First of all, I want to thank all those who have joined the PBRC ride yesterday to Honda Plant in Tanauan, Batangas. I'm very glad for those who have joined the ride for giving time. Thank you every one. RIDE SAFE everyday.
Now for some accounts on what happened yesterday.
My day yesterday started early by waking up as early as 5:30 am, even if our call time for those coming from Las Pinas and Muntinlupa is still 7:30am. I checked my Bravo for the last time in preparation for the ride. At 6am, my wife asked me if I can still accompany her to the market to buy some stocks for our sari-sari store, I agree immediately ( hehehehe, baka magbago ang isip at di ako pasamahin ). We returned by 6:45 am at home. Then...I returned to check my things again and at exactly 7am I leaved our house. The meeeting place for my group is at Alabang-Zapote flyover which is very near my house (it's just 5-10 minutes walk), so I went straight to a gasoline station and filled my tank then went around zapote to look for any store where I can load my cellphone, I almost consumed 15 minutes just looking for a store that is opened and have my cellphone loaded. I know that in a matter of minutes my cellphone will be flooded with texted messages coming from other members who will be joining the ride and as expected, after I loaded my cellphone, text messages comes in.
So...after answering some text I went straight to our waiting area (below the Alabang-Zapote flyover). I parked my Bravo where it can be easily seen by those members coming from Muntinlupa and at exactly 7:30am Jian, Ryan and Joel arrived in our meeting place. At that moment, I'm already texting Joyce who coordinates with me for those members coming from the North and I also text Major asking him how many are they in McDo, Kabihasnan.
By almost 8:30am, the merge party of North boys and South boys arrived in Alabang-Zapote flyover. After a short introduction of the members from Muntinlupa. We decided to start the ride to Batangas. At that moment, Sir Jules of Honda Philippines called me and asked how many riders are going to the plant, their plate number and if there are any back riders, we have 3 backriders (Jian backride, Nayf wife and the gf of Michael - whom I invited to join the ride but rides on a Wave 125), he also informed us that FPIP (First Philippine Industrial Plant) doesn't allow anybody wearing sandals to enter the compound; so we had a problem with our backrides since all of them are wearing sandals. Setting aside the problems of our backride we started with the ride and opted to stop in a gasoline shell along Aguinaldo Highway to have all riders fill up their tank so we won't be stop anymore going to Batangas (as what we thought).
The ride from Alabang-Zapote flyover to the gasoline station is smooth but with few traffic. After reaching Caltex, some riders have their Bravo filled up while other members went to the restroom. After a few minutes of rest we started the ride again. Traversing Aguinaldo highway, we passed Imus, Cavite with no problem but in between Imus and Dasmarinas, Cavite we encounter a minor problem; no problem with our Bravo but a traffic enforcer got irked when the group didn't stop when we were stop because of that the last 4 riders (Jian, Ryan, Michael and Me) were the one who was stop, Jian, was able to pass through, avoiding the elbow of the enforcer but Ryan was not lucky because he was hit by the elbow of the enforcer and was shaken by the blow. Fortunately, he didn't crashed and was able to gain control of his Bravo. We stop a few meters from the enforcer and confront him but he was angry that we didn't stop when he asked us to stop. That time, Major and the other riders came back to check on us after realizing that we were not on the convoy. We then told Major on what happened and he returned to the enforcer and confront him. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see the confrontation since I'm waiting for some of the members to go back. What I saw is that, the enforcer stop a pick up with red plate and inform him what happened. We, thought that it's already finished since Major led us again and continue our ride. After travelling for 15-30 minutes, we thought what happened was already finished but when we reached Salitrans, Dasmarinas, Cavite, the whole group where stop by a bunch of traffic enforcer, I thought that all motorcycle will be stopped but only our group was stopped. There, we found out that the traffice enforcer who we confronted radioed the traffice enforcers who blocked us. Major, was irked by the action and told the enforcers what happened. We were told to wait for their superior and the traffic enforcer. We waited for almost 10-15mins and when they arrived both Major and the traffic enforcer is in a not so good mood. Other traffic enforcer pacify the two but some PBRC members who was also irked by what happened started giving comments which just added flame.
Not satisfied with what's going on and knowing that we have already lost some precious minutes, I intervene and talked with the enforcer in a calm voice. After several minutes talking with him, telling him of the mistake of the group but also telling him of his mistake, he simply requested that he wanted to talk with Major so I talked with Major and asked him to have cool heads when they talked. At last, both parties end up by shaking the hands of each other. We left, Salitrans with no hard feeling and hopefully the traffic enforcer felt the same.
We continue our ride to Tanauan immediately, but it seems that we are travelling slow since our speed is only 60Kph, so I catch up with Major and informed him if we have the chance, we need to speed up our pace so we can reached FPIP on time, it's already 10:30am. After passing SM and Robinson Dasma, we speed up our pace and at this time we are now travelling 70-80Kph. In no time, we reached Tagaytay, Rotonda, we didn't stop anymore but proceed immediately to Talisay.
Reaching the rode to Talisay, almost all the members were amazed with the road (except I guess fo Major since I don't think it's his first time to pass that route). The road is a downhill twisties (sarap!!!!), even the view is amazing. For those other members who haven't gone through that rode, be sure that your break is in good condition. Steven, Nayf and Me was able to save some gasoline (hehehehe) because we turn of our engine and let the road drag us (kuripot ba? Hahahahaha). The downhill road can make your MC reached upto 80Kph but please, please, please be carefull, it's a twisty road and if your not careful you'll end up down. The road downhill almost consume more than 30 minutes I guess but you won't be frustrated cause you'll be amazed with the scenery.
Reaching the bottom of the road, we still travel an additional 1 hour to FPIP. We reached FPIP at around 12am. We immediately sign in to the guard and waited for Jun who comes from Calamba. After 5 minutes, he was able to join us. We are disappointed that we didn't met some of the members from Batangas and Laguna for some reason. I immediately texted Sir Jules and was informed that they are already waiting for us. We immediately saddle up and proceed to the plant. There, we already saw that Sir Jules and the Honda Phil. President/General Manager Mr. Izekoe is already waiting for us. We were asked to ride around while they took picture of us. We again asked to go around the second time and this time parked in front of their reception area where we got the chance to have our picture taken with their president.
After the picture taken, we were instructed to park our Bravo in the visitor parking area. There we proceed immediately to their reception area where we were met by Honda Philippines National Sales Manager, he gave us a brief view of the whole Honda Philippines plant which occupies 23 hectares (wow!!! ang laki). In the reception area we also saw the modified Honda Bravo in the "metal" (di in the flesh kasi puro bakal at plastic. hehehehe). Then we were instructed to proceed to their Welcome hall were snacks is prepared and there we were asked to introduced ourselves. We then proceed to the question and answer portion regarding Bravo, they asked us to eat the snacks while the forum is on going. I'm glad that members didn't shy away from asking question and we were satisfied with their answers. Honda Philippines president had to leave the group for another engagement in the afternoon so before he leaves we had another picture taking (dami naming picture....). The visit proceed with a film showing of Honda Philippines history and an info about engine oil (we'll discuss the engine oil in the forum or in Yahoo group).
Before the end of the visit, all members were given a Honda paper bag that contains a jacket, t-shirt, cap and a ballpen, we were all happy because the jacket cost already 650 and the t-shirt is 250, so we receive a 1000 worth of give away from honda. We then are invited to visit their shop and asked if we want to buy any other Honda apparel at discounted price. True enough, its discounted; Michael was able to buy a utility bag for only 310, knowing the SRP of the bag is 560.
At almost 3pm, we bid goodbye to Honda officials carrying with us a good and memorable experience in their plant.
To all Honda Philippines executives, thank you very much for a warm welcome and a nice experience that you have given to our group. We hope that yesterday is the start of a good relationship of our club and your company.
Honda Number 1!!!!!!
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