Last December 27th, we found ourselves staring up in awe at giant 18-foot parols (Filipino Christmas Lanterns) at a lantern festival held in the famous walled city within a city, Intramuros. The lantern show was accompanied by a fireworks display, and a giant Christmas tree made up up native abaca products (see above).
Inside the adjacent giant tent called "Clamshell 1", there was an indoor show going on featuring native dances and songs, while the area surrounding the stage was filled with merchants selling various native goods (I guess this was the WOW Philippines that everyone was talking about). Anyway, it was within the events venue when mom chanced upon the Intramuros administration desk and picked up a brochure mentioning the Light and Sound Museum. It seemed like a good idea, so today, we went for it!
After making a quick phone call to check if they were open today, we found out that it would cost a minimum of 1000php for up to 10 persons in a group. That means if you're a group of just 3 people, you'd still pay a thousand bucks! But once your party reaches 10 and above, it's going to be 100php/head. Fair enough I suppose, since it's a light and sound show which requires the people to be moving along by batches, as opposed to a simple museum where you could go about the exhibits at your own leisure.We rounded up other relatives to go along with us (so that we wont be wasting 1000 bucks on just the four of us). ;) Unfortunately, my bro couldn't come along, as well as one of our cousins, since they had their own activities today.
The "Cultural reawakening" was housed inside a former convent located at Sta. Lucia St. near Baluartillo de San Diego. There were 9 of us in the group (which meant na nalugi kami ng 100 pesos! Boo!!). The show was very nice, although nothing outside the typical light-and-sound show you'd expect (but hey, it was a hell lot better than what I saw at Corregidor! =P). Come to think of it, it WAS kind of similar to Corregidor.. even the narrator's voice was the same...
Kidding aside, it was a nice historical tour, filled with little snippets of information about the different phases the Filipino people went through in the process of forming their national identity (which, I suppose, bore fruitition with the death or Dr. Jose Rizal, seeing as that was the last exhibit of the show). Dad pointed out however, that the narration had a very obvious anti-Spanish and anti-Church bias, and I'll have to agree with him on this point. Was it educational? Well, to some extent it was, but the exhibits were confusing at points and I felt that the pace of the show was too fast that we were being herded around much too quickly to be able to digest the information they laid out before us, alternating with instances that were too dragging. Seeing as it's just a recently opened attraction, I suppose it still has a long way to go..
Immediately after the tour, we proceeded to yet another historical exhibit, the Bahay Tsinoy. However, since we finished at around lunchtime, the museum was still closed, and we had our lunch al fresco at one of the turo-turos nearby. =P
Bahay Tsinoy is located on Anda cor Cabildo Sts. in Intramuros. It serves as a repository for early Chinese culture here in the Philippines, as well as a place to recognize the contributions of Tsinoys, both past and present.I'll have to admit, I found this museum way more educational than the one previously mentioned (even though I've already gone here once before, but that was a long time ago..). I couldn't help but feel a tinge of pride when I saw an exhibit highlighting the contributions of the Filipino-Chinese Charitable Association and it's most visible contribution, my beloved Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center!
I felt that I really made my mark by being a part of that institution, even for just a little while..The museum had grown since I first visited it, with the addition of another exhibit gallery located on the 4th floor.
I guess I'm getting older now, because I now study museum exhibits more intently, and sometimes even seriously stop to imagine how life was during those olden times.. I'm also feeling a lot more proud of my rich cultural heritage, things that I used to just brush aside when I was a child because I was unable to comprehend the grandiosity of it all.
It was a great day to travel and learn, and all within the limits of a half a tank of gas.
*btw, I know my reviews suck, but humor me, because my intent is not to provide a review of the places I visit, but to merely convey my opinions and relate them to my personal experiences.
No comments:
Post a Comment