I left Manila at 6:00 a.m. February 26, 2010, trying to figure out if I could arrive in Baguio City before noon so I can shoot some photos of the Panagbenga Street Festival, which was scheduled to begin at 11:00 a.m. I rode a taxi to Balintawak interchange where there are regular passenger buses heading up north. But there were only very few buses going directly to Baguio, and all of them were already filled to capacity. I wanted to get to Baguio in tip-top condition, so I have got to avoid a six-hour journey standing in the aisle of a heavily crowded bus. Luckily, a half-empty passenger bus bound for Urdaneta, Pangasinan stopped near where I was standing, and I decided to ride on it. From Urdaneta, I could then ride in one of those public vans going to Baguio.
I paid the P180 fare, and sat at the far end of the passenger bus. In a few minutes we were already on the North Luzon Expreesway, and after an hour we reached Dau (Pampanga) where the bus picked up more passengers waiting at the roadside.
Some vendors entered the bus offering different kinds of snacks and drinks. In my haste, I forgot to eat breakfast, and so I bought a small pack of chicharon and a C2 drink and started to have my breakfast-on-board.
On the way to Tarlac, near the Pangasinan border, we were suddenly stuck in heavy traffic caused by the street campaigning of political candidates. It is election time in the Philippines and the campaign is in full swing, with the candidates never minding that they were creating huge traffic jams with their convoy of vehicles overcrowding the national roads. It was as if we were in suspended animation as we waited for the vehicles to move forward. Without anything to do, I decided to find ways to avoid boredom, like playing games with my cellphone or changing the settings of my camera.
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