Philippine Traffic part 2

I saw other things that just would never happen in America. I remember what Ruth said when I was praying to God to spare my life on the bike ride from Dakak and back, She said This is just life, and I replied This is just frightening. I thought we were nuts for driving with three adults on a small motorbike but that was nothing, I saw four men on one. I saw a girl riding side saddle with her feet swinging. I saw another bike with a driver and then behind him was a man holding his dog. Old ladies. They just seem so relaxed. Ruth was right this is just life at least to them.


Then there are the tricycles. I still don't understand the laws of physics because they seem to be broken in the Philippines. I don't see how its possible to fit five adults, one child, two suitcases, two travel bags and a couple of small bags in a tricycle with a tiny sidecar. But we did it. One trike that picked us up had a small boy eating an ear of corn sitting in front of the driver. The child wasn't strapped in or holding on, no concern just busy eating and occasionally shouting to someone he knew. I saw some vehicles so overloaded with people, that some were sitting on the roof. Ruths brother in law drove us to the hotel in the back of his pick up. He gave us plastic chairs to sit on. This would never happen in America, you wouldn't make it around the block before some do gooder gestapo would pull you over.

They also have regular taxis, mostly mid-size to small Toyota's. One taxi we rode in was just zooming along. I had to peek at the speedometer to see how fast he was going. But to my surprise, the speedometer wasn't working and neither was the fuel gauge! And yes, they cram as many as they can in these and as much luggage as possible, somehow it all fits.

Moving on to the next mode of transportation is the Jeepney, what the Philippines are famous for. These are a sight to see. Any one of them would be perfect for the local American cruise in. I believe they are like the OLD Volkswagen Beetle, where they all share a common frame but its the add ons that make them unique. Some had Rolls Royce grills, others brightly painted. They aren't that long and are narrow with a very low roof height. You have to bend to get in and out. They are very sparse inside and have two long bench seats on each side, some are padded some aren't. You sit facing each other, about eight per seat.

Finally the buses. Most if not all are independent not public. Ruth's brother Pastor Jun explained to me the different buses and why its better they are independently owned. Jun knew exactly which bus to flag down. He said some buses the fares are higher because there are fewer stops, other have more stops and are cheaper. Some buses are older and refurbished that might not be in the best shape and don't have air-conditioning. These have lower fares also. Some are for local, some for long distance. The bus we took to Ocean Park reminded me of something from Mexico. It was red inside and had red curtains with gold fringe.

Almost all the vehicles, from Buses to Trikes were individualized with different stickers, paint schemes, interiors, some had flowers on the dash. A lot of vehicles had Christian stickers or plaques.

to be continued......
Gotta GoGo!!
Carey

Philippine Traffic part 1

Its already been two weeks since I returned from my trip to see Ruth and its taken me about six of those days to get back to feeling normal. It took six days because I just got use to the hours in the Philippines then had to readjust, add to it the jet lag, the change of climate from two weeks of sunny and hot to cool and gray, missing all the delicious fresh fruit and food, and of course I miss spending time with Ruth. Its a lot of changes for the body and mind.


So I should finish my story because I never did write about the most important and really the only reason why I went, to meet Ruth, and I need to. But first I will continue on and write about the traffic. The traffic, oh my the traffic. I mentioned this briefly in my other postings but not in depth.

I will say this... the first two days I feared for my life and my first reaction to the traffic was this is almost as organized as a demolition derby. If a person has bad nerves or hates driving or traffic this could push him over the edge. Its that crazy. Cars zooming through intersections, motor cycles squeezing down middle of lanes between cars, buses tailgating, vehicles crossing over into on coming traffic to pass. And in a lot places in all this mass of traffic were vendors or individuals walking between vehicles harking their goods, water, peanuts, paper and other stuff.

The only time on the trip that seemed fairly quiet was on the way to Dakak Resort. Everywhere else there were cars, trucks, buses, motor bikes and what ever other transportation known to mankind. The traffic never seemed to ease up, even at night you hear horns.

OH OH OH I forgot to mention something very important that makes this seem even more insane, with all this traffic and madness there were NO stop lights and stop signs, they only exist at major intersections and are far and few between. Some streets had speed bumps to control speed but that's it. I don't even remember seeing speed limit signs, maybe they have them I don't know.

The other thing that can fray your nerves until you get use to it is the noise and the horn blowing. To the person not accustomed to this you think everyone is mad at each other for cutting them off. Not so as the Filipinos would say. Horns blow for many reasons, to let some one know you are passing, you are are stopping, to go around, horns blow to pick up passengers, constantly horns are blowing but not one finger was raised and not one notice of road rage or anger. Even at the intersections with no traffic lights, everyone converges, crossing traffic continues until a driver creeps up enough for the traffic to stop and then they go. Even here no anger or fingers saluting were noticed.

Believe it or not though after a few days you start to relax and realize that this is as safe or maybe safer than in America, I am serious, I will get to that later. And I also sat back and reflected how socialist and unfree America is. Here is a country with so much traffic, few stop lights and signs, speed limits that aren't posted and yet I did not see one, NOT ONE, accident or fender bender. NONE! Even in the newspaper only one traffic death was reported and it was because a policeman was trying to give a ticket to a taxi for stopping in a no loading zone. The taxi not wanting a ticket drove off and ran over the policeman. So it just proves that many of the tickets issued in America are not for safety but strictly REVENUE! I will also add to this comment later.

to be continued.....

Gotta GoGo!!
Carey Masci