Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Rizal Shrine
J.P. Rizal St at F. Mercado St • Tues-Sat 8.30am-noon & 1-4.30pm • Free •
T
049 834 1599
The site where José Rizal was born in 1861 is now the
Rizal Shrine
, though the building
here is a late 1940s replica of a typical nineteenth-century Philippine
bahay na bato
- it
features lower walls of stone and upper walls of wood,
narra
-wood floors and windows
made from capiz shell. All the rooms contain period furniture and in the adjacent gallery
there are displays of Rizal's belongings, including the clothes he was christened in and a
fragment of the suit he was wearing when he was executed. In the garden is a
bahay kubo
(wooden) playhouse, a replica of the one in which Rizal used to spend his days as a child.
2
Los Baños and around
The small lakeside town of
LOS BAÑOS
, around 60km south of Manila, attracts a steady
stream of domestic tourists who primarily come to gorge on its delectable
buko pies
(stuffed with young coconut), said to have first been cooked up here in the 1960s by a
food technologist from nearby
UPLB
. In and around the campus itself are a couple of
enlightening
museums
, the UPLB Museum of Natural History and Riceworld, while
the looming volcano cone of
Mount Makiling
makes an enticing target for a day-hike.
UPLB
Jose R Velasco Ave, Los Baños (just off the National Highway) •
W
uplb.edu.ph • Take Green Star Express bus from Taft Ave at Sen Gil Puyat
(Buendia) in Pasay City (destined for Santa Cruz) and ask to get off at “College”; you should be dropped off at the Caltex petrol station,
from where jeepneys run to UPLB (P2-3)
Just outside Los Baños is the
University of the Philippines Los Baños
(UPLB) campus at
the base of Mount Makiling (see below). This branch of the national public university
has a special focus on Asian agriculture and biotechnology, making it one of the
foremost research centres in the region.
UPLB Museum of Natural History
UPLB Campus • Mon-Fri 8.30am-4.30pm • P20 •
T
049 536 2864
The most absorbing attraction on the campus itself is the
UPLB Museum of Natural
History
, which displays thousands of Philippine plants, animals and micro-organisms,
including a sperm whale skeleton, giant bamboo, a marijuana exhibit and a
controversial (and unsettling) collection of tiny miscarried human foetuses.
Riceworld Museum
Pili Drive • Mon-Fri 8am-5pm • Free •
T
049 536 2701 ext 2201,
W
irri.org
Next door to the campus is the International Rice Research Institute, which is home to
the unexpectedly absorbing
Riceworld Museum
, showcasing the importance of the staple
that feeds half the world's population. Apart from an overview of the developing world's
food shortages, the museum has a number of small but intriguing displays on the history,
production and types of rice, including one where visitors can inspect live paddy-field
insects such as damselflies, wolf spiders and aggressive fire ants under a microscope.
Mount Makiling
Trail begins at Makiling Center monitoring station, College of Forestry, UPLB campus (
T
049 536 2577,
W
mountmakiling.org; P10
registration fee) • From the Los Baños Crossing on the National Highway, take a jeepney to the College of Forestry
The dormant volcano of
Mount Makiling
(1090m) is identifiable by its unusual shape,
which is rather like a reclining woman. The mountain is named after Mariang Makiling
(aka “Mary of Makiling”), a young woman whose spirit is said to protect the
mountain. On quiet nights, so the legend goes, you can hear her playing the harp,
although the music is rarely heard any more because Makiling is rumoured to be angry
about the scant regard paid to the environment by the authorities. UPLB (see above)
