presence of peace while Nikki looks at the paintings on the ceiling.

Binondo Church, built in the 16th century still has its original stone walls. It is where the first Filipino Saint, Lorenzo Ruiz started as an altar boy.

9AM and Ivan Man Dy is on time as well as the others and I felt out of place for a moment when I saw that our other co-travelers were mostly Chinese and foreigners, some were a clan of Filipino-Italians and I would call them as Illustrados - For I am born of a simple life but don't worry, no regrets here! :)

The first stop was Eng Bee Tin and if you like the Filipino local music band "Parokya Ni Edgar", the song "Pangarap Lang Kita" was shot here. Take a look:

Above Eng Bee Tin is the Mezzanine where it is an air-conditioned room and where the mighty proud Binondo Fire Rescue is well acquainted with. The Mezzanine shows the history of Binondo's first fire fighters which is still in service today. It has a collection of the Helmets used from the start to the modern day. And we got to play with it, Cosplay in anime terms.

Nikki and I playing with the Helmets and taking photos before we eat the first meal of the day.

While we have our photos taken and goofed around (Well I did, not Nikki the more conservative one) Ivan talked about the Kiampong Rice (Salted Rice) and Bola Bola (Fishball Soup) and the Iced Coffee drink about to be served and said that so fully taste the food is that to put 1-2 tablespoonfuls of soup and put it in the rice and then push it down with the Iced Coffee.

Kiampong Rice, Bola Bola and Iced Coffee

Kiampong Rice: 9/10 - Excellent! I had 2 bowls and it is tasty!

Bola Bola : 7/10 - Good! Authentic but I'd like it if it had more flavor to it.

Iced Brewed Coffee: 5/10 - I'm a coffee drinker and I think this one's a so-so, needs more sweetness in it and I think it's better if it was Iced Tea or Hot Tea to go with the food. Coffee isn't so "Chinese" right?

But nevertheless! Eng Bee Tin-Mezzanine is a great way to start the day! Ivan also told us to go to the comfort rooms now for as we go on with the tour, the places we'd go would go smaller and literally have no restrooms especially for our group of 32!

IT ENDS HERE FOR NOW - WATCH OUT FOR PART 2 WHERE WE EAT BINONDO'S FAMED AUTHENTIC DUMPLINGS WITH COOKS STRAIGHT FROM CHINA! CHEERS!

Manila Zoo Revisited

Since there was news that PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) wanted to shut down the Manila Zoo, I wanted to share my experiences at Manila Zoo during my last visits.

I've been to Manila Zoo in 2008 and 2010 since I graduated in High School, well I've been into Manila Zoo for at least 5 times in my life I could remember going there when I was a kid, a teenager and as a college student.

But first, what is Manila Zoo and how important is it in our country?

Manila Zoo opened its doors July 25, 1959. Yes that was yesterday they celebrated their 52nd year and as the first and oldest zoo in ASIA. Its full name is The Manila Zoological and Botanical Garden, it remains to be one of the most visited zoos in the country, mainly attracting public school field trips and tourists accommodating almost 2 million visitors annually.

Being the first and oldest, its location is in the heart of Manila, 5.5 hectares with 800 animals from nearly 100 species as of 2007. It also houses some confiscated, injured and donated animals and so the Zoo is safe to be called a Rescue Center.

When I visited here in 2008 with my friends, I was a freshman college and let's admit that if you're from Manila or anywhere within an hour's reach from Manila and you're in college, you wouldn't go to this old Zoo. But my Love for animals is different from the others, I love nature more than big malls and man-made structures, although Manila Zoo is a man-made home for the animals, the animals are part of nature that no human can create even in cloning, are you getting me?

In 2008 Manila Zoo was dead, I mean it really looked dead to me. I was excited to see Mali, the elephant I saw when I was little, used to be really really big and healthy but when I went inside together with my friends we all wondered if it was still Mali we were looking at because the elephant was thin, and I meant thin in elephant terms.

This is Mali in 2008, the elephant from Sri Lanka. 

Manila Zoo was dull in 2008, it was like the worst year for the animals, although I saw that most of the animals were taken care of, judging by how they should look like and their sizes, it was still good. The problem was the surroundings and the trash being thrown inside the cages and around the zoo. And there were people smoking inside too! Isn't a zoo a total non-smoking area?

Other animals around the zoo in 2008

FAST FORWARD TO 2010!

In 2010, a dear friend of mine expressed her longing to visit Manila Zoo because she hadn't been there once in her life. Me and her being a travel enthusiasts since we met in college share the same drive to see new places. Old places become new when you look at it on a different perspective you know.

So we planned and invited a lot of our classmates and friends and our revisit to Manila Zoo was almost perfect when on the day we were supposed to go, it was just me and my friend Melissa who were available that day, that only showed how much we really love to travel.

It was the May 6, 2010 as I could recall because the summer heat was just killing me but the mature trees in the Zoo helped regulate the heat. As we entered the zoo I saw Mali the elephant again and this time he really appeared healthy and he even welcomed us by showing us to his new space where he can take a shower and dip in the water.

Mali and his new play spot, he appeared a lot happier and healthier in 2010 than 2008

The new space was good although it was entirely concrete, I wish there'd be grass and a tree for him to rest under it. Maybe a companion elephant is better but I don't know if that's possible with the entrance fee of the zoo which is less than $1 could cover these things.

Iguana at the Reptile gallery.

We wandered around seeing Mali first and the n some snakes in the reptile area and that day it wasn't filled with visitors because it was a weekday but there were some and some people are just rude because they were smoking around and the personnel of the zoo happen to be tolerating it.

Turtle just "hanging around".

There were new animals that I saw and some old timers like Mali and I must say I Love how Manila Zoo is trying to make the place beautiful with the meager funding they are getting from the Government but they really have to focus on the cages, especially the cages of the Monkeys because it is depressing I can see in the eyes of the animals that they feel alone. It's suffocating them, the small spaces and dirty surroundings.

Tigers.

We took lunch inside the zoo and noticed that the place was even more dirtier because the shops aren't looking after their customer's trash, they didn't have enough trash bins. It's almost like it's also people from the inside who do not care about the Zoo, they're just there to make business.

Outside the zoo where the "Kinder Zoo" was, although fewer animals are around, they were a lot more better in shape than inside the main zoo. I heard it was a private company who was keeping it.

The kinder zoo provided visitors to touch the animals and ride on it and pet them. In 2010 there were still closed cages because the animals weren't there yet.

Here are some of the photos we did inside the pet zoo:

The Kinder Zoo, well we don't look like we're in Kinder.

Overall the 2010 visit was way better than 2008 and I hope well I get a chance to visit this 2011 I could compare it again because we don't know if Manila Zoo is developing slowly or not but as far as my visit, it is developing but in a slow pace.

Zoos are important because it is a way to keep the children and elders informed of what the animals need, thus, I think Manila Zoo has to show it.