Stuck in Subic due to Typhoon "Emong"

Subic Bay Freeport: We arrived in Subic Bay Freeport after a very pleasant ferry ride on board the SuperFerry 12 that left Cebu by 10AM last Tuesday. The accommodations were comfortable and the food was surprisingly delicious. The sea was very calm despite the passage of Tropical Storm “Dante” that lashed and devastated the Bicol-Sorsogon areas last week. You can say that we “sneaked” into Luzon in-between storms; because the latest weather bulletin we got from the various weather.com sites over the Internet was that Typhoon “Chan-Hom” (Emong) was 150 miles east of Luzon as of this writing.

We arrived at the Port of Manila behind the Manila Hotel early in the morning. We were welcomed by the BMW Owners Society of Saferiders (BOSS) led by one of its Directors, Mon Torres together with my good friend Rhett Piczon of the Biliran-Leyte-Samar Tourers (BLAST). They brought with them a squad of motorcycle police escort from Manila’s Finest and with sirens blaring escorted us into the streets of downtown Manila on our way to the Balintawak Interchange and on to the North Expressway (NLEX).

For Cebuano motorists who never drove on a freeway, it is akin to driving on the South Road Properties (SRP) but it doesn’t end in Talisay, but in Oslob! Of course, we rode our bikes to its normal 100-kph average speeds. We can only sigh in frustration why we don’t have any freeways in Cebu. But we can dream can’t we? Someday, it will come to Cebu. If they have a Freeway in Oahu in Hawaii, which is smaller than the island of Cebu, there’s no reason why we can’t have one in Cebu!

But there’s no such thing as a free ride here. From the Balintawak Interchange we had to pass four Toll Booths. The first one you had to pay P36, although our hosts/escorts paid that for us. At the second Toll Booth, the charge was P142. Then from the end of the NLEX to the newly-opened Clark to Subic Freeway, the charge was P112 for this 70 kilometer run.

Then finally, when we entered Subic Bay Freeport, they also had a short freeway that charged motorists (meaning motorcycles) P18 for tolls. That’s a total of P308 bucks just for the privilege of using the freeway to go from Manila to Subic. Of course there’s always the cheaper alternative via the traffic-clogged MacArthur highway that passes through all those towns and cities from Malolos to Dalupihan, which will take you hours and hours. 

We stayed at the Courtyard Inn, which had a free Wi-Fi in their rooms so I had no difficulty accessing the Internet and got all my emails. What do you do when you get into Subic? We wrote about our escapades in this corner a few years ago and I didn’t want to do a rehash on what we’ve done before. But we really didn’t do much but rest in the hotel as our main objective is still Baguio City to attend the 15th Annual Convention of the Federation of Motorcycle Clubs in the Philippines.

However as of this writing, we should already be in Baguio City. But it seems that Typhoon “Emong” might pass a little north of Baguio. We decided to stay one more night in Subic and if the weather doesn’t improve, we just might cancel going to Baguio and return to Manila. 

You may be wondering why we go on these motorcycle trips. Actually, I caught the touring bug when I was still single when in 1974, I joined the “Pilipinas Muna” Tour sponsored by the Jaycees. I was riding motorcycles barely two years earlier and it was time to hit the road for high adventure. Indeed it was an adventure because in those days 75% of Philippine roads, except for the Maharlika Highway, later renamed as the Philippine-Japanese Friendship Highway are connected from Manila to Davao City.

Back in those days, I used a Yamaha DT-360 cc Trail Bike. For accommodations we stayed mostly in pension or boarding houses (there were very few hotels outside Manila) or even in schools. We’d really get dusty or muddy when it rained and we carried only the clothes we could strap on our motorcycles or our backs. From Cebu we reached the topmost town of Luzon, which is Aparri and back to Manila all in 26 grueling days. It was fun, it was an adventure and above all, it was unforgettable!

I have ridden many bikes to Luzon and the last time we came here was during the convention in Vigan, where we also went to the famous Rice Terraces in Ifugao. Except for a few broken roads, the major thoroughfares in Luzon are well-paved or cemented. What makes this particular convention ride extra special is that, I’m riding with my son JV on his Honda 600XL. The last time he was in Manila was when he was ten years old. Today, even if the motorcycle convention gets cancelled, he’s still riding with us. Someday he too will be riding with his son when the time comes.