Wednesday, October 23, 2013

The Philippines on two wheels - part five


This is Gord ...


... and this is the view when I'm Gord's passenger.





This is a ‘tricycle’ - a motorcycle with passenger cab - on its way to a birthday party.


There are also pedicabs, in effect a bicycle rickshaw.



And, of course, there are jeepneys.



In the Philippines, travel is an adventure. 


In part, this is because the road is also an unofficial sidewalk where much of a highly communal life is passed. Stalls and customers edge ever closer; livestock graze the verge; produce is spread out to dry on convenient concrete; babies wobble next to speeding buses. 



An invocation to a sympathetic deity is recommended before driving. Judging from this immobile jeepney's hood, prayer may not have helped.


Take the advice to fasten seat belts, that is, if there are seat belts. In this case, none.


Sometimes there are major road obstructions ...


 ... sometimes minor ones.



Near Dumaguete are smelly sulphur vents ... 



... and some have more adventure than expected.  


How the little van ended up several feet down facing the road I can't answer. Inquiries as to the driver's health elicited, 'Oh, sir, his thighs are sore.' 


When not encountering traffic mishaps, avoiding cave-ins and stench of rotten eggs, we can test local bridges crossing mountain streams.


I quite like this little non-vehicular adventure. Click on the pictures. In the bottom left hand corner, a child prepares to jump.


He reaches the other side.


Wow! I made it!


With luck, he'll also survive the roads.