Manila – San Fernando City – 81 km
I wasn’t ready to leave the Philippines as a vast northern region remained. Leaving
the pension, the route led past the waterfront where Dragon Boat races were on. I
watched for a while, cheering on my favourite team and snapped a few pics.
Being Sunday morning, the traffic was less congested than during the week. Seeing
the other side of the city was an eye-opener. Shacks encroached onto the road; by
then, the three-lane highway was only two lanes. Still, it remained reasonably
uncomplicated getting out of town. If I did go wrong, I knew nothing about it and
was blissfully ignorant of whether I was on the right road.
My path never entirely cleared the traffic, and the road stayed congested virtually
the entire 80 kilometres to San Fernando, which sported accommodation and food.