Thursday, May 3, 2012

Mind Museum, My kind of museum

We've been wanting to visit Mind Museum since before it opened. The problem was that since its opening, tickets for the weekend were always sold out. We had to delay for a couple of weeks before we were able to procure our much desired tickets. Until finally.

The whole day saturday, I was abuzz, excited to finally see the much raved about museum (Yeah, call me a geek or a nerd!). Everything about Mind Museum seemed to be the promised "world class" quality from the pictures to the website. 

But being a souvenir-keeper, I got a little disappointed that our print outs are our tickets. I guess it's to be expected since it's becoming the trend. 

So there we were 30 minutes late after 6pm since we got a little lost in Fort (I unintentionally deleted the map from my iphone.). We entered in a rush. 




First we were greeted by a talking robot, Aedi. She was downright courteous and welcoming. :D We went about reading some facts, not all since if we did that nothing would really sink in. 


I remember reading a book (can't remember which one) where the author said that the correct way to visit a museum is go in and stare at one artwork. Yes, just one. You absorb everything it wishes to convey. Do it this way, you go away with a lot. If you do it the tourist way, which is hurriedly look at one artwork to the next, you go away having seen everything, but forgetting everything. 

Going back to my previous train of thought, there're a lot of facts written in different creative ways. I particularly took notice of one about the first university in Asia which is my beloved alma mater, University of Santo Tomas. :)  

There were a lot of facts to take in that I can't really remember any of them to be honest. We didn't really read all of them since it can be quite nauseating having to read quickly since we feared not seeing everything with the limited time of 3 hours (2.5 hours since we were late.).  



After all the facts plastered about, we went on to the interactive plays. Ooh I loved this part. There were lots to explore. I especially loved the static energy display where you touch a ball and static energy is released until most of your hair stand up. I would've uploaded my picture but Fred took a video which I've yet to learn to upload. 

Another is the shadow box where your shadow gets absorbs by the wall behind you and stays there for a minute. I absolutely adore playing with shadows! :)


 It's sad though that barely a month on and some already need repair.


Beyond is the artful rendition of science. A child can easily learn the parts of the brain or the parts of a cell with the artistic and hands-on learning presented by the museum. I'm a firm believer of learning the exploration way as opposed to just theory. :)


This is a PG museum though. We were quite surprised when a poke at a screen and it showed us how different animals mate. And there were small children watching too! 


The highlight of the museum must be the great faux dinosaur fossils assembled. It was a sight to behold for sure. It's very photogenic as well as a great background for a photo op. 


Another favorite of mine about the museum is the instructions on how to become a fossil. I am thinking of following the five steps. Who knows? I just might make a great contribution to science after my death. It seems quite hard to do though. :)


We got to the dark room last (for the ground floor) after the film showing about the cycles earth and life went through. (The show must be world class! The 3D animation was impressive.) It felt enchanting and solemn that I just sat on a chair and looked around. It really felt like I was under a sky full of stars and I just love that. I dream of one day visiting a dark spot where light pollution does not exist and the night sky would just be clear with stars twinkling. 

**I'm sorry, I've been reading a book and had momentarily become my dreamy self.** 

Back to the museum, the effects they made are truly mesmerizing and convincing.


Up on the second floor are more interesting stuff. One that I'd never forget is the line of toilet bowls where you pull seatbelts to read some facts about toilets. They're right, it's the only time I ever stuck my hand into a toilet bowl and I do hope never again. 


There are fun games to play as well. One is where there's a laser light that you reflect using mirrors to hit the bull's eye. I watched many try to do it but it's quite hard with so many people moving one mirror this way and that after you've set it. Fred was finally able to hit the mark when people cleared. :p

There was also a billiards table with an elliptical shape. I was so happy to have hit the other ball straight on when I realized the shape made it impossible for you not to hit the other ball. BUMMER.

Visiting the Mind Museum sure is a great experience. It's something I haven't seen in other countries yet. I sure hope that would be able to maintain it. I've thought about it and although P600 is a little expensive, it really is worth it!



The Mind Museum
JY Campos Park, 3rd Avenue
Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
(02) 909-MIND (6463)

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