When you come to the Philippines, you will be acquainted with a vehicle, namely the Jeepney. It's a common public transportation for many locals to and from work, on a daily basis. These vehicles are very loud and heavy, and I assume, they consume a lot of petrol. Where we live in Manila, they have an abundance of stock of them on the road, and when you drive with your car, you surely need to avoid them, as most of the drivers of these workhorses just go left and right, stop and go anytime they want, so be careful if you ever have to drive around here. If you get a dent into your nice car, it will be painful, but for them, that is only a scratch beside the many dents and holes in their vehicle.
The first jeepneys were actually the army jeeps from World War II, numbering into the hundreds that were all over the country, but mainly in Metro Manila. After the war, the Americans left these jeeps behind and the locals had ideas to transform them into a jeepney of today. Some of these jeepneys are very well decorated. If you have ever seen several jeepneys, you will notice that no jeepney is exactly the same as another. Sometimes the design and decorations on the vehicle takes more time than building the jeepney.
Sometimes you see blinker lights inside the jeepney, so passengers can pull a string and the light comes on for the driver to stop.
People usually pay up their fare, but the driver has usually no idea if everyone has paid on a given moment. He is just hoping that everyone is honest. Sometimes, you see religious banners on their jeepneys stating "God knows that Judas did not pay".
You can also see by their flashy designs on their jeepneys that the Philippines had a Spanish era and an American era, when you see Elvis Presley and Virgin Mary painted on the side of their vehicle.
(Pictures: 1. Todays Public Utility Jeepney. 2. Private Jeepney. 3. Old WWII Jeep)
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