I finally found the time to explore the Palawan Heritage Center and the Palawan Special Battalion World War II Memorial Museum which I meant to visit from when I learned about their existence a couple of months ago.
I started with the Palawan Heritage Center which was located in the Legislative Building of the Provincial Capitol. I learned about it when I went to Baragatan, a local festival, back in June. I stayed for an hour or two in the Center for a guided tour and chat with two of the museum's artist-guides. The Center had different sections dedicated to introduce Palawan heritage and culture.
In this visit, my favorite part was the painting area with contemporary paintings done by local artists. There was an on-going art competition hosted by a Korean organization and it was the day of the deadline. Even though I was not submitting anything, I felt excited seeing canvases and artists arrive one by one to submit their artworks. It felt good to be in a room surrounded by the energy of hope, creation, and beauty.
As much as I admire the contemporary, I likewise love the secrets of the ancient world. I learned how the Tagbanua's were amazing wood carvers - that even weapons and everyday use tools were intricately made. We still have our caveman to this very day, the Tau't Bato, who choose to be undisturbed by the lowlander's civilization, and continue to live in the peaks of Mt. Matalingahan as they did hundreds of years ago. I felt nostalgia, even though I was not born in any of the time periods depicted, for the old maps and photos of Taytay, of Cuyo - were majority of lowland Palaweños came from, and the old Puerto Princesa City.
See how intricate these wood carvings are! I can die beautifully.
The next time I come to Taytay Fort or the Fuerza de Sta. Isabel, I'll make sure to take a photo from this angle.
I wanted to go to Ima's for lunch, a vegetarian place I last visited pre-pandemic. It was no longer in the location where it used to be. I walked along Rizal Avenue to go to my second option, Itoy's Coffee House. Maybe it was the heat of the sun or maybe I was too hungry. After walking by two times, I was not even able to locate it. Mind you, it's in a very easy to spot location. From that corner, I decided to go to SM since I could not find any shops to eat along the path. Luckily, I saw a cafe called Calm Cafe just a little past my favorite Korean grocery, Woori. I entered and saw that there were only two customers inside - yes, a perfect introvert find for the introvert. Their menu consisted of drinks and light snacks. I chose Vietnamese coffee and a Korean garlic bread.
I entered the right cafe.
Mindlessly, I opened my email (ugh!) even though I promised myself not to do so since today was my Artist Date*. But I was glad that I did because I saw that I won the essay competition I entered for two weeks ago. It seems my 4AM writing routine aka Haruki Murakami writing challenge did pay off. I tried to cry out of happiness but I could not. It has been quite a while that my soul felt genuinely happy from writing. The last time I won anything from writing was when I was still an elementary student. Memories of my first paper from my English 1 class in University even flashed back. I was graded a 3.0, with comments in red that read "fragments", "run-ons", etc scattered across the pages. Wait, have I saved that paper? Or have I thrown it away?
Okay, let us now go back to the museums of the world and out of the museum of my mind. We can have the inner mind tour again when the essay has been published.
After I finished my meal and shared the news to my friends, I continued on to the next museum. From my location, I rode a tricycle since it was still quite hot. I was also not sure with the location since my spatially challenged brain thought that it was in the direction of Plaza Cuartel when it was actually the opposite.
I arrived in the museum and there was no one there. The lights were even turned off. After calling around and getting barked at by dogs for a while, a caretaker came in to see me. He apologized and said since there were not many tourists, there was no guided tour and no tour guide either. He said that earlier, there was just one Japanese tourist who came before me. Lucky! I have the whole museum to myself - no waiting and no haste needed! Even in the heritage center earlier, I was the only guest that's why I was able to talk with the guides for quite a long time.
I have to be honest, I didn't like the energy in this museum. Or maybe it's just me, that I really don't like wars or anything that deals with destruction and destroying. But this here is primarily to honor the 1,000 Palawaños, and the special battalion they formed to defend and free our land. I think the section or objects that I didn't like the most were the bombs, the guns, and the bayonets. It reminded me the evils and ugliness of war, and that nobody actually "wins" in any war.
What I liked best in the museum is the "humane face" - the listing of all names of Palaweños who participated in the battalion. Upon reading the surnames, I found majority of these to be surnames I was familiar with. This past is indeed a very recent past. It was the lived realities of our grandparents. My grandmother was around 8 or 9 years old living in Cuyo when the war erupted. She told me there was someone who would ring a bell when the Japanese came and all the girls and women would hide. If by any chance they were seen, they pretended and acted that they had malaria. The Japanese soldiers were very afraid of malaria and did not touch them. I actually saw in the paraphernalia that they had some sort of anti-malaria object that they carried with them.
I hope more Palawaños can visit this museum. I'm grateful for the family and the supporters who set-up and maintained this space as a visual memory of a history which should never be repeated ever again.
On a lighter note, there is a Freedom Wall for visitors to write something. As I read the notes, there were quite a number of funny ones, most probably from elementary students.
Yes dear, your ancestors will hear you. I really went from えーかわいい！ to かわいそう in a second. I feel bad for kids who are pressured to do things they don't want to do. Zooming in the photo, I also saw things like "Super ganda, sana grades ko din" etc.
I felt a range of emotions in this museum.
I rode a tricycle back to the Provincial Capitol. I then saw where Ima's relocated but it was closed.
I continued to walk to Rizal Avenue and saw a shop selling Japanese houseware products.
I'll come back and buy a ceramic pot to brew tea and a tea cup.
Beside it was a quaint cafe called Vinyl Cafe. I later saw in their IG that they played their vinyl records and they had held several events around it. I'll definitely request to play Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence when I come back to dine.
Palawan Heritage Center -> City Library (get a library card) -> Palawan Special Battalion World War II Memorial Museum -> Plaza Cuartel -> Immaculate Conception Cathedral
Palawan Heritage Center -> Calm Cafe (since I could not find Ima's Vegetarian or Itoy's Coffee House) -> Palawan Special Battalion World War II Memorial Museum -> Wabi-Sabi Japan Housewares -> Vinyl Cafe
*Artist Date - time block I dedicate to myself to get inspiration.
