Most often than not, when one speaks of travel - art galleries and museums are disregarded to make way for more "fun" destinations such as beaches, resorts and parks.

When I am overseas or visiting a new place, I make sure to include museums and galleries if they have in the itinerary because it is through these confined yet rich destinations that I can understand their culture and history. 

The last time I visited the National Musuem in Manila was during a field trip in elementary school about  17 years ago. So when I heard an announcement that the National Museum started doing renovations, I psyched myself to pay a visit again. On October 14, 2012 I went back in time for Museums and Galleries Month. This time entrance to the Museum was FREE.

The moment I read an announcement from Carlos Celdran's FB page that he was going to have an Imelda "Barter" Tour of CCP, I immediately cleared my schedule and made sure to be there. 

To those of you who are not familiar with Carlos Celdran, he is a Filipino tour guide, cultural activist and performing artist. He has quite a number of followers online and was controversial when he staged a protest against Catholic Church on the issue of reproductive health bill, among others.

This was actually my third tour by him. First was at Intramuros. Second at Silverlens Gallery. Third was this. What's really cool about Carlos was that he does barter tours. Meaning you can give him anything in kind in exchange of the tour. It can be a can of local sardines, pack of noodles, rice, plants, French wine, Italian cheese. Anything you can think of. You see the passion and love to what he does? He is such a gem. Truly, a man who is trying to change the way you look at Manila - one step at a time. As a gift to this one good fellow, I gave him a set of postcards designed by National Artist Bencab. 

If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to build a house or do renovations too. That's what I learned when I started doing construction at Loreland Farm Resort and at Loremar Realty.

My familiarization with construction materials started at an early age - first there were Lego blocks. I made sure that the house I built using Lego blocks were the biggest if not the most beautiful among my siblings. A few years later when I was old enough, I would help around our small hardware store. During that time, my mother was running a garments factory while my father was running the hardware. 

Every summer, when there was no "Loreland" yet, I would help out in the store by selling concrete nails, paints, hardware materials, etc. My salary If I remember it right was about Php 10.00 to Php 30.00 a day. They would also bring me to Wilcon in Libis to shop for more materials and when their real esate company was formed, they would take me to the site then I would see them supervising construction. The white sand delivered by 10 wheeler truck was my playground. I thought all kids have that kind of playground.

The moment I joined family business, I told my boss, my mother that she cannot make me stay in the office from 8:00 to 5:00 pm. I made that quite clear to her. I just can't sit in a cushioned chair and in an airconditioned room all day being a paper pusher. It wasn't me. Some people were cut out to be one, but not me. I felt I just had to be out there supervising something from scratch to its completion. So when my boss gave me the go signal to do renovations, I felt extra excited. I was so looking forward to every morning and fix anything I could get my hands on. Another reason was that I could get my clothes dirty in the process and that laundry would be more sulit. I like it when I'm out naiinitan, that way sulit din ang sunblock. (!)

I never get tired visiting Pinto Art Museum at Grand Heights, Antipolo which is just a stone's throw away from where I live. Each time I visit, there's always something new. In fact, this time there was an on-going exhibit entitled "Henerasyon".

If you ask me where I usually eat, I would say Verde Restaurante at Loreland Farm Resort. People ask me how I came up with the name Verde. 

Here's my story. One chilly afternoon, while working online at the restaurant, I looked around and observed. I noticed that we've got so many trees around the resort. All kinds like coconut, mango, kasoy, santol, mahogany, palm trees, etc.  We even have a Tipolo Tree where the name of my hometown Antipolo was derived.

These trees were planted by my grandparents and family so there's that heritage value. Not that I'm not aware of my surroundings just that I find it cool to eat in a place full of trees. Trees are green and the Spanish of green is Verde. There you go!

Whenever I want to break the monotony of daily grind, I take the 10 to 15 minute trek to Camp Tipolo Adventureland situated within the property of Loreland Farm Resort. It's a trek worth taking as the scenery going down is just relaxing. It's a different story going up but then again it's the experience that I count on. Going down the 250 step rip rap is an exercise not only for my body but for my mind and soul too. It's just a total break from the usual concrete and four corners of the office that I usually work on or most of us do.