Noah's Ark In The City - And The Celebration Of Friendship At Night.

- June 8, 2010, Tuesday

- I saw blogs and info about the Ark Avilon Zoo recently, and I decided to go there before classes start in the 15th. It just so happened that Bless' adventure toes were itching too, so we decided to invite the usual group of people to this petting-zoo trip.

- After days of scheduling madness, we decided to go today, even if only 5 of us were available. This morning, we waited at CKSC, as usual, and waited for Berna, Jess, and Karel to arrive. The two arrived slightly late than our scheduled meeting time, but Karel, for some reason, didn't answer our calls and text messages. Since we were already more or less 1.5 hours behind schedule, we decided to leave for the zoo.

- Before going to the zoo, we had to make a little side trip to where Jess had her OJT because she had to drop of something. Oh yeah, after getting off at Boni Station, we had to ride one of those massive tricycles that could fit around 6 people inside, sort of like a mini version of Thailand's tuktuk. It was a cool ride, and only 7php per head.

- Jess had a really brief visit to her OJT place. It was a good thing that an empty cab was coincidentally nearby. Instead of riding the jeep to Tiendesitas (which was really near the Ark Avilon Zoo,) we rode the cab instead. It was a bit hard to find the jeepneys from Jessica's OJT place.

- We arrived at Tiendesitas half an our before noon, so we decided to eat a slightly early lunch before going to the petting zoo. Since today was a weekday, and an odd time for shoppers, Tiendesitas was almost empty. We walked around after eating and especially the traditional Filipino crafts. Then again, we found them TOO overpriced. (In one store, a small keychain was worth 700php. Nevermind.)

- Around 12:30, we had a short walk to Ark Avilon Zoo. The main Avilon Zoo is actually a big big big big zoo situated in Montalban, Rizal. Recently, the Avilon Zoo constructed a small branch in Ortigas shaped like Noah's Ark - hence the name ARK Avilon Zoo. Haha. The two-storeyed zoo is mainly targeted towards the young, and the young at heart like me. Many of the animals are set free to wander around (with their trainers of course.) Some, like the goats, sheep, and the pigs aren't set free to roam around, but are fenced so people can feed them.
The other dangerous animals are placed behind glass windows, and their living space simulates their natural habitat. (Entrace: 300php regular price, good for the whole day. You can go out and come back again as long as you show your stamp. :) :) :) :) They also have a souvenir shop and a pet shop. :D:D:D:D )

- We roamed around the first floor first, and held the albino snake. The first floor also had an open area where people can see aquatic birds living side by side with other creatures such as the arapima - one of the world's megafish. Since the trainders of the cockatoo and the other birds, as well as the orangutan weren't there, we decided to check out the second floor.

- The second floor is where the fenced "farm animals" were located, as well as other birds that were free to roam around, like the white peacock, and this weird blue bird. I wonder how they were trained to not fly away or something. Animals can do the craziest things sometimes - even flightless birds may attempt to fly. Hahahaha. Aside from that, a small playground can be found in the second floor, as well as a food stall, and a large space and a stage for events such as birthday parties.

- We decided to feed to feed the rabbits and the guinea pigs. All of them were located in a pig pen where they were free to run about. People (with closed shoes) can go in and feed them up close. We bought one carrot (20php,) and it was skewered by the staff. I wondered why he needed to skewer the carrot, since the rodents would just nibble on the orange veggie. We proved ourselves wrong. Upon entering excitedly inside the pen, I sat on one of the wooden seats, and fed the rodents. MY GOODNESS. They all came to me all at once, and tried to murder the poor carrot. It kinda reminds me of a "pabitin" scenario during children's parties....only this "pabitin" scenario has many "children" and one "pabitin goodie." Go figure.

- As we played around a bit after feeding the demented rodents, the slight pitter patter turned into one big rainfall. Instead of panicking and worrying about the rain, I just laughed and realized how "Biblical" the setting was. Rain, people and animals in an "ark." Hahahaha. In fairness, the playground had two swings and a hammock sturdily tied, so much so that they were able to support and fully grown person's weight. The playground also had a sandbox, and my three companions were attempting to build a sandcastle while we couldn't feed the other animals yet.

- I soon noticed that the rain was gone, and the big downpour was reduced again to mere pitter patters. I bought veggies immediately so I could feed the black pigs, the sheep, goats, and the big-horned ram and his family. It was fun feeding them, though I got scared a bit at the big-horned ram because I felt like it could charge any time and break the wooden fence. Hahahahaha.

- After our veggies were eaten away, we went down again and we were glad to see the bird trainer, as well as the the trainer of the orangutan and the orangutan named Collin (he's a male orangutan though.)

- We first held the birds, before meeting Collin. Now, my first encounter with Collin was different from any close encounters with human-like mammals. Upon approaching him, he held out his long hand, and pulled me to its side, wanting me to play with him. He couldn't let go of him, and he almost bit me playfully. Then again, just to be safe, I notified the trainer when I felt its teeth a bit. Well, I still played with him soon after. I didn't know what he wanted me to do, but one thing's for sure: he didn't want me far from him. Hahahaha. I don't really understand, as well as the other guests of the zoo, why he liked me so much. I observed his actions when other people sat near him, and he treated them either coldly, or just "so so." He would occasionally put his arms around people he liked, but my case was different. He played with my whole humanity!!!! Hahahahahaha. (Yes, I'm talking nonsense, but you know what I mean. Haha.)

- We got a bit bored soon enough, and decided to go to SM Megamall to cool off, before heading back home to have our random dinner at Shakey's Masangkay. Again, another "miracle" taxi cab drove nearby, we hailed it, and we rode it to Megamall.

- Berna decided to have a small snack before going home, since we figured out that the way home would be as tideous as hell. We passed by this restaurant called Orchard Road (obviously Singaporean,) and was designed like the typical Singaporean hawker stall, though not as "Singaporean-y" like Makansutra in the Manila Ocean Park. The food was great though, and reasonably priced.

- We proved out travel hypothesis right. Going home was a big hassle. I did notice however than the MRTs today were faster than those I've encountered before. Normally it would take a long while before the next train would come, but the transitions today were a so much faster. Thank God.

- We arrived, finally, at Manila after the sun had set. We hurriedly went to Shakey's Masangkay because we thought that the other people of the group who agreed to go to Shakey's were there. Weird enough, the four of us were the ones there. Erlyn, Nathalie and Oliver weren't able to make it today because of different reasons. Regarding this dinner thing, we planned the whole thing just this morning on the way to the zoo. I don't know who started it, but it was indeed a good "add-on" and a good cumulation to today's adventure.

- As for Oliver, he apparently left his phone at home after he went to his job, so we couldn't confirm if he'd be able to eat dinner with us or not. Good thing his sister answered one of our calls (maybe after seeing a ton of missed called and messages on Oli's celphone.) She said she'd tell Oliver after he went home. Good thing Oliver came home shortl afterwards, and was still able to grabe a few slices of pizza, a chicken wing, and I think some mojos.

- I never really thought that a trip this summer with these people was going to be possible - not to be pessimistic, just realistic (wow this could be a song!!) - because everyone was busy with their internships and such. Even though we weren't complete today, at least a lot of us were still able to see each other, even if some of us were only able to go to the dinner only. Hopefully, we'd be able to go out more often before the last year of our academic lives, at least for most of us, ends. (It may not be the last if ever we decide and have the opportunity to study for a postgraduate degree or something, but hey, we can never tell. Haha.)