Christmas in the City 2014: the Christmas spectacle at Ayala Triangle

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If you live in the urban landscape of Metropolitan Manila, especially if you frequent the Makati Central Business District area, you know that the Christmas season is in the air when you see the Ayala Triangle Park dressed up in those shining, dancing, multi-colored lights that have become a yearly Yuletide attraction.

The tradition lives on this year as the  Ayala Triangle Christmas lights and sound show formally opened last November 12 to delight spectators anew and remind everyone that Christmas is upon us once more and it is time to get excited/stressed yet again.

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At Zoocobia

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As the Urban Roamer is about chronicling the sights, sounds, and stories from the urban jungle and beyond, beginning with this entry, a new feature on the site will deal with those adventures outside the Metropolitan Manila area called “Beyond Manila.” Enjoy!

The trip was long and the road was getting rougher as we approached our destination…we here being myself and 8 others who were invited to this tour. But it was a trip made worth it by the experience visiting one of the rising attractions up north in the Clark area in Pampanga, the Zoocobia Fun Zoo.

Operated by the Zoomanity Group, the same group behind the popular attractions Zoobic Safari in the Subic Bay area and Paradizoo inn in Mendez, Cavite, Zoocobia aims to bring about a fun and interactive learning experience as one gets to know the animals up close. One not only gets to see closely how animals behave, you also get to feed them too. One can experience having a flock of birds at your hand eating on the bird seeds lying at your palm, feeding banana to a bearcat, or even feeding some milk to a kid. (kid as in a young goat, that is)

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El Hogar Endangered?

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The attack on Philippine heritage sadly is not letting up. Latest reports suggest of a possible demolition of yet another heritage building in Manila, the El Hogar Filipino Building (more popularly known as the El Hogar) at the corner of Juan Luna and Muelle de la Industria Streets in Binondo.

Even if you would not know at first the name of the building, its architecture is something that has surely caught your attention, especially whenever you are at that part of the city, with its unique Beaux-Arts/neoclassical style architecture and its peculiar look of having a fourth floor penthouse sticking out. Indeed it has become a Manila landmark since it was built more than a hundred years, a landmark that we may soon lose.

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