February 25, 2012

The MOA Eye

verabear Done it + Seen it, Mahal, Ramblings and Brain farts 4 Comments

On Tuesday last week, February 21, 2012, I took my first ferris wheel ride. Yep, it took 30 years before I would step in on a ferris wheel gondola. I’ve always just chickened out. I shared the moment with the boyfriend – who almost didn’t get on. It was also his first time!

It was a week day and we both had work but we went to the Mall of Asia anyway to meet up with Alfred’s parents, his older brother Andy, and little cutie Alphonso, his nephew. We were there for a birthday dinner to celebrate Tatay Fred’s 70th birthday!

Here’s the boyfriend’s parents inside the roomy gondola:

The rest of them had been at the Mall hours before because little Alphonso who’s only 3 years old wanted some play time. I arrived home from work at past 2pm so Alfred and I were only out on the road at past 3pm en route to the MOA. Traffic and wrong turns made our travel time longer – must have been 430PM already when we arrived at the MOA.

We hung out at The Creamery while Phonso cooled down with his favorite ice cream cone. Then we headed out to the bay side restaurants to get dinner. While Alfred and his brother went to market to buy the seafood we would have cooked at one of the restaurants, I took these shots of the MOA Eye –purportedly the biggest ferris wheel in the country today at 180 feet tall:

 

Alphonso was excited and really wanted to ride. It wasn’t difficult to convince Nanay and Tatay to go. But it was a challenge to convince Alfred that this was the day we would finally get on this ride. But convince him we did, and he even paid for it – PhP 150 pesos per person, even for the little 3-year old boy.

Each of the 35 gondolas is air-conditioned, and seats up to 6. There are a few VIP gondolas that offer more privacy – you can’t see inside. They aren’t in use yet and will cost extra. I don’t see the point though. People are too busy either getting scared of being so high, or admiring the view, they won’t have the time to check out the couple next door.

As for me, I was busy being scared. I didn’t move around much and only took a few photos.

 

The ride only took about 10 minutes. It wasn’t shaky at all. I felt quite stable actually.

I’d like to ride again, maybe at night so I can see the lights all around.

For now, I am just proud to say that I no longer fear the Ferris Wheel!