transport in rural areas, pop up around
every other curve. I count myself lucky
that the NX300h’s extra road clearance
and all-wheel drive makes it easy to drop
a wheel onto soft shoulders in order to
skirt oncoming jeepneys. Try that with a
city sedan.
Lunch today is no random pitstop.
Sulyap Gallery Café occupies an elegant
two-story Spanish-Filipino colonial-era
casa fitted with cadiz-shell window panels
and 19th-century antiques. Families from
the local barangays gather on the breezy
verandas here to share Sulyap’s legendary
Filipino cuisine. On the recommendation
of our friendly waiter, we enjoy plates
of lechon kawali, deep-fried pork belly
chunks served with traditional grilled
liver sauce; mojos, halved and fried baby
potatoes served with a bacon-flecked
mayo; and a cooling pomelo salad made
with pink micro-shrimps from Lake
Palakpakin, one of the Seven Lakes.
After an uplifting macchiato made from
premium Philippine highland beans, I’m
back giving the NX300h a good workout
as we bounce down the exceedingly tight
back roads that lead to the twin crater
lakes of Pandin and Yambo. Aside from
the usual jeepneys, I’m now dodging men
on horseback and mules loaded with
coconuts. There’s no auto access to Lake
Pandin, so I park the car in the front yard
of a local resident who promises to keep
an eye on it for 50 Philippine pesos (about
US$1) while we trek to the lakeshore.
A long dirt track takes us over a
rise and past a farm raising free-range
chickens. After about 20 minutes,
we finally spot the water below. The
20-hectare lake is surrounded by thick
forest and a handful of modest bamboo-
thatch dwellings, with an area at the end
of the path occupied by locals running
bamboo raft tours. We opt for a sturdy
medium-sized raft made from giant
columns of bamboo lashed together and
topped with a simple grass-roof picnic
canopy. We’re just in time to be ferried
out for a pre-sunset glide across the
lake, cooled by soft onshore breezes. If
the rafts had beds on them, I’d consider
sleeping overnight on one.
Instead, we head to Los Baños, a quiet
university town near the banks of Laguna
de Bay, the Philippines’ largest freshwater
lake. The town was once famous for its hot
springs, discovered by Spanish friars in the
1600s. The food here is also a highlight. We
discover Selina’s, a Los Baños institution
with authentic Filipino home cooking and
friendly service. We indulge in plates of
exemplary pork adobo, barbecued ribs,
stir-fried kangkong, and rice seasoned with
salty shrimp paste.
The next day, we’re heading due north
on National Route 1, which connects with
SLEX into Manila. It’s Sunday morning and
traffic is thin, so the NX300h is practically
flying. I switch off the smooth and stable
auto transmission and instead use the
steering column-mounted gear paddles
to flip through the drivetrain’s six speeds,
just like a racing driver on the F1 circuit, at
least in my road-fevered imagination.
The power of this green machine
and sportscar-in-disguise isn’t just
adequate—it’s exhilarating. The cabin
stays quiet even at high speeds. Handling
and response are much better than you
would normally expect from a luxury
SUV crossover, resulting in a vehicle
that’s equally at home on dodgy mountain
curves as on the freeway.
The drive back to the capital is
unexpectedly improved when I discover
a just-opened bypass road out of Los
Baños that cuts an entire hour off the trip.
But the drawback is giving up control of
this jungle cat sooner than expected. As
I climb out of the firmly padded driver’s
seat in downtown Manila, I miss the green
hills and country roads of Laguna. But
having discovered the perfect guilt-free,
city and outward-bound vehicle for all of
Luzon, I’m already plotting the course for
my next amazing experience.SPONSORED SERIES