Fish Spa Video @ Manila Ocean Park

Fish Spa at Manila Ocean Park can be availed for Php120 per person, lasting for 15 minutes each.

Humboldt Penguins @ Manila Ocean Park

This was the very first time that I saw real, live penguins and it happened in Manila Ocean Park during my birthday weekend. Watch this video we took of the Humboldt penguins. They're so cute!!!

Different Kinds of Jellyfish @ Manila Ocean Park

If you plan to visit the Jellyfish Exhibit at Manila Ocean Park, you'll have to pay Php150.00. But if you include it in any of their promo packages, you'll be able to get a discount. Click here for more info.

Aquanaut Adventure at Manila Ocean Park (with video footage)

There are so many things you can do in Manila Ocean Park, one of which is this Aquanaut adventure or helmet diving activity just like the Boracay helmet diving we did last summer. 

This one is more expensive though, at Php995 per person. It's understandable since Manila Ocean Park maintains an oceanarium filled with 1000 fishes of different kinds, 12 of which are giants. It's also inclusive of wetsuit and booties rental plus soap and towel.

If you will notice later in the video, I look a bit stiff compared to Peter. Before going down, I was really feeling nervous, thinking that I might not be able to equalize since my ears easily get irritated. It's one of my illnesses even as a child.

Manila Ocean Park, The Pergola, etc. - a Happy Birthday Weekend Celebration

I was on a 24 hour shift when I realized that it was my birthday and I didn't have anything planned, hence my birthday post over at my Kicking Pinay blog last Saturday morning. I was so focused on everything else that I didn't have any more time and energy left to plan for my own birthday. Saying a simple prayer of thanks to the Almighty is enough for me as I have already received so many blessings in my life. Looking back, I ended up having such a blast last weekend. I guess that's what happens when you don't expect a lot and you start getting blissfully content with your life. The universe just gives you more of what you already have --- a husband who loves you and a life full of happy adventures. :)

Below is a summary of the wonderful birthday weekend I had which I ended up celebrating with the most important person in my life, my partner, my better half, my husband, Peter. ^_^

Saturday at the Pergola in Paranaque

We've been living in the south for 5 years now but we haven't really explored its nearby cities. I normally sleep on Saturday morning til afternoon and wake up just as the sun is starting to set. My body clock is perpetually on U.S. time no matter how hard I try to change it. Surprisingly last Saturday, I wasn't sleepy at all despite the fact that I just got sick the previous week and I've been awake for almost 24 hours by then. I guess I was just happy to be alive on my birthday and I didn't want it to pass me by. True, I wasn't feeling 100%, but I was energetic enough to at least go out of the house and experience something different.

Manila Ocean Park, etc. - My Happy 31st Birthday

Like I mentioned on Plurk, I never thought I’d say this….I’m happy to be 31. It’s the best birthday I had so far. No stress, no pressure. I truly felt relaxed, happy, loved, & hopeful. That’s because I spent it just the way I promised myself I would. The blessings I received on the side I consider my bonuses. 

Let me give you a bit of a background. In my entire life, I only got to honor my birthday 13 times. My parents celebrated it when I was 1-4 years old, then when I was 13, then again when I was 16 (which was tragic — I was living with my grannies in Cagayan de Oro at that time and they decided to  do a major celebration. My Lola insisted that I invite my entire class as well as my guy friends from Ateneo. The party started at 12 noon. Then come 6pm, just when we were starting to have fun, she asked everyone to leave. FTW, right?!), then when I was 18 when I insisted that I didn’t want any birthday hoopla whatsoever (I was a teenager with raging and rebelling hormones, what can I say?). Big celebrations started again when I turned 25 and continued until my 30^th. Last year, I promised myself that it would be the last time I will celebrate my birthday in a big way. Though I sincerely enjoyed it, there were just so much stress and heartaches involved before the big event. You see, though a lot of our friends came to that birthday party of mine, none of my bestest friends were there. After all the tiring preparations, the people I wanted most to be there didn’t make it. It left me scarred but I’ve already forgiven them. It’s just that, after it happened, I promised myself that I will never go through that excruciating pain again (yes, I get a bit overly dramatic when it comes to these things). Instead, I will continue to honor and be thankful for all my upcoming birthdays by celebrating it with the one person that I can always count on the most — my perfect someone, my love, my everything — my Peter.

So, on my 31^st birthday, for the first half of my morning, I never expected that I’d get the biggest interview of my life, which I consider my 1^st gift that day. All I can say for now is that out of all the companies I applied for, I really am in love with this one and I am really, really hoping that I get that job. I am even willing to let go of my Bali & Bora trips if they want me to start ASAP. Hmmm… okay, maybe not really since I still have other obligations to finish. But still…! Until another job interview happened two days later and I fell in love with it too! This is such a euphoric feeling! I just hope in the end, I’d be able to make the right decision and choose the job that will truly make me blissful ’til the day I retire.  

Checking out Manila Ocean Park. I wonder what’s new?

 

Manila Ocean Park on Mother's Day

This is the first time (I think) that we ever really celebrated Mother’s Day. Usually, I would dread this day because I was just that type of person who hated family days. Talk about severe angst and hang-ups, huh? But like I said in my previous posts, I am feeling so much better about my life right now and something inside of me wanted to be more open and forgiving. And so, without hesitation, a week before last, I texted my mom and asked her "Gusto mo pumunta Manila Ocean Park for Mother’s Day?" To which she replied, "Shempre gusto ko." Oo nga naman… it’s been ages since we last saw each other. I can’t even remember when that was. And so, there we were last Sunday, enjoying the little creatures of the ocean (some were not so little) and having a blast!

  L-R: My brother Mac, his preggy girlfriend Smeerf, Mommy, Me & Peter