Saw them the first time in May 2009 and were stunned. There were huge numbers of them on the streets of Manila.
Some of them were shiny chromed metal, others were painted like colourful celebrations of life in the Christian belief with huge painted homages to God. All of them with a resemblance to big US trucks, only in miniature format.
Their function is to transport people in Manila to what ever destination they need and on routes not covered by an insufficient public transport system.
Their nickname is "Jeepney" and they are in fact related to the "Willy's Jeep", which was left by the Americans in the Philippines after the end WW 2.
From my first visit to Manila I believed that they were all built from the chassis of a Willy"s jeep, nut that isn't the truth, and Here is how I found that out.
February 2013. Makati City, Manila. Visiting friends. Not only us are visiting from Hong Kong. It is like a kind of reunion of former colleagues from Dresden International School. They've come from Hanoi and Ho Chi Min City as well to Manila to catch up and enjoy the Chinese New Year Holiday. Unfortunately our hosts didn't have a holiday, they had to shuffle while we were lazying around.
As I was the only gentleman among the visitors, it obviously had to happen; the ladies wanted to go shopping. What to do? Join them or go out on my own in the Manila jungle? Not the easiest option, and probably not the safest either, as I wanted to get away from the guarded shopping malls.
The solution came from our host Simon. As he was working anyway, the driver could take me to the Jeepney Factory and show me around there. Thank you very much.
The most known and reliable Philippine Jeepney brand or make is called Sarou, and that was where Ramal took me.
It didn't really look like a factory, more like a kind of workshop where a kind of community shared the same project, making costume made cars.
Everything is done by hand. The design hasn't changed much since 1958, only the chassis has gotten longer the recent years, to be able to cope with the growing demand of transportation in the city.
I had a nice day in Ramals company as he showed me not only this Jeepney workshop, but also took me through some of the high lights of old central Manila.
Some of them were shiny chromed metal, others were painted like colourful celebrations of life in the Christian belief with huge painted homages to God. All of them with a resemblance to big US trucks, only in miniature format.
Their function is to transport people in Manila to what ever destination they need and on routes not covered by an insufficient public transport system.
From my first visit to Manila I believed that they were all built from the chassis of a Willy"s jeep, nut that isn't the truth, and Here is how I found that out.
February 2013. Makati City, Manila. Visiting friends. Not only us are visiting from Hong Kong. It is like a kind of reunion of former colleagues from Dresden International School. They've come from Hanoi and Ho Chi Min City as well to Manila to catch up and enjoy the Chinese New Year Holiday. Unfortunately our hosts didn't have a holiday, they had to shuffle while we were lazying around.
As I was the only gentleman among the visitors, it obviously had to happen; the ladies wanted to go shopping. What to do? Join them or go out on my own in the Manila jungle? Not the easiest option, and probably not the safest either, as I wanted to get away from the guarded shopping malls.
The solution came from our host Simon. As he was working anyway, the driver could take me to the Jeepney Factory and show me around there. Thank you very much.
It didn't really look like a factory, more like a kind of workshop where a kind of community shared the same project, making costume made cars.
I had a nice day in Ramals company as he showed me not only this Jeepney workshop, but also took me through some of the high lights of old central Manila.
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