If You Love Science - Kids at Singapore Science Center

Ikee had wanted to visit Singapore again this year. If not because I told her that we should be able to go to a new place every year or at least when we travel abroad, she would have opted to be in Singapore for only one reason - to visit the Singapore Science Center again.

Yes, you read it right. Again. We went there in October of 2006. I, being the family's tour director, had prepared our itinerary before getting there. Little did I know that she already contemplated on going to the SSC because she had surfed the web and found it. Hah, that's what the internet does to kids these days. They know a lot!

The moment we got to the hotel and unpacked, I told them where we should be going the following day. But she suggested going to the SSC because she had also seen a brochure at the hotel. We didn't really have much of a choice did we? After all, the real reason we travel is so that Ikee would get her exposure.

Off we went the following day. Ikee had the time of her life! The museum had lots of exhibits that showed the science in almost everything you could imagine. There was a show that day and it looked more like a magical show featuring electricity. There was a physics garden that had illusions and other things showing off the wonders of physics. There were funny things too. Like there was one where Ikee went looking for her dad's body because we only saw his head on top of a table. We got to watch an omnimax show just like the one we watched at the Universal Studios. Now for a kid who's into science, it was heaven. Not that I am one but I did enjoy it there too. For science teachers, the SSC would be like a treasure trove.

I believe all kids visiting Singapore should see the Singapore Science Center. They'd love it. They'd learn from it. While parents would love to bring them there because well, it's cheap. They spend hours and hours there and while they see their kids have the time of their lives without even wanting to eat without prodding or blackmailing. Actually, if there's just one adult left with the kids, the others can already go on with the shopping or go to another place they'd be more interested in. But you know what, even the adults will like seeing the place too. I'm pretty sure the whole family will want to return after a trip.

Getting there is relatively easy. take the MRT and alight at Jurong East Station on the East West Line. Then walk - Singapore Science Centre is just an 8-minute walk from the Jurong East Bus Interchange/MRT Station. You can take a cab but why not enjoy the sights? Anyway, the SSC opens at 10 am.

A Blast at the Mines

Last December my family and I were in Baguio (again for the nth time). It has become a family tradition to visit the summer capital at that time of the year. Just so we don't get tired of going to the place, I make it a point to go to a new spot during each visit. This time it was the Balatoc Mines. I first heard about it in the virtualtourist website. VT Bikepacker featured it in his travel guide and I had read it in 2006 before the trip that year. finally, we got there this time. Just as I have read, The Balatoc Mines is an old gold mining company whose founders were americans. It was established almost at the same time Baguio was built - in the early 1900's. For several years they operated in the area until the time when the market for gold went bad. Their earnings were lower than their expenses then so that management decided to fold up the business. However, in the recent past - about 3 years or so - with the help of the Department of Tourism, the mines had been converted into the country's first and only mine ride.





A visitor is allowed to become a miner for a day. First, one has to wear the right paraphernalia. We were made to use boots and hard hats. Then, we had to go for a little orientation so that we know what to expect. the ride was with the use of a real miner's train. A guide went with us to explain what was happening. We were led into a miner's cave where the ore was found. this place had already been abandoned for some reason so that noone else was there but us. It was a little scary to find out that houses stood above the place where we were at. I mean, you know, what if during a blast, the earth got so soft that it crumbled! I'd hate to think the worst. I and my family were there in that cave. But that was remote. We learned that Balatoc Mines placed in some fillings enough to replace that which they harvested. They were safety conscious as well as environment-friendly.








At one point during the ride, a real blasting was done. Of course we went for cover. How deafening it had been. The smoke it emitted was still there 15 minutes after the explosion which I should say is not friendly to the nose nor the lungs at all.





After that, we were off to a real mine. There, the miners were processing the ore, cleaning it until there was not too much earth in it. Ore really does go through fire to yield its gold. There was a gate which shut close a cave. This, we later found out, is where the real mining is being done. The miners, all men, stayed inside that hole for 8 straight hours. Noone could enter nor leave unless it was time to do so. The miners, being all men, wore nothing but their undergarments down there. This is done because it is easier to track whether anyone brought home something that they shouldn't have. everyone was accounted for and when someone is missing, there'd be a team to look for that person in the mine. It really wasn't a life I could imagine having but these guys brave it day in and day out to make a living. I'd hate to be in their shoes. The tour ended in a visit to the small museum. Overall, the Balatoc mine is a ride to experience.

Palawan Day 2: St. Paul Underground River

This day we woke up late. We agreed with dad that we'd leave the pension house by 7 am. But dad texted that he was still having breakfast with a former Mayor-friend of his and we were all too tired to get up anyway. At least I got a little time left to charge my cam which I forgot to do the night before.

It was almost 10 am when we checked out of Lola Itang's. On our way to Sabang where the underground river was, we found this view deck and asked the driver to stop for some photo op. Little did we know that there would be several viewdecks before sabang. Of course we were running late so we just had one more stop for a photo op.

The road to Sabang is made up of 40% very good road and 60% really rough and brain-joggling, bone-breaking, muddy trail. But these were all worth the trip since the underground river is a beautiful, beautiful place. It is 1 of the 5 world heritage sites in the Philippines as declared by the UNESCO, along with the Banaue Rice Terraces, Vigan, Tubataha Reef (at the southern tip of Palawan), and some Churches.

It was almost 12 NN when we got to Sabang. There's a port in Sabang from where we bought tickets and took the boat ride to reach the other side of the coast. We could have reached it by land but we would need to walk for 2.5 hours through the jungle going there and another 2.5 hours coming back. Besides I don't think any of us were really fit to walk that far.

We ate lunch first. The Pier is full of small cafeteria that serve local fare most of which are seafood. There are several souvenir shops that sell mostly shirts, and shorts, and other beach items. Somehow I think these guys are more tame than their counterparts in the other beaches in the country. They just greet you with a smile but ask you what item you are looking for. I hate it so much when vendors practically drag you into their store just like they would drag their goods in after a delivery.

It took us 30 minutes to get to the beach just a few hundred meters away from the entrance of the underground river. From, there we were met by the regular inhabitants of the area - the monkeys and the monitor lizards. The people who were running the place didn't seem to mind them and in fact tried to warn us to keep our things and not to bring food with us because the monkeys would steal those anyway.

There was another 5-minute walk to get to another port where a smaller, non-motorized boat was waiting for us. Our boatman, Chris, welcomed us and gave us a brief orientation on our do's and don'ts, what we would see and expect to learn from the trip. We were told that the boats used to have engines. but the fumes would discolor the rock formations so these were discontinued. The river is subterranean and for a while I thought our "banca" (filipino for a mall boat) wouldn't fit and our heads would hit the ceiling. But I was proven wrong. there was enough room for 2 bancas at the entrance and even 3 or four could fit inside. The trip took us about 1.5 hours to finish. The stalactites and stalagmites took on different shapes that resembled several "everyday" things that we see - mushroom, candle, lrt, dog, corn, a sexy lady. It was very dark in the river you wouldn't see a single thing when the rechargeable light is put out. It was also surprisingly cool.

What added to the pleasure of seeing the beauty of the underground river was the fact that our boatman was really a humorous guy. At one point I asked him whether the water in the river was salty. He answered promptly and said that it was not so salty. Just to satisfy my curiosity, and since I knew noone would be seeing me in the dark anyway, I tasted the water. Of course I reported about what I had learned about it. Just as though he didn't quite hear what I said, he announced that the bats used the cave as it "batroom" to relieve themselves when nature called! Yuck! But of course we all laughed at my experience.

When we were on our way back, we saw a macaque. and another macaque. and more macaques... that the whole troop was there! The boatmen who had gathered to leave the place with us pointed at a particular one and said that it was the leader and the bossy one of all. Not that we didn't like seeing them (macaques) but we didn't want to lose any of our stuff. So we left them alone as they did us.

We went back to our service vehicle and proceeded to Port Barton where we would be staying on our third and last day since the fourth day would be the trip back home. It was nighttime when we reached our destination. There was hardly any light on the path to the Greenviews Resort. But I had not seen so many stars in all my life as I had in Port Barton that night. Awesome!

A place called Avilon

Well who would have thought that in a sleepy area like San Isidro, Rodriguez a world class zoo can be found? I first heard of the soft opening of the Avilon Zoo in 2003 from my co-teacher. At that time, the zoo could only be visited when joining a group tour. The comment I got was that it was not yet complete and there were few animals. That had stuck to me and I had not attempted to go there until I had read a blog in another site.

We had other plans for that day. We had wanted to check out a place in Tagaytay to have a camp-out. Somehow we figured that there'd be a lot of people in Tagaytay because it was a Holy Saturday and agreed to go where the other people would probably not go to avoid the traffic and thought of the Avilon Zoo.

It took us only 40 minutes to get from my place to the zoo. It was 11 am when we got there and had lunch before we started to go around. As is my daughter's habit, we went to see the toilet first which we found to be very clean and even had an oil diffuser which made it smell of flowers. Impressive for a zoo. I have yet to see as clean a powder room in a zoo as this.

The food in the zoo is surprisingly cheap - it costs only 90 pesos for 1 cup of rice, 2 viands (1 meat dish and 1 vegetable dish) and a bottle of water or can of softdrink. Tea could be had for an additional 5 pesos. Aside from being cheap, it also tasted pretty well, I should say.

After lunch it was time to go. I had wanted to wait for the guided tour which was scheduled at 2 pm (since we didn't catch the 1st one at 9 am) but we thought that we would just go ahead on our own and catch up with them soon after. This proved to be a wise decision since we were there late and had to leave early too. The sun was high up and the heat was burning our skin so we opted to go to the shady area first. The funny thing with the Avilon Zoo is that despite its 3-year existence, they still have not produced at least a sketch of the places to see when you want to go on your own instead. although the first animals that we saw were some mallards, the area was not part of the "zoo proper" because these were not in cages and were sort of "sent out to fend for themselves", so to speak. In the vernacular, "sariling-kayod".

So, like I said, we went where it was shady, moist and a little damp so we would feel cool. and what creatures did we first meet? ones that thrived in these areas - the nasty, cranky crocs! Well, not exactly nasty. But of course for starters you'd want to see some creatures that are endearing and charming. Not their fault anyway. So, yup, we saw 'em crocs. Ikee had made up a game of spot the animal with us and was so surprised that I was fast at it. Nah, I'm just probably scared of them so I have to see them before they see me! hehehe

We saw several creatures. there were the capybarra, the raccoon, the puma, cockatoo, toucan, emu, ostrich, tapir, sheep (yes, with thick wool even! poor guys...), the arapaima, civets, leopard (or something that looks like it anyway), the lovable ape, some owls, a porcupine (would you believe!), etc. etc. et. the list goes on and on. There are several hundreds of bird species (which is why the place is named avilon in the first place) and a few hundred other animals. the one that we loved the most were the myna that we went to see those creatures 3 times. Andy why won't we enjoy when we were able to teach them to snore and to say bird flu! and with great success I tell you. The usual things that they said were, "kumain ka na ba" (have you eaten already?), hello, goodbye. they particularly liked to meow and whisper things that you couldn't even understand. copycats! hehehe

The place is unexpectedly larger than I had expected. But since there were several benches in shady areas to rest at and a snacking station right in the middle of the zoo, it wasn't so difficult to go around. The toilet here is even better than the one we had seen at the entrance! A nice treat for the visitors is how the owners of the place have arranged to have some interaction between animals and humans. For a 50-peso fee, pictures could be taken with them. There was also a part where you get to feed the arapaimas which are large carnivorous fish from Africa. We were told that the ones that were there we still young. and already they were the size of my leg!

We got really tired after 4.5 hours of walking so we decided to go home. Although we only got to join the tour for a very short while, we saw practically the whole place. And yet, Avilon is such a wonderful place that we have all intentions of going back. Sooner than later I hope.