MGA MUTYA NG JEEPNEY!

Trust Jeepney Tours to come up with out of the box  tour packages for their clients! 

first level of the double-decker jeepney

I recently got a call from their travel coordinator, Kim to do a tour for no less than "Mutya ng Masa" , Ms Doris Bigornia. It was originally for a rolling tour of Manila on board a double-decker jeepney. I was naturally delighted as I had done tours for this company many times over utilizing their not so standard jeepneys. They have three. So this was going to be different on two fronts: 1) it had media mileage written all over it, and 2) it was a maiden voyage of sorts for the double-dutch jeepney. 

the upper deck

Ms Clang Garcia, owner and tour operator of Jeepney tours is the original Mutya ng Jeepney. She related to me how at the start, people in the hospitality industry thought she was nuts when she approached them with the idea of having foreign guests ride in jeepneys. They were lukewarm to the idea at first. It didn't deter her from pursuing that germ of an idea.

now boarding...

She had a fleet of jeepneys customized, changed the seating configuration, installed air conditioning and videoke and had them painted yellow and designed with different themes. She applied for accreditation with the Department of Tourism and opened shop. She never looked back! It created a stir in the industry and even now, foreigners get wowed when they see a jeepney rolling up the hotel driveway to pick them up.  They start taking selfies and photo ops before they even take the ride.

fun on the upper deck

She's at it again! Together with SkyJeepney Coachbuilders, Inc., they hatched the idea of doing one better by amping the current Jeepney tours coaches with an upper deck. Mr.  Mark Bautista (no, not the singer) who happens to  operate SkyJeepney, says the idea was taken from provincial jeepneys that take on passengers on the roof whilst holding onto baggage railing for dear life . Why not offer a safer ride for more people? Thus the double decker jeepney was created. 

the lower deck with the dining/meeting tsables

Think of it as a jeepney on steroids! It's got everything that the original fleet has and more. This 41 seater has dining tables, a refrigerator, CCTV cameras, and a GPS system.  They can actually track where the double decker is located at any given point in the tour. Only thing missing is wi-fi. Being a prototype, this 80 foot (or is it meter?) ride is still in development mode. In the works is a 90 footer(again, i can't recall) that will have a washroom on the lower deck.

Groupie with Ms Bigornia

The call time  for the tour was at ten a.m. but knowing how media "runs" after their stories, I knew it was going to be a long day. I was right. The staff and crew of Mutya ng Masa arrived near lunch time. Doris Bigornia arrived at two p.m. Soon enough the cameras went rolling and as any TV, show there were numerous interviews and calls of "cut" and " action" so it wasn't really a normal tour. 

Mutya ng Masa staff and crew

As the other Mutya ng Masa ng Jeepney gamely inter-acted and interviewed and exchanged banter with some of the guests, the camera crew were taking valuable footage of guests having fun, singing videoke and waving to crowds. Doris Bigornia even sang an entire song taped as live on videoke which riled everyone up. You'll even find her eating ensaymada and bananas provided by jeepney tours on a regular basis. 

Eileen and the  Skyjeep Coachbuilders  

The shoot was high-octane and lots of fun. By the end of the shoot, Doris Bigornia; the TV host, Mutya ng Jeepney and all around "kalog" obliged us with selfies and groupies and even her crew got into the act.  This is why I love my job!