It's that time of the year again when everyone is on their toes and itching to get into the 2017 Manila International Book Fair. Since we were here last year, we kind of knew what to expect. But this year, there's more in store because there was an additional exhibition space on the 2nd Floor which meant more books and stuff to browse and buy from. Still, it was surprising to see long lines outside of the SMX which made us feel uncertain at first because we thought that was the line to get in. But, as we neared the entrance gates, it seemed that it was the line to buy tickets from. We were fortunate that I had printed out tickets from the UST Facebook page and we were able to get in without any fuss.
Honestly, this time, we were really aiming for specific books and other school supplies but we still took our time visiting the other exhibition booths :)
The first booth that drew our attention was one that had Japanese books in it. Dana and I just looked at each other and just went straight for it. Because of our excitement, we failed to take note of the exhibitor but we managed to buy a Manga drawing book for P500. There were actually several that we wanted to buy but they were a bit expensive :) Dana had to choose between this one and one with girls :) She said she mostly drew boys anyway so she chose this.
One of our favorite booths was the WS Pacific Publications or the Learning is Fun! booth. If you're looking for Christmas gifts for young people, this was the place to go to. They had many educational references, Disney book collections, and activity books.
There were also a lot of preschool learning tools like flashcards and many sturdy books like ABC's counting, colors and shapes.
For adults, there were also plenty of recipe books.
Most of the books we got were for Dylan. He picked the whales and the sharks.
Our next stop was the National Book Store booth, because honestly, I was looking for black paper haha Dana was looking into Hamilton books. There certainly was a frenetic feel at the National Bookstore booth :) Everyone was in a rush to find their favorite books :) It was like you're worried that it's the last book and you want to be the one that gets it in the end haha
Anyway, even if the place was jam-packed, there were more than enough counters to serve the buying public. There were also National Bookstore employees stationed at the line to get everyone moving.
We got our black paper and some pens from Dong-A and Faber Castell. For every purchase of Dong-A pens you get to have your name drawn on a bookmark of your choice. Ate Creselle, was the one who did the artwork. We met her at a Dong-A workshop at the National Museum before :)
Fully Booked was our next stop since the Hamilton book that Dana was looking for was quite out of reach for her. We first headed to the graphic novels section. There were a lot of teenagers here :) I was able to buy my Naruto manga volume 1 :) Dana was also able to buy her Hamilton book! She's one happy girl! :)
One other booth that we ended up buying from were the MSA booth for these reading cards. While paying for them, the cashier mentioned that I could get another card so I can take advantage of the 3 for P100 deal. I told them these were all I needed and she gave me a P5 discount on each card. Cool! :) Thanks!
While we were leaving the Ground Floor exhibition hall, Dana and I chanced upon this booth. There were a lot of memo pads, stationery and well-designed notebooks that we thought would be great for her teachers :) Other parents were probably thinking the same thing :)
Dana and I got separated from Patrick and Dylan because Dylan got light-headed when we were at the Fully Booked booth. Patrick had to bring him out because we were worried he might throw up right there! We got a text from them saying they went on ahead to the 2nd Floor when Dylan felt a little better and that we should just meet there.
Popular booths included Pilot, Lampara and this booth with lots of pens and markers :)
There were also different booths that specialize in educational toys, sensory toys for autism and charts for teachers.
At the far corner was the Fandom Fest, where there were booths dedicated to fandoms like Hamilton, Lord of the Rings, Doctor Who and more. This is also where there was a book signing and photo opp activity happening.
We were drawn to the Artline booth and ended up buying more markers :) We also got a free pen because our purchase reached P150 :)
And so ended another #2017MIBF day for us. We wished we could have bought more but well, we also had to stay within budget :)
See you next year! :)
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