Day 18: Chilling, Poker, Organizing Photos, and Reflections of Traveling on the Road
Saturday March 19, 2016
I’ve spent the morning making plans for next week. Currently, I’m going through my photos and picking out a series to document my trip from beginning to end. Also to make a “first cut” of photos that I can turn into wall hangings. I will be spending 4 nights in Bohol to take tours of the countryside and snorkel again.
Taxi drivers here are crazy. They cut in front of pedestrians crossing in a crosswalk, cut in front of ongoing traffic, and almost smash into cars in front of them. They travel fast in a bike lane and then merge back into traffic. They are pretty incredible.
The ride back from Moalboal to Cebu describes the hierarchy of the road:
1. Large trucks and buses go where ever they want. Sort of like whale sharks
2. Autos have to right of way over trikes, motorcycles, jeepneys and pedestrians. Autos will cut all of them off with a beep of the horn.
3. Motorcycles are like fireflies traveling in and out of traffic. They make the motorcyclists in America look like pedestrians.
4. Pedestrians cross the road as if they were swimming in a pool of piranha…just missing each bike, motorcycle, trike, jeepney, car, truck, and bus.
Now, the driver in this trip was much less aggressive than taxi drivers. Everything below should be magnified 5 times for taxi drivers. They seem to live fast and furious: the faster they can get somewhere, the more trips they can make, the more money they can make. I have yet found a “mellow, relaxed driver” behind the wheel of a taxi.
My trip back from Moalboal:
Typical town area. Lots of motorcycles and jeepneys.
Average driver decision. Pass the motorcycle and trike in front of you, push the oncoming trike to the side, go right down the middle while honking your horn.
A view of parked trikes. They can get full of passengers. Some trikes are just bicycles and the drivers are in great shape. (Shut up…I’m not going to take the job for 6 months to get in shape!!)
Another typical setup on the road. Truck and van oncoming, passing the truck in front. I think the driver let the oncoming cars come through first, but I’m not sure.
Here were are moving right down the middle. It is okay because the driver honked his horn repeatedly. However, the dog stopped moving its head back and forth so this was a little scary.
We just jammed right through making the lines in the road the center of “lane number 3”. Very common to go “3-wide” along Philippine roads.
The road is lined with business / residences. In the afternoon each location will have a small wood fire for cooking right along side the road.
Following the van through the people. Honked horn and the people on the side have to get out of the way because the car will not stop.
Basketball courts are everywhere. Around houses there will be a single hoop out in a dirt area. Each town has at least one full court.
Jeepneys. I don’t fit in them. The outsides are vibrant. However, my driver informed me that the engines and seats are really old. I confirmed this along the way…the seats inside are 20 year old wooden benches.
One of the hundreds of shops along side the roads in the city. They sell clothes, food, fruit, everything. About 1 of 10 along the road are strictly motorcycle wheel and tire shops. Unfortunately, I never got a good shot of one.
Passing a full trike. Four passengers. I actually saw 5 people on a single motorcycle but was so shocked I didn’t get the picture.
Passing on the left. A taxi driver would move to the far right and pass along side the curb.
A full jeepney and a motorcyclist who cut in front of us as we didn’t slow down…One of the many luckily missed accidents during this single trip.
Driver doesn’t slow down. Honks his horn and weaves through.
