Yonky's Reward: Malabon Zoo

Malabon Zoo

www.malabonzoo.com

Yonky has been requesting to go to a zoo whenever we ask him where he wanted to go on weekends. Unfortunately, during the week of his birthday, it had been really really rainy so we brought him to Cosmic Kidz @ MOA instead but it's not his cup of tea. He didn't even want to go inside because he didn't like the noise and he got soo overwhelmed with too many kids. Also, I've read so many bad comments on the stinky smell at Manila Zoo and our friend had a not so nice impression on Avalon Zoo so even if we want to bring him to a zoo, we don't know where to go :$

When I got his report card, I immediately texted Dada who was at a team building in Subic that time and he said we will reward Yonky and bring him to a zoo. I mentioned this to Yonky and explained to him that we will go to the zoo because that is his reward for being the top in his class. My son is very curious and smart and he always ask both the negatives and positives of a situation. This scenario was not an exception...

Yonky: "Zoo, wow!"
Mei: "Yes that is your reward because you're #1 in school! Yey"
Yonky: "How about not #1?"
Mei: "then no reward... no zoo"

I was not sure I answered that correctly because I didn't explain that a reward is like a gift which is a word he knew but sometimes because my son asks too many questions I become careless and just respond on the fly instead of seizing the moment and giving him words of wisdom. He didn't even understand what a reward is but I hope this is the start that he'll be introduce to the word...


Malabon Zoo...

Dada did all the planning for this trip so what I knew of this zoo only comes from him prior to going there. It was recommended by his teammates and what attracted us to it initially was the comment that the place was cleaner than Manila Zoo. Dada also mentioned that the zoo was previously a collection of somebody and he donated it to the municipality of Malabon when his collection grew big.

Entrance is Php120 each. I don't have SLR camera so I started getting frustrated when I couldn't get a decent picture of the animals because of the several lines of fences where the animals were in. I thought the place was small but after going around, I've noticed that it has several labyrinth cages and picnic area too. Yonky was immensely overjoyed and good thing we stayed a while after finishing the rounds because they have a program where they put some children of the animals for a little show and tell and picture taking (Php50 photo opportunity) to the visitors. I thought we just arrived on time in the zoo at around 9:45am but felt bad for Yonky when Dada was informed that we already missed the baby tigers photo op:( So instead of the planned tiger, Yonky turned to Marimar - the baby orangutan in a diaper!

The trip is worth it for me - giant fishes, sleepy tigers, orangutans, and dancing bear are just some of the highlights. I even enjoyed it better than the animal farm in malagos garden during our trip to Davao. We end the zoo trip by watching a 20-ft crocodile jumped into the air to get his meal...

Yonky had it in him to finish all the university floats in Jollibee (I think he's turning into a mini me because he keep tabs on what he already tasted when he said, "Red check... Blue check"... so he requested for us to taste green(Green Apple flavor) for our lunch that day:)

Looking forward for Yonky to see Koalas and Kangaroos next year!!!