Manila, Day 2, Monday 12 July 2010

Yesterday was crazy beyond almost all belief. We all woke up at or before 6am, dressed, got breakfast (rice, fried egg, smoked fish, fruit), and packed the car. The car was a giant van ( 10 seats), and the AC was really cold, so we all brought blankets and sweatshirts, which were needed.

I tried to sleep in the car, but this didn't quite work out as planned. The ride was about two hours and half long, so there was plenty of time, but with no head rests in the back seat, I ended up sleeping on the floor. I know that's not very safe, but there weren't any seatbelts for that bench anyway. You may ask why I slept on the floor instead of the seat, but Gavin sort of fell asleep on it before we could find a solution. He sleep very hard and I can't move him, so I just took the entire blanket and stretched out on the floor of the van. It worked out, but I felt more tired than before the nap.

We were on our way to Sebic, with the goals of feeding tigers and swimming with dolphins. The tigers we found at a zoo, animal rescue type of place. After parking and buying tickets, we followed our guide, Jaywel, into the zoo portion. It was pretty cool because I'd never seen these birds, rodents or deer before, but Jaywel must have been going for the record of the world's fastest tour. He barely gave me seconds to take pictures and we didn't get to see more than half the animals there. But they do have a lot of cool birds, from what I could see. We also got to feed banana pieces to bearcats. Those things are greedy!

Then we watched the animal show. It was the worst one I've ever seen. You know how I experienced the worst parade in France? This was the worst animal show. The first act was a potbelly pig...she could fetch things, sit, and "paint." However, she wasn't really trained, so half the time when her trainer gave her a command, she didn't do it. Then there was a dog, who looked a little dehydrated. He lept in between the bamboo sticks, while the trainer moved them for the native dancing. He was pretty good. But that was his only trick. Then the birds came...most of them had only one trick per and it was like, "Wow, that bird can bob its head." And then the ones that flew in never flew to the trainer's arm. They always landed on one of the rafters and then flew down after some coaxing. This show lasted a very long 50 minutes.

After the show, we drove down the road (the complex had multiple sites) and persuaded Jaywel to let us just go to the tigers. That's all we'd really come for anyway. He finally agreed and took us to the place. There we bought five whole raw chickens. Then we climbed, in twos, into a jeep type vehicle, that resembles the one in the first Jurassic Park movie. Instead of windows and doors, there was heavy grid wire. Then the driver drove into the tiger compound. The tigers were awake and knew we had food for them. So, they came right up to the jeep and then our guide held a chicken up to the wire and the tiger gnawed and pulled the carcass through.

Then the guide threw a chicken up on the roof of the jeep and the tiger followed. So, for the next ten minutes, we drove around the compound with a tiger eating a chicken on the roof of the jeep. We could sort of see him, since there was the wire and some thick, cloudy glass on the roof. The guide fed the other chickens, slowly, to the tigers, who came up and leaned against the jeep. And of course one more chicken went on the roof. Gavin took a video with my camera, so it'll make more sense when you see it. I'll make him put it on YouTube soon.

After the tigers, we drove about a half hour down to Sebic Bay. Here was basically a small sea world, but with only dolphins. They did rescue some, but most were for shows and close encounters. We watched the show, which was a pretty typical dolphin show, comparable to the ones at Gulf World and Shed Aquarium. Though, they did have four different kinds of dolphins: bottlenose, spotted, rough tooth, and false killer whale. The false killer whale probably has a better name, but that's what they called it. He's not very pretty, but quite big and black. The show was also cool, because instead of a tank, it was in the ocean. And I'm not sure if in the distance there were other islands, or if it was just further coastline, but it was awesome.

Lunch followed the show. I wasn't too hungry and didn't want something heavy in me before swimming. So I ate a plate of fruit, which was OK. Gavin had a dessert/snack thing called "Halo Halo" (pronounced as if there were two L's), which was jellied fruit, ice, and with a scoop of ice cream on top. I tried it and it reminded me of a creamsicle taste, but I was glad I didn't order an entire one. Mike, Noel's brother, has been sick, so after lunch he went and slept in the van till we were done.

So...we changed into our swimsuits. Then got a briefing by one of the staff members. It was a lot of "don'ts" like "don't touch their eyes or blow holes" etc. Then we walked into the water, which was really warm and mild. Some salt water is really salty, like in the gulf, but this water was mild. When it hit me in the eyes, it didn't hurt like hell, just annoyed me like tap water. That was magical. There were two trainers in the water, and they called the dolphins.

The dolphins rolled over on their backs, and one person grabbed a hold of their fins and then we swam away to the dock.

Author's note: If anyone reads this now, I have to go get ready for dinner, so I'll complete the day later. Sorry for any cliffhanger.