The San Diego Shipwreck

October 16th marked the Philippine National Museum Week and I just had to be there! I have been to the Philippine National Museum many times before but this day was indeed more special. 

That day the National Heritage Museum unveiled the artifacts of the sunken galleon San Diego. The San Diego galleon's remains were recovered from Fortune Island, Batangas in 1991 by a team of Filipino and French archaeologists. 

Top: A diorama of the wreck site in Batangas
Bottom: A San Diego miniature

The wrecksite of the once glorious Spanish galleon, carried about 30,000 items, including valuable artifacts such as 3,000 pieces of Ming Dynasty china, pottery and samurai swords.

What the Admiral's table would have looked like.
Adorned with nothing but the finest china during those days.

Nearly 400 years after it was sunk by a Dutch warship, the San Diego has become a huge treasure chest and I was one of the lucky few to see it first.

These pots contained treasures and supplies.

When I read through the history of the shipwreck, I felt sad for the ship and its crew's fate. Some 100 human remains were recovered from the site, including remains of equine and cattle.

Top: The remains of the ship's body, quite a number of bronze canons of different sizes.
Bottom: One of the ship's anchors weighing more than a ton.

The ship was sunk by a Dutch warship in December 1600, when the ship's amateur captain decided to fight back. The ship was coursing the Manila-Acapulco Trade route when it was intercepted by the Dutch, who was then a close competitor of the Spaniards in the business of colonizing South East Asian countries.

Top: A helmet which surely belonged to someone's head, that someone
being one of the 100 human remains found in the site.
Bottom: Being the strong Catholics that they were, they took an image of the
Virgin Mary and the child Jesus wherever the ship went

As spectacular as it looks today, I am certain it was as frightful to watch when the ship met it's fate. But as horrifying as the ship's journey ended, I am somehow relieved that it was preserved well enough for our generation to see.

Avilon Zoo

Last weekend I decided to see the zoo again. The last time I went to the zoo was about the same time last year so I thought they might have something new. But even if there wasn't anything new, I still would have wanted to see the same animals, especially the big cats.


Another reason is for some unfinished business with the White Tiger.

These Arapaimas are always the first ones to greet you at Avilon.
These semi-endangered specie of freshwater fish is the largest in the world.
Each one of these babies measure about two meters in length. 

There are two zoos within Metro Manila --Manila Zoo and Malabon Zoo. These zoos are notoriously known for leaving their animals in such poor conditions. When I checked the internet and saw a frail and rather emaciated tiger in Malabon Zoo and a lonely elephant in Manila zoo (the elephant's name is Mali, observed to show signs of depression and psychological stress being the only elephant in the zoo since the 1980's <http://zoonewsdigest.blogspot.com/2010/01/manila-zoos-elephant.html>), I didn't even want to look. I love animals too much that I knew going there would only make me feel depressed. 


That's why I choose to go to Avilon Zoo, located outside Metro Manila. It's in Rodriguez in the Rizal Province, about a couple of hours drive from where I live. The road is unimaginable but the trip is always worth it.

A male Urangutan captured with a rare grin on his face.

It being isolated from the city, the animals are still kept in a pollution-free environment. They are kept in cages with a lot of room to run in. And they also look well-fed and healthy.


The first time I was there, it was in the summer of last year and the animals were out in the open to cool down. And so I saw most of the animals. During my first trip, I found the lion most amazing, but they had cut his hair really short, since he had pediculosis (a sweet term for lice infestation! LOL). I wanted so much to see the white tiger but this big cat is very shy and so I left Avilon Zoo without seeing it, but I thought, "I saw a lion, a jaguar, a leopard and the smaller "big" cats like the black panther, bobcat, clouded leopard and lynx, so that would do for now".

An unknown red arachnid (top) and a tamed albino
Burmese python (bottom) you can put on your shoulder.

Six months later I went over there with my mum and my brother and I was able to see a cougar family. A mummy cougar with three cute and healthy cubs. I was also able to carry a boa constrictor on my shoulder. And I also put a huge Hawk Owl and an even bigger Philippine Eagle on my right arm, but no White Tiger. But with everything I did in the zoo that day, I thought, "That would do for now."

There were about a hundred of these marine iguanas in the zoo.
If they were so much bigger, there'd be a Godzilla invasion.

The sun shone early in the morning but just as we stepped out of the house, it started to rain. There was no sign of the sun at all but we drove on. Two hours later and three rivers later, the road was impassable. The river had overflown onto the road. Good thing there was a bridge not far from where we were, that lead us to the same direction. And so we crossed the last river, which was just the beginning of the challenge. And now the rough and muddy terrain. Thank  God four-wheel drives were invented and we arrived at the zoo safe. Lucky enough for me, I wasn't driving!

A Jaguar. The third largest cat in the world and the best looking too.

We got off and were happy to know none of the fees have changed. The rain had stopped but the sun was nowhere in sight. And so we started touring the site. Most of the animals hid in their cage caves because of the cold temperature so only a few animals were in the open.

The King of the jungle, relaxing in his den.

I saw the exact same animals though. The lion had grown some hair around his neck, just as I wanted him to look like. The only thing that disappointed me, (just a little bit) was, due to the weather, his fur had gone a little darker. He used to look like Simba to me, now he looks a little like Scar (remember Lion King?!? C'mon!). I shook hands with Trixie again, the little Urangutan who sat in the same spot to greet visitors. I saw the same jaguar, same cute little fennec foxes and the same boring little birds.

The cougar cubs have grown so large and handsome!

I put the White Tiger's cage last on my itinerary. I went on to see some more reptiles and arachnids I wasn't able to see, or didn't pay much attention to, in my previous trips. I put a yellow Burmese python around my shoulder and patted a cute ram at the animal nursery.


And then I was left with nowhere else to go but the White Tiger's cage. From a distance, I could already see its cage. I felt excited to see people hovering around it. And so I had to see what the commotion was about. Lo and behold the White Tiger! It was a massive male white tiger, prancing around, as if showing off his beautiful white fur to his audience.

The White Tiger wasn't so shy after all.
He walked around and stared at his audience with his very light gray eyes.

The male white tiger we saw was indeed the largest cat in the zoo. He was significantly larger than the Bengal tiger (the orange one) or the lion. That did it for me! Despite the weather, I can say it was my best trip to the zoo ever!




Notes: Equipment: Nikon D90 & Nikon D5100 w/ 18-55mm VR lens and 55-200 mm VR lens respectively. The pictures don't look at all dark and gloomy despite the weather, thanks to Nikon D5100's low noise at high ISO feature! Just top notch! I love Nikon in general but D5100 does it best in low lighting.

My Vitamin C

The weather was quite harsh today.


I got a day off from work today but I had to make a few errands. And one of these errands was processing my passport at DFA. But it didn't turn out as bad as I expected. I was able to complete everything that had to be done within an hour and a half.


And so for the rest of the day, I was curled in my bed sipping my daily dose of warm Vitamin C while watching TV.

My Vitamin C isn't Ascorbic acid FYI, but caffeine. But don't get me wrong, I do get my required Ascorbic Acid intake but I get more of the other Vitamin C in a day.


Caffeine addiction runs in the blood. My dad, on average, consumes three cups of coffee everyday. He used to consume more when he was younger. 

As for myself, I can consume, on average, two cups a day.


It used to be more than two cups back in college, when I had to stay long hours studying. It was as bad as seven... I know! It sounds ridiculous. Only when I started palpitating would I stop drinking coffee. But it gradually decreased. When I started working and my job demanded that I stay up at night, I'd consume about five cups.

But those were the days when I looked at coffee, only, as an upper. 

Now, my day is never complete without it. 

Food Photography

I love food...oh wait... no.... I worship it! 


I like looking at it, smelling it, tasting it and chewing it. 

Taken from the album, "Random Eats".

I cook too if I have the time. With my tight schedule, I find solace in restaurants or worse --fast food. But there's one thing I definitely have  time for --photography!

Taken from the album "Healthy Eats".

Whenever I visit a new restaurant and the food looks good, I make sure I take a picture before digging in. 


I used to love taking pictures of my friends when we'd hang out at restaurants and I realized that there was more to these gatherings than "cam-whoring" friends. There was food. And I mean food with better appeal! ;)

Taken from my album "Cook/bake at Bak's Kitchen".

Since then I've been hooked and now my friends are complaining why my Facebook has nothing but food pictures in it. What's worse is that they were with me at the restaurant where the food was taken and they weren't in any of the pictures. 

Taken from the album "Barcino".

Ok. I admit I have fixation issues because when I enjoy something, I keep on doing it until I'm completely fed up. And food... I don't think I'll ever be fed up with it unless I want to starve myself to death, which by the way will never happen! 

Whether it's my daily caffeine dose or my occasional fine dining,
photography is  an essential. As the pictures above show. Taken from
the album "Life On The Go".

So that means you'll be seeing my food posts for a while...maybe even forever. I mean... don't you appreciate good looking food? C'mon!

The Rainy Days

June to July saw the most rainfall this year but it didn't stop me from taking photos. Lighting was a bit of a problem but the gloomy weather gave a different effect on the photos. I am not schooled in photography so I don't really know how it's called. And of course with the help of good old Photoshop, the photos looked better(I guess!).

On the road on a rainy afternoon. Taken from the album "Rain".

The Philippines is generally humid but this year, the country is experiencing the La Nina phenomenon so the rainy season will be longer than the dry season. And that means I'll have to put up with the weather for a bit longer. Even the bad weather can't stop my shutter-happy fingers from taking photos.

Rainy day at the garden. Taken from the album "Rain".

The weather bureau forecasted more rainfall until the end of the year, so I'm going to miss the sun a little bit until next year. 

Raindrops taken from the album "Water". 
I forgot to reduce the noise on the first photo.

If La Nina means a rainy year, the following year would be the opposite and it's called El Nino. I'm not really a big fan of the latter, knowing that the summer heat would go as high up as 38 degrees Celsius. It's just so uncomfortable. I'm fine with La Nina minus the flooding.

Umbrella from the rain. Taken from the album "Rainy Day Randoms".

I'll use the rainy season to master rainy day photography (however better you may call it!). 

Fancy umbrellas at a store. Taken from the album "Rainy Day Randoms".

Hopefully by the end of this month, I already get a Nikon 5100 that has better ISO than my current camera. And that means better light sensitivity and the poor lighting would be more  tolerable.  


Feel free to comment. If you have questions on how I achieved the composition of the pictures, I can definitely share.