Come Aboard!
Doulos Parchment Summons: January 13, 2007 :: Narnian Scribe: Francis Pasion
fter six long years, the Doulos has finally come again to our shores to bring the best and rarest books that can’t be found anywhere in the Philippines.
Doulos is Guinness Book of World Records’ oldest ocean-going passenger ship and the largest floating bookshop in the world.
Built in 1914, two years after the Titanic, Doulos began its journey to the seas, and eventually became a book shop offering almost 6,000 titles of books.
Almost 18 million people have visited Doulos over the years and indeed, as any Doulos crew member would say, “God keeps this ship afloat.”
While its an annual tradition that TPON holds its Parchment Summons (TPON’s book hunting sessions around the Metro) in time for the International Book Fair, this rare opportunity cannot be missed.
The Philippine Order of Narnians has set January 13 for a summons to visit this great ship. With their money in their pockets and eyes keen for seeing rare books, they set out from Greenbelt 3 to Pier 13 (near Manila Hotel).
Those Narnians present were the following: Francis, Altariel, Rej and Oneal and also Francis' Mom (note: She's not Ramandu's Daughter :D).
When the Narnian convoy arrived, they were greeted by a European lady at the entrance of the port. The line of people was long, as was expected during weekends, and they paid Php 10.00 each for the entrance.
They climbed a long ladder on to the main deck. At the deck, numerous framed posters of how Doulos began can be seen on the ship's walls. The ship really has a remarkable history (imagine, the ship is 93 years old already!)
When the Narnians arrived at the bookshop, it was packed with people that came from different parts of Metro Manila. Though the place was quite crowded, the convoy almost didn't notice it due to the excitement about new books yet to be found. All the books there have price tags in "units" and these units have equivalent value depending on the value of the currency of the country where the ship is docked.
The Narnians can only gasped at some Narnia and C.S. Lewis secondary books on the shelves as the convoy saw the books with very cheap and affordable prices (Php 250 for the Chronicles of Narnia). A member bought a book, “Not a Tame Lion” by Bruce Edwards for Php 300. A Narnian also saw a copy of "Roar: The Family's Guide to the Chronicles of Narnia" for only Php 400 (originally it costs Php 600) and lots of mini-booklets of "Knowing Aslan" for Php 100, while others bought cookbooks, “The Doulos Story” and other rare titles.
The ship itself was an experience. After about four hours of book hunting, the summons was finally over. And with the experience comes the knowledge that for four hours there, they were aboard the oldest ship in the world!
If you were not able to attend this summons, make sure you visit the ship soon. The ship leaves again on January 23 for Cebu (Jan. 26 - Feb. 19) and Batangas (Feb. 22 - Mar. 5).
Visit the Doulos site here.
The Narnians would also want to congratulate Rej (before we went to Doulos, Oneal showed us lots of videos and pics from the 2007 Rose Parade), where she was given the privilege of being chosen by George Lucas himself to represent the Filipino Star Wars cosplayers! Yeay! George Lucas! We want to scream. Ahhhhh! :D