My way of knowing trike or tricycle was when I arrived in Manila. During my first trip to the Philippines, I was extremely excited to see a jeepney. After doing a lot of research, the jeepney seemed a very unique embodiment of Filipino culture. And I can still remember seeing that first jeepney and being so excited that I shouted “there’s a jeepney!”, scaring both my girlfriend and our taxi driver. We spent three days in Manila and I saw Mini jeepneys, horse drawn carriages and lots and lots of taxi cabs.

On the third day we flew to Tacloban City in late. When we stepped out of the airport I was greeted by what seemed like hundreds of trikes or some people say side cars. They were all painted more uniquely than the jeepneys, and each one was unique. I actually wanted to bypass taking a van to our destination and take one of the trikes instead but it was explained that a trike is generally not good for a multi hour journey.

And as we drove in the van from Tacloban city to Southern Leyte I noticed hundreds of trikes along the way not only were they painted uniquely but every so often the trikes would change to a whole different type. I could tell they came from different manufacturers with different ideas of the most efficient design. When we got to Southern Leyte I discovered that my girlfriends brother-in-law was a trike driver. He had recently got the trike and I helped him put a stereo in it along with re-wiring the lights and doing some touchups. After much begging on my part I got him to agree to allow me to drive the trike with him riding behind me of course.