quand on avait pris notre diner au sentro (un petit resto philippin à greenbelt 3), j'ai ramassé une petite carte qui parle du musée national des philippines. et je m'a dit pourquoi pas. et alors. en dimanche, on est allés. le musée est près de parc luneta. tu ne peux pas le manquer.i noticed the crowd. there was a bunch. and i thought we were definitely not in "makatey (makati with a collegiala accent héhé - private joke)" anymore. a lot were kids hanging about. dancing perhaps practicing for a school presentation. some couples and families. there were also calesas (horse driven buggys) of different shapes and sizes.
a prominent figure near the entrance of the museum was a regal statue of lapu-lapu reminiscent of grecian statues from the old world perhaps made of bronze but i'm not so certain as i didn't go near it. i would definitely make time next time.
the receptionist at the front desk. she wasn't very friendly. not a smile on her old and wrinkly weather beaten face. i wonder if she is like that all the time. or just to us fellow filipinos. or she probably didn't like the idea of going to work on a sunday. the museum is open on wednesdays to sundays by the way. and it is FREE ENTRANCE ..
there were interesting stuff at the museum although naturally lacking. it pales to other national museums i have been too. it is a wonder that it took me this long to visit this place of cultural goodies.
i have never seen so many earthen jars used for a variety of purposes including burial jars and medieval chinese ceramic wares featuring uniquely and individually painted plates which seemed to have been a priced commodity at its time. all of it were treasures rescued from a shipwreck called san diego.
there were also anthropology exhibits from the pleistocene period, on islamic culture and spanish influence, ancient burial practices, briefly on philippine languages, and then to bio diversity and modern art.
the collection seemed fragmented or diverse, depends on how you look at it which illustrates that fundamentally, we are relatively a young civilization (only 100~ years old).
perhaps that is why on the way out i couldn't help but feel a bit fustrated because i thirst for knowledge of our culture and not much can be done about it. little has survived of our pre colonial past. most of it if not all of it have been lost or should i say systematically demonized, forgotten and finally replaced by a foreign religion.
