misstinapie

I love museums! I could not believe there are still museums in the metro I have not visited yet, and this is an easy one for a lazy afternoon. There's not much people when we went which gave us more time to roam around as well.  If you wish to visit, Chinatown Museum is conveniently situated inside the Lucky Chinatown Mall at Binondo, Manila. I am not sure if it's there forever (as long as the mall stands anyway) but I do hope it is. The museum is thoughtfully designed. It tells a story as you move along, an immersion of sorts when you walk from one space to another. The props are outstanding and very much detailed and the layout is excellent. There is no crowding of pieces nor were there areas that looked neglected. The museum not only holds antiques, there are also displays that celebrate the Chinoy culture, from bakeries to calligraphy stores to Chinese food and  school. The cohesion of the displays promote the feeling that you're actually walk...

I arrived by Luneta hours earlier but I suddenly had the urge to come in around 330 in hopes that there are less people. I thought that the line outside WAS the only line but as soon as I entered the doors the queue snaked 3x! There are two main problems, 1 the XRAY machine for bags is not working (surprise surprise) and there is only one log book. The museum has been open since last year and I was hoping that they could be more efficient than this. Yes they do let your group in and have one representative but what is stopping them to have more than 1 log book? The all white paint of the interior adds is really pretty to look at. It's clean and modern. I also loved how they've thought of adding ramps on each floor to help even our PWDs and seniors to reach with ease. The airy main hall ensures that it won't feel cramped. Too bad it's not open in the evenings, I wondered the dome would have looked good with proper lighting. I just hope the AC is cranked higher...

It's already late in the afternoon and Sagada is too far away so we looked first for a place to stay for the night. They gave us a map of Banaue which upon inspection and much deliberation, we ended up not getting any of those Hot Springs and Village visitations since it will require at least hours of trek. It will be hard for us to get back. Banaue Rice Terraces The nearest we could go to was the View Point. Our map says it's just before the bend where the houses ends so we went there, still by car to save more time. Other than 2 or 3 foreigners, we are free to gawk at the lovely site. There's a lone souvenir shop up here and I bought a carved small Ifugao house worth 30 pesos. After the sight seeing we went back to try to look for the Banaue Museum. It took a while for us to see it that we ended up on a dead end. It was a grueling task for my father to drive our car back down because it was really narrow but he managed anyway. Back down we realized that t...