Day 21: The Jeepney Ride from Hell
Posted by Brandon Lagao | Posted in The Prodigal Lumpia | Posted on 5/24/2009 09:31:00 PM
I woke up this morning around 6:30am, even though I set my alarm for 9am. I knew that at some point I had to get to the San Jose Bus Terminal to catch a ride to Sabang, which is a 2 or 3 hour drive. Lonely Planet and the people around town aren't very helpful about times or who to see once I get there, I just know I need to go to the terminal and plan on asking around. Instead of going to check it out early like I should have, I decided to stay in until noon while I watched the Lakers/Nuggets game. The games are on at 8am or 9am here so it's a little different experience. I was glad to be watching when the Lakers won :)
Once I got to the Bust terminal, all the actual buses had apparently left. So my only other option was to take a Jeepney. I thought, what the heck, I might as well get the experience. So I asked the conductor when we were leaving and he said 12 o'clock, ha! The jeep had a few seats open so I figured we would wait until they filled up. Since I skipped breakfast, I grabbed a couple Pan de Coco (bread roll with sweet coconut), a banana, and a coke...then I checked the time on my phone and saw it was a little after noon, so I grabbed a seat in the back and got ready to go. Little did I know I would be waiting for 3 extra hours! Looking back, I find it really funny that I was in a rush. Nobody seemed to be complaining so neither did I, but wow it sucked. Not to mention it was going to take 3 hours on top of that just to get to Sabang! Since it's their livelihood, they don't leave the terminal until the Jeepney is full, because that way they make more money. And when I say full, I mean packed to the brim full.
So finally we seemed like we were getting ready to go and things started to get a little crazy. All I could really do was laugh. This jeepney wasn't a typical jeepeny, it was more of a hybrid bus/jeepney. The front half had seats facing forward and the back half was like a typical jeepney with a bench seat on each side. In america, it would probably seat a maximum of 25 people. But not here. In the Philippines they REALLY pack people in . I counted 65 people, and that was just in the seats! There were people hanging off the back, on top, and kids were laying in the middle aisle on out feet. Not to mention many of the people on the jeep were actually doing their grocery shopping, so they had sacks of rice, grocery bags, and fish with them as well.
So we finally took off to Sabang and within 2 mins we stopped at a gas station where a lot of people who just packed themselves in, got out and filled little jugs full of gasoline. Oh and I should also mention that instead of taking one of the many open seats in the front, I chose a bench seat in the back, which just so happened to be where all the action was and the heart of all the commotion...i would only recommend this seat to the most adventurous of my friends. Honestly, the only reason I was sitting there was so that I can jump in and out to check on my backpack that was on the roof. So we leave the gas station and immediately we hit a bumpy dirt road, I thought to myself, "Oh crap! If we continue on like this I just might vomit on all of these people...but at least we are getting somewhere." And then, all of a sudden, we stop again. This time at the Puerto Princesa Ice Building. They covered one side of the jeep with a tarp and I immediately thought something shady was going down. Even the locals seemed to not know what was going on. Then some guys placed a metal ramp going from the roof of the jeep to the dock and pulled out 3 humongous blocks of ice. Last I checked, the roof was piled high like one of those Ikea half-yearly sale commercials...how were they planning on fitting them up there? But they did. So we got going again with 65+ people, luggage, blocks of ice, and all.
20 minutes later we stopped again! This time was so that the passengers could have a merienda...wow, really!? So after everyone got their snacks, we were off again. The road was paved for the most part, but a lot of the time the road became a one-way for both sides of traffic, due to lack of road. It was pretty interesting going full speed and hoping the other cars heading the opposite direction would hear our horn and stop for us to pass. I'm just glad it was so packed that I could barely see. From what I did catch glimpses of, the scenery was absolutely beautiful. To make a longer story short, lets just say that we made like 50 more stops on the way to Sabang, so that people could get off and on, and so that the Jeepney workers could make home deliveries. Oh yeah, and every time we stopped, someone hanging off the side would bang something metal against the metal roof, right above my head. It was as if I had a bucket on my head and people were taking turns throwing rocks at it.
The trip was insane, but quite an adventure. And as we got farther away from the city, some of the kids that got on were absolutely precious looking. There was one little girl in particular that I would have adopted right there on the spot if her mother asked me too.
Finally, we got to Sabang as the sun was setting and it was beautiful. It's just a small little town with cottages and one resort along the beach. There are a few restaurants and a little docking area. Also the "town square" is made up of one big basketball court. As I do in all the places I've visited, I started wondering around deciding where I wanted to stay. This time as I was walking, I was joined by a gay couple from Amsterdam. It was european guy who looked much older who was with a filipino guy who was probably a little older then me. They were nice though, so I walked with them looking at the options until we got to the end of the beach, then I split to go check out the most northern cottages. Since nobody was there, I left and once again was walking way too much for this heat and all of this luggage. I was drenched in sweat when I finally decided on a place which all pretty much sucked...no electricity, small little huts, crappy CR's (comfort room aka bathroom), and if they did have electricity, it only worked from 6pm-10pm.
The first room they showed me to, I said no. It's the first time since being here that I made a fuss about where I was sleeping. The guy showing me the room did not speak any english and seemed to not even understand my hand gestures either. I talked to the only english speaking person that worked there and was confused as to why she just didn't choose to help me out since I clearly only speak english. But I should mention that the guy I got frustrated with was very hospitable and kept a big, toothless smile on his face the whole time he was dealing with me.
Luckily, my hut had a mosquito net because inside had a bunch of bugs flying around the ceiling and the floor...which by the way was made of sticks! The sand is literally right below me and the ocean is right outside my door! This should be an interesting night...
Once I got to the Bust terminal, all the actual buses had apparently left. So my only other option was to take a Jeepney. I thought, what the heck, I might as well get the experience. So I asked the conductor when we were leaving and he said 12 o'clock, ha! The jeep had a few seats open so I figured we would wait until they filled up. Since I skipped breakfast, I grabbed a couple Pan de Coco (bread roll with sweet coconut), a banana, and a coke...then I checked the time on my phone and saw it was a little after noon, so I grabbed a seat in the back and got ready to go. Little did I know I would be waiting for 3 extra hours! Looking back, I find it really funny that I was in a rush. Nobody seemed to be complaining so neither did I, but wow it sucked. Not to mention it was going to take 3 hours on top of that just to get to Sabang! Since it's their livelihood, they don't leave the terminal until the Jeepney is full, because that way they make more money. And when I say full, I mean packed to the brim full.
So finally we seemed like we were getting ready to go and things started to get a little crazy. All I could really do was laugh. This jeepney wasn't a typical jeepeny, it was more of a hybrid bus/jeepney. The front half had seats facing forward and the back half was like a typical jeepney with a bench seat on each side. In america, it would probably seat a maximum of 25 people. But not here. In the Philippines they REALLY pack people in . I counted 65 people, and that was just in the seats! There were people hanging off the back, on top, and kids were laying in the middle aisle on out feet. Not to mention many of the people on the jeep were actually doing their grocery shopping, so they had sacks of rice, grocery bags, and fish with them as well.
So we finally took off to Sabang and within 2 mins we stopped at a gas station where a lot of people who just packed themselves in, got out and filled little jugs full of gasoline. Oh and I should also mention that instead of taking one of the many open seats in the front, I chose a bench seat in the back, which just so happened to be where all the action was and the heart of all the commotion...i would only recommend this seat to the most adventurous of my friends. Honestly, the only reason I was sitting there was so that I can jump in and out to check on my backpack that was on the roof. So we leave the gas station and immediately we hit a bumpy dirt road, I thought to myself, "Oh crap! If we continue on like this I just might vomit on all of these people...but at least we are getting somewhere." And then, all of a sudden, we stop again. This time at the Puerto Princesa Ice Building. They covered one side of the jeep with a tarp and I immediately thought something shady was going down. Even the locals seemed to not know what was going on. Then some guys placed a metal ramp going from the roof of the jeep to the dock and pulled out 3 humongous blocks of ice. Last I checked, the roof was piled high like one of those Ikea half-yearly sale commercials...how were they planning on fitting them up there? But they did. So we got going again with 65+ people, luggage, blocks of ice, and all.
20 minutes later we stopped again! This time was so that the passengers could have a merienda...wow, really!? So after everyone got their snacks, we were off again. The road was paved for the most part, but a lot of the time the road became a one-way for both sides of traffic, due to lack of road. It was pretty interesting going full speed and hoping the other cars heading the opposite direction would hear our horn and stop for us to pass. I'm just glad it was so packed that I could barely see. From what I did catch glimpses of, the scenery was absolutely beautiful. To make a longer story short, lets just say that we made like 50 more stops on the way to Sabang, so that people could get off and on, and so that the Jeepney workers could make home deliveries. Oh yeah, and every time we stopped, someone hanging off the side would bang something metal against the metal roof, right above my head. It was as if I had a bucket on my head and people were taking turns throwing rocks at it.
The trip was insane, but quite an adventure. And as we got farther away from the city, some of the kids that got on were absolutely precious looking. There was one little girl in particular that I would have adopted right there on the spot if her mother asked me too.
Finally, we got to Sabang as the sun was setting and it was beautiful. It's just a small little town with cottages and one resort along the beach. There are a few restaurants and a little docking area. Also the "town square" is made up of one big basketball court. As I do in all the places I've visited, I started wondering around deciding where I wanted to stay. This time as I was walking, I was joined by a gay couple from Amsterdam. It was european guy who looked much older who was with a filipino guy who was probably a little older then me. They were nice though, so I walked with them looking at the options until we got to the end of the beach, then I split to go check out the most northern cottages. Since nobody was there, I left and once again was walking way too much for this heat and all of this luggage. I was drenched in sweat when I finally decided on a place which all pretty much sucked...no electricity, small little huts, crappy CR's (comfort room aka bathroom), and if they did have electricity, it only worked from 6pm-10pm.
The first room they showed me to, I said no. It's the first time since being here that I made a fuss about where I was sleeping. The guy showing me the room did not speak any english and seemed to not even understand my hand gestures either. I talked to the only english speaking person that worked there and was confused as to why she just didn't choose to help me out since I clearly only speak english. But I should mention that the guy I got frustrated with was very hospitable and kept a big, toothless smile on his face the whole time he was dealing with me.
Luckily, my hut had a mosquito net because inside had a bunch of bugs flying around the ceiling and the floor...which by the way was made of sticks! The sand is literally right below me and the ocean is right outside my door! This should be an interesting night...
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