Uneventful SLEX Travel on 11 Nov. EDSA greeted us with an early "Surprise!"

The travel on a provincial bus from South Luzon to SLEX was uneventful a day before the 3oth ASEAN 2017 Summit until our bus hit Magallanes. Along with about 20 buses at about past 1PM 11 Nov Saturday, vehicles hardly moved for 30 minutes. I suspected the lock down on EDSA in preparation for the arrival of the head of states started. Indeed it was confirmed when the “mani and shingaling” vendor announced to the bus driver that two lanes have now been barricaded starting a gridlock.

From GMA Network

The vendor suggested taking the MRT at the Magallanes station to move faster to the North. Minutes later, hordes of impatient passengers disembarked on the bus fronting the BPI branch to walk to Alphaland.

The line at the station was already long extending to Pasong Tamo Ext. but luckily MRT personnel allowed two lanes for incoming passengers. In minutes, with a card on hand, I managed to sneak in to hundreds of commuters cramped at the entrance. After a security check and the difficult step of tapping my card, I reached the platform in time for the incoming train.

Volume of passengers inside the train was not any different from the usual rush hour but I was expecting worst. Sneaking inside, I was comfortably assured of my destination to the North. Minutes later checking on Twitter and Facebook, situation was not any better.

Just like my trip to the airport, the decision to walk about 500 meters and to use my privileges to get to the platform of MRT came in in just a nick of time.

And I thought my adventure ended with my departure from Manila.