Under the sea

When I was younger, my brother and I had an aquarium. We didn't have any exotic fish - just the regular goldfish variety. I'm not really a fish person unless its deep fried, steamed, slathered with mayo and relish, or grilled. Anyway, my Dad took us to the Manila Ocean Park yesterday. He helped fund it so he's particularly fond of the place. We went after 6pm and surprisingly, there weren't too many people. The Manila Ocean Park has several areas of interest with new wings being constructed already to open in a year or two. You begin your ocean adventure in Agos where you can see a huge ass Arapaima, piranhas, and all sorts of crab. You can also touch (read: poke at your own risk) strange looking starfish. Next is the Bahura where you can view behind really thick glass (obviously, I knocked on it to annoy the fish) a plethora of fish in all sorts of colours. They had striped fish (this Dad was pointing out to every single orange fish with stripes to his kid and said it was Nemo), fish that looked like sticks, and a huge crab that was housed in a cold aquarium. The most fascinating part is the 25-meter long tunnel that features different marine animals. It''s like having front row seats to a real life version of Shark Tale. Kalaliman shows different kinds of schooling fish and one giant grouper, while another area shows lots of stingrays swimming about. The guide said we had to dip our hands in the water and make waves so attract the stingray. We were able to touch and feed them (I think it was because we were being guided by the Singaporean owner) with galungong. I wasn't exactly able to put the fish into the stingray's mouth because I freaked out when the biggest stingray of them all swam to me. It wasn't a pretty sight so I dropped the fish into the water. hehe It was an experience though. You can also pay P100 bucks for 15 minutes to experience the fish spa. There are several wading pools with tiny fish that eat away your dead skin. The fish are said to be from Hong Kong (or Turkey, I forget). When you dip your feet in the pool, you just wait for a couple of minutes and they slowly approach and chomp away. The Manila Ocean Park is open from 10am to 9pm, Monday to Sunday Not sure how much admission is but I think its around P400-P500. Visit their website at www.manilaoceanpark.com