Tropical Adventures

I will say one thing for New Year's Eve in the Philippines. It is extremely loud. Fortunately the kids slept through it all, with the help of a lot of white noise. Sheralie and I watched "It's a Wonderful Life" but toward the end we were having trouble hearing it for all the fireworks. Sheralie went to bed but I figured I would not be able to get to sleep so I stayed up. From 11:45 to 12:10 the noise was deafening. Fireworks were the main noise makers. Car horns, pots, pans and alarms were also generously employed. Wow. Resolution for next year: find a secluded island to spend New Year's on.

On January 2, I went back to work. However, most people were still on vacation, so they called an early release day at work (December 24 and December 30 were also early release days). So I called Sheralie and we decided to go to the Children's Museum for the rest of the afternoon. After sitting through horrible traffic, we found it was closed, despite it not being an official holiday. I guess it closes for unofficial holidays too.

Undeterred, we headed next door to "Ocean World Park" which features an aquarium, glass bottom boat rides and shopping delight. Upon entering the complex among hordes of people, we found that there was a 2 hour wait to get into the Aquarium. In the atrium, there were hundreds of folding chairs set up and people were awaiting their number. Strike two. We're not waiting two hours with kids to go into the Louvre, much less the Manila Ocean Park Aquarium.

So we head out across the road to Rizal Park. Across Rizal Park, people are having picnics, flying kites (it was a fairly windy day), throwing balls, etc. I have never seen a park so crowded. I have also never been the subject of quite so many stares. Granted, I was one the better dressed people there, having come from work, but probably the spectacle of the double stroller (unheard of) and three small American children were pretty wild.

We get to the other side of Rizal Park to find a playground, which has an admission fee of 10 pesos (20 cents) which cuts down slightly on the concentration of people. I actually did think to take the camera out at this point, so here are some pictures:


To give you an idea of how many people are at this park - this picture doesn't even do it justice.




Love the colors


Lucy, attracted by the shoes, makes some new friends


On the upside, no one has to ask where the trash goes

We ended our day at Jollibee's because it was right next to the park and Wendy's would have required another car ride in traffic. Jollibee's is second only to McDonald's here in the Philippines.

Not our finest outing, but a fun experience.