My Manila: White Moon Bar at Manila Ocean Park

After our Manila Zoo adventure, we just wanted to sit and relax. When we're in Manila, we usually have ensaimada at the New Diamond Hotel. But since we were on adventure mode, we decided to try something new.

I remembered seeing a feature on White Moon bar so we headed to Manila Ocean Park. White Moon Bar is an open-air bar with a gorgeous view of Manila's famous sunset. It has huge, comfortable white sofas, low tables and capiz-decorated speakers. Last Sunday, they were playing 80s music, which was probably perfect for most of the customers. It served really cold beer (a bit pricey at P80/bottle) and other cocktails. Our waiter nicely suggested that we also order food and swore by their beef nachos, but we had to decline as we already had dinner plans. Most of the other customers also just ordered drinks, which the waiters efficiently served.

The atmosphere was very relaxed. Some of the customers were a couple, 2 small groups of tourists (4 or 5 persons in each group), and a group of men. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves with drinks but the place was never noisy. I couldn't even hear the laughter from the group of men who were 3 sofas away from us. The gentle winds probably carried out the sound.

With the comfy chairs, the magnificent sunset, the 80s music and the perfectly cold beer, we forgot all our cares and snuggled deeper into the sofa. For that moment, there were no bills to pay, no global warming to worry about, and the world was in peace.

Tips:

• If you're bringing a car, park inside the gate of Manila Ocean Park. There are plenty of parking spaces inside even on a Sunday.
• Go early. The sofas get filled at around 5:30 PM.
• If you get there before 5PM and you can't stand the heat, you can explore the complex first.
• You can catch the Musical Fountain Show after sunset. If you pay online or get an SMS coupon, the ticket is only P99. Check out http://www.manilaoceanpark.com/promos.php?id=96&l=indexnews for details. Promo is valid until 31 March 2011.

*White Moon Bar is at the second floor of the Manila Ocean Park complex. You can take the main entrance, take the escalator near the food stalls at the left side of the mall, then walk right, heading towards Hotel H20. You can always ask the guard for instructions, they're very helpful.

My Manila: Manila Zoo

7 Feb 2011 - B and I have decided to see Manila as if we were tourists. First stop: Manila Zoo, the field-trip destination when we were in elementary school.

Manila zoo has improved over the years. Only the chimps' cages retained the broken tile and cement flooring. There are now huge cages for our eagles and other fowls. There are lots of picture-taking opportunities - you get to carry a snake or a bird on our shoulders, you can ride a horse or ride a boat. There are also several play areas for kids. It's still not as nice as the public zoos I've visited in other countries, neither does it match Avilon Zoo on the other side of Metro Manila. But it's not a bad place to spend your P40.