The Chronicles of the Tay Family: (Mar hols 18) Manila

We went to Manila to visit Aunt Choon Chi and her family. People were worried about the safety of the place and wondered if there were any family attractions worth seeing over there. Turned out that the CBD area of Manila was very cosmopolitan and secure. We had a wondrous time. The attractions were fun and the fees were affordable. We would certainly go back again.

Dreamplay indoor theme park.

Characters from the movie 'Madagascar'!

At this game station, we got to colour the sails and race the boats. The kids enjoyed it so much that we did it for several rounds. There were cranks and buttons to tinkle with to create wave storms so it was rather hilarious.

Ah, King Julian from 'Madagascar'!

Jie wanted to go up this scaling station and managed to go up a few pillars. It was harrowing just watching her do it. Some adults attempted it and the pillars were shaking considerably when they reached the taller ones. However, we saw a young boy reach the peak effortlessly!

Ah ha, at the gingerbread baking class. First, we flattened the dough and used the mold to make the gingerbread man shapes. Then, they were sent into the over. Heh, but the staff gave us pre-baked ones, unbeknown to jie jie, who commented that the gingerbread cookies all turned out fine though she was unable to make perfect shapes with the molds. hahaha.

even jun had a blast

We got to decorate the cookies with icing and the kids said they tasted scrumptious!

Oh Princess Fiona from "Shrek"!

It was not a big theme park, but we spent a good few hours in it. We went to watch a few 3D shows and had a leisurely time.

Supermarket!

Ha, we went to the supermarket every day. Aunt Choon Chi mentioned about this unique fairy bubble gum so we were there to look for it every day but could not find it. Tong was bugging us daily to look for it in other convenience stores. Well...Aunt CC promised that she would bring some back to Singapore in June!

Kidzania

The fees were sooooo affordable compared to what we had to pay in Singapore. It was rather empty, hurray!

Worked at the drugstore...

Car design workshop

Ha, beauty salon

Tong painted jie's nails with a garish red. hahaha...

Jun would have to wait a few more years before he could join the big ones..

Learning to be caretakers at the pet shop

They learnt some nifty facts about taking care of animals too.

Ha, as delivery staff

As the chambermaid and room boy

Jie saw the sign when we drove past a Holiday Inn Hotel later on and exclaimed that she did not know it was a real hotel. ha.

ooooo they made cheesburgers - perfect for lunch.

Over here, the kids got paid for every job, unlike in Singapore whereby they had to pay for certain popular occupations, like making of ice cream.

Yay free biscuits

Free chips

Could not recall what these two occupations were about

Xun mentioned she learnt the term "employment benefit" from here. She said it meant she got to take bottles of cola home for free for being an employee at the company. Cool eh, the things they taught the kids.

Yay ice cream.

Wondered what they were trying to do here...

This was really special, the kids got to touch some marine creatures.

They went into this awesome laboratory...

ha, papa and jun having a ball of a time...serving time in the prison

We rushed to the Mind Museum after we left Kidzania. If only Kidzania opened to a later hour, the kids only managed to try 10 jobs? There were some 40 more jobs to try.

Woah, what a ginormous whale...

Jun looked so dramatic..haha

A funny and intriguing exhibit, there would be lots of static electricity which caused one's hair to stand up when one put their hands on the ball.

Hello moonwalkers..

Jun liked this little station, he tried to fit the shapes into the holes. Recently, he had delighted in rummaging through the cars + planes toy bag at home. One day, he found all the planes and lined them up on the sofa. Another day, he found all the fire engines and lined them up too. Today, he found all the Mcqueen cars and the other cars that appeared in the movie and lined them up on different cushions. He really relished playing on his own and I wondered if he was constructing some cute story in his little mind.

Visited the casino where Uncle Vincent worked. It was so breath-takingly beautiful. and oh SO PINK, or Plum to be more accurate. haha

Such vibrant and stupendous colours and decorations...

Watched an impressive water fountain show...heh...had yoghurt and headed back to our cozy air bnb apt. It was a really good deal, costing only $100 ish per night, and its location was smack in the CBD area. We found out that we could stay at the casino hotel for a really good price too. So, we would definitely do that in future.

Ah, morning swim at the apartment's pool. Resembled our MBS hotel's infinity pool.

Shopping in one of the mega malls, jie saw these cute tiny ice cream. Tong was asleep and did not eat any. He chanced upon this photo several months later and was indignant that he did not get any. ha.