Logos Hope: Floating with Missions

As I have mentioned, I had the last of my love week date yesterday, with my best college buddies. I have written about them on my Project C entry, Amae and Coeli were my thesis-mates, blockmates and girlfriends rolled into one.

We have our occasional dates throughout the year, and it is usually after office when we're not toxic enough. Amae'is working for a media agency, while Coeli and I are from the research side. Anyways, it was time for us to sit down on our Indochina trip so we decided to meet us for a Sundate.

Sadly, we were not able to discuss the agenda, because Amae was locked from inside her dormitory (biometrics) and it was lunch already when we left our favorite coffee shop. For those who knew us, we are the people who stick to our schedules and make the most out of it. But yesterday was different. It was the first time that we decided on a restaurant that fast. We had our lunch at John and Yoko, a Japanese restaurant in Greenbelt 5 (I'll have a separate entry for this), watched "Unofficially Yours", one hell of a laughtrip and the main trip of the day is to visit the floating book fair in Pier 15 (and that's what this entry is all about).

So after we had the movie, we decided to push through our main plan to visit Logos Hope, a floating book fair which was stationed in Manila Bay. Since I was the one who knows and informed them about the said book fair, so I was "assigned" to direct the driver to the place.

It was Logos Hope's first time to dock in the Philippines. Its predecessor, MV Duolos, made it to the Philippines seven times since 1988. Logos Hope's first stop was in Cebu and it came to Manila last February 17. It will stay in Manila until March 13, and will sail to Subic Bay and stay there for until mid-April.

Logos Hope is full of 4,000 books coming from the different parts of the world and is composed of international cabin crews. It has four main stations - the book fair and sale section, "the Journey of Life", theatre and International cafe.

Upon entering the venue, a lifeboat theatre will be greeting you and present you a video about Logos Hope. A cabin crew will be explaining to you more about the Logos Hope, a one-way route observed inside the ship and the units/ prices for the books. Units are used by the ship in order to price the books. Various unit-currency conversions are observed for the different parts of the world. This time, as they docked in the Philippines, they observed 100 units = Php 100 conversion (or 1 unit = Php 1) (as our cabin crew host pronounces, "pey-sos"). Books prices ranged from 25 units to 3,000 units, depending on how big, interactive and illustrated one is.

Aside from the variety of books in the fair - from Sudoku, crossword puzzles, fictions, maps, cookbooks, general information/ knowledge books to children's books, Logos Hope also carries bibles, Christian CDs, religion and journals/ notebooks. Cashier was located towards the exit of the book fair where you can also buy souvenirs items (glasses, keychains, ballpens and bags).

The next part was the "The Journey of Life" which is an illustrated story of "The Prodigal Son". It was a walking pathway, from being a nice guy to casino royalty to being poor and admitting wrong decisions made.

We didn't experience the theatre, it was closed when we passed by, so I really don't have any idea what they offer for this part.

Last station was the International Cafe, which offers variety of food choices - from international cola brands (Coke was bigger in size) to cupcakes, breads and ice cream (we got the ice cream). Just be prepared to spend higher since it was on a ship (there will also be an "extra" from the stores outside our neighborhood groceries and supermarkets). We had our ice cream for Php 50.00. Popcorns are sold at Php 30.00, cakes at Php 80.00 and softdrinks from Php 60-80/ can.

Before you exit the ship, there is a main lobby for cafe customers who can't find a vacant seat near the cafe. You can stay there and check on the world map with locations where Logos Hope has been, and their International Cabin Crew.

By the end of the day, though the book selection is very limiting, the experience of stepping in a ship, moving from one end to another and interacting with various nationalities, is all worth it.

Logos Hope is open from Tuesdays to Sundays. Weekdays (including Saturdays) are from 10am to 8pm, while Sundays are from 1pm to 9pm. Logos Hope also offer unique dining experience for couples inside the ship. Tickets are at Php 20.00 for those who are above 12 years old. Kids before 12 are free.