Pampanga | Nayong Pilipino: realizing a childhood dream!

Nayong Pilipino - Clark Expo

In Metro Manila and nearby provinces, field trips and excursions are part of annual school activities, especially in the private schools.  But in far-flung areas and remote barangays like the one I once lived in Oriental Mindoro, field trips and excursions are unheard of activities in school.  I've never experienced field trips during my elementary days.  In my high school days, though Batangas is near Metro Manila, we had but only one field trip.  It's an educational tour to the Planetarium, the Luneta Park, a museum (I forgot what museum) and SM Store (educational tour(?)...and as if we have money to buy souvenirs...hehe).

But we haven't had a chance to go to Nayong Pilipino.  I don't remember where or how I got to know the place but I do think that I'm hoping to visit Nayong Pilipino way back in my high school days.  I heard then that by visiting Nayong Pilipino, I would be able to have a look of the entire Philippines through the miniature versions of some of the tourist attractions of our country including witnessing the lifestyle of some of our country's indigenous people so I dreamed of going there back then.  Unfortunately, it was not included in our field trip then.

The Nayong Pilipino I used to know is the one located near the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).  I thought it was closed already but my recent online research showed that it wasn't. According to the website I read, it's still open and is accepting tourists and visitors and take note, without entrance fee.  Nayong Pilipino is a cultural theme park that features replicas of tourist and historical sites of our country.  It also features different native villages that display the traditional shelters or houses as well as the lifestyle of the locals in the particular area.  It also features cultural presentations that showcase the talents of Filipino performers through folk dances and other cultural shows.

Our trip to the Nayong Pilipino was not really a planned visit.  After enjoying the hot air balloon festival, we're supposed to go straight to Paradise Ranch, Clark's nature and conservation park.  However, we made a wrong turn somewhere inside Clark, hence we ended up in Nayong Pilipino.  Since visiting this park is a childhood dream, we decided to drop by and have a look of the park.

It was past 9am when we reached the park.  It's still early but several buses and private vehicles were already parked inside.  We first took our brunch (breakfast and lunch at the same time) in the park's so-called canteen since we haven't had our breakfast yet. After the "brunch", we then explored the park.

Here are some of the attractions that we saw in our short and rush visit to this famous field trip destination, Nayong Pilipino.

Barasoain Church

Barasoain Church is originally located in Malolos Bulacan. It is the seat of Philippine Revolutionary Congress which convened from September 15, 1898 to the last week of February 1899 under the Presidency of Pedro A. Paterno.  The drafting of Malolos Constitution and the inauguration of the Philippine Republic on January 23, 1899, the first constitutional democracy in Asia took place in this church (source: the church's marker).

Nayong Pilipino - Barasoain Church Replica

Tribal Villages

Nayong Pilipino showcases several tribal villages which include the Aeta and Ifugao Villages.  Aeta Village features traditional huts where the Aetas sell native products like bamboo flutes, wooden toys and other bamboo- and wooden-made products.  In the Ifugao Village, several traditional houses were also featured like the Ayangan and Mayoyao houses.  Ayangan and Mayoyao houses were made of bamboos and cogon grass and stand on four sturdy wooden posts.  Mayoyao houses differs from that of other Ifugao traditional houses in terms of the steepness of their pyramidal roofs, Mayoyao's are very steep while the Ayangan's are not. Under these houses are tribal villagers who posed for the visitors. Others are there to showcase their talents like carving and basket making.

Nayong Pilipino - Aeta Village

Ifugao Village - Mayoyao House

Ifugao Village - Ayangan House

Folk Dances/Cultural Presentations

Nayong Pilipino also hosted cultural presentations and folk dances.  We were lucky that a presentation was scheduled during our visit so we were able to watch performers do some of our traditional dances like pandanggo sa ilaw and our national dance tinikling.  After the presentation, the dancers asked for  audience participation, inviting everyone especially the foreign visitors to go folk-dance with them.  It's a good presentation, everyone appreciated their performance and were happily applauding while watching them perform.

Nayong Pilipino - Cultural Presentation

Other Sites/Photos

Nayong Pilipino - fountain/flowers/etc.

Nayong Pilipino - lagoon

My models: Si Malakas at si Maganda :D

Nayong Pilipino - w/ Mariang Makiling and ?? (I forgot to ask eh...)

Visiting theme parks like this makes me feel like an innocent kid again; worry-free, carefree. Unfortunately, this was just a short and rush visit. We were not able to roam around the whole park but I am glad that finally, I was able to visit Nayong Pilipino.  Next time, Banawe Rice Terraces...(hehe...just wishing!!). :)

Date of Visit: February 11, 2012 
Entrance Fee: PhP50.00/person
Parking Fee: PhP20.00