The Beach - My Favorite Outdoor Spot

Just stumbled upon A Southern Daydreamer website and read about her Outdoor Wednesday.  Suddenly I missed the great outdoor after a tiring day inside an office working from morning til night. It's been a relief just seeing photos of the outdoor from different places.  The beach is one of the best places I love to hangout as I feel relaxed and recharged swimming in the water, feeling the wind and hearing the waves.
 
Here are the snapshots from our travel in Iba, Zambales. This place is more than 200 kilometers from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).  We had almost six hours of land travel passing through the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX).  We arrived at our destination a little past 11:00 in the morning. 

You can rent a motorized banca to take you to nearby islands or just cruise around.  The rent costs about P100 per person. There are also other offers at  a much lower cost.  

We almost had the beach all by ourselves as it was not too crowded at dawn .  Our family especially the kids really enjoyed the sea, the sand and the sun. It was a real thrill outdoor experience

 I was hoping to capture sunset in different hues and angles.  Some crash course on photography with my cousin somehow paid off...I guess. :-)

Revisiting Childhood Moments at Timeless Attractions In Manila

“Mommy, we really had a great time! Can we visit there again? PLEASE…” Those were the words of my kids when they arrived home after strolling at the Manila Zoological and Botanical Garden with their cousins accompanied by their uncle and grandmother. They just can’t contain the fun they had there that it was such a never-ending story of how they spent their day.

Kids…just when you thought you have given them everything that will make them happy, they just can’t seem to have enough of those happiness that if given the chance, they wanted to do it all over again. I was also like that when I was a kid, I remember. (^O^)

“Okay.” That was all I could say to make them satisfied, and so I need to fulfill that promise. Incidentally, my husband was also planning to take the children to the park for a jogging, so I told him about the kids’ wish for another trip to the zoo for which he gladly agreed. The Manila Zoo is approximately four kilometers to the famed Rizal Park, also known as “Luneta”, one of the timeless attractions in the City of Manila. This is a great place for kids’ learning tour, a bit of nostalgia and lots of jogging activity. Perfect! The children will get to have their wish granted and the kid in me will also get to visit a place that I enjoyed before there was megamall and ocean park.

We arrived at Rizal Park close to seven o’clock in the morning with lots of people already having their jogging and exercise activity, still as busy but not too crowded as before. I made a brief visit by the sea wall of Manila Bay just to see how much it has changed. I saw that this part of Rizal Park nearby the Quirino Grandstand already gave way to commercialism. The long stretch of the sea wall has now been reduced to maybe less than twenty meters. I was surprised that many people including children still swim there despite all the garbage around and even if it was declared by local health authorities that it is unsafe to swim in Manila Bay. I hope that people who swim there will be made aware that swimming is great for the health only if without the garbage. After the jogging, we had breakfast at a nearby fast food restaurant then head straight to Manila Zoological and Botanical Garden.

The entrance fee is only PHP 40 for adults and PHP 20 for children. A very small price to pay for all the animals that the children will see inside the zoo.

There is also the playground inside where children can have fun swinging and sliding to their hearts' content.

Boating fun for everyone! The boat rent is PHP60 for 30 minutes, maximum of up to five people can be accommodated with two paddles provided for each boat. A good way to flex those muscles.





Kinder Zoo for the kids, a paid picture taking session with the animals, and there is wall climbing too.





Horse back riding for PHP60 for only one round.

The message says: (1) Always keep the zoo clean. Throw your garbage in the garbage bins. (2) Respect the habitat of the animals. Do not throw your garbage inside their cages. I hope that visitors will take the message seriously.

Take a moment to see the reptile house inside the tunnel.

More animals...



botanical garden in this part of the busy Manila...



There are more to see inside the zoo considering that it was only for PHP40.00 entrance fee. I bet the ticket price is not even enough for one tiger's meal. Sometimes I wonder, do these animals better off in captivity than in the wilderness? I think there is not much option for them. Let us just start to be more caring for them.

Spending Long Weekend Holiday at Home

The four-day work break (Halloween) gave me an opportunity to watch movies at home. I really got no time to see movies in theaters because of the too demanding nature of being a working mom. It’s a good thing that my other half rented tapes where we watched comfortably at home. It has been my habit to remember catchy dialogues.



I am more interested in sharing movie quotes than movie reviews, so to those who haven’t seen these movies yet, pardon me for not telling if they have been a good or a bad movie. Each of us has his own preference, you know. I might consider one to be a good movie but you might find it otherwise. But just a hint, I would not be able to remember their catchy dialogues if these movies were able to put me to sleep. :-D Anyways, these are just some remarkable quotes from those movies, wisdom worth sharing:

Kingdom of Heaven (2005)

“A king may move a man. A father may claim a son. But remember that, even when those who move you be kings or men of power, your soul is in your keeping alone. When you stand before God you cannot say ‘but I was told by others to do thus’, or that ‘virtue was not convenient at the time’, this will not suffice. Remember that.”

Flight of the Phoenix (2004)

“All a man needs in this life is someone to love. If you can't give him that, give him something to hope for. If you can't give him that... give him something to do.”

The Punisher (2004)

“I know what it's like. I know what it's like to make your memories go away. You can make new memories; good ones. Good memories can save your life.”

Batman Begins (2005)

“You traveled the world... Now you must journey inwards... to what you really fear... it's inside you... there is no turning back.”

“If you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, you become something else entirely. Are you ready to begin?”

Aside from movie watching, I also spent the day with the kids and got time to watch TV. Just got hooked on “The Apprentice”, which is something that’s really worth my time. The reality game show gave a challenge to two teams to create something that will aid people in the office to get rid of clutter on their tables (something that I need myself). The winning team was able to create a catch-all bin out of an ordinary stackable. It’s amazing how the meeting of minds can make ingenious creation, also gave me an idea on how to put one’s creative mind to work.