National Museum of Natural History

Well look at that, it is already August of the year 2026!  Imagine that?!! Where did all the time go? All 31 days of July were pretty hectic. With an added blend of toxicity, sheer exhaustion and everything else in between.

But I always tell myself with gratitude. With God's mercy, I survive. We all do, don't we? Moving forward, let's include love to sweeten the blend. So we don't lose ourselves, okay?

Speaking of L.O.V.E. Allow me to backtrack to the 14th of February 2026. In some strange, twisted way we still celebrate V-day, despite everything that happened. We even wore red, go figure! 

This year, it fell on a Saturday so we went to the Museum of Natural History in Manila. Our main purpose was to see Lolong, the world's largest saltwater crocodile in captivity. His stuffed remains are permanently displayed in the Museum of Natural History.  

The museum was reopened to the public in 2018 with 12 galleries and halls. Its collections range from the mountains to the seas. The Tree of Life structure holding prominence in the main hall near the entrance. Aptly described by the current generation as very instagrammable (a new word in my vocabulary). 

Entrance is FREE. Tuesdays to Sundays, 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM

The skeleton of a male Marinduque sperm whale measuring 13.25 meters or 43.5 feet in length.

GUESS WHAT?

Lolong was no where to be found!!! It was not displayed as it was under maintenance.

Good reason to revisit the National Museum of Natural History.

Wat Mangkon Kamalawat (Dragon Lotus Temple) Bangkok (May 03, 2025)

From Wat Traimit, we rode a tuk tuk to our next temple. Weaving in and out of traffic, through small alleys and main roads, riding these small motorized, three-wheeled, meter-less, tourist traps 'vehicles' is quite an adventurous experience in itself.

I decided to make a separate post for this specific temple because it is one of the most elaborate temples I've visited. On the outside, you would hardly notice it is a place of worship, because it is situated along a busy street. But inside, it is ornately resplendent, and still maintains its sacrosanctity.

Formerly known as Wat Leng Noei Yi, it was built in 1871 by a Chinese monk named Master Chin Wang. It was renamed during the reign of King Rama V as Wat Mangkon Kamalawat. The largest and most significant Chinese Buddhist temple in Bangkok, located in the Pom Prap Sattru Phai district of Bangkok's Chinatown.

Admission is free.     Dress appropriately.     Always observe silence.
Mondays - Fridays 08:00 AM - 04:30 PM; Saturdays - Sundays 08:00 AM - 05:30 PM

Since we were already in the Chinatown vicinity, we walked for about two blocks to the rows of street food stalls and restaurants for early dinner. We are NOT that adventurous though to eat scorpions and other insects for our meals. No, thanks! LOL 

As the sun set and the neon signs lighted up, the crowd grew thicker but it was still manageable because the side walk and the street is wide enough. After scouring the available street foods, we settled for a bowl fish maw soup, some barbecued pork belly and iced Fanta.

Temples in Bangkok

In the same manner that I like visiting old churches here in the Philippines, the same fascination goes to places of worship of other religious denomination in other countries.

The kingdom of Thailand (formerly known as Siam) is predominantly a Buddhist nation. Whenever sister dearest would ask "what is the plan for the day?". My usual answer "let's go visit some temples!" Join me as we explore three two Buddhist temples which we visited, separately.

Wat Yannawa (April 28, 2025) commonly known as the Boat Temple is in the Sathon district. We visited this boat shaped temple when we alighted at one of the stops on the Chao Phraya tourist boat. 

Traimit Withayaram Temple (May 03, 2025) is the home of the Sukhothai Traimit Golden Buddha which is the largest Golden Buddha image/statue in the world. Made of pure gold, it measures 12 feet 5 inches in diameter with a height of 15 feet 9 inches from the base of the crown. It weighs about 5.5 tonnes with a price value of 28.5 million pounds, dates back over 700 years. A valuable treasure of Thailand and Buddhism. 

There is a minimal fee of 40 Thai baht for the temple hall to view the Golden Buddha. An additional 100 Thai baht to visit the multi-floor history exhibits at the museum. Since it was already mid afternoon, we skipped the museum visit.

There are a lot of stairs to climb to get to the chedi
which houses the Golden Buddha. 
You also need to remove your shoes to enter the sacred place.