Dream Ride

Ha Long, Vietnam — I’ve always dreamt of traveling long distances on the road. When I was a child, I would sit on my bicycle, point it out of our front gate and pretend that I was traveling hundreds of kilometers outside of Manila or thousands of kilometers to a foreign country. When I was old enough to ride my bicycle outside of our neighborhood and my parents have allowed me to ride out with my friends, I would feel a sense of accomplishment whenever I’ve gone farther than I did previously.

One of my dreams as a motoring journalist is to travel around the Philippines in my 1971 Chevrolet Camaro RS and then publish a book about the entire trip. I could take a road trip to our country’s historic places, scenic areas, happening joints and tourist spots, take photos and write short stories about each place, and gather everything into a coffee table book which I could entitle "Touring the Philippines by Muscle Car." I could sell the book to muscle car enthusiasts and consummate travelers in the US, Japan and Europe in the hopes of helping attract tourism to our country, as well as sell it locally to encourage our countrymen to take road trips around their own backyard. However, until I can come up with the funds to properly restore my Camaro to a near-factory state and finance the logistics of the entire trip, this dream would take a while to be realized.

Fortunately, I’m also into motorcycling. Motorcycles are cheaper to run than cars and can travel longer distances on a liter of fuel. Riding a motorcycle also allows you to "feel" the countryside as you tour, and thus, get more intimate with Mother Nature. I’ve ridden quite a lot around the Philippines — a Yamaha DT 125 on mountain passes from Banawe to Sagada then to Baguio; a Yamaha XT 225 on the rough trails of Batangas; a Yamaha Serow 225 on dirt roads from Baler, Quezon to Dinapigue, Isabela and back; my Yamaha Nouvo around North Luzon and a BMW F650 CS from Aparri, North Luzon to Saranggani, South Mindanao — but I never knew that I would ride around the ASEAN region until Norkis Trading Co. SVP Manuel Gaspar "Boy" Albos, Jr. invited me to participate in the Yamaha Pan ASEAN Touring activities.

The Yamaha Pan ASEAN Touring is a 15,000 kilometer road trip designed to promote the company’s new product — the T-135 or the Yamaha Sniper 135, as it will be known when it is launched next month. The new motorcycle, which is powered by a 135cc motor that boasts of DiASil cylinder, forged piston, liquid-cooling and other technological highlights, will be ridden through six ASEAN nations namely Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines. From November 19 to December 11 last year, I’ve represented our country in Indonesia, riding 4,600 kilometers from Jogjakarta to Medan with Dino Directo III, motoring writer of the Manila Standard Today. Norkis-Yamaha sent another tandem to ride the Thailand leg last January but also sent me to cover the kick-off activities. They then sent Dino and me last February 24 to ride the 2,000-kilometer Malaysian and Singaporean legs which ended March 9.

I had barely settled into my regular local schedules and had just started on the second issue of MotorCycle Magazine when Norkis-Yamaha invited me to ride the Vietnam leg of the Pan ASEAN Touring. With 17-year-old motorcycle racing whiz kid Maico Buncio as my riding buddy (Dino declined due to business reasons), we will ride the Yamaha T-135 from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) for a distance of about 2,612 kilometers. Maico and I flew to Hanoi March 31 and by the time this column gets published, we should be riding from Dong Hoi to Hue. We are scheduled to ride to Ho Chi Minh City on the 14th, then to Can Tho for the Farewell ceremonies on the 15th, and then fly back to Manila on the 17th. The Yamaha T-135 Pan ASEAN Touring motorbikes will then be shipped to Cebu, where the Yamaha Sniper 135 Pan ASEAN Touring-Philippines will commence on May 17. The Philippine Tour will be the sixth and final leg, thus a grand celebration is expected.

As I savor each and every ride, I thank the Lord for allowing me to live my dream of riding across different countries. I feel so blessed making new friends from each participating ASEAN country as I feel so enriched with experiencing the different cultures and traditions of these lands. I could only hope and pray that we Filipinos would finally come out of our slumber and come together to rise for the improvement of our country, as our ASEAN brethren are doing. Malaysia and Singapore has gone leaps and bounds ahead of us in many aspects, while Thailand has attracted the international automotive businesses to make the country their Asian hub and because of this, Thailand has been dubbed as "the Detroit of Asia". Indonesia and Vietnam are likewise moving up, with their individual motorcycle industries contributing to their economic growth and to the mobility of their masses.

After traveling to these ASEAN countries, I now dream of a new dream ride — to ride with my fellow Filipinos towards a more progressive Philippines; to ride a spiritual and nationalistic tidal wave that could allow us to rediscover our patriotism and inspire us to work for country and not just for self; to someday ride an economic recovery that would not only alleviate poverty, but one that would be more lasting to truly enrich the Filipino culture. Naiiwan na tayo, mga kababayan! Gising, Pilipinas! (We’re being left behind, my countrymen! Wake up, Philippines!)

Last week, as expected, a whole slew of Backseat Drivers came up with questions, requests and complaints. As much as we would like to address them all, please understand that we have space restraints. As much as we can, to the best of our abilities, we will try to accede to all your requests and answer all your questions (even if some are open-ended and realistically need to be passed on to people who are better equipped to answer them, like manufacturers). Just the same, we will continue to try to give everyone their space in this column…

Can you send me a copy of part one of How To Buy A Used Car by Manny de los Reyes? Thanks. — 09173211348 (How about an email address to go with that request? We got your address in Cebu but hard copies of an article from that far back are quite hard to find. Do text back.)

Why are jeepneys and buses allowed to "park" along Ortigas Avenue from Meralco to EDSA? The MMDA is doing nothing about this abuse. — 09163833687

Rear plates covered with dark plastic protectors abound, mostly in cars. Big bright lights facing the rear too, mostly in trucks. Walang nahuhuli, kasi weak ang government natin. — 09219085555

Buses along EDSA don’t respect road rules and regulations. Worse, these bus drivers flaunt their arrogance even in front of MMDA personnel. — 09212138169

What do SUV, AUV and XUV stand for? — 09187019063 (SUV is the abbreviated form of Sport Utility Vehicle, these are usually 4x4 truck-based vehicles with occasional 4x2 variants. AUV is the abbreviated form of Asian Utility Vehicle, a term coined specifically for vehicles made for Philippine use like the Toyota Revo, Mitsubishi Adventure and Isuzu Crosswind. AUVs are available only as 4x2 variants. XUV, meanwhile, is merely a variant of the Isuzu Crosswind AUV.)

You compared the Alterra and Crosswind. What happened to the Sportivo? — 09184129789 (Like the XUV, the Sportivo is merely a variant of the Isuzu Crosswind.)

Why did the MAPSA close the left turn coming from Pasig/Buting going to C5/SLEX/the Fort for no reason at all? — 09173292000

Jeepneys turn off their headlights at night so that people waiting for rides can see the jeep’s destination written above and inside of the windshield. — 09209011910

The jeepney terminal at the corner of EDSA and Muñoz causes heavy traffic in that area. — 09178574140

How can you write about F1 in your column without even mentioning team Renault’s 1-2 achievement? Renault beat Ferrari, BMW, Mercedes Benz, etc. — 09223794825 (And Fernando Alonso did it again in dominating fashion over this weekend…)

Speak out, be heard and keep those text messages coming in. To say your piece and become a "Backseat Driver", text PHILSTAR<space>FB<space> MOTORING<space>YOUR MESSAGE and send to 2840 if you’re a Globe or Touch Mobile subscriber or 334 if you’re a Smart or Talk ’n Text subscriber or 2840 if you’re a Sun Cellular subscriber. Please keep your messages down to a manageable 160 characters. You may send a series of comments using the same parameters.