The day Archuleta rode a jeepney

"American Idol" runner-up David Archuletawanted to do one last thing in Manila before he finally left the city to go to Vietnam to continue his concert tour.

Archuleta wanted to experience  how it is to be aFilipino by riding a jeepney.

Archuleta got so curious about those colorful vehicles he saw en route to his successful concert  at the Araneta Coliseum last July 18,  he volunteered to ride one himself.

"He wanted to wait on the streets and hail the jeepney himself," reports a staff of Ovation Productions, producer of his recent Manila show.

But doing so posed security and crowd control problems. "The jeepney is an open vehicle and  this could prove to be dangerous," the Ovation guy explains.

Still, Archuleta persisted in wanting to ride a jeepney.

So officers of Sony Music, Archuleta's record label, decided to compromise.

They hired a jeepney just for Archuleta and party to ride in.  The singing idol boarded a jeepney together with the regional manager of Sony Music and two other top officials, plus two security men.

The jeepney went around Ortigas,  where the  Sony Music office is located in the Philipines.

"David proved to be a cowboy," the Ovation guy relates.

Yahoo! Philippines