“Art throughout history has always inspired change by always going beyond the frame,” said Dondie Bueno, 2nd Media spokesperson. “And with the OAAP, we aim for the Manila Outdoor Gallery Art Route to be a catalyst for change in the metro by pushing the boundaries of what billboards can be.” He added.

Located in key locations across the metro, Manila Outdoor Gallery Route is dubbed as the biggest outdoor gallery in Asia. It features artworks from 10 of the most promising Filipino artists such as Popo San Pascual, Riel Hilario, Eddie Boy Escudero, Jose Terence Ruiz, Mario V. Fernandez, gari Buenavista, MM Yu, Christina Quisumbing Ramilo, Lotsu Mones, and Tina Fernandez of ArtInformal who also curated the said exhibit.

Through the Manila Outdoor Gallery Route, 2nd Media and OAAP aims to raise awareness that billboards are in fact effect channels for communication and are not just tools for advertising. “We want these painting and photographs on billboards to enrich and entertain people. We want them to engage in discussions about the artwork they saw at North Luzon Expressway or how they liked the one in Cubao better.” Bueno continued.

Here’s the glimpse of the biggest outdoor gallery in Asia:

Instead of having our Laguna Trip today, Black Saturday, my Mom decided to push through with our trip yesterday, Good Friday. It is our pseudo-Visita Iglesia where we visited seven (7) churches in Laguna although we didn’t have the chance to adore the Blessed Sacrament since it’s Good Friday. We chose Laguna to be our destination for it is home to old churches (since Spanish Era), which we would like to see.

The trip started at around 11:00am although it’s a bit late we managed to visit seven (7) churches and two (2) other locations.

We visited the following places (in order):

1. St. John the Baptist Church (Calamba, Laguna)
2. Rizal Shrine (Calamba, Laguna)
3. University of the Philippines – Open University (Los Baños, Laguna)
4. Diocesan Shrine of San Antonio de Padua (Pila, Laguna)
5. Immaculate Conception Parish (Sta. Cruz, Laguna)
6. Church of Bartholomew (Nagcarlan, Laguna)
7. St. John the Baptist Parish (Liliw, Laguna)
8. St. Gregory the Great Parish (Majayjay, Laguna)
9. Parokya ng Santa Maria Magdalena (Magdalena, Laguna)

The ones in bold face are the churches we visited. Please click “more” to read about our experience with photos.

St. John the Baptist Church (Calamba, Laguna)

This is the church where Father Rufino Collantes baptized Jose Rizal in June 22, 1861. The exact baptistery where he was baptized is still present. Rizal’s baptismal record is also posted on the entrance of the baptistery. The baptistery is closed when we visited. The church was quite huge as compared to the churches here in Metro Manila.

Rizal Shrine (Calamba, Laguna)

The Rizal Shrine is also known as the house of our national hero, Jose Rizal. The shrine was closed although we were able to see the exterior of the house. The house is located just a stone throw away from the St. John the Baptist Church.

University of the Philippines – Open University (Los Baños, Laguna)

We dropped by the University of the Philippines – Open University and had my picture taken with the UPOU Oblation and the signage. Thanks to the guard on duty for he allowed us inside to execute our pictorial. I am hoping to study there this coming school year.

Diocesan Shrine of San Antonio de Padua (Pila, Laguna)

The church was erected in 1578 just a few years when Ferdinand Magellan discovered the Philippines (1521 if I’m not mistaken). The interior is full of gold embellishments especially the altar. The bell tower has a different color as compared with the main church. As with the other century old churches within the country, the façade is the only one preserved and the interiors are reconstructed. We weren’t able to see the St. Anthony de Padua relics.

Immaculate Conception Parish (Sta. Cruz, Laguna)

Franciscan priest Padre Antonio de la Llave supervised the construction of a big church made of heavy adobe. Franciscan missionaries dedicated the church to the Blessed Virgin of the Immaculate Conception. Construction continued in 1672, expanding the church and giving it the shape of the cross. Padre Miguel Persiva managed the construction. Santa Cruz’s first parish priest was Padre Gabriel de Castro. Although the interiors are very much contemporary, the façade was preserved.

Church of Bartholomew (Nagcarlan, Laguna)

This church became famous for it is where the Filipino TV Series, Kampanerang Kuba was shot starring Anne Curtis. I would really want to check out the bell tower but it was closed. The church was built in 1845. The church was made out of red bricks, which gave the church a unique color. The interiors were quite preserved although several renovations have been made.

St. John the Baptist Parish (Liliw, Laguna)

The church got an orange color because of the bricks used on its construction. The church is also huge and the interior is great although it is a bit dark inside. There were a lot of people inside for they’re preparing for the procession of the Santo Entiero. The church’s compound is huge and statues of saints are erected on the church’s fences.

St. Gregory the Great Parish (Majayjay, Laguna)

This is one of my favorites among the churches we’ve been to. It is very much huge and the buttresses are gigantic. When we arrived there, a lot of people are inside for the procession is about to start. We waited for the people to evacuate the place before we took a look inside. The interior is great as well as the façade. We were able to go to the choir loft and saw the church’s interior in bird’s eye view.

Parokya ng Santa Maria Magdalena (Magdalena, Laguna)

This was the last church that we’ve been too and was able to spend a longer time. The church was a bit dark inside but the façade is superb. In fact, I took a lot of pictures of the façade. The church got a very big compound where an amphitheater is also found.

If you are planning to visit the churches that I’ve mentioned here, you don’t have to worry with the parking as to most of the churches got a very compound and has a lot of parking spaces to offer. Unfortunately, some of the pictures we’ve taken were corrupted because our digital camera has gone bonkers. In fact, I have to use a data rescue program to recover the files. Thank God for I was able to recover them. This trip is the best! For more pictures, please visit my multiply.

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Yesterday, March 14, 2008, the fourth year students of Notre Dame of Greater Manila had their Career Field Trip. They toured different factories like Gardenia and Lucky Me. They also visited FEU-East Asia College to see their facilities. Okay, I’ll stop using the third person now.

For the first time in my stay in Notre Dame, I encountered a real tour guide. Our tour guide whom we call “Kuya Nems” was very much knowledgeable not only of the places we visited but also the places we pass by. He got a lot of trivia to tell and jokes to crack.

The field trip was kind of boring but our tour guide, “Kuya Nems” saved it because of the many interesting trivia he’s sharing. But still, it’s interesting to see how things are made. I wonder how Los Angeles eyelid lift are made? It could be better if we visited more places. Pictures from the field trip will follow for I left my phone and camera at home.

The Manila Ocean Park is the Philippines’ first world-class oceanarium owned by China Oceanis Philippines Inc., a subsidiary of China Oceanis Inc., a Singaporean-registered firm that has operated four oceanariums in China. The Manila Ocean Park (MOP) is currently under construction behind the historical Quirino Grandstand at the Rizal Park. On February 29, 2008, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (with Philippine Tourism Authority general manager Robert Dean Barbers) graced the soft opening of Manila Ocean Park (from Wikipedia.org).

BEFORE GOING TO THE PARK
Be sure to know the rules and regulations of the park. Apparently, they are implementing dress codes among its visitors. So, know the rules and regulations beforehand. Please check the website of the Manila Ocean Park for this.

Flash photography is NOT ALLOWED. For God’s sake, if you would bring a camera with you, please turn off that BLINDING FLASH for these living organisms would be extremely hurt by those flashes.

THE PARK’S VICINITY, PARKING & FLOORING
Manila Ocean Park said to be bigger than Sentosa’s Underwater World in Singapore, had its soft opening, March 1, 2008. I was there with my mom during the first few hours of the park’s soft opening. Since the park is not yet that commercialized (although Coca Cola’s logo is plastered all over the place), parking is still free. Be sure to park inside the premises of the Manila Ocean Park. If you park beside the Quirino Grandstand, be ready to encounter some men in sando who will extort money (aka “parking fee”) from you although they don’t have receipts, identification whatsoever.

Upon arriving at the vicinity of the park, you’ll be greeted by the unfinished stairs leading to the main park. I suggest that you wear rubber shoes when going to the park for the park’s flooring isn’t that flat (there are missing tiles, rough flooring, etc) and you’ll also do a lot of walking. The park’s flooring is horrible (trust me). Plus, don’t forget to watch your step! When going through the different sections of the park the floor level changes.

THE ENTRANCE FEE
The park is too crowded despite the pricey entrance fee of P400 for adults while P350 for kids below 4 ½ feet. Sadly, there are no special discounts for students (except when doing a group tour).

Since it’s the soft opening, booths of the different sponsors gave away free items like juice drink, newspapers, instant noodles and others to ticket holders. To be able to get inside the Oceanarium, the main attraction of the Manila Ocean Park, we lined up for a couple of minutes. Thank God, we did not get bored because a certain magician is performing right beside the ticket booth. The magician performed the not so cliché magic tricks.

THE OCEANARIUM
Before entering the Oceanarium, you’ll pass through a metal detector. The first section of the Oceanarium is called Agos. This section features freshwater fishes in a rainforest motif. Upon reaching the first section, you’ll be greeted by the foul smell coming from the open tanks and/or ponds. Prepare your ears for some noise pollution for an audio is being playback (about the section you’re in) on the park’s audio system while the tour guides are talking at the same time. The Oceanarium lacks information about the different species in each tank. Some tanks doesn’t even have a description about its inhabitants. You can’t rely on the tour guides for they’re always missing. Tour guides (who are quite mataray) don’t follow you through the tour instead they just stay on their designated places. In fact the only thing I heard from these tour guides are the following lines:

• “Strictly No Flash Photography”
• “No touching / tapping of the aquariums”
• Welcome to _____________ (insert name of the section)”

Don’t expect too much from the Oceanarium for it’s full of aquariums with cloudy water. Yes, the water in the tanks isn’t that crystal clear so you need to have good eyesight to appreciate the tanks. And please be considerate to the other park goers. If you’re taking a picture of a certain fish / tank, don’t place your camera / camera phones 1cm away from the tank for you are obstructing the other park goers’ view. And also, don’t stay on a specific tank for hours.

Don’t be surprised to see dead fish floating around the tanks this is normal. Most saltwater fishes easily die if the water condition is not that stable. I used to own a marine tank before so I know this. Exposed water filters are normal for bigger tanks, and they spoil the view a lot.

It is saddening how Manila Ocean Park placed artificially colored corals and ornaments just to make the tanks look good aesthetically without knowing that this could harm the fishes. You can easily spot artificial corals and you can see that they used epoxy clay to glue the artificial corals on rocks.

I don’t know if I missed a section of the park but I didn’t see any jellyfish in their tanks.

There are a lot of open tanks found within the Oceanarium. I just hope that people won’t place their hands in the tank, spit into the tank, throw foreign bodies to the thank and others.

There is a part where people could touch the starfishes. I just can’t imagine how much stress would these little starfishes need to bare if they would be touched more or less 100 times / day.

THE TUNNEL
The main attraction of the Oceanarium is the 25-meter walkway tunnel with a 220-degree curved acrylic wall like the one seen in Ocean Park Hongkong and other ocean parks in Asia. The cloudy and whitish water spoils the view from the tunnel very much. I cannot imagine that 25 meters is really short (I was disappointed).

THE 2nd FLOOR
The second floor is where you could buy feeds for the stingrays and have a fish spa. It also houses the souvenir shop, which sells MOP (Manila Ocean Park) T-shirts and others. Take note that when you go up the 2nd floor, you can’t enter the main Oceanarium anymore.

RECOMMENDATION/S
I highly recommend that people should not visit the Ocean Park this soon as the park is not yet that developed (maybe wait for a couple of months before visiting to allow the park to develop first). A lot of constructions are still on going within the park. You don’t want to get disappointed right?

To the Manila Ocean Park Administration, please schedule the cleaning of the tanks when there are only a few people inside. People doesn’t want to see someone cleaning the tanks while they’re trying to appreciate the beauty of the tanks. Please do make the information handy to the visitors by putting more “information board (whatever you call it)” around the park. The park has still a lot of flaws and lacks a lot of things. I do hope that these flaws would be rectified very soon.

Read some San Diego news first before heading to the Manila Ocean Park.

My rating as of March 1, 2008: 3 stars out of 5

If you are interested to book for a Hawaiian cruise vacation, you could check out TravelStore USA for they have a cruise booking engine.

If ever this would push through, it would be fun exploring the beaches and skyscrapers around Sydney, checking out the famous opera house, spotting kangaroos and others. Finding Cheap Hotels in Sydney wouldn’t be hard anymore for there are city guides out there that recommends cheap hotels with good customer service. There are a lot of online resources about Sydney specifically written for those who are interested to visit and explore Sydney.

For those who are visiting Sydney in a few days better hurry so that you’ll have a chance to check out the Sydney Festival 2008. Experience free musical events from January 6-26, 2008.

It would be important for everyone visiting Sydney to check out the weather so that you could check if you could adapt well with Sydney’s weather during your visit. It would be nice to know if you’d need umbrellas, jackets and other rain gears, right?

Visiting Sydney would really be a fulfilling experience.