Sorry about not having posted yesterday. My husband decided that we were going to check out Manila Ocean Park with the little ones. I am actually quite glad to have gone, because it was definitely worth visiting Manila again.
And I have to say, Manila Ocean Park exceeded my expectations! So it was worth a visit with the kids.
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| Puffer fishes. So cute! One of them’s “puffed up” 🙂 |
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| Shark eggs– different stages. Pretty amazing! |
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| Stone Fish. Very dangerous! |
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| The gigantic aquarium with a sharks and huge rays |
I won’t spoil it for you peeps with more photos, but if you do happen to be in Manila, you must make visiting Manila Ocean Park a part of your “agenda”.
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| The food “market” outside the aquarium shows a lot of promise! |
There was this hotel right inside the Manila Ocean Park complex called Hotel H2O. It’s a fairly new hotel, operational since last April only. Had to check it out. Sharing photos because I love the look of this hotel and I would not mind staying here for a weekend!
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| Hotel Lobby |
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| Hotel Lobby– so new! |
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| Club Bay Room |
The front desk people were so kind to show us one of their suites– the Club Bay Room. It’s really impressive. Room sizes for this category are between 31- 39 sqm. Floor to ceiling windows by the way. It was raining outside when I took this shot, so you don’t see the bay, but you get the bay view, which is fantastic! It’s like being inside a ship, only you don’t get seasick! 🙂
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| Bedroom complete with a “open” jacuzzi overlooking the bed and the bay! (Sorry for my reflection :D) |
Here’s a view from the corner of the room which shows you the entrance. I love this “sunken” bedroom style 🙂
There’s the view of the bay. It must be awesome during sunset!!
Hotel H2O is owned by a Singaporean group, and is one of the newest hotels in Manila. The hotel is located within the Ocean Park complex, just behind the Quirino Grandstand, Luneta. Until today, I had not even heard of them! I asked my friend Claudette of CV Travel about it, and she said it’s a nice, new hotel that she has offered to her foreign clients who prefer to stay in the Manila area over Makati.
I honestly think it would be nice to stay here for a weekend– your activities can include joining one of Carlos Celdran’s Manila tours– http://celdrantours.blogspot.com/ (Carlos’ tours has been featured internationally in Al Jazeera, so it comes very highly recommended to tourists), a visit to Manila Ocean Park, dimsum at Emerald Garden *hehehe plug*, and perhaps dinner at one of the restaurants in Seaside (Dampa) along Macapagal Avenue where you also get to pick the freshest seafood from the market!
Happy weekend, everyone!! 🙂
P.S. Special thanks to the front desk peeps of Hotel H2O for being so accommodating!
x
Mrs. T
we just spent the weekend there for my youngest son’s bday. we stayed in the aqua room because my kids love aquariums. plenty of activities to choose from. hotel was great! i highly recommend it for families with young kids 🙂
I’d love to spend a weekend there with the kids– I wish I saw the aquarium room!!
ms. daphne, you have just unconsciously campaigned for our tourism industry to flourish again. good job! even if international tourists are still wary of coming over at this time, this piece is a good wake up call to local tourists. God bless people like you!
Daphne is definitely a very good spokesperson for her love of the Philippines 🙂
sorry, ms. ingrid pala. sorry, sorry, sorry! i typed your friend’s name in my comment.
hehehe it’s alright 🙂
hi again, ms. ingrid. sorry ulit, but it’s like this kasi- i often read your blog alongside ms. daphne’s ( yes, i open two windows). sometimes tatlo pa nga when i open ms. cecille’s blog. the way i see it, your blogs are sometimes intertwined.that was not so nice of me to address you with another name. please forgive a 57 year old internet-ting housewife.
lol no problem!!
I stayed there with my husband when he visited the Philippines for the first time! He was pretty impressed by the hotel’s contemporary decor. I love Manila too=) My hubby and I can’t wait to go back! The shopping there is awesome and unique!
http://thequirkyrosette.blogspot.com/
It was impressive, right? 🙂 I loved it too!
Hi…let me tour you around again. You missed something about Hotel H2O. Its not only the first themed hotel in the country. It is also a hotel with negative ion techn ology. The spa named Zenyu ecospa is the first ecofriendly spa with negative ion technology.
Sorry for being redundant. Visit the spa and will bring you around to see the 11 kinds of rooms in Hotel H2O. 2386190. Zenyu ecospa. Will treat you to the hotbed. Carlos has tried it already.
Yay! Ill take you up on that when I get back. I love the whole area of Manila Ocean Park and H20 Hotel! it’s awesome– such an asset to Manila!! And I need to do Carlos’ tour too while I’m there!