Pinoy Book Stop Tour

I made it to this year's National Book Develpment Board's Pinoy Book Stop Tour! Last year, I was eager to join the tour, too, but didn't make it. Actually, I almost couldn't join this year's, too, for failing to submit the requirements on time, but I still submitted after the deadline, and was included in the participants!

Day 1

This year's tour opened at The Book Museum cum Ethnology Center located in Dao, Marikina Heights, Marikina City. I didn't even know this place existed. It says in their flyer that it is the first of its kind in Asia. (Know more about the Book Museum here.)

The museum houses the Dominado Buhain's (the owner) collections of books and other artifacts he gathered from travelling around the globe. The reading materials are categorized by which country they were from.

It also has the smallest book and tablet.

For the book stop tour, renowned Filipina authors Isabela Banzon and Mayette Bayuga gave talks about their works, and shared writing tips.

After the talks, we toured the ethnology center briefly. Their displays were divided in two--the north and south. The north building houses collections on Cordillera culture. The south, on the other hand, displays an extensive and colorful collection of the culture of Mindanao.

The Southern building has one side of its walls inscribed with writings including baybayin, the ancient Filipino way of writing.

We're currently doing a study on Whang-od tattoo but it's my first time to read about this tool they used for tattooing in the olden days instead of the siit (citrus thorn) they use today.

The owner must also be a James Dean fan. There's a corner dedicated for everything James Dean.

We had no more time so we just quickly browse through the Southern exhibit. Wasn't able to take photos.

From the Book Museum, we went to Quezon Memorial Circle to have lunch.

After lunch, we proceeded to the Quezon City Public Library. Authors MJ Tumamac and Ergoe Tinio gave very interesting talks about writing children's books. I always wanted to try writing children's stories because for me it is the most difficult genre.

The QC Public Library has just renovated or relocated, as the building seems new. The library has a cozy children's area where kids can read books and play. They also hold storytelling sessions from time to time. The library also have a cafe at the second level of the building where library goers can read books while having coffee. I haven't browsed the shelves in their main library, and Filipiniana section, but by the looks of it, they have an extensive collection. A lot of students were at the library when we were there. Their law section was even packed. The library staff also showed us their puppets--Libe and Rary. We were briefly shown a puppet show before leaving the building. 

Our last book stop for the day was the UST Publishing House. Authors Chuckberry Pascual, Marne Kilates and Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo gave fruitful talks as well. I particularly enjoyed Ms. Hidalgo's talk. Ang perky niya magkwento.

Day 2

The first stop for the second day of the tour was the Bodhi Mind and Body Shop located in Tagaytay. We arrived an hour early so we had the chance to look around. A staff showed us how their hotel and condo rooms for lease. Picture-taking wasn't allowed, but their rooms are very instagrammable! Their condotel rooms have murals on its bedroom wall, and the furnitures, wall decors, and other displays looked like they came straight out of Pinterest.

The steps to the Bodhi library has these inspirational quotes printed on them. (Maybe I should do the same with the stairs at the apartment to motivate me haha.)

And they have a very hipster library. I hovered around, but I was afraid to walk around for I might get their stuff dirty haha. I just lingered outside for several minutes. They also have a cafe, but it seemed closed.

It was market day that time so there were various organic products sold. I bought lettuce, and herbs (stevia, peppermint and spearmint), despite the fact that I kept hearing from the other participants that these plants won't survive the heat in the metro. Try-try lang.

From Tagaytay, we travelled to San Pablo, Laguna, where we got stuck in traffic for several hours. We were two hours late for the next stop which is the Komikero Komiks Museum, where legendary comics maker Gerry Alanguilan, along with authors Ericson Acosta and Enrique Villasis were waiting for us. After their talks, we went to see the komiks museum. Of all the stops, this was the one I really looked forward to.

These are probably Gerry Alanguilan's collection, which he decided to share to the public.

One time, one of my former drinking buddies and I talked about creating a comics set in pre-Hispanic Philippines. Apparently, there were already other creative minds who made this happen.

As soon as I learned the alphabet and basic Filipino syllables (abakada), I practiced my reading with the comic strips in Liwayway magazine. We had few reading materials at home and weekly, my father would borrow issues of Liwayway from her aunt. I was into reading then, and would read anything. At one point, I ran out books to read so I turned to an old atlas, even though I could barely understand the words in it. I used to follow this comic strip in Liwayway about a young girl raised by a group of lions in the jungle. I think it was entitled "Leonarda" which is also the name of the girl. I must've really loved this as some of the panels are is still very vivid in my mind, although I already forgot how the story went. I still enjoy comic books, which are often called graphic novels now.

Jose Rizal has many titles and komiks illustrator is one of them.

The firs term paper I wrote in graduate school is about komiks. I'm now thinking of fully-developing it since I just re-hashed it to meet the deadline last time. :p I found this really old book in UP Diliman library that details the history of komiks in the Philippines. Pilas-pilas na siya, but it is an interesting read.

The komiks museum is actually just a room located at Tia Maria's Sining at Kultura, a Spanish-Philipines style restaurant that has an artsy and classy vibe in all its corners.

From San Pablo, we went to Los Baños for our last stop, the Books, Crafts, and Coffee Shop.

I was actually inspired by this cafe. I always wanted to have a cafe/bar where people can have their coffee or beer while reading. The restaurant serves food, and also sell local products like woven baskets, etc. I can imagine LB students hanging out in here all the time.

I went home tired, but satisfied. I rarely go out since I left work, so this one is a breather. Many thanks, NBDB!