Art In Island: Interactive Art Museum

Balancing act!

Prepare your cameras and smart phones. Be ready to act in front of a painting. You may act happy, afraid or angry. This is what you do at the Art in Island, an interactive art museum at 15th Avenue, Cubao, QC. The entrance fee (quite expensive but worth it because it's one of a kind in the Philippines) is P500 for adults and P400 for students with ID. Shoes are not allowed inside so you have to deposit your shoes or sandals at the entrance. The fully-airconditioned museum is huge with awesome copied paintings of the masters. You will need about two hours in the museum to be able to capture the various 3D paintings and illusions. Welcome to the Art in Island.

I'm Andres and "undressing an angel" is my hobby!

You want this ball? Take it!

Geof is a cover boy!

Julia applies make-up to Mona Lisa

Surfing is fun!

Snow boarding!

Daddy's an angel!

Little Mermaid, Julia!

Open your mouth!

Feeding the tiger.

Wet and Wild!

Scary!

Teddy Bear Museum - Seoul, Korea

A unique museum worth visiting at Seoul, Korea is the Teddy Bear Museum located at N Seoul Tower. It presents the history and culture of Korea with Teddy Bears as the main characters. Imagine the King as a Teddy Bear and Korean soldiers ready for war as teddy bears. Modern Korean teddy bears in Louis Vuitton, teddy bears ala Blues Borthers in shades and more. This is a place that kids would love to visit and adults would enjoy too. So when you happen to visit Seoul, take the trip to the N Seoul Tower and meet Teddy and his friends.

Teddy Bears at work building a temple

King Teddy

Teddy Bears in Concert!

A "Teddy" for Julia

What is Kapampangan Cuisine?

If you want to know more about the real Kapampangan cuisine, visit the Museo ning Angeles' Culinarium

 

The Culinarium at the Museo ning Angeles displays photos of Kapampangan cuisine. During Kapampangan tours, cooking demos are presented and the tasty Pampango dishes and snacks - tibok-tibok, tarts, halo-halo - are served to the guests. 

Sisig" means "to snack on something sour." Do you know that the original sisig is actually made from vegetables?  The present sisig actually originated at Angeles City when the Americans were occupying Clarkfield Airbase. Aling Lucing is known to have started the popular sisig with oxbrain. The sisig is now a popular appetizer for beer drinkers.  Variations of the sisig have evolved - with mayonaise (yaks), with chicharon, lechon, bangus, chicken etc. - but no recipe can match the original Pampango sisig.

We tasted the Aling Lucing's sisig at the Nepo Mall. Half order is P75.00.





Various regions have their own version of the sinigang.
In Pampanga, we call it "Bulanglang."



"Buru", "Balobalo" or fermented rice is a partner for the crispy or grilled hito or tilapia and vegies like the mustasa, okra and eggplant. The crispy chicharon also taste good when dipped in buru.

Frogs are usually harvested from the rice fields. Want to taste a frog? In Pampanga, the frog is a delicacy. Frogs are clean and taste like chicken.

Batute or Frog Cuisine - it can be stuffed or simply fried or grilled! I dare you to try this and you will crave for more.

Mole crikets or "kamaru" feed on the roots of the rice plant. Adobong kamru is one Pampango exotic dish. When you eat this dish, you will taste the sour flavor and feel the crunch as you bite the crickets. YUMMY!

Julia visits "Museo ning Angeles"

Julia infront of the Museum of  Angeles City, Pampanga - July 28, 2012

Old photos of Angeles City

Sketches of Costumes of Filipino Soldiers

The diorama displays very detailed designs of dolls
with the costumes created by Patis Tesoro

A Filipino Wedding diorama

Tita Dina tells Julia about the diorama.

Harvesting palay diorama

A "kusina" or traditional kitchen diorama

Harvesting sugarcane diorama

The Church as seen from the museum

Tita Dina and Julia

Traidtional cooking tools at the Culinarium of the museum

Tita Dina organizes Cultural and Culinary Tours of the Province of Pampanga. A visit to the Museo ng Angeles is one of the highlights. If interested to join a Kapampangan tour, email: dina_maglalang@yahoo.com.

Mind Museum

Moon watching

The Mind Museum at Taguig is a science museum located at the Fort.  It has displays and exhibits under five themes: 1.The Story of the Universe: Its Beginning and Majesty, 2.The Story of the Earth: Its Story Across the Breadth of Time, 3.The Story of Life: The Exuberant Varieties of Life, 4.The Story of the Atom: The Strange World of the Very Small and 5.The Story of Technology: The Showcase of Human Ingenuity.

Dinosaur!

The admission fee is very generous to teachers (P150.00) compared to private students (P450.00). The regular fee is P600.00. So when we visited the place, Apple and I payed only P300.00 while Geof and Julia paid P900.00.

There are interesting exhibits and attractions. Julia like the digging for the fossils and the star chairs. Geof played video games and love to cross the "rotating" tunnel. Apple and I were puzzled by the challenge to arrange 11 cubes in a given space. We missed the movie screening bacause there were very limited slots per screening - the management should organize the queue for the screening.



Melty chocolate



Pharaoh

It is a new museum which just opened last March 2012 but it has already many exhibits which are "under repair." Maybe it is still in the soft opening phase. We hope the museum will be properly maintained and more interactive exhibits will be installed.



Geof inside the rotating tunnel

Here is a write-up by Geof about his experience at the museum.

The Mind Museum has 5 sections: Atoms, The Earth, The Galaxy, The Prehistoric History of our World, and Inventions of Mankind. First, we went to the atom section. There, we saw the nature of physics and atoms. Then, we went to the earth and prehistoric history of our world. We learned about dinosaurs, cavemen, and much more. We also marvelled at the power and size of our planet. After that, we went to the galaxy section. We “oohed” and “aahed” at the stars, planets, and comets. Finally, we went to the inventions made by mankind.  We tried out an old printing press, arcade games and much more. Finally, we went to the Science-in-a- park where  I had fun making dams, waterwheels, and saw through the eyes of many animals. I and Julia went home with new knowledge about science.



Embracing the moon



Julia and Apple solve a 3D puzzle

Mind Museum is new - but you will see these messages in a number of exhibits.

Museo Pambata: Where Kids Learn & Adults Become Kids

We met the family of a co-student at Nagoya University (Japan), Lanie and her son, Yosh and her niece at the Children's Museum (Museo Pambata) located at Roxas Blvd. cor. T.M. Kalaw. The day was fun and educational for the kids. Julia and Yosh enjoyed playing at the theme rooms and worked with various interactive exhibits. The kids entered a giant mouth maze and discovered how food is digested. Julia and Geof learned that the intestines are so long. At the exhibits about "Old Manila", Geof listened to narrations about our national heroes like Andres Bonifacio. They rode on a tranvia - an old mode of transportation in Manila. There were exhibits about how to protect our environment and posters about young Pinoy heroes.

 

This was our 2nd time to visit the museum. The first time was four years ago when Julia was about two years old. The museum then has more attractions then. Now, it seems tat some rooms need renovation. The museum is a good alternative to parks and malls. I hope the City of Manila will maintain the facilities and improve the exhibits so that they can be at par with the Science Museums at Hong Kong and Singapore. It would be nice if they have  a Jollibee or McDo nearby or even inside the compound - I am sure their entrance sales will increase.

Geof and Apple

"Ang haba naman ng bituka natin ...."

  

Yosh and Julia had fun at MP!