another long drive home

-
I only realize how far I've gone based on how long I have to drive to go back home. In the case of my second trip to the hot air balloon festival, I thought I would have a homeward drive that's as easy as the one I had last year. But this year's trip was more trying.

My patience was tested beginning at the parking lot. Because a lot of people went out at around the same time as I did, I had to wait for an hour and a half to get out of the parking lot.

stop-and-go traffic in Clark Field, Pampanga
Thankfully, I was driving home with high school buddies Mafel and Karen, and Karen's daughter, Kat. They all helped keep my mood in check as I drove at a snail's pace in the parking lot.

After escaping the parking lot, the first real challenge set in: driving via the SCTEX and then the NLEX. Being on the freeway was a lot better than being stuck at the parking lot, but my main concern was fighting off the fatigue and drowsiness on the long trip home. Kat, who had the gift of the gab, could only talk so much (she's just five) so it was up to me and my friends to keep the conversation going... until we reached the Shell station at the NLEX... Finally, some dinner!

An hour after, we had to get a move on again because at the rate we're going, I'd be home way past midnight and they still had to commute to their homes. 

I was wishing that I'd be zipping through the 20-km stretch of EDSA as fast as I'd done before sun up. But no, I had to be stuck again in traffic from Araneta Center to Buendia! Just look at the picture above again for a reference... this time, though, I was plying the road along with a lot of trucks and buses, instead of just smaller vehicles. It was relief to get onto the SLEX for the final stretch home.

The best wake-me-upper for me this trip: the screech of brakes as the bus in front my car almost hit the jeepney in front of it at the last tollgate!

Cutting the long trip's story short, we got to our meeting point in about six hours and 30 minutes. Compare that to the early morning drive, using almost the same route (we didn't go through SCTEX), of about four hours (it took about an hour to reach the Clark Field from the gate).

An afternoon of kite-flying was worth that very long trip though. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for dropping by!

Before moving on, please share your thoughts or comments about the post. :)

Thanks again!

Popular posts from this blog

Skyflakes

-
One of the more famous Philippine exports is Skyflakes , a wheat-based, salty cracker. It is one of my emergency food items: I typically have some stocked at home and in my handbag in case I become hungry (like in traffic jams). When there's no electricity and it's impractical to cook rice (because the leftover would spoil), I'd open a pack of Skyflakes and generously coat each cracker with Cheez Whiz... if I had a bottle of it within reach. Anyway, each time I spent more than two weeks outside the Philippines, I'd be elated to see boxes of Skyflakes inside Asian stores (particularly when in I was Australia and in the USA). Back then, I took it as a sign of homesickness. When I moved to California, I didn't miss Skyflakes because Mommy made sure that there's a steady supply in the house. Skyflakes is embedded in Filipino gastronomy as a snack, a panawid-gutom , that anyone who reacts positively upon seeing Skyflakes outside the Philippines must have spe
Read more

10 things I learned while driving on Marcos Highway to Baguio City

-
I went on a day trip to the City of Pines, which was around a 700-km drive from my house. I drove  going up there and then from the city to Victoria, Tarlac. After that, my dad took over the driving duties. It was day trip with Tita Ising and Tito Sibing with us. Anyway, this trip was my first time to go to Baguio City with me behind the wheel. As everyone who drives up knows, there are three main routes to Baguio from the lowlands: Kennon Road, which ascends from Rosario, La Union. It was out of my options because it's too dangerous to use that road in the rainy season. The second route is via Naguilian Road, which makes my trip a lot longer because the beginning of the ascent is in Bauang, La Union (further north). The last route, and the one I took, was the Marcos Highway, now known as the Aspiras-Palispis Highway. This 47-km road starts from Agoo, La Union and is touted as the safest route among the three.  As I drove up and then down (on the same day; we were in Bagu
Read more

Surat Mangyan

-
Image
In high school, part of the Filipino curriculum was learning about one of the country's ancient native scripts called Baybayin . I learned back then that this script was eventually abandoned because the Spanish, and eventually the Americans, encouraged the use of the Latin script for written communications. But that's in the lowlands; the rules were different up in the mountains. In the lush mountains of Mindoro, groups of indigenous people called Mangyans  live largely in isolation away from the Christianised Filipinos. This isolation has led to the continuous development of the Mangyans' old script, Surat Mangyan . As I walked inside the Ayala Museum , I saw this bamboo tube (I'm not sure if it's an instrument) with Mangyan script written all over it. I suppose that this was equivalent to a book or a song. But I haven't figured out what's written yet, despite the translation guide provided. What I can do, however, is write my name in Ma
Read more