Travel Dust

The only way to get to Mount Pinatubo is to rent a 4x4 vehicle from the jump off point at Sta. Juliana / Pinatubo Spa Town. The 4x4s look cool but they don’t have air-conditioning and the road is really dusty so you’d definitely get a fun, bumpy and dusty ride. As much as I like the outdoors and 4x4s, I’m not a big fan of dust. BUT, I was spared from it because our friend decided to bring his car - thank God! haha. You can bring your own 4x4 to Mount Pinatubo as long as you pay the PHP500 car fee - it’s cheaper than renting the 4x4, you’re only taking the 2-hour hike, and you’re willing to get insurmountable amount of dust on your car haha. The heavier duty 4x4 cars in photo are the only cars allowed to take you to the 4-hour hike jump-off point. Someone I know who took that route said it had deep ditches & huge rocks you’d be driving on. Based on the Top Gear shows I’ve watched, I don’t think the Subaru we rode in was made for that kind of drive; a Land Rover perhaps. But I don’t think a Land Rover owner in the Philippines would be willing to test out his Jeep there.

If I go back though, I wouldn’t mind renting the local 4x4s. I want to know how I’ll cover up lol. It’s also a good way to support the indigenous people living there…

The hike up to Mount Pinatubo crater is a good two to four hours, depending on the route you take. For some reason I kept seeing parts of soles of rubber shoes and even a pair of soles! It sort of even became our game to find the next sole LOL. It made the climb more entertaining haha! I guess you really need hiking sandals and shoes that are in good condition. I can’t imagine my footwear crumbling on this hot and rocky climb. I wonder what these poor people did…I hope they or their guide had extra slippers with them!

edit: And oh!!! There was this Korean group (or they just looked Korean?) in front of us and one of the guys in the group had a crumbling sandal. We were mean and laughing at first but then we were like oh no! “~

And this was the stream I was referring to here that I had to cross. I crossed at the narrower - and shallower, area though. First time ever to sea a sand bank like this too! No words to describe it and my photo really does it no justice. I hope they don’t develop along this line because it’ll ruin it…

I can’t remember where and when I saw a kid riding his bike along the shore but the moment I saw it I said to myself, “That’s so cool!!! I have to do that.” When I rented out a bike for a day when I was out in Bantayan Island, I took it out to the shore. It was a bit of an effort getting the bike to the shore from the resort I was staying at because I had to cross a stream - there’s a sand bank, and my right slipper got caught with the incoming tide and I had to run after it. LOL. Pedaling was also harder because of the sand but it was a good ride. A really good ride :D

Edit: There was an area where there were bike tracks so I tried to follow that because I figured they rode on the more compact part of the shore, which is easier to pedal on.