Mga Karanasan ng Isang Panganay: Mario's Aftermath, Arrival at the Book Fair and the Marian Exhibit

Part 1 of my posts on the Manila International Book Fair 2014. Since a lot happened, I decided to divide my posts on the event.

Wow... talk about a worst case scenario. Originally I was gonna go to MOA last Friday, but as we all know, Typhoon Mario just had to come in. As we've seen in the news, floods struck everywhere, families had to evacuate and places were submerged. Some even lost their lives during this calamity as well. Hoping for the best of those affected...

Also... best say a prayer and lend a helping hand to those affected.

Now, finally after plans have gone awry, I was able to push through to going to SM Mall of Asia yesterday for the last day of the Manila International Book Fair (MIBF2014). Originally, the plan was that I was gonna go there last Friday and again on Saturday, but you all know why things didn't push through. Sure, it didn't rain hard on Saturday, but I was still not allowed to go. I know it's cliche but as always, better late than never :). It's good to plan ahead, but also good to prepare for the possible worst case scenario.

Now, I went and attended the event all by myself. I left the house at about 11 AM and arrived at MOA about past 12 noon. On the way, the traffic at the last traffic light before MOA was rough. Not only that, probably due to thinking of so many things, I realized I forgot to bring my ID since students attending would have a discount. Good thing though when I came to SMX Convention Center, I still got a discount when I told the ticket sellers that I was a student, (albeit with no ID. At least I was honest, hehe). :) (Just so you know, tickets cost 20 pesos for adults, 15 pesos for students and kids. Difference is not much, but sometimes every peso counts.)

Souvenir program for the MIBF (et. al) I got two of them (one at the tickets and the other at one of the entrances). The 2nd came with a map of the book fair.

Entering the bookfair is overwhelming. People were all over, checking out books and all. I just went around quickly at first before I left the place and headed to the Main Mall because there was an exhibit (namely: Mary and the Popes Exhibit) there that featured Marian images and different memorabilias and relics of the popes. Of course, since I was already in MOA, why not check it out? Diba? :)

entrance

Inside the book fair. Kinda like Quiapo/Divisoria.

At first, I got lost. I entered the main mall and thought it was there, since I remembered that the exhibit was at the South Wing of SM-MOA. Note that I do not go here much, so I'm not that familiar with the place. I finally stumbled upon the exhibit later on at a place near the back of the mall.

The exhibit wasn't that big (but not small), but it was a beautiful and inspiring exhibit that featured images of the Virgin Mary under different titles and depictions, such as La Naval, Manaoag, Guadalupe, Antipolo, etc... . In addition to that, exhibited as well were images of the different popes of the Catholic Church and some of their relics. There were also a lot of papal memorabilia, such as the skullcap of St. John Paul II and other objects given by the popes. There was even a standfie of Pope Francis (and there were more of them at the book fair). It was a blessing to see this.