Samphran Elephant Ground and Zoo

This zoo is a must-see if you visit bangkok. it's an hour away from bankok by land. our tour guide charged us 1200 bhat for this (PHP1800) and it includes a van and buffet lunch..

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when we got there, we had lunch first since we just came from the temple tours. the elephants were out and you can purchase bananas to feed them! nice! i wanted to do it so badly.. but then our tour guide wanted us to see the crocodile show which started already when we got there =( here are the baby elephants out with some students on a field trip..

The crocodile show was in their native language. but then you still get to enjoy it since the guys did stuff like wrestle the crocs, put their heads inside etc. take a look:



(this is a bad view of one stunt but the guy's head was literally inside the croc's mouth)



(after the show the audience gave the guys some tip)

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after the crocodile show, we went to the see the elephant show. it's the first time i saw elephants playing soccer, doing role plays of going into battle, picking out weeds and pulling logs.. i must say.. sobrang cute nila!! hehe..

then after the show, you can ride them elephants! at an extra cost nga lang.. and you can feed them again.. riding an elephant was one of things i wanted to do ever since.. whenever i see people doing that on tv, naiinggit ako.. the ride was pretty scary for me.. i didnt expect it to be too high and without any safety belt hehe.. just sit on a chair and hold on.. our elephant's name is PON.. i asked our "driver" to just make him walk.. hehe.. baka tumilapon ang lola mo pag tumakbo yun..

after the show, we had our picture taken with huge tigers.. i grabbed one by the tail! hehe...

Tree-Planting at Arroceros Forest park

joined a group of volunteers from our office to go tree-planting at Arroceros Forest park in Manila (their website is under repair i think..) was surprised to see a small patch of forrest in the middle of Manila! it was a rainy morning in Makati and QC last sat.. as in! but then the activity still pushed thru.. too bad i wasnt feeling well that day so all i did was take some pictures and looked after the stuff of my fellow volunteers in the shed while they do all the hard work.

we planted 20 seedlings all in all. some are nara trees, dao trees, etc. they were about 5 to 6 ft high and each seedling costs PhP 250. here is the patch of land assigned to us. full of weeds! the participants worked really fast and was able to clear the whole spot in an hour and plant the trees! take a look at the before and after shots:

nice! the trees with labels are the ones we planted. it's nice to know that people still care about the environment. i hope every single tree we planted will live over a hundred years!!! some trees in the park are that old.. if you are intersted for any volunteer work, contact our partner organization for our community projects: hands on manila

volunteers listen intently to the head of the WINNER FOUNDATION (in charge of arroceros forest park) as she gives us a brief background and history of the forest.

Community Service + Learnning about your Environment

last july, my colleagues and i had an activty for all the birthday celebrants of Feb, Mar, Apr. It was a morning spent with street children with games, a feeding program and a zoo tour! both kids and volunteers enjoyed the zoo trip! we learned a lot from the the NINOY AQUINO PARKS AND WILDLIFE.. i'm from the south so i dont really visit the qc area. this is my first time to see the zoo.. it's a rescue center for endagered species in the country.. aside from the educational tour, they even had a program where you can pet the turtle, snake, etc. mashado akong takot to do that.. maybe next time.. para naman may pic ako nun! hehe..

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the kids enjoyed the games as well. was touched during the part when they were given a chance to say somethign to the volunteers: a teenage girl said: "pagnasa langsangan kami, pakiramdam namin walang nagmamahal sa amin. pero ngayon nandito kami, naramdaman namin ang pagmamahal mula sa inyo.. kahit may sarili kayong mga pamilya.. " kung hindi ka banaman maiyak nito ewan ko nalang!

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here are some pictures i took.. the ones of the animals are not too clear though.. had a hard time taking shots of them insidet their cages.. =(

the volunteers in pink with the kids.. all learning from caretakers of the zoo..

cockatoo: you can be charged millions if you have one of these but without the legal papers.

iguana. tsk ang liit, hindi mashadong kita

philippine deer: kawawa naman.. na-flash ko.. sorry po..

er.. colorful brids by jansport? hehe

had a great time with the kids, volunteers, and zoo animals! thanks to our partner organization for this acitvity: HANDS ON MANILA

TRIO

my high school barkada has been consistently having lunch at least once a month since mid last year.. i'm so happy this has become a regular thing for us. we have been friends for more than a decade now.. (graduated from high school 10 years ago) i love these girls! nways, lunch is usually at the fort since parking is so hard here in makati.. lucky tin coz she goes to work there. those staying in the makati take a ride from jacky or ashley going there (thanks girls)

nways, our latest lunch was at trio. this is about the third time i've been here..

jacky, dyan, tin, moi, karen (ashley couldn't make it coz she had some event to handle)

nways, TRIO serves great thin crust pizza, and yummy pasta. our desert was gone in 2 minutes. literally. siena cake ata yun.. dont remember. it had caramel and choklit cookies all over

classic pizza

pomodoro angel hair

1:09PM

1:11 PM

bnb pic fr karen's site: http://lucerokaren.multiply.com/photos/album/113/BnB_Trio_theFort_5Sept07_?replies_read=1

Pang Pa-sexy

The following are the main reasons why i gained a few lbs. lately:

1.
TOBLERONE CAKE ~ someone gave this to my boss and i had a slice.. it's a lot thicker than the average cake. the white stuff that looks like pancakes had a texture like merengue (spell check). i think the only reason they called it Toblerone cake is because it had toblerone candy on top! ish good.. i give it a 3 out of 5

2.

COLOSSAL COOKIE ~ this is the latest. Gen introduced it to me when we ate at OLD SPAGHETTI house. this is a wonderful desert! kya lang when i ate with my cuzin/dentist, she said it's bad for your teeth. the sizzling plate made the choco chip cookie really warm with melted choklit.. and the vanilla icecream wit hchoco syrup was a real contrast.. again... wonderful ito!!! i give it a 4 out of 5

3.
CLASSIC BANANA SPLIT ~ this is a nasty picture of it though.. this i had in front of our office.. fior gelato (sorry, i really suck in spelling.. it's supposed to be italian for icecream? ) 50 pesos lang ito! i chose fudgy, capucino, cookies and cream flavors for the icecream with mallows, semisweet chips, and syrup.... it's a 4 out of 5

4.

CHOCOLATE-COVERED MALLOWS ~ actaully, these are part of the chocolate fountain.. heaven... i had around 4 or 5 of these and some gummy bears (one of my fave candies) i think the thing beside it is a kiwi tart.. nways.. sobrang sarap nito!!no need to explain. it's a 5 out of 5!

tsk... these are apart from my choklit bar and chichirya moments.. waaaaaaaaaaaaa! promise, i'll cut down already.. (errr) TIN'S wedding is coming up and i have shed off a lot.. my master plan: have my impacted teeth removed to totally stop me from eating during Christmas time...