We had a good night’s rest and we woke up late the next day. It was already 8:30 am when we finally had breakfast. The room rate we got in Grand Season Hotel and Casino included free breakfast for two persons and since we already got a discount for the free extra bed for our daughter, we paid for her breakfast which was a filipino buffet consisting of fried rice, fried egg, tocino, fried bangus, corned beef, fruit juice, coffee and fruits for P255.00.
After breakfast, we drove to Zoobic Safari (about 15 kilometers from the Hotel) which is just a few kilometers away from where the Ocean Adventure is located. We arrived there at 10:30 am. A huge with a mark saying “Forest Adventure Park” serves as the main entrance of the 25-hectare Safari. The entrance fee was P449.00 per person. I thought I could have another movie pass freebie but the total amount for the three of us is below P1,500.00!
The staff of Zoobic Safari are all well-trained, courteous and effective in their work. Starting from the parking attendant who assisted me in parking my car and who directed me where the ticket booths were located, then with ticket teller and the rest of the staff, all made our safari trip enjoyable and memorable.
After paying the tickets, we were led by another staff to the queuing of our names for the grouping for the tour. We were included under group number 5 of about 30 persons. Another staff asked us to have a photo session for a souvenir picture. Whew! That was the first additional payment that we paid for. Another booth for a photo session with a tamed tiger had a long line of eager tourists waiting for their turn. We did not join the line as the photo session will cost another 250.00 pesos!
We were called to join our group for a short briefing about the phases of the tour and some do’s and don’ts to be followed during the tour. The first phase was a walk through along cages, pens and corrals of different animals, birds and reptile including the palawan bear cats, donkeys, camels, peacocks, monkeys, snakes, etc… There were stations where one would have the chance to feed the birds, give milk young goats from a bottle but for a fee!
The second phase was the train ride that would pass areas where there are caged tigers! Here, we have to pay P50.00 per person for the ride which would end at the waiting area for the third phase which is called the close encounter ride. This time, the vehicles were covered with fine iron grills and the tourists will have to buy chicken meat to be fed to the tigers! The tigers who are freely roaming around would get close the vehicles as they would grab the chicken meat from a slot! During the close encounter ride, another zoobic staff who is a photographer took souvenir photos for 250.00 pesos! During our turn, since it was already about 1:00 pm, the tigers were already overfed and have lost appetite to eat our chicken meat!
The fourth phase was the walk through along the cages of tigers. There were two tigers (male and female for every cage and there were about 20 cages in a row! The fifth phase was a drive along the Havanah where wild pigs, ostrichs and horses are roaming freely in a range. The sixth phase was a walk through the animal museum where bones of animals are displayed. The seventh phase was a show of aeta dancers where native indigenous aeta tribesmen danced their native dances. The eight and final phase is the walk over the croco loco which is passing steel bridges with hundreds of adult crocodiles below.
The real nature of filipinos of having no discipline in falling in line to wait for their turn is very very well manifested specially at the queue for the train ride! Lot of the local tourists overtook each other to be ahead in the train ride.
The entire zoobic safari tour lasted for 2 hours and 30 minutes. We finally got out from it at about 2:30 pm. We drove to a restaurant along the way named Darwin’s Italian Restaurant which served yummy italian food!
While we were enjoying our pizza, my daughter tried to convince us that we should also try the Tree Top Adventure which includes being tied in a harness and hanged in a cable for a high speed ride from one tree to another. I hesitated citing that me and my wife are not young anymore for such sport! The three of us agreed that indeed my fraternity brother and presidential aspirant Richard Gordon turned the former Subic Naval Base into what it is now – the Subic FreePort Zone, a world-class tourist destination. I personally believe, if elected, he would be able to lead our country to an economic turn around.
The rest of the afternoon, we went to the duty-free stores. My wife and my daughter enjoyed shopping items which are priced in dollars! We had dinner in a japanese restaurant at the waterfront area. When we drove around the waterfront, I saw many hotels that were mentioned to be fully-booked in the internet when I tried to search for possible on-line booking.
On the third day, we woke up at 4:30 am, had an early check-out and we drove to San Antonio, Zambales. It was only 50 minutes drive and we reached Pundakit beach area at 7:00 am. We got a native bahay kubo cottage for only P500.00 at the Megan’s Paradisio Beach Resort. We went swimming till 9:00 am when the sun was already very hot.
We were heading for home at 10:00 am. We again took the SCTEX and NLEX. We had a stop over in San Fernando City in Pampanga for lunch at the Fisherman’s Grill. Summer of 2010 could easily pass as one of the hottest, but here is a hope that it will also usher in a new president for the country in the person of Richard Gordon!
