What's your favorite social media platform? Without a second thought majority of us will surely raise their hands for Facebook and there's nothing to debate about that. I mean, hello? Who woudn't want to install this well-known social media app on their smartphone. It's one of the best and it's like a one-stop shop. You can do almost anything, from a simple post of the day, chat your crush to random views of funny and cute short videos. Mark Zuckerberg won the crown hands down, the creator of Facebook and now an inspirational billionaire.
Just a little throwback and I know many millennials can relate to it. My first love social media site was Friendster. I remember I was a sophomore student when I got hooked on it. I was online often after school to update my Friendster account, most of the time my focus was to create testimonials or testee(s), sorry if it's awkward to pronounce. I also once liked the beautiful themes, layouts and who viewed my profile feature. Don't you miss it? Unfortunately it's 2018 now and friendster is nothing but a memory. Perhaps, many of us got bored with it because there was no messenger and apparently Zuck plucked up the courage to answer this by creating Facebook. Kudos!
Social Media, a powerful marketing medium and the new Television of this generation. We can't deny that we often spend too much time online, even though it's really bad to our eyes. It's because we can't also deny that there are a lot of addictive apps on Apple App Store and Google Play Store like Snapchat and Instagram. Thus, always remember "everything in moderation". Good thing my job refrains me from being online all the time. Right now I'm more active on Ig than Facebook. I enjoy posting travel and food photos. You'll be flattered when not only random people will like your post but famous local actor(s). Hopefully, my ultimate crush Drake or Bruno Mars will like my future posts. It'll be a dream come true for me.
And I won't stop posting awesome pictures until they hit the "heart" symbol. Can I just tag them or insert many hashtags? Oh no, that's not effective. The only rule is, keep posting. Push!
That's what I actually did two weeks ago but I was unlucky. I guess Drake was sleeping that time and Bruno Mars was busy preparing for his concert in the Philippines, that's fine though because my Pintô Art Museum photoshoot was "mission accomplished", go look at the pictures from beginning to end. Got another tick on my bucket list, yes!
A week before February 14, I thought of visiting another museum to celebrate not the Valentine's Day but the Singles Awareness Day(or Singles Appreciation Day). It was last year when I first did this. Remember my article about Ayala Museum? That was it. I felt contented even though I didn't have a partner after that visit, so I decided to do it again this year. Yup, I'm still alone yet happy. The first and only place that popped into my head was Pintô Art Museum.
Maybe I should ask my mama to go with me? Unfortunately, she was sick that day. What should I do? For sure many singles out there can understand me, it's hard to take pictures of you when you're alone. If you don't like selfie(s), it's either you'll hire a photographer or ask a stranger to take your photos. I thought of rescheduling my visit but luckily I still have supportive friends like Marse Daice, another single lady who was able to join the crusade with me to Pintô Art Museum. Glad that she was available that day and used her good eye for photography to produce Instagrammable photos.
It was one day before Singles Awareness Day when we went to Pintô. Tons of amazing photos from Instagram and Facebook pushed me to go here, it's the talk of the town as "Beautiful Museum in Antipolo City". Who wouldn't wanna see it? Kinda long overdue but that's okay, at least we're able to see the place with a clear and sunny sky, quite humid though.
Are you planning to go here? Well, never think twice! Especially if you're living or staying in Metro Manila. Why? It's near and accessible! No worries, I'll tell you how to commute to Pintô. The museum opens 9am and closes 6pm, from Tuesday to Sunday. Our first plan was to be there before 9am but sadly due to rush hour traffic in EDSA we met in Cubao roughly half past 10am. There are different ways to get there but the easiest we did is, from Farmer's Market we had a little walk going to Ali Mall. At the back of it we took a jeepney going to Antipolo Church. The fare per commuter was roughly 34 Pesos(less than a dollar). It was a long yet fun ride, 45 minutes to an hour. Our drop-off point was at the back of ION Gas Station-Gen. Luna St.
Then, another short walk from the Gas Station to Antipolo Church. While walking along the street of P. Oliveros we saw the Lucio's Pares House(Lugaw at Mami) where we had our lunch. I'm still unsure if it's a Filipino resto or a small local eatery, all I know is it's a nice and clean place to eat. Meals are also good and not so pricey. Location is perfect for hungry commuters like us who will go to Pintô.
How to get there? It was hot and humid noon when we left the Pares House, feeling full but because time is precious we had to walk again going to the church. We had to double time since we're already behind schedule. Thankfully, we were able to ride on a trike going to Pintô in less than 5 minutes. Our trike driver was like a Superman without a cape and saved us. Zoom! Travel time was roughly 10 minutes and we paid 50 Pesos(1 US Dollar).
At last! Welcome to Pintô! Although we arrived exhausted and sweaty, my excursion to this place was a breath of fresh air. Antipolo, in the province of Rizal was something new to me until I saw Pintô.
New things this 2018! Like Mr. Zuckerberg, I also screwed up my courage to see other amazing places aside from those I visited in Batangas last year and so far I'm enjoying it. There's more to come!
What is Pintô? Hold on, before I continue my story perhaps we should answer the question first. Can you answer? That's "Door" in Filipino/Tagalog! Interesting!
The Door To Many Doors. Literally for only 200 Pesos(roughly 4 US Dollars) entrance fee per visitor, there are so many doors you can open and each has a story to tell. Stories mostly painted on canvases that don't need your judgement but just pure acceptance.
Admission Fee(As of February 13, 2018)
Adult- Php200/$4
Senior Citizen or PWD- Php180/$3.60
Student w/ valid School ID or
any proof of enrollment- Php100/$2
3 years old and below- Free!
Just in case you need Google Maps. No, you really need it! I'm a true-blue Google fan and Google Maps really helped us not to get lost in Antipolo City. In fact it's very useful everytime I travel. What's great about it, if you're an Android phone user this app is already installed and all you need to do is to type the address on the search box, here's for Pintô: 1 Sierra Madre St., Grand Heights Subdivision, Antipolo, Rizal.
Why I love museums? I'm a museum lover for almost two years now. It all started when I went to National Museum of the Philippines last 2016, I was kinda depressed and I thought I was living in a wrong world, wrong surroundings, wrong friends, wrong job and wrong life. I felt refreshed after and I thought I needed more of that. Hence, going to museum is now my hobby. Sadness led me to rediscover the power of art and reclaim my passion.
What I've learned? If you will see all my published posts, most of them are about museum. For almost two years, I've already visited almost 20 museums and galleries. This hobby really fits my personality. I'm a proud loner and somewhat introvert, perhaps the reasons why I'm still single but because I'm very fond of art, paintings and installation art helped me to see the other worlds. Moreover, it helped me understand how artists see things through their eyes and how their minds understood things without personally talking to them, just merely by looking at their paintings. Ahm, am I being too serious?
Sorry for that but you know, hopefully the next time I go to a gallery I'll be looking at my own artworks. I wanna completely bring back the artistic side of me. I wanna play again with the colors, brushes and canvases like I used to do when I was a 3rd grader.
Pinto is a super Instagram-worthy art museum. This place is what millennials are looking for. Everywhere can be a beautiful background for our Instagram post. Yeah, that's why I have a lot of pictures to share on this post. You'll be puzzled and asked yourself if you're still in the Philippines or already in Spain or Greece without you flying there because of its modern contemporary architecture. It reminds me of the Haciendas in the old Mexican Telenovela Pasiôn de Amor.
The lot area is 1.3 hectare, it's really a big sanctuary for artists and admirers of their paintings. We never thought we would see all the galleries because we arrived there late, luckily there were only few people because it was weekday and it didn't give us a hard time to roam around Pintô. Our 4-Hour visit was worth it!
I would recommend you to go there before 10 am and weekdays if you want to appreciate more the beauty of the place. It's like "when nature meets art" and since summer is coming, much better to wear light clothes. If you're on a budget, make yourself full before you go there, anyhow there's a resto inside the Cafe Rizal where you can eat.
Museum of Indigenous Art
This area is dedicated to the Philippines' legendary tattooist Apo Whang-od and other great Tattooists or Mambabatok. Whang-od is now a National Treasure not only because she is a centennial woman from Buscalan but also she is the oldest and last mambabatok(traditional Kalinga tattooist). Salute to you Apo!
A very cool Casita.
The door to Mindanao Collection. Come with me and let's get to know more the Filipino culture!
This is very "Ancient Aliens".
Pintô is really big and I almost fainted because of the hot weather. Good thing they have cozy open gardens to protect and save you from that.
Parental Guidance! I'm not sure if you'll like this room about Sex and Love because I was half-hearted, I guess because it wasn't that extreme for me. Jk! Pretty much we'll just leave this small room to our parents or couples.
Famous on FB and Instagram. The Hollow Man by Alab Pagarigan
One of my favorite paintings. (Sadly, I forgot the artist name)
Another fave Oblivious by Stephanie Lopez
This one is my all-time favorite old car. Volkswagen Beetle
Paintings from different artists.
Rules and Policies inside Pintô.
Oops! Here are the things you need to follow when you enter the museum. (courtesy of Pintô)
1. Baggage: All bags are subject for inspection. Backpacks and Big Bags should be left at the baggage counter.
2. Persons with disability may request access to the PWD entrance.
3. No touching or leaning on artworks.
4. No running or rough playing.
5. No shouting.
6. No flash photography inside the museum galleries.
7. No videos are allowed.
8. No props are allowed.
9. No changing of clothes.
10. No food or drinks are allowed to be brought inside the premises.
11. If you break something, you pay for it.
"A blue sky waiting tomorrow,
waiting tomorrow,
shining and shimmering.
A blue sky waiting tomorrow,
waiting tomorrow,
maybe it's all we need"
Let me end this post with a chorus from a song "Blue Sky" of Hale, a Filipino band. Yeah, maybe I need to wait for another blue sky and maybe I need to be more patient because maybe that's all I need, because maybe tomorrow is a better day. Maybe I'm not sure if I could still wait but one thing I'm sure is that I'll always make myself worth it and super happy. Even if I don't have a partner, even if the world is unfair and even if life sucks, I'll make sure to find happiness within myself. I've learned when I was inside Pintó Museum to not be hard on yourself and just enjoy the day. This place has reminded me of how you need to love yourself more than anything. Somehow it has cleansed my mind.
So, it was already 5pm when we went out and rode a trike for 50 Pesos(roughly $1) going to the UV Express Terminal. We decided to take a shuttle going to Ayala, Makati City for our convenience and the fare was 60 Pesos(roughly $1.20) per person.
That's all for today folks! I hope this article is informative to you. I appreciate your time reading this and please help me become a social media influencer by liking, following and subscribing on my:
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