Classic public transportation falls into the groups of buses, trains, cars, bikes, horseback, motorcycles, what have you. I'm used to the webs of Seoul subways, cabs, and buses...stateside, I called to legs and bikes, the Philippines, there are motorbikes and jeepneys!
Jeepneys are jeeps on steroids...they resemble school buses and make such a jarring noise, they announce their oncoming presence! People are piled into these guys, literally piled!
Day dos was a mission to Port Barton, we wanted beaches and we were getting to them...there's a jeepney that barrels to Port Barton for about 250p (6,690 원 or $7)!! The bus station is called "San Jose station." It is home to my first public restroom Filipino style...
I nearly vomited. This is a short video pre-bathroom story~
First, there is a charge to use the bathroom, about 20p (535원 or $0.47 USD), there is
no toilet paper,
no toilet covers, and
no flush. The bathroom is covered in an ashy sticky dust that's painted like a Pollack in sweaty water; and outside the crooked metal stalls are giant trash barrels full of water. There are no hanging hooks in the bathroom; balancing my purse on my knees while clutching onto toilet paper and crouching strategically over the bowl and avoiding a potentially fatal fall was my main point of focus... What makes this situation even more uncomfortable is...my body had a calling. (
aiii digestion) and being Korean, balancing acts over toilet bowls isn't too difficult but I was dealing with a no flush and body-demand situation. I started to hear laughter and more footsteps brazing with the floor. My heartbeat started to pound in my ears and I was sweating profusely at this point, nerves, heat....
literally how will I deal with this shit.
So I stood...trying to figure out what to do. I checked out the plumbing mechanics, no help there and after about five minutes of standing in the stall, I hear the women next to me leave her stall (what no flush!) and take a bucket of water out of the trash barrels right outside her stall and manually deal. Aha~ at this point, there was a party in the candy-coated bathroom...I was the only foreigner, feeling like a dog with a tail between it's legs, I poured a couple buckets, washed my hands and ran. aiiii~
The guesstimate of our jeepney mission is that after a 4 hour drive, we'd be sipping cocktails and basking in the gloriously sunny and salty scented-beaches.
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| photo taken by VeganBeats |
There were a few stops and more people would nuzzle up together. I saw a lot of painfully adorable kids snuggling up to their parents and grandparents...how did these people rock jeans, crammed jeepneys, AND a warm snugly kid on their laps?!
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| lovey snuggles~ photo taken by VeganBeats |
Two hours in we made a bathroom/food/beer pit stop. I used the second grossest bathroom and felt like a pro, I knew what to do... The pit stop stores were caked in dust, left pricetag-less, but still offering some potentially sustainable calories. First though, I played with a mangled kitten...these animals, ai they all need love. I was getting a bit sneered at, not aggressively more like
"ech, she touching that thing?!"
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| love love love! photo taken by Scotty Soul |
Washed hands again and after store searching I got a cashew sugar patty (literally a ton of cashews sticking together through a maple like sugar base) and sweet potato bread, made up of rice flour, sugar, and purple sweet potato! So good~
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| blurry bread~ photo taken by VeganBeats |
It's hot, I was sweaty, there was a good half of the trip left and my legs were sticking to the chair and the women next to me...Red Horse again, a litro. Energy fuel and drunky jams...game on~
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| Red Horse, Scotty Seoul, and bread~ photo taken by VeganBeats |
The cashew patty was delicious, is had a smokiness to it and although sweet, was generously filled hugged in cashews, and the bread, was beyond expectations! It was light, naturally sweet, had a strong sweet potato flavor, and it just hit the spot! Red Horse, you can't go wrong...went down nice, and the two hour trip was somehow more fun! (
sloppy slurry beats~)
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| photo taken by VeganBeats |
Finally we arrived....all the shit was worth it....
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| photo taken by VeganBeats |
Ahh I may have lost original focus....I love jeepneys~
annnnd ~ More to come...aiiiii
