An inaugural eco-awareness program for selected ASEAN Youths at Ayala Museum and De La Salle - College of Saint Benilde in Manila, the Philippines.

Many ASEAN youth leaders were invited to ASEAN Youth Summit last year and unlike any other excursion trips, the eco-arts and cultural expedition started by visiting the Ayala Museum in the early morning.

We had an exclusive tour around the on-going exhibition of ?Crossroads of Civilizations? at level 4, Ayala Museum. Indeed, the museum allowed all of us to experience the impressive works of ancient and modern South East Asia ecological related arts, culture and history with a touch of Filipino hospitality and warmth. The sophisticated atmosphere inside the museum was superb and very inviting especially the visit to the Gold of Ancestors is worth the opportunity to get a glimpse of life.

And at the heart of the collection, the museum also covered the ethnographic and archaeological written details on the chronological stories of golden treasures which believed to be existed for more than a millennium ago. Unfortunately, picture taking is strictly prohibited in the museum.

And subsequently, we headed to the De La Salle – College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB) College of Design and Art campus. Upon the arrival, we were warmly welcomed and ushered into another group of student envoys guided tour at the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design which was running the ?Safe Place in the Future? Dystopia Now Utopia Never? exhibition.

We spent about an hour to get to know and understanding nearly most of the masterpiece which presented at the exhibition together with our friendly envoys who have been most helpful in enriching the exhibition experience to all of us.

After a long and heavy lunch break, here comes the highlight of the eco-excursion to DSL-CSB where all of the delegates had the opportunity to make their self-decorated hands-on experience in designing and painting their very own ASEAN Eco-shirt. Each and every one of us was excited when we can start to get our hand dirty by painting anything we want with no limits but with one common theme, Eco-friendly ASEAN.  

And of course, I never failed the chance to paint my own too. It was truly fun and exciting when everyone is artistically eager and creative in designing their individual ASEAN eco-shirts. After all, it was fun, exciting and certainly a new form of strengthening eco-awareness via the creative arts and cultural experiences.