manila ocean park

After the luxury of staying at my uncle’s house and having a personal driver, the week of March 24-31 was mostly about work. I had to transcribe the interviews I conducted for my Emerging Leaders project, and transcribing is such a thankless job. It takes forever to do—it takes about ten times the time of the actual recording to transcribe it. And I can only do it in small doses. But I had to finish it that week, as the following week we were off to the mountains, where I didn't have access to a computer.

Tuesday (March 25) was set aside for fun, though. (I could not possibly stand just transcribing all week!) We headed out to Manila Ocean Park, a newly-opened but not quite finished complex that is supposed to consist of an oceanarium, open water marine habitat, boutique mall, restaurant row, and function facilities. It had its soft opening at the beginning of March, and it is really only the aquarium part of it that’s built.

We were visiting the Tuesday after Holy Week, figuring that most people will have just traveled over the weekend and would not be going the park. I think we were right (according to the cleaning lady anyway), though there were still quite a few people.

I’m not really sure how I feel about Ocean Park. I had just visited the National Aquarium in Baltimore a couple of weeks before I left for the Philippines, and I know I like that aquarium. (That was my second time going there.) I actually enjoy going to aquariums, but I think I expected something else from Ocean Park. I was thinking something more along the lines of seeing creatures in their natural and actual ocean environment, though of course how could that possibly be when the park is located along the murky waters of Manila Bay.

So, the tunnel is just really this section (towards the end of the exhibits) where it's sort of like an aquarium that goes around on all sides, including overhead. It's a cool notion and all, even if it's not actually in the ocean. But it did seem like a cheap plastic tube with lots of fishes. It absolutely lacked color in terms of the fishes--most of them were the silvery/gray kinds--so it definitely did not have the wow factor. The Philippines has such great coral reefs that it would be great if it could have been simulated somehow in this tunnel section (or featured in the smaller aquariums, for that matter, instead of the fake-looking ones that are there).

To me, the place seemed small (or maybe it's just that it's unfinished or seems unpolished). There wasn’t a great variety of fishes on display, though there were the usual suspects such as clownfishes, lionfishes, seahorses, and sharks.

However, there were some things that I liked because either I normally don't see them given focus or at all featured in other aquariums (unless, of course, I just wasn't paying attention). For instance, I liked the fact that there were separate aquariums for the magnificent sea anemone and the tube anemone (there was a third kind of anemone, but I don't remember what it was) were featured in their own aquariums. However, again being in the Philippines, there are also so many more different kinds of sea anemones that could have been featured.

I enjoyed looking at these live giant clams. I don't think I've ever seen them alive before. It was interesting seeing them breathe through their membranous insides. The bamboo shark eggs clearly showing the embryos are a bit weird. The Japanese spider crab, which is the largest living arthropod, lives at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, and can live up to 100 years, is cool.



Here are some other pictures that I like--the reef stonefish--said to be the most venomous fish in the world; a fish or small ray (can't remember what it is) barely showing in the sand; spotted garden eels sticking up and out of the sand; and yellow boxfishes.



I hope that what we saw is not the final, final product; I hope they're still making improvements. And I hope that they really feature and focus on the marine life of the Philippines and its surrounding waters.

bisita iglesia (part 4)

After our experience at Longos, the following churches paled in comparison. (It probably also didn’t help that we were getting tired and churched out.) Like many of the other churches, Lumban Church, the next church we visited, has an old stone façade with a more modern inside. This church added a newer sculpture of the crucified Jesus atop its belfry that just detracts from the beauty of the church facade. Here, the façade has what appear to be wooden paintings covering the windows. The side windows are made of stained glass.



After seeing seemingly older and older churches, our snobbishness came out when we saw the newish-looking Pagsanjan Church. (Perhaps, there's a reason that the town is primarily known for its river, rapids, and falls.) The church was actually closed but, as some workers were going in the door, we asked to go in as well. Like the other churches, the altar is full of gold. It features a statue of the Virgin Mary that the store pictured for Paete says they made. You can see the bustle of the community through the windows.



We then proceeded to Cavinti, where the streets were narrow and mostly one-way. We had difficulty finding and getting to the church, especially as there was basketball tournament that was just starting. The church was locked, so we couldn’t see the inside. Like Lumban, the windows are covered by wooden paintings. We roamed around the grounds where I saw this display of palm leaves, probably from Palm Sunday, a week earlier. We also saw that they had a gated section with sculptured Stations of the Cross.



After Cavinti, we actually passed another church—that may have been Liliw Church—but I was tired and I just wanted to go to Majayjay Church, which is one that I really wanted to see. But before we got there, we got a little bit lost and almost ended up at Lake Caliraya. That wouldn't have been so bad, but it was getting late. On the way to Majayjay, we saw signs for Majayjay Falls. Wish we had time to see it, but that wasn't in the itinerary.

Though it had already been a long day and we were a bit churched out, I did not want to miss Majayjay Church. I called this the pink church because it looked that way to me in the picture in the book on church façades, entitled Philippine Church Façades, that we looked at at Fully Booked. The church is actually made of brick and only looks pink in pictures and from a distance. By the time we got there, it was probably after 4pm and church was in service. The church is a sight with its reddish hue and the palm trees in front. It has a nice plaza in front.


Right alongside the church was a market with stalls selling all sorts of stuff. This picture of a mossy-looking tree is taken there. According to a marker I read, the town is also known as the place where Emilio Jacinto, one of heroes of the Philippine Revolution, died.

We were supposed to go to Nagcarlan Church afterwards, but we were tired and we decided to skip it. We could also have gone to the churches of Lucban and Tayabas in Quezon Province, but those were out of the way. Maybe a different time.

We hit traffic on the way back to Manila, especially as it was the Sunday after a long holiday weekend. We ended up skipping dinner and got home around 9pm. The poor driver--not only did we have him driving all day, but we didn't even feed him dinner. I hope he doesn't hate us. It was an extremely long day--11 churches in 1 day!--but it was fun. Nothing like a road trip.

longos--bisita iglesia (part 3)

After lunch, we drove a couple of minutes to Longos Church. Longos is a small, small community. (Apparently, Longos itself used to be the center and the name of the town, but now the municipality is called Kalayaan and the center has moved closer to the highway.) When we got there, it seemed deserted—maybe because it was after lunch. The church also seemed old and deserted. It was actually closed, but someone—who turned out to be the caretaker—asked if we wanted to go in. Of course, we said yes. While the façade seemed old, the inside is actually new, with the walls made of unadorned hollow blocks. According the caretaker, the church was bombed by the Japanese. In one of these pictures, you see the ruins—the church used to extend to this point. This is the only church we visited that did not have a historical marker (unless we just didn't see it).

This church turned out to be our best experience. The caretaker showed us a section that belongs to the original church and which used to be where the baptisms took place (as you can see from the baptismal font in the foreground). The picture on the wall (showing the baptism of Jesus Christ) is original and is actually wood relief. This room is normally closed because people take wood chips from the painting (see the lower right corner) as agimat (or talisman).

The caretaker then offered to take us to the belfry. The first set of stairs that led to the choir balcony were okay, but then we went to another set of stairs made of wood and metal. The spiral steps were old and somewhat worn. It was a tight squeeze, and I was afraid of the combination of the height and the rickety steps. But it was worth it once we got to the tower. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a belltower, and it was sweet to be in this old tower. When you step up to the windows, you can see amazing views of the surrounding countryside. Only one of us went to the highest part of the tower (where the bell is) because the floor up there is in really bad condition.

bisita iglesia (part 2)

[This is the continuation of the church hopping we did on Easter Sunday. It's 3 weeks late, but hope you still enjoy the pictures.]

The next few churches-- were also close to each other, but we had to drive a bit to get to them. On the way, we stopped along the road overlooking Laguna de Bay. Some other travelers had also stopped there, and there were little stands selling food and some kids selling quail eggs. That was the only non-church stop we made. I wish we had had more time to make more stops as, later on in the day, we passed many places that had streams and waterfalls and such. I also took a couple of countryside pictures while in the car.

The next church was Pakil. We could have passed by Mabitac Church as well, but I think we missed it.
There wasn’t much space in front of Pakil Church, so we couldn’t really take a full picture of its façade. That’s a shame since the façade has such beautiful detailing. The inside is a contrast—it might as well be a different church. Like Tanay,
the altar and other parts of the church are highly embellished. Over the altar area is what my friend calls the Sistine Chapel, as it features reproductions of Michelangelo’s paintings. This church also has a nice dome that brings in some natural light to the front of the church. It was funny because all three of us, who happen to like kiteflying, noticed this relief painting that we thought was of monks flying a kite; it does look like their flying Jesus, though.



In Pakil, as in quite a few of the churches we visited, we saw floats featuring the risen Christ and the Virgin Mary. At dawn (around 4am) on Easter Sunday is the sugat (in Bisaya) or salubong (in Tagalog), which means the meeting. The two floats start away from each other and, with people following behind each float, they eventually meet. Then, the procession proceeds to the church. When I was growing up, there were paper gigantes (giants) at this procession, and one of them represents Judas Iscariot and is burned down.

Paete, right near by, is a town that is well-known for its woodcarving. (The word paet in Tagalog means chisel.) We thought there would be a lot of woodcarvings at this church—there were some, but not much. The interesting thing about this church is that it has different (and dissimilar) façades on different sides so that, when I was going through the pictures (from two different cameras), I was getting confused as to which pictures belonged to which church. It looked like there was an extra church or two in there. This church has an ornate altar, similar to ones we saw earlier during the day. It has a nice wooden ceiling and dome. It also has nice stained glass windows. In addition, it has a couple of oil paintings on wood, such as this one, dating back from 1850 and one from 1720.





By this time, it was extremely hot, and I was starving (and people who know me know that I should not be allowed to reach this point). But, we couldn’t leave without looking at the shops and the woodcarvings; we also went to one gallery. I was tempted to buy something, but the one thing that I really liked was still about $300. The store, picture here, actually makes papier mache products

Though I was starving, we couldn’t eat at Paete because there really weren’t any restaurants there. There were small places that sold food, but I was too hot and I wanted to go someplace where it was spacious and cool and had a restroom. Fortunately, there was a restaurant on the highway. We ate at Exotik Garden Restaurant, a nice-looking place. They didn’t really need a gimmick, but they had one—having exotic animals (e.g., huge snakes, a monkey, etc.) on the premises. The food was alright, but I was glad to have the rest.

back to civilization

We're back in Manila--a week earlier than scheduled. Now I can continue my blogging. But I'm so way behind! And I have a lot of emails to go through. And I'd rather be sleeping really. Well, you'll just have to keep checking...