Trains have always fascinated me. In fact one of my dreams is to ride the bullet train in Japan.
Coming to Metro Manila, you would always expect to ride the railway transit available to make your travel a lot shorter and faster which of course is a great benefit. But, riding the train in Manila would come with a great cost.
There are three railway transits in the Metro: Light Railway Transit (LRT), Metro Railway Transit (MRT) and Philippine National Railways (PNR). I’ve ridden in those trains so many times already. So far, the rides went well although the trains are always jam-packed with people (I meant, skin to skin scenario). And my personal favorite transit is LRT 2. Well, at least not until my experience yesterday with PNR.
I and Kah Mor went to Divisoria to look for cutesy items since it is also her first time to go there. To get there from Taguig, we rode the PNR which would take us directly to Tutuban Center. Considering the route and travel time when taking the cab or the jeep, PNR wins. The train travel to Tutuban from Taguig went well. Although, the train was full, at least we arrived to our destination without any aberration. Travel time was more or less 45 minutes.
Photo taken by my crappy phone camera.
Of course, upon going home, it is expected of us to also take the train. We took the train at 5:30 something. And it started traveling at 6:07 PM. My, that was the fullest train I’ve ever ridden in my entire existence. I was really glad that Kah Mor and I were able to have a seat, otherwise, my anemia would have caused my passing out. The sad thing is the people-filled train was not the highlight yet.
Our route was from Tutuban to FTI. Our travel to the stops before FTI went smoothly. BUT! When we reached the mid section of Nichols and FTI, the train slowed down to a halt… in the middle of both stations!!!! At first, we were all keeping cool. People around are joking about it. By the way, we spent more than half an hour in a busted train in the middle of the railway with no air conditioner. The boys aboard had to get the windows opened or else we’d all die of suffocation.
Then come the time that some passengers were so hot-tempered (probably due to lack of air conditioner aboard) and tried to really blast the door and windows with their punches. That very moment opened my eyes as to how some Filipinos react to affliction. They get stubborn easily. And they would destroy public property if they wish so. Of course, there were those who tried to keep everything calm.
Frankly speaking, I was really afraid yesterday of how the events would turnout. It was my first time to get stuck inside the train. It was a good thing that there are two Tausugs who happened to be our seatmates. They have constantly been talking to us which made us forget of the situation that we were currently in. There is also one guy who would always give points as to riding PNR. I’d like to call him, the PNR guy because he knows a lot about the train. He’d probably been riding the train for so long already.
The train conductor would also always update us on the matters of the train (whom I think was fooling us around). First, he told us, “One bar na lang po ang kailangan, at tatakbo na ulit tayo”. (One bar to go and we’ll run again.) Then, the punching of the train. He told us again, “Wag nyo pong buksan ang pintuan. Makakatakbo na sana pero binuksan nyo ang pintuan.” (Don’t open the train doors. We might have already run, but you opened the door.) Lastly, he exclaimed, “Parating na po ang next train doon sa Nichols station. Ipapabalik natin na lang doon ang tren at doon na kayo sumakay sa paparating na tren. Pasenxa na po talaga.” (The next train will arrive in Nichols station. We’ll go back the previous station and you can ride the other train from there. I’m really sorry.)
Then we went back to Nichols. Slowly.
When the train had its full stop at Nichols station, everyone hurried outside. We waited for most of the people to get out. The train conductor called for attention, “Pakitawag naman po ang mga guards. Binubugbog na ako dito. Please naman po.” (Please call the guards. I am being hit here. Please.) He called out many times until the guards finally came. Then we finally headed out.
We decided to take the jeep instead of waiting to be transported by the other train. We had to walk the skyway just to get a ride. Man! That was really tiring. If you’ve seen the skyway along the entrance to Taguig, you’d understand me. We also had to be first of the people who want a ride too.
Glad we managed to slip into one of the jeepneys routed to Alabang via SM Bicutan. We got down at Tenement area where we rode the tricycle to Maharlika Village. Then walked home.
THAT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!! NO!!!!!!!!!
But it was an experience I would not forget. Truly, you would always come across this experience when you commute around Manila, esp. if you ride PNR.
So yeah, you should try it too. ;)
