I could write a book about the two cycling tours I covered in the Philippines in 1997 & 1998. There has been many a story retold over a beer about the wild west adventure we had making television.

Now this all came back to me when out of the blue when I had an email from Ramoncito Landayan, or Mon as we used to call him. He was the graphics guy who shared a very small bus with myself and the producer. If I can remember he used an Amiga to output all our graphics to the wonderful BetaSP format at the time. He very kindly sent me some pictures too and the one on the left is us standing next to the playout truck. Now Ramon might correct me here, but I think this photo was taken at the old Clark Air Force Base which 7 years before our arrival was evacuated before Mount Pinatubo covered everywhere in a thick layer of ash.

He also sent me this photo and I have to say I can't really remember everybody's name but I do think think the guy in the light blue jacket is Phillip. He was buried up to his waist in rubble in an earthquake in Baguio. Maybe Raymon can help me here.

 

Now just in case you thought I was making this rock 'n roll trip up here's a few facts:-

 

• We were in a different city everynight for 3 weeks. Some of the hotels we stayed in didn't even have a roof.
  
• Our trucks couldn't stop overnight in a town because of rebels.
• We couldn't fly the helicopter over certain areas as it would have been shot down by drug farmers.
• Cannabis & tobacco grew at the side of the road.
• We were followed by Government bodyguards wherever we went. I saw one once when he flashed his gun at me when I was the only white guy standing at a crossroads in a small town in Mindanao.
• We flew on a plane to Mindanao and in the check-in lane were guys with live chickens
• A year later the same plane on the same flight flew into a mountain
• The table the edit controller & vision mixer was placed on was 'sourced' from a local hospital as it was the only thing that could fit in the truck. It still had blood on the legs.(might scan in some pics)
• There was no generator, the engineers just tapped into the nearest hanging powerline they could find.
• We visited a town that had houses buried up to the roofs by the mudslide or lahar from Mount Pinatubo
• We stood on edge of the hill overlooking the Taal Volcano The lake inside can be seen as the backdrop to the Ride of the Valkyries helicopter scene in Apocalypse Now
• The Philippinos are the most welcoming & appreciative people I've worked with. We had a truly unforgetable time.

 

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