Hello and it feels good to be back! I have been out and about this entire week agaun because I've been runing errands with my sister. We've been working on stuff for the house, and we've been exploring as well. But the highlight of this week might have been the aquarium visit we had yesterday!
So for people in the Philippines, they may or may not be familliar with the Manila Ocean park. So far, it's the only aquarium in the Philippines and although it's been here for quite some time now, this has been my first time visiting this place.
At the entrance, it seemed like such a small place because it's a bit hidden, but in reality, it is quite big. The reason being that it's attached to a waterpark-themed hotel called Hotel H2O. So basically half the area size is for the hotel.
At the entrance, you'll be greeted by merchendise already. Realy expensive stuffies of the sea creatures they have on display and a few things that make the aquarium memorable. These things are scattered everywhere, almost every attraction end has these small gift shops so it kind of makes it impossible not to buy something. Luckily, I'm a little broke so even if I wanted anything, I couldn't get anything XD
First display/attraction the park lead us to was an aquarium with fishes that are endemic only to the Philippines. I'm not sure if they're counted as endangered, but they are only found here. What I hoped they woud add here would be the Sardinella tawilis which is endemic to only here but also an endangered species. I really had fun seeing some of the strange fishes. Most of them were actually caught from Palawan and Visayas because of the wider biodiversity available in those regions. There aren't many fishes you really could seein luzon aside from the fish that you see on the dinner table.
Speaking of, I feel bad that the thought on the forefront on my brain was "Are these edible?" Because a lot of them are silver scaled fishes and a lot of them are edible, in a sense. I didn't want to ask the tour guide because I might get banned from the aquarium but it's for educational purposes, like what if I get stuck on a desserted island one day? I'll need this knowledge.
Thgis is the gift shop I was telling you guys about XD tell me who's cuter? Me or the doll?
Then they opened this hero exhibit where they showcased a bit of history on the filipinno man that wanted to look like superman. He was that obsessed that he underwent 26 surgical procedures just to have the same physique, facial features, everything! It was kind of creepy, but I guess people will go to extremem lengths just to be like their heroes.
Next exhibit were these jellies! I honestly loved this display because of how majestic the jellies move along with the classical music and coordination with the light changes, but I kind of felt bad that some of those jellies were barely hanging on for dear life. Unlike the fishes that were actual rescues, idk about these ones because they're all cramped in such a small space. I know these jellies can grow bigger than this, but oh well. I hope th improve this display and the health of the jellies because the conditions are just bad.
Then we went into the creepy crawler exhibit where it was filled with reptiles, arachnids, lizards, snakes, amphibians and a few other bugs that just made my skin crawl. Honestly, I don't really mind looking at frogs or snakes because I do find them cute, but spiders and the roaches on display were another story I would not want to talk about. Needless to say, we didn't stay long in that exhibit.
Then the last part of this walk was the sea lion and bird show. I think this was the part I enjoyed the most because the birds were so smart, but more than that, I absolutely adore sea lions! The dance number they had at the end was just soooo fun! This, I would see over and over again, unfortunately, you will always get that dilemma of whether the animals actually do enjoy their performances or not, or if they're just used to it. Visiting these kinds of places really do give m ethis dilemma all the time.
The very last part of the walk.... Was.. Well... Seafood dinner XD
In the end, intrusive thoughts won and we ended up filling the entire day with seafood.
So this is all from me for today. I'm sorry I just made a photo dump today, but I seriously had so much fun! Until next time!