Driving in Manila

We chanced upon Discovery Channel Canada's "Don't Drive Here" reality TV series which featured Manila as "one of the world's worst driving cities" last night.

Whatever the circumstance, it's always a thrill seeing your home country in a 'foreign' (I still consider Canada a foreign place haha!) television.

Oh, these familiar scenarios that I miss! I never thought I'd miss Manila's 'chaotic' atmosphere.

I miss those gigantic buses, those colorful jeepneys. And I miss the tons of people on the street! Nakakamiss makakita ng sangkatutak na tao sa totoo lang!

I couldn't blame the show's host Andrew Younghusband for "failing" the challenge. He was supposed to learn how to drive better than a professional driver in Manila. He was ultimately tasked to drive a jeepney and after some time, he gave up. Sobrang culture shock ang inabot niya.

Younghusband is a Canadian who's used to organized traffic, disciplined drivers, wide roads. He can never beat the survival-on-the-road skills of Pinoy drivers.

I've been driving in Manila since I was 18. I've experienced the worst, I must say. This is the reason why I am afraid to get a driver's license here in Canada. I am not confident that my driving skills are in congruent with driving in this city.  I am an aggressive driver because I was socialized that way eh. Baka puro violation tickets ang makuha ko dito.

On the other hand, parang takot na rin akong mag-drive uli sa Pilipinas pag-uwi ko. In the ten months that I've been living here (yep, ten months pa lang ha), nasanay na rin ako na dito, akmang tatawid pa lang ako ay hihinto na ang mga sasakyan para sa akin. Every place is within reach (kahit ilang daang kilometers pa yan) kasi nga walang traffic. Maluwag ang mga kalsada, functioning lahat ng traffic lights. Lahat organisado at maayos. With all the complaints and rants that I read on Facebook every day about Manila's horrendous traffic situation today (which is far worse than ten months ago), I doubt kung kakayanin ko pa talaga na magmaneho doon. Baka hanggang Bulacan na lang talaga ako.

Oh well, let's see.