As I’ve said in my previous blogs, I am not a morning person, I even get rashes when I stay under the sun for a certain amount of time, lucky me *sarcastic smirk*.

So, imagine my glee when a few days ago, my husband presented me a digicam full of sunrise pics.  He went out of his way to bring the camera and rode the boat in the Manila Bay area and took all these photos. 

It’s like watching a still movie…

(lightning bugs?) a little patience, it is soon coming…

 see, it’s beginning to show a little

playing peek-a-boo with your eyes

almost there, showing some of it’s might

a dainty little boat in the background

and the star (figuratively and literally speaking) that amaze us all

good morning sunshine!

And to cap your viewing pleasure, how about a little music or chirping, by the least, from them -

my hubby said, these are called kalangay, philippine version of seagull; fishing boats in the background.

We went to Tagaytay weeks ago to breathe some fresh air and have a family bonding out of town, actually, my main agenda was to have my son watch the sunrise and appreciate nature and it’s wonders. 

Side story:  My son is a late-riser, just like me, the quote “early to bed, early to rise” doesn’t apply to us because we’re both nocturnal beings, sleeping just when the sun was about to shine.  So watching sunrise is so uncommon, thus, my first agenda.  I don’t know how to put this, but my son seems to love the members of the animal kingdom than the plantae family, he so love animals, it is seldom that you see fear when he’s dealing with them, he’s so touchy and kind and patient.  But, his relationship with plants seems to run far across, my nanay and tatay love plants, planting and gardening - so it’s a little tricky (and somewhat scary)to tell them what happened to the orchid that they’re waiting to bloom or why the layers of petunias and santans were suddenly gone or of the broken leaves and twigs on the rooftop.  I don’t do gardening because I don’t have the patience for it, but, I do appreciate the beauty of flowers, the shade of the tree and the fruits they bear and the aesthetic power all these plants have, and, I just wanted my son to learn to do that, too.

Sad to say, I didn’t accomplish neither of the two :-(  First, we got there late, the sun had already risen high up above and because it was raining, it’s all misty and foggy.

My son enjoyed his day even if we’re all muddy and wet… so, all in all, it was still a fun trip.

Fireworks display on the eve of the 102nd celebration of Navotas Day in the Centennial Park, C4 Road.

I’ve captured a few good shots that night but I think this one is my best.  I sure did the best that I can to show that artistry also flows in my blood sometimes, *lol*.

Other photos of the night:

(the road was jampacked)

(fireworks and brightlights)

 (fireworks delight)

For more info about the newest city in the philippine archipelago, just click this.

This is the last of the three-part series that I’m doing about amusement parks, I wanna end it with the star of the group - Star City.  The first two attractions that I mentioned on my previous blogs are located inside it but I decided to give them a space of their own because you have to pay a separate amount before you can go in those two attractions, and I think they are cool in their own way.

As far as I know, Star City is the reigning queen (I prefer the term queen because of the bright lights and extravagant colors) of amusement parks in the metro, its contemporaries such as Big Bang and Boom na Boom had bowed down and been out of the picture for a while now.  I think, this is primarily because of the park’s location - Roxas Boulevard -  it is situated in the midst of hotels, malls, dining establishments, clubs and bars, theaters, government agencies, name it and it’s there, it’s even near the US Embassy and Rizal Park. 

Me and my family are long-time patrons of the park (suki na kumbaga), if I remember correctly, my first time was during my high school days, no ride-all-you-can bracelets, no tiangge, no airconditioned and covered rides, and not that many people to deal with, I’m trying to think about that day but the only thing that surface is the visual image of wacky worm, we bought a quarter roll of tickets and rode the wacky worm until we ran out of ticket supply, and yeah, after the continuous cursing of my cousin. *lol*

Star City boast of a state-of-the-art and 3000-seat Aliw Theater, stalls of goodies at an affordable price and crowd-favorite rides and attractions such as Wild River, Zyklon Loop, Surfdancer, Starflyer, Viking for the teens and adults; Quack Quack, Grand Carousel, Red Baron, Little Mermaid, Wacky Worm and Dragon for the little ones.

Ride-all-you-can bracelets are available at 250php, 3 cheers for 150-200php, entrance fee would cost you 60php if you just wanna walk around.  Token and ticket booths are a-plenty inside the park in case you have a change of heart or you just wanna try a hand on arcade games. 

I think that’s enough, the Elizalde’s won’t pay me a dime for this, so, that’s enough effort on my part.  If you wanna go and visit, check their website to know more about its walk-through entertainment and the park’s exact location, schedule, promos and discounts.

(dinosaur replica in the ticketing area) 

Another new attraction in our all-time favorite amusement park is the Dino Island, and as the name connotes, it is all about dinosaurs.  I may be taking a wild guess here but the co-owner of this sharp-tooth and plant eating reptilian observatory could be from Korea, Taiwan, Hongkong, or China. *grinning widely*  I came to that hyphotesis because the man who ushered us in, saying “Welcome and thank you for coming to Dino Island!” “Go on, go on, enjoy!”, looks like Jackie Chan and he said those sentences in Chinese slang, mind you, he’s not in a ranger suit like the rest of the ushers and guides.

(entrance to dino island)

Dino Island is divided into two parts - the main attraction, where the moving, scary and  a bit noisy dinosaurs abound, I think I spotted little foot, cera, and spike (I’m not a dinosaur geek so I wouldn’t know their exact names but I watched The Land Before Times series). 

(each type of dinosaurs have their own tv monitor showing a mini clip about its life )

Half of the attraction is alloted to the dino museum, where you can find some fossils, archeological digs and paleontological bits.

(on the way to the museum) 

(entrance of the dino island museum)

There are island rangers who will guide you through and they can answer questions you might have, they may also pose with you in pictures or take your pictures if you ask them politely.

You must shed 160php to be able to witness and see these dinosaurs for yourselves or if you have lots of time in your hands, you can try grabbing the ride-all-you-can and dino island ticket for 350php.

For their address and schedules visit starparks.com.

Snow World is an additional attraction inside the Star City, it was made possible through the partnership between the park’s owners and Winter Wonderland Entertainment.  The latter, I believed, also have an Indonesian Snow World but Manila’s version is said to be bigger and better, with a longer ice slide measuring up to 68 meters.  It also features the works of World Ice Sculpture Arts Champion Frankie Lee, Jeffrey Ng and Theo Gee.

(snow world replica in the ticketing area)

You can opt to pay 160php for the park entrance and unlimited access to Snow World or 350php for a ride all you can bracelet plus unlimited access to the said attraction.  Either way, you’re paying a hundred to experience the snow in humid Manila, a small amount in exchange for the laughters and chills.

(snow world facade)

There is a downside though, camera’s not allowed, if you’re a rebel on your own right, you can sneak in your camera and hope against hope that the staff will be too busy or too frozen to care.  If you’re on the law-abiding-citizen-type, your snow memories can still be capture for 150php (1 print and 1 cd), just look for the guy with the orange jacket.

(by the lighted tree - a good place to have a family photo) 

(it’s so cold!  - by the igloo) 

(let’s make some snowballs!) 

(how about a snowman, can we make one?) 

A word of caution though, wear or at least bring something to fight off the chills, jackets are provided but it can only do so much, pants and shoes are a must or you may suffer arthritis for the rest of your stay. 

(our 2nd visit, my son holding his snowball - taken using a phone camera) 

(let the snowball fight begins) 

(yehey, I win!  I’m the King of the Snow!) 

I almost forgot, gloves (more approriately called knitted mittens), face mask (the one used in hospitals), knitted caps and socks are all available in the counter at a much higher price than it should be.  So if I were you, I’ll just come preapared.

For the address and park schedules, please visit their website.