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Road Trip
Got to Believe in Magic
We thought it was just another awesome motoring event. Instead, this year's Toyota Road Trek gave us a clear mandate of what we have to do in this world
Words by Dinzo Tabamo; Photography by Alfred Mendoza and Raynand Olarte
The problem with any successful event is how to top it the next time around. One of the most anticipated activities every year for the motoring media is the Toyota Road Trek. It consists of team challenges, plenty of driving using the vehicles Toyota wants to showcase at the time, then finally a day of utter R&R bliss.
Last year's Road Trek was a wringer, which made the victory of accomplishing it even sweeter. When we got our invites this year, we were surprised to see no itinerary at all, just an invitation to a 'Magical Mystery Tour'. Our investigative efforts proved futile. We had our guesses, but until our real destination was officially revealed, the Road Trek lived up to the sense of mystery it had successfully built up in the days leading up to the event.
So it was with almost orgasmic anticipation that the Top Gear team composed of Jaykee, Paulo, Raynand and myself gathered at Toyota's Commonwealth dealership at 6am for the briefing. A fleet of Toyota's new Corolla Altis and Vios sedans were parked outside. The first part of our Road Trek was revealed to be a Sampaguita Rally-type challenge. This type of rally places emphasis on following directions and on being “on time all the time.”
We were given a roadbook—a booklet with directions and odometer readings. It contained detailed instructions through a route that included Marikina, Antipolo and Laguna, and ended at Sofitel Philippine Plaza in Manila. Random checkpoints were set up along the way to monitor our progress. Those who followed the roadbook to the letter, including the ideal speed at certain points, would theoretically arrive at each checkpoint at a predetermined time. Points were deducted for those who arrived earlier or later than the ideal time.
Of course, everything went awry during the first few hours. We found ourselves with teams FHM and Philippine Star looking for the first checkpoint, only to find that they were completely random and not located at the end of each section in the roadbook.
The white Altis we were assigned to proved to be a capable road companion. We thoroughly enjoyed how it took the twists and turns on the roads of Tanay with confidence and grace.
We arrived at Sofitel worn-out and eager for a shower and some nap time. Our weariness dissipated when Toyota Motor Philippines' Paulyn Dalisay smiled as she gave us our room keys. After freshening up and enjoying our buffet poolside dinner, Toyota's First VP for marketing, Danny Isla, went up to the stage with his trademark Beatles leitmotif. (Advice to other car execs: You can't go wrong when you use classic rock music in your speeches).
We heard the John Lennon fan utter the words 'El Nido' and 'Palawan', but we couldn't believe our ears for a few minutes. Then it sank in: Paradise, here we come.
In what might be the only time you will see 'eagerly' and '5am' mentioned in the same sentence in this magazine, we eagerly woke up at 5am the next day for our chartered flight to El Nido. We all slept for most of the flight, but once we saw Palawan's famed islands dotting its unspoilt blue waters, we were fully awake.
After we landed at the El Nido airport, a motorized outrigger served as our scenic ride to the resort. Forty minutes later, the resort staff welcomed us with cold towels and fruit juices.
El Nido is composed of two main islands, Miniloc and Lagen. Lagen Island Resort is a showcase of El Nido's lush ecosystem. Trees and limestone cliffs are home to a colorful variety of birds and mammals. Miniloc Island Resort—where we stayed—is the smaller of the two resorts, giving a more intimate ambiance to our summer retreat.
While there is nothing as sublime as sipping pińa coladas on a beach lined by talcum-fine white sand, the menu of activities presented to us was just too enticing. At the forefront were diving and snorkeling. El Nido is a protected marine sanctuary, boasting palatial coral reefs and a diversity of sea creatures that belong in a NatGeo channel. There was also a lagoon tour, island hopping, bottom fishing, hiking, rock climbing, and soaking in the radiance of Toyota marketing beauties Elijah Sue, Ana, Michelle and Paulyn (Vernon insists on mentioning Paulyn every four paragraphs or so).
There was also a coconut hat-making activity, which Paulo attacked with gusto. We suspect he wanted to make an all-natural bike helmet. The fish-feeding activity had interesting instructions: “Jump into a wild aquarium of friendly and hungry fish and be among them while snorkeling.” Uh, pass. We prefer eating the fish, thank you very much.
As we settled down to enjoy El Nido, it became a montage of beautiful sun, soft sand, clear water, succulent food and bottomless beer. Memory cards were maxed as people took a zillion pictures of the lovely scenery. Jaykee took documentation a step further because he brought along a handy little Sanyo Xacti video camera and captured our happy moments (mostly the inebriated ones). There were no cars so no need to drive. So we drank as much as we could without feeling sick on the boats.
Yes, you read right: no cars. I was kayaking inside El Nido's big lagoon with Hotwire's six-footer Ronnie Trinidad, and as I was trying to keep our kayak from becoming a yellow submarine, the realization that there were no Toyota vehicles—or any vehicles for that matter—to be seen for the remainder of the Road Trek suddenly hit me. I wasn't complaining, the lagoon was breathtaking in its immaculate splendor. We were surrounded by limestone cliffs and enclosed in flourishing vegetation. Looking into the clear, azure abyss, you could feel your worries and stress seemingly being carried away with the tide.
But there were no cars. And—at the risk of stating what might seem like heresy in the context of a car magazine—it was great! Having no cars meant no pollution, no smog, no noises from engines and horns, no rush hour, no color coding, no MMDA, no maniacal buses, and no time wasted in traffic jams. All your time was for yourself. Every moment in El Nido was like drinking heavily from the cup of life, instead of the usual sips we take during our daily grind.
I wanted my parents and my brother to see this nature heaven. I wanted to share it with my friends and loved ones. Heck, I believe every Filipino should see how beautiful this country is before it's too late. It drove home Toyota's environment thrust more effectively than any hybrid-vehicle test drive we had taken part in.
Back in the journalistic atmosphere of our office, I browsed Toyota's Sustainability Report for 2007, which I mistook for a Greenpeace brochure because of all the environment-awareness topics. The report estimates the world's carbon dioxide emissions to grow from 26.1 billion tons in 2004 to 40.4 billion tons in 2030. For this reason, Toyota has lined up initiatives to address global warming, among them the development of new technologies for fuel efficiency, the promotion of clean-energy vehicles, the diversification of energy and fuel sources, and the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions in the logistics and production areas of its operations.
In other countries, Toyota extols the efforts of its local companies to help the environment: Toyota Motor Thailand initiated a national biodiesel project in April 2006; distributor Hotai Motor Co. in Taiwan increased their trucks' transportation efficiency and reduced fuel consumption by 43 percent; US partner New United Motors Manufacturing promoted carpooling among its employees.
But nothing beats the environmental awareness strategy of Danny Isla and his team, sending us to paradise and showing us a world so full of life it borders on the divine.
Our magical mystery tour had one more trick up its sleeve. During the bottom fishing activity late in the afternoon, we set out for the middle of the sea. Hardly any islands were in sight. The breeze was softly nudging us, the sun was lazily hiding behind clouds, the boat was still. Our guides taught us how to use the fishing line and the weights that made it sink to the bottom, where the best fish in that area were. Soon the initial excitement and banter died down. We sat there, sipped cold beer from our cooler, held our fishing lines, and waited for that telltale tug that signaled a catch.
And it is in this place where the road ends, and there are no cellphones or e-mail—where a trek of a higher nature begins, which is the trek inside yourself. Stripped of all material trappings, with nothing but the buoyancy of a wooden vessel keeping you from the sea's ability to swallow you whole, you find yourself at the mercy of something bigger. To be kept alive by the sheer will of a force that takes no particular face or name, you feel as if it's just you and God. You begin to think of what you've done with the life given to you. You reflect on the past, ruminate on the what-ifs of the present, wonder about the future.
Will it be smooth sailing or rough seas? Do you stay in one port or do you go where the wind pushes your sails? Do you brave the storm and chart your own course? Will you find someone like Paulyn who will stay with you come hell or high water? These are important questions that need answering.
In the middle of nowhere, you find yourself.
We left for Manila with some anxiety because of looming deadlines, but the peace and quiet turned out to be what the doctor ordered. Nature gave us the respite we didn't know we were looking for. Leaving El Nido, we hoped it wasn't too late to save the planet. The answer lies within us. Let's do our part. Please.
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Top Gear Philippines - June 2008
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