If you're a book lover and is currently on a serious penny-less crisis like moi, then MV Doulos is your thrift-spending paradise.
Doulos [greek for servant], is the world's oldest active ocean-faring passenger ship [built in 1914]. She is now owned by the German charity Good Books for All, and is used as a floating bookshop. She is manned by a volunteer crew of different nationalities and visits sea ports world-wide.
The MV Doulos currently holds the biggest floating library in the world. Normally there is somewhere around 3000 to 5000 books on the shelf and half a million in the hold. She is part of OM [Operation Mobilisation]. OM currently has more than 5,400 people working in more than 110 countries around the world, seeking to "demonstrate and proclaim the love of God."Here are some photos I took while aboard it. You'll find lots of kid-friendly, inspirational and Christian books in here. There are sections that are also dedicated to Health, Cooking, Designing, etc. Prices are surprisingly cheap considering that some of the books are hard-bound, glossy paged, and you'll even find the original selling prices at the back of it. The cheapest one I found was 50 Php and the most expensive ones range between 400-600 Php.
If you're more of a fiction lover, there's a small tent which houses books of that category. The best part is that you can get 3 books for just 200 Php in the Fiction section. Which is why I didn't hesitate to grab some for myself. I got 6 new books and it totaled for less than a thousand bucks.--superb great bargain. The ship also houses CDs and casettes which are diverse in genres. Other than Christian music and instrumentals, they also have Pop, Rock, RnB, etc.
Doulos is currently in Gate 1, South Harbor, Manila, Philippines Pier 13 [near Manila Hotel] until March 30. The ship is open to the public from 10 AM onwards.
She is currently doing her last world tour and is planned to be de-commissioned in 2010.
