I’d heard of the tri-annual wooden scooter race as part of the Imbayah (Merrymaking) Festival at Banaue, but while the very idea of a race down the mountains on scooters made entirely of wood (even the wheels) was certainly fascinating in and of itself, most pictures showed the scooters to be simple affairs, built for speed and not aesthetic value.
Then as I trawled the web, I saw this beauty – and my jaw dropped. Ladies and gentlemen, meet “Bangkiki”:
(click for a larger image. Trust me, you want to see the larger image.)
Bangkiki is the creation of Vincent Dinundon (from what I can gather, the president of the BANAUE RICE TERRACES WOODEN SCOOTER ORGANIZATION). According to an article by Gio. A. Tuazon, the scooter was carved out of hardwood and coated in black, from the wooden wheels to the horse figurehead and the rather imposing mohawk head atop the handlebars. He sold it to Governor Mark Lapid of Pampanga (for just 8 grand @_@) in the hopes of getting a viewdeck created to serve as a showroom for their wooden scooters.
