I lived in the philippines when i was younger. I loved it there. Life was exciting then like it can't be where there aren't rainforests, volcanos and tropical beaches.

Part of the excitement was when our maid, Leema, would take me with her to the market. The market always smelled horribly of fish and was filled with stooped crones amazingly balancing huge bags of rice on their heads.

Once a year there was a parade of jeepneys called the "Jeepney Jamboree" that went through the market. they were painted in blinding colours, made all the more blinding by the generous applications of mirror and coloured glass bits, often covering the entire jeepney. Bright feathers and cloth banners and flags were necessary accessories.

Miles of them, it seemed, and all filled with 30 or more people, piled inside and using any available hand or foot hold on the outside.

The market was always especially exciting during the jamboree. The smell of the food stands filled the air, and there was always a bazaar where strange and exotic things were sold. I would always come home with new toys and puzzles and full of lumpia.



On a less nostalgic note, the original WWII derived jeepneys are all but gone, but it seems that there is a jeepney movement in the phillipines similar to the riceboy phenomenon. Information about building a jeepney and aftermarket accessories is big business.