Holed up in Dhaka

Left to myself, I realized I really don't mind the mess. No rest from morning to night even if I'm holed up in this space. Mission aide memoire, emails, etc. have kept me seated in that chair the whole time. Crazy happy. Productive day still. There's more to finish tomorrow. Thank you, Lord. Keep my children, Let and all my family safe.

The Mind Museum Experience (PART 2)

The bookworm in his happy place - museum. He's at home here more than at any place except of course the bookstore. :-)

Here’s part two of my post about the Mind Museum. As I said in the first part, this one’s about what’s inside the museum as seen and narrated by Garrett.

Garrett took his mini review one notch up by integrating his recent lesson in school about different kinds of poems. Although he sold me away at the outset, revealing that I nagged him to write about the trip, I thought it was a great blog post! He shared his experience his own way, stamping his ownership on the piece – all Garrett’s.

Oh, you must understand how a mom would always cheer her child’s little successes. Hooray for my little man, already a poet/writer/blogger!

Garrett is a big fan of museums. Hear and feel him as he tells you about his awesome Mind Museum experience.

The Mind Museum Experience

I finally made good on my promise to take Garrett to the Mind Museum at Bonifacio Global City (BGC). It’s been been several months since he made his part of our deal. The deal was for him to work his way to advancing 1 level up with Kumon Math. That he did, and in February made it to the Gold status, which means he is now in the group of Kumon students doing Math drills three-four years advance of their grade level. Hooray for Garrett!

I am going to share more on logistics of the trip and leave the story telling on the exhibits to Garrett. I will share his own blog post once he has gotten around to writing it.

We timed our visit on a holiday (Eidul-Fitar – end of Ramadan), which was last Friday. It was a good decision as traffic was light and the museum had only a thin crowd. I imagined it would be crowded had we gone on a weekday as there might be groups of students on a field trip.

The Mind Museum is on the 3^rd Avenue of BGC, easily accessible if you enter BGC from EDSA or C5. Take 32^nd Street and turn right on 3^rd Avenue from EDSA (at Jollibee) or left from C5 (last left turn before exiting to EDSA).

It is flanked by two parking lots across the roads. It was already almost full around 11am when we arrived. I thought what more if we came on a work day or on a Saturday. Our timing was perfect! And I couldn’t be happier as I was the designated driver.

EXCITED!

We went with my mother and sister. Senior citizens can enter at a discounted price of P430, adults at P600 and students from private schools at P450.  This is for a 3-hour visit. Unlimited pass is at P750.

The museum opens at 9am and closes by 9pm. Tickets are for 3-hour time slots: 9-12, 12-3, 3-6, and 6-9. We got the 12-3pm slot. As it was our first time, and I was lousy with following map directions, we came earlier, secured a parking and went on to find a place to eat.

There is a nearby strip of fine restaurants at Forbes Town Centre, Rizal Drive Corner Burgos Circle. We chose the least intimidating one, and happily got a table at Uncle Cheffy. We had little time so we opted to get their complete breakfast plates plus pumpkin flower soup. We headed back to the Mind Museum a few minutes before our designated entry time of 12nn.

 

Voila! There goes Garrett, jaws dropping in awe. This was a much-awaited treat for him, about a year since he first knew about the Mind Museum and requested to see it. He has been to the Science Center in Singapore twice, so he had some ideas and expectations. Science Center in Singapore is his most favorite place. He would not trade it for Universal Studios.

On the way out, I asked him his impressions. He said the Mind Museum is awesome but he still likes the Science Center in Singapore better. A bit exaggerating, he said that it only took him a few minutes to go around all the exhibits.

Static electricity

What's in a cell?

Garrett was like in a trance upon setting foot inside the Museum. I could not keep up with his pace, and it was hard to talk to him, and harder to request that he take my photo. Mindful of the time, he was in a flurry the whole time, trying out exhibits with interactive platforms, going around and around, again and again, up and down the two floors.

Gabee also enjoyed although she is not able to appreciate it yet as much, being only 5 years old. She was interested in the exhibits with buttons and those which produce sound or motion when touched. She had more fun at the outdoor Science in the Park, playing with bubbles, on the slides, and hitting drums.

Bernoulli's Principle

Seated on an atom

Volcano eruption

Phases of the moon

Hearing animal sounds

Inside a plant cell

The museum’s exhibits are laid out in five thematic galleries: universe, atom, life, earth, and technology. It is, in fact, inspired by the Science Center in Singapore but in a smaller scale. But, it is by far the most advanced museum of its kind in the country. The architecture is spectacular and gives you that “wow” feeling. Located in the booming, clean, and green BGC, the Mind Museum is not a far cry from Singapore’s original version.

The Universe Gallery

T. rex

Souvenir photo before heading out

My turn for a souvenir photo :-)

Loot from Hotels: Leftover Toiletries

It has been over a month now since I bravely quit work and shifted to a life of a stay-at-home mom. Do I miss work? Yes, a bit, because my day consists of the same routine and my constant company are the yayas! This week, I have gladly taken up the role I am most good at. If there’s Mr. Clean, I’d like to think I am his counterpart. Yikes, corny! Bear with me.

This morning, my mission was to clean my bathroom cabinets, organize toiletries, and dispose expired cosmetics and lotions. As I was hard at the job, these small bottles gave me an idea for another post! Yey! I need to write to get my brain and fingers working lest they become rusty!

I had fun lining up and taking photos of these bottles as they diverted my mind from the serious job of cleaning.

These are bottles of shampoo, bath gel, lotion, and conditioner from some hotels that I have stayed at. When I go on long trips, I normally bring my own trusted toiletries just to be sure, so I would have unused hotel toiletries after. I would take home the leftovers as they are very handy to bring when me and my family go out of town and stay at less pricey hotels without these nice amenities. They are also so useful to my kids for bringing to school as part of their grooming kits, and to swimming lessons/trips. 

I will tell you a bit of the trips I made as I present photos of my loot of toiletries from different hotels here and outside the Philippines. I will also add links to the hotels in case you are interested to check them out. 

I am guilty of requesting extra toiletries from 5-star hotels. Well, I just want to maximize my money's worth, and also because their toiletries are top quality like these L’Occitane samplers from Sofitel Hotel Manila.

These ones below were from Hotel Borobudur in Jakarta. I arranged bookings for a big group of workshop participants, and stayed there myself for five nights so I thought I deserved some extras to take home. Housekeeping would happily provide an extra set upon the guest’s request.

Together with my family, I spent a night at Edsa Shangri-La last May. Since we were four in the room and we had to pay extra for Garrett (kids over 7 pay extra), I had good reason to request additional shampoo and bath gel. 

This lotion was from the Landmark Hotel in Bangkok where I stayed in 2010. I know this must be expired already! It was at this hotel that I got the most exquisite massage – the genuine Thai massage – which cost me only around the equivalent of P1,000, at the privacy of my own room. It was superb, and really loosened the stiffness in my shoulders and back. I intend to return some day just for that!

It was only in 2009 that I started going on trips outside the country. It was my fortune to have Singapore as my first overseas destination to seek medical treatment. Since then, I have made six trips to this country, which is a mere dot on the world map but which attracts tourists the word over. My first set of free toiletries came from Mount Elizabeth Hospital - Parkway Health.




I had tried different hotels from 2-star to 5-star-rated ones in Singapore. Two-star hotels are no good, I would not even want to use their shampoo. Three-star hotels like Ibis and Fort Canning Lodge are clean and provide decent toiletries.

I also got to stay at Elizabeth Hotel and Carlton Hotel in Singapore, both are 4-5 star hotels. My stay in both was worth the price I paid. Elizabeth Hotel is in the Orchard area while Carlton Hotel is at the corner of Bras Basah Road and Victoria Street, and a few steps away from the Bras Basah MRT station. Both hotels provide decent buffet breakfast.

Locally, my family have stayed a number of times at Malarayat Golf and Country Club Hotel in Lipa, Batangas. The last time we were there coincided with Father’s Day. We got a good deal via Agoda booking for only P1,834 net of taxes and charges. The club’s got nice, large kiddie and adult pools. The vast tracts of green and cool weather are so worth the hotel price and the 2-hour trip via SLEX and Star Tollway.  

Taal Vista Hotel in Tagaytay has also been my family's favorite destination when we want a quick bonding time away from home.

Here are more photos of my loot from other hotels.

From Holiday Inn Galleria:

From Asian Institute of Management (AIM) Conference Center:

From Hotel H20:

From Discovery Suites:

I love staying at hotels, the nice ones of course with at least a 3-star rating. It goes to say that I love to travel. Until my next post then. Hopefully, a more informative one.