Three men embark on a 8 day road trip through the Philippines in a 20 year old vehicle that hasn't been driven in a year. What could possibly go wrong? A lot I quickly came to discover. The task was simple, drive approximately 1,300 kilometers (807 mi.) from the Manila to Davao. A little context always serves to be useful so here are some things you should know:
I've was in Manila (which is simultaneously the capital and largest city within the Philippines) for around 3 weeks staying at my dad's apartment complex. Needless to say there is not much for a young, adventurous and restless 18 year old disregarding college to travel the world. Manilla is a city of malls surrounded by slums and not much else (however I may not be doing the place justice, but since the traffic is so horrendous and makes everywhere impossibly difficult and lengthy to arrive at I was confined to this conclusion drawn from my narrow micro-experience I had in the city).
I was presented with the opportunity to join my father's two good friends (whom I will adress) on a road trip, for one to haul the 20 year old mitsubishi pajero (more on this later as well) from Manila to my dad's home near Davao (the destination). The second goal was for us to also bring an assortment of tools such as drills, drill bits, DVD's, and other things contained in a large black duffle bag, most likely things too heavy for a plane so it seemed convenient to haul it with us. I suspect (quite sure) my father also had intentions of showing me the real Philippines and seemed really keen on us having some sort of unique adventure to engage in.
"Great" I thought. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to finally do something meaningful and developmental to my being (I didn't neglect college for no reason). So I packed my things (ALL of my things) into one large lowe alpine back packing pack (that I suspect you could fit several large dogs inside). Armed with 3 rolls of film and a borrowed Nikon D300 I planned to visually document as much as I could (photography being a hobby of mine).
So as for the others attending me on this trip, I will describe them briefly:
Andy Maluche is a 48 year old professional photographer/artist originally from Munich (Germany for the goobers) who has lived in the Philippines for the past 25 years. He is pretty good friends with my dad and I gathered that he wanted a stake in this journey because it seemed fun and recreational. Some interesting things about his background though: Andy hitch hiked around europe in his later teen years on weekends and holidays and when he was 18 embarked on what was presented to be an amazing trip throughout the world, stepping foot in India, Nepal, China, Russia, and even accidentally climbing some portion of Mt. Everest. Quite the storied character. Another interesting thing to note about him is that he's not just some one dimensional white guy tourist, he's in love with the Philippines and I came to discover that he had quite a genuine appreciation for the people and places here (he also knows tagalog which made him extremely useful when asking for directions, who doesn't like a white guy asking you where the directions are in your own language?). He is also perhaps the most low maintenance person I have ever encountered, all he required was a mat to sleep on and beer (he is actually German after all) and he could probably survive anywhere on earth.
