Casa Manila

One of the houses inside Plaza San Luis Complex inside Intramuros, Manila is Casa Manila.




The house museum  showcases a life style of the Illustrados - the rich Filipinos during the 19th-20th century, who were given almost equal privileges as the Spaniards who ruled our country then.

It has a beautiful courtyard which presently is a popular choice for wedding reception venue and other events. 

The house is huge and now a days it could easily be mistaken as a hotel. But during the 19th-20th century, it was just but a typical home of an Illustrado family. Inside are authentic antique furniture of the said era.

It was a Monday ( photos taken in 2010 ). The museum was close. Cousins were very insistent. I suggested we used the exit stairs to enter the house.

A guardia civil ( guard in character of Spanish soldier ) suddenly appeared by the kitchen window and stopped us from entering the premises. haha. 

Oh well, have you noticed?_ I knew quite well my way in here? Hold tight cos I'm going to reveal to you one of my secrets...

I used to reside in this house.. eerie? haha. It's me! 16 years ago! Relief?.. that I didn't say hundred years ago? haha.

Fact is : I was assigned there for couple of months when I was an employee of Dept. of Tourism. How's that?  Yes my dear, yours truly was once a bonafide government employee ( for a long time actually). 

Now, I'm not going to just give you a peek of the museum but also of my shameless vintage photos, taken pre-digital years, haha.

A blast in the past!

Right here ( daughter & me photo) my older daughter was only 3 years old.

 There was a period that I didn't have a nanny so I had to sneak her in and brought her to work everyday. Haay, the story of my working mom life. Now, this girl is turning 19 next month. Can you believe it?

Yes, I had to sport sets of authentic Filipina dresses of 19th-20th century as daily uniforms.

If you're going to visit the museum these days, the included exhibit of the 19th-20th centuries Filipino dresses during my time, is ofcourse not there anymore. It was just a season exhibit which was also why we were assigned there for a certain period only.

I actually attempted to give you a short tour of the house and wanted to share something about the specific parts shown on the old photos. Mind you, we memorized a scripted 5 pages tour of the museum and had them recited everyday for every visitor/group , countless times a day.
So here, after 16 years, approaching (if not there yet, in denial?) old age, I couldn't grasp a word . I couldn't even remember the parts of the room.

I just hope the vintage photos somehow gave you a glimpse of what's inside, and hey  Casa Manila museum is just there in Intramuros , in case you haven't been there and keen on a heritage tour.

World Largest Coin

Yap stone Money was used at the Pacific Islands of Yap until World War 11, with the largest as much as 12 feet (4m) in diameter! The largest stones were used as symbol of wealth to be displayed outside houses. The hole in the centre was for a pole so that two people could carry it!

Imagine that !. . using it today! haha. 

Found it at Singapore Coins and Notes Museum, Pagoda St., Singapore.

Singapore City Gallery

After a Hawker's lunch at Maxwell Road, Ann, Janelle and I checked the building across the food court, not knowing that it was exactly our next destination in our itinerary. We only realized it when we saw that the rest of the bloggers were all there.




The Singapore City Gallery located at first two floors of The URA Centre. It is a regular and ever updated public urban planning exhibition. Everything you need to know about how Singapore was transformed into a vibrant metropolis for 4.1 million people and yet has space for greenery, built heritage and gracious living is here.




The gallery offers you an amazing bird's eye view of Singapore's central area, and a fascinating 11 by 11 metre architectural model, the only one of its kind in the world, gives you a three-dimensional and multimedia overview of the development of Singapore as a city.








In front of the building are sculptures of Samsui Women, commemorating these early immigrants of Singapore.

MINT, A Museum of Toys

MINT - Moment of Imagination and Nostalgia with Toys. The world's first purpose-built museum for toys. Showcasing extensive collection of vintage toys from over 25 countries_ USA, Japan, UK, Germany, Bulgaria and more.




The house guide even informed us that the MINT is actually still looking for an authentic toy from the Philippines. They haven't found one yet to represent our country.





Before this, it had never crossed to me to relate the word MINT to toys. I thought it was a food chain or something related with flavors.




The evolution of Felix the Cat





one of the costplayers sisters (Gosiengfiao) 

The building, a four storey, itself is a state of the art architecture. It won international recognition for its structure.
A glass floor is eye catching, just make sure you're not wearing a skirt or if you do, wear something under..or else people below the next floor will surely have a blast! hehe!





The Beatles _ obviously the owner is a big fan.




.. and speaking of the owner, we were lucky to catch him and had a small chat. He shared that the MINT was already featured to one of our local shows. He asked if we knew Joey de Leon. There, it occured to me that I had my first glimpse of the place at Joey & Mel show, a local television show in Manila. Only then, I didn't know the name of the museum. I was already amazed then with the collections thu'.




Robots for the boys.. OMG! The collections are overwhelming.




bloggers from other Asia Pacific countries



There are 50,000 vintage toys and thematically exhibited over 4 levels of the award winning building of MINT. Well, that is to say it's hard to show them all here children! Best thing to do ofcourse is to visit it yourself.

Location : 26 Seah Street, Singapore
Admission : adult- $15, child/senior citizen - $7.50