Why I Like it on Top

Riding on the jeepney with another traveler

There’s two ways to ride on a Jeepney—inside or on top. When you’re in the city, you can’t ride on top really. But when you’re on the mountain roads, sometimes it’s the best way to travel. You get a gorgeous view in 360 degrees, instead of just a peek out the window across from you or a neck-ache of a turn behind you. You get fresh air, and you get an adventurous ride.

It's a long way down...

Riding on top of a jeepney’s like riding an elephant—which I know from experience; I rode an elephant in Thailand. You sit on a tire or a bar on top of the jeep, and you hold on for dear life as the jeepney lumbers over pot holes and makes hairpin turns. You put on gobs of sun block so you don’t get burnt as you sit on top there, especially if you’re like me and you need to wear SPF 70.

Changing the tire

Sometimes it’s crowded, too sunny, or rainy and you’ll ride inside instead. If you’re riding the back roads, chances are there aren’t too many trips to whatever town you’re going to, so the driver’s going to load up the jeepney as much as he can. Maybe he’ll put 30 passengers on and in the vehicle, like he did on mine, which will blow out the tire on the way there. Jeepneys normally hold about 16.

All those people fit into (and onto) that tiny jeepney

There will be men with chickens in handbags, huge bags of rice at your feet, luggage, small children, car batteries, bowls of vegetables, boxes of beer and soda all crammed on the floor in between the passengers’ feet.

It's hard to tell, but we're crammed in there!

I haven’t decided where I’d want to be if the jeepney tipped over or into a ravine because of an ill-placed pot hole, a tire blowout at the wrong time, or a top too loaded with passengers. I haven’t figured out which seat I’d want to be in so I’d have the best chances of survival. I don’t think I’d want to have my back towards the cliff’s drop off, because if the jeepney tipped over, all the people with their backs to the cliff wall would fall onto me, as would all of the stuff between us. I think I’d get crushed. I’d either want to have my back towards the cliff wall, so I’d land on top of the people and have an open window to escape out of, or I’d want to be on top so I could have a chance of jumping off.

Me and a traveler I convinced to ride on top with me

That’s the other reason why I like to ride on top most of the time—though it’s best not to think about such things.