CLICK HERE for road logs and more photos from the ride
Seeing a naked man casually saunter up a lonely stretch of road is certainly one of the more memorable ways I’ve started a road trip
My first RORO (Roll On, Roll Off) ferry ride!
Curves and turns and mountain bends for days
Though beautiful, the inland Philippine landscapes tend to be somewhat repetitive — it’s tall grass and coconut trees all the way down
The coastal riding, on the other hand, offers a wide variety of interesting sights
One of the bigger ferries of the trip
Southern Luzon offered some of the most stunning stretches I’ve seen in the Philippines
Mayon volcano slumbers over Legazpi City
Cagsawa Ruins, the last remains of a 550-year-old church in the shadow of Mayon
Kali (short for "kalayaan," Tagalog for "freedom"), my valiant steed
The cliffside ride through Tiwi, north of Mayon, reminded me of a tropical Pacific Coast Highway
Just stunning beaches and sights for miles
Some sunsets you just need to pull over and admire
Unlike most other places I’ve traveled, there’s almost no such thing as “uninhabited stretches of road” in the Philippines
You never go more than a mile before seeing another home or farm or town or other manmade structure
That said, the few lonely patches of unclaimed land are pretty stunning
Even this roaring mountain river in the middle of Negros isn’t without nearby residents (note the house to the left)
Kalabaw, aka Carabao, aka Caribou, aka Water Buffalo, aka Adorbz
The whole trip took six ferry crossings (two going up, four coming back down); this was one of my most common sights on the trip
LuzVi Miniloop
30 Aug 2016 — 06 Oct 2016
Of all the places I’ve wanted to road trip, the Philippines was pretty low on the list. Not for a lack of beauty but accessibility. Almost the entire country is plagued with traffic jams, and a “three hour drive” can easily take as much as twelve (or more!).
Then I learned how to motorcycle.
In a place where road laws are more suggestions, motorcycles weave in and out of traffic, immune to its jams. And so, armed with a Honda XR150 and six months of riding experience, I hit the Mad Maxian roads of provincial Philippines in a two-week Cebu-Manila loop.
The trip ended early but was enough to show me what I’d been missing. I saw corners of the country I never would’ve discovered otherwise. I can’t wait to go back for more.
