Journey to the Past



I bought tickets for Gabii sa Kabilin, now on its 6th year opens the doors of local museums, temples and heritage sites to everyone. This has been an annual event started by the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Incorporated. It has gone bigger and bolder and now offers 22 sites to see! 

I packed with the essentials: candy bars, wet wipes and bottles of water. I saved a jpeg copy of the map on my phone and we went straight to Museo Sugbo.

What I enjoyed the most with the museum was that it offered almost all the things that piqued my interest! They handed us a booklet when we arrived and we roamed around in a mission: to get the booklet stamped.
As we waited for the bus to come, we decided to walk 2 blocks away to Casa Gorordo. Restored and outfitted as a museum, it showcases the lifestyle of families then.
Firedancers entertained guests outside the Yap-Sandiego Ancestral House.
Parian is just a short distance away from the house, is the center of the city. It was a Mexican word for market place! Who would have thought? :P
JRG Halad Museum is considered as the musical heritage site of Cebu which pays homage to the music legends like Pilita Corales and homebred Raki Vega.
We also took a few minutes to shelter from the rain on the University of Southern Philippines Foundation Rizaliana Museum  which houses most of our National Hero's items and artifacts. 
With our map and street skills, we ventured to Cathedral Museum of Cebu. The building is one of the few structures in downtown Cebu that was spared from the attacks during World War II.
A few walks and we were able to reach Sto. Niño Basilica and we were disappointed that we were unable to reach the live demonstration in time.  
The rain did not dampen our spirits and we continued to the free tartanilla ride to Plaza Independencia. This would be the highlight of the night, we slowly cruised and enjoyed the last few minutes of our ride. ♥
Seeing old canons in Fort San Pedro gave me chills, this was where our people fought. This is where we fought for freedom. :)

What would have been better? 

  • Sites opened at night like the BPI Museum and The Church of the Latter-Day Saints.
  • Better visibility of the buses. I think a jeepney rides would have been better.
  • Better map to navigate the sites faster and more efficiently.
  • QR Code Hunt would have been open to everyone. :(
  • A passport type or booklet where you get stamped for each stop. It would also serve as a token for joining the event! Why not even use this as a ticket for the whole night?
This is what I loved about the Philippines, we have a rich culture and we should be proud of it! :D

This is an official entry to the 2012 Gabii sa Kabilin Blogging Contest.

13 comments:

  1. Booo!! They didn't give me a booklet :( How many were you able to go to? So many places, so little time, I only got to visit around 9 places.

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  2. Aww! Looked like tons of fun! Thanks for taking me on the virtual trip <3 It -almost- makes up for not being there xD LOVE your blog!

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  3. @Mustacho The eBook was available online. It is not necessarily that you have to visit all. That is why the organizer came out with print ads suggesting on a thematic route.. if your into museum you do this route, if your into galleries you do that route.

    Just like eating in an Eat All You Can Resto, it doesn't mean that you have to eat all in the buffet, you just pick what you want then go for it.

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  4. @mustachio - I think we were able to visit around 9 if you count Plaza Independecia together with Fort! If not, then 10! :) The booklet is from Museo Sugbo, that was the fun part! Getting stamps for each collection.
    @gie - I hope you get to be there next year!
    @kabino - Thanks for dropping by. I reckon the booklet Mustachio was referring to was the one from Museo Sugbo.

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  5. Ka Bino, three years I have been looking for you, and three years you have dodged me. Next year nalang!!

    Zhequia, yup I was referring to the Museo Sugbo booklet. That's why wala coz I didn't go there. Hahaha. They didn't have that last year.

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  6. @Mustachio - I reckon you wanted to be on all sites right? Cause I did too! Only had a few sites to visit. I was even looking for a guy with a mustache in case, that would be the elusive Mustachio.

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  7. Well, no, I knew I couldn't cover all places in just 6 hours and if I did, I think I'd die of history overdose. This year I chose to visit the new ones. It was funny coz most of the time it was just me in the bus... I wonder where everyone else were! :))

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  8. Hahaha! So you took anarchy of the bus rides then! We decided to walk the sites in downtown area as it proved to be faster than waiting for the bus.

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  9. For my route, walking would take most of my time, so it was best to wait for the bus and make the most of my ticket heheh :)) Joyride! Anyway, was this your first GSK? (Sorry, I'm making this into a chatbox hahaha)

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  10. Yes, it is! I sent you an e-mail! :)

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  11. BPI Museum Can't open at night for Security Reason, it's still an active bank to date, a unique one.. the only bank museum in the country with an active bank inside it..

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  12. I had fun ani na event bisan ug kuwang sa tug ug nag-uwan. Lingaw japun. Next year na sad! Woot woot!

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