Have you heard of the place called Manila Zoo? It is really not a tourist destination because all of the countries have their own zoos. But since we are discussing paradise Philippines; I think it is just right to include our very own zoo in the topic.

I decided to go to Manila Zoo last month with my boyfriend because the last time I went there was when I still wear diapers. And now as I’m on my early 20s already, and I just live close where Manila Zoo is, I think I owe my fellow animals (kiddin’) a visit.

Entrance fee is very affordable. Even more affordable when you present a barangay ID (of course issued by your own barangay), senior citizen ID (for those who are not so young anymore), and school ID (for the kids.. haha..). You get a 50% off if you present any of the following mentioned. The original entrance fee is 40 pesos for adults and 20 pesos for kids 4 feet and below. So imagine how much you would be paying if you have one of those IDs.

As you enter the zoo, the first animal you will be seeing is the ever reliable mr. elephant (whom I have a feeling that he’s been there already about the time that I had my first visit). I can feel that he’s really old and sad since he’s alone on his cage.

The cage at the left side of the zoo is somewhat disturbing because one: the place is not really clean, and two: it is on the corner side of the zoo, contains snakes and iguanas, that almost made me puke since I’m not a huge fan of them. I didn’t even bother taking up some pictures when I was looking at them because I know for a fact that I’ll not appreciate it.

A little pond reveals a bunch of turtles that are so cute. They’re a lot of them on the pond. Big turtles, small turtles, old turtles, baby turtles, all of them are cute.

Then another disturbing corner of the zoo contains the cages of the crocodiles. If I’m not mistaken, there were three to four cages that contain these fierce animals. While I was staring at them, they are so quiet and weren’t even moving. But I saw one crocodile that has its eyes open and looking at his surroundings without moving. That’s the only time I realized that he was biting a mineral water bottle. They were kinda cute but scary. Good thing they’re not in the mood for some fight or else I wouldn’t describe them as cute.

As I walk further, I notice cages that are empty, or so I thought. But when I walked closer, I saw bunch of monkeys. Different type of monkeys, who I know, was hungry because they were asking for some junkfoods that we were eating. Oh, and did I already told you that they were good catchers? One man, who was also a lurker, gave a piece of peanut to a monkey. Imagine how small this peanut is and the monkey successfully caught it with his small hands (even smaller compared to mine!)

The continuation/part 2 of this article is at the Paradise Philippines Blog

Batanes has been known as the home of the famous Ivatans who are also known as the “True Insulares”. The Ivatans are of Malay fund, tracing their roots to earlier immigrants from Formosa, Taiwan as well as Spaniards who came to the Philippines on the 16th century. The Ivatans have kept the purity of their gene pond through moment because of being an insular people.

The Batanes weather is quite enjoyable. Compared to the rest of the Philippines, the Batanes Paradise is blessed with a cooler climate. It enjoys practically four seasons, the better one being summertime which is from March to June. Batanes’ average monthly rain is 450 mm. According to the 2002 Census of population, the Island of Batanes has a registered population of 16,467 people distributed over a land area of 230 sq km. Their spoken dialect is called Ivatan. This dialect has been spoken by 93.94 % of the whole island. Ilocano language has also been spoken in the island, while the English and the Filipino language has been generally spoken and understood on the island.

Batanes has been opened for everybody, whether if you’re a foreigner or a Filipino, to visit. Great and spectacular views of the oceans and mountains can be found in here. Truly, Batanes is enough proof to call this country, paradise Philippines.