Bicycle Ride in Sibulan

It's coming up on the anniversary of my downloading an app onto my phone in order to monitor my bicycle rides. There is an option where I can video the ride. I've uploaded those videos from time to time on to Facebook. I don't usually upload the videos to Youtube, but I thought I would do so today. 

When prompted by Youtube to answer questions about the content, I said it was OK for kids. I thought that meant there was no sex or violence or adult specific content. It turns out it isn't kid safe after all because the app I used included an ad in the video.

 I changed the settings and now I'm good to go.

#79 or #50 or #18?

 

While attending Palm Sunday services at Our Mother of Perpetual Help Redemptorist Church in Dumaguete this morning, I saw this VW Beetle in the parking lot. It looks very much like VW Beetle #50 from July 12, 2018. The only noticeable differences are the wheels. It's also very possible that this one and #50 are the same as VW #18 from January 3, 2017.

 

VW Beetle # 78

 

I haven't come upon a new VW Beetle in the area since October of last year. This morning, I went with a group of American friends to an eatery in Valencia. Not far from the eatery, I spotted this olive colored VW. This one makes #78 that I've photographed since I first started posting VW photos to another blog in November, 2016.

Looking back, I've published 70 VW posts onto my "Sorry, all the clever names are taken" blog. I'm tempted to transfer those posts to this blog ...... it would take quite a lot of work. We'll see.

 

When Cycling in Philippines........

......it's good to know where the vulcanizing shops are located.

 

The Dumaguete Airport Road Bridge

I mentioned on one of my blogs that Google Maps Can Be So @#%$ing Lame. At that time, I had attempted to add a couple of local bridges to Google Maps only to be told that the edits could not be verified. As it turned out, those bridges were eventually added to the Map without my getting credit. At least I was finally able to upload some photos of the bridges.

Now today, I found myself in a part of Dumaguete where I had never ridden my bicycle, and came upon Dgte. Airport Road Bride. I took photos of the bridge and attempted to add its location. The edit was not accepted.

I don't understand how Google Maps can reject an edit when photographic proof is provided. At any rate, I'm posting the photos here. Maybe one day Google Maps will "aggregate its fecal material".

 

Book List for April, 2023

The time has come around once again for me to post onto this blog a list of the books I've read this month. April being a relatively short month, it would be expected that the number of books read would not be particularly high, but this April the list is considerably smaller than usual. The list is exactly half the number of April 2022.

Part of the blame can be placed upon the Internet. I've come upon websites that have old television shows of which I'm found. Yes, place the blame on Sgt. Bilko, Lt.Columbo and Dr. Who.

The first book on the list is Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith. I was impressed with her first novel, Strangers on a Train. This novel did not disappoint. As a matter of fact, a Highsmith novel will be first on the list for May.

Next on April's list is another of David Lagercrantz' continuations of Stieg Larsson's Millennium series. Sadly, I am not as big of a fan of Lagercrantz as I am Stieg Larsson.

Book number three came to me as a pleasant surprise. Bullets and Bolos: Thirteen Years in the Philippines Islands by John R. White was recommended to me by a friend and I appreciate the recommendation. The book is a memoir of an American who served in the Philippine Constabulary under Gov. Taft, beginning in 1901. The fact that most of the events he wrote about happened on the island where I now call home is certainly a plus.

I've been thru a number of Kindles over the past few years and I've prepared for the day when my present Kindle will fail me by downloading an e-reader app onto my phone. The Kindle is still my first choice but I have used the phone app a couple of times. The e-reader on my phone came with a few e-books pre-loaded. Of course, these are books found in the public domain. 

Having the book on my phone was the reason I began reading Jules Verne's A Journey to the Center of the Earth. Jules Verne is one of those writers I heard of all my life but had never actually read. After a couple of chapters in, I did a little research on the book. As it turned out, the English translators of Verne's novels weren't always faithful to the original French novel. It seems the first English translation in 1871 was a "drastically rewritten version of the story" pretty much created out of thin air. The 1877 translation by Frederick Amadeus Malleson is considered a much better translation, although it is far from perfect. It's the Malleson translation that's on my phone. Frankly, Jules Verne might have been a wonderful writer (as far as style goes) but the story is absolutely unbelievable. It's hard for me to imagine that readers in the 19th Century could be so incredibly ignorant regarding science. Sure, scientific knowledge has advanced quite a great deal in the 150 plus years since the original French publication, but the story is totally absurd on its face.

So, without further ado, here is my April 2023 reading list.

Deep Water     by Patricia Highsmith
The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye     by David Lagercrantz
Bullets and Bolos:Thirteen Years in the Philippines Islands     by John R. White
A Journey to the Center of the Earth    by Jules Verne

2,500 Miles

I mentioned in my blog post from Sunday, that during that morning bicycle ride, the odometer on my bicycle passed the 4,000 kilometer point. I also noted that when my odometer reached 4024 km that number would translate to 2,500 miles.

So, to commemorate that....um.....milestone, I'm posting a photo of the odometer at 4024 km and a photo of where I was when I reached that number. Metro Dumaguete College on E.J. Blanco Dr.

 

4,000 Kilometers

While out on my morning bicycle ride today, my odometer went past the 4,000 kilometer mark. This is not the distance I've ridden the bicycle since I bought it two years ago, but the distance ridden since I purchased the odometer. I don't have an exact date on when I bought the odometer, but as near as I can calculate, that would have been at the time I replaced my tires. That would put the date at around the last week of March or first week of April, 2022.

So, the 4,000 kilometers were put on in about one year's time.

The first photo is, of course, the odometer reaching the 4,000 kilometer mark. The other photos are of my location when I hit the mark. I'm making an effort now to keep track of the date.

In a couple of days, I'll be reaching another milestone, if you will. I'll soon be passing the 4024 km mark which will translate to 2,500 miles. I'll blog on that as well.

 

Two Volkswagens in One Day - Part Two

As I mentioned in my previous blog post, I hadn't come upon a "new" VW in the area since November 2022 when I came upon an orange VW on E J.Blanco Dr. As luck would have it, I came upon two this morning while out on my bicycle ride thru Camanjac.

I felt that each VW deserved it's own blog post.

After photographing the blue VW, I headed back to the Diversion Rd. to continue my ride. I was nearing the intersection with the Dumaguete-Palinpinon Rd where I intended to turn around, when I spotted a white VW on the opposite side of the road. I travel this area several times a week and this was the first time I'd seen this particular car, so unlike the blue one I discovered moments before, this one did not appear to be derelict.

I crossed the road and proceeded to photograph my discovery.

When I had finished my photo-shoot, the owner of the VW appeared from out of nowhere. As can be seen from my photos, the owner isn't seen. He appeared to be disturbed that I was photographing his car. His English was only slightly better than my Bisaya so I had a difficult time explaining my hobby to him. I even showed to him the photos of the blue VW I had just taken, but he seemed to think from what I said that I lived in Katrina Homes 2 Subdivision. We talked for a few minutes. I don't know how much of our conversation he finally understood, other than my name and that I lived near the Magatas Barangay Hall.

At any rate, here are the photos of VW Beetle #76.

 

The Cubiertos Volkswagen

 

I first posted photos of the VW Beetle that is located outside the Cubiertos Restaurant and Grill in Sibulan onto my sorryalltheclevernamesaretaken blog in October of 2018. At that time, the VW was painted a bronze color and was basically used as a large flower pot. (see photos at the above link).

In February of last year, I met with 3 American friends to have lunch at Cubiertos and discovered that the flowers had been removed from the trunk of the VW and the car had been repainted a canary yellow.

Cubiertos is located on the National Hwy. in Sibulan in an area where I do not normally ride my bicycle, so I only recently learned of the changes involving the Cubiertos VW when I happened to drive by in the car.

As can be seen in these new photos taken this morning, the VW is still the same canary yellow, but now sets atop the roof of the restaurant. I logged onto Google Maps in order to add these photo to the restaurant location on the map and I discovered that Cubiertos was not on Google Maps. I was sure I had seen it there previously. At any rate, I edited Google Maps and added the restaurant. It should show up in a few days.

Below are the photos I took this morning.

 

Bicycle Ride to Calabnugan

A friend of mine recently posted onto Facebook a few photos he had taken from the Calabnugan bridge. Seeing his photos, I was reminded of some photos I had taken from the same bridge and had uploaded to Google Maps. I've ridden my bicycle a few times to the bridge, but it occurred to me that I had never crossed over the river at that point. I decided to remedy that.

I looked on Google Maps and saw that there were a number of places that I could photograph for the website. These included the Calabnugan elementary school, the Calabnugan Barangay hall, the Tsuri Cafe and Pis-An Store.

My original plan was to go out on my bike early Friday morning and take the photos. Unfortunately, I discovered that the rear tire on the bike was flat. There's a vulcanizing shop within walking distance of my house, so I removed the rear wheel and headed that way. The inner tube was patched and I walked back home.

I've always had somewhat of a difficult time taking off and putting back on the rear wheel; dealing with the derailleur has always been a hassle for me. By the time I managed to get the rear wheel on, I was too hot and sweaty to do the 11 km (to and from) ride to Calabnugan. I'd put that off until Saturday morning.

Going out Saturday, I noticed that the derailleur and gear cables were in need of adjustment. I believed, however, that I'd still be able to make the planned ride. I was mistaken. I was able to ride, but I was not able to switch into a full selection of gears and getting to Calabnugan was harder than it should have been.

I turned around before getting to the elementary school; I'd have to postpone the full ride until after I had the cables and derailleur adjusted. After arriving home, I caught my breath and rode to a bicycle repair shop in Sibulan.

So, Sunday morning, with the bicycle back in 100% running order, I managed to complete my planned ride to the Calabnugan elementary school and take the photos I wanted for Google maps.The photos below are only a small sample of the photos taken.

 

A Volkswagen Update

This afternoon I went with 3 American friends to have lunch at Cubiertos Restaurant in Sibulan. It was the first time I had visited this particular restaurant in quite some time......it's probably been more than a year.

Something new has been added.

My regular readers know that whenever I come upon a VW Beetle in the area, I will photograph said Beetle and post the photos to my blog. (now "blogs"). In Oct. 2018 I took photos of a VW parked at Cubiertos Restaurant that was basically serving as a large flower pot. One of the photos from that time is posted below.

 

Today, I find that that VW has been updated. Looking closely at the body, I'm sure it is the same VW....only now it's painted yellow and is no longer holding flowers.

I've no idea why the change was made. I'm simply reporting it.

And it Comes Out Where?

 

If one travels along Motong Road from the Motong Brgy. Hall to the Morning Star Gas station, you'll run into Boni Catarata. Taking a right on Boni Catarata will take you to Rovira Drive. A left turn onto Rovira takes you to Brgy. Camanjac - a right turn takes you to Brgy. Pulantubig. Looking directly across Rovira, one sees an unnamed road. This road can be seen in the first photo of this blog post. In this post, I will refer to that road as "entrance X".

One day, my friend Ken R. and I were talking about entrance X (although we didn't call it that back then). Neither of us had traveled down that road and we were both mildly interested in where it might lead. I had my own theory about that.

My Theory

Although I may change up the route from time to time, my usual bike ride takes me along Dionesio Calbat. I'll turn right at the Tubtubon Brgy. Hall and head toward Rovira Drive at the old Alymae intersection. The road coming from Tubtubon ends at another unnamed road - left goes (after a fashion) to Rovira. I had hitherto never taken a right turn there - I had no reason to, but it was this right turn which I believed might come out at entrance X.

 

One morning, I decided to test my theory. It turns out that I was mistaken. Rather than take me to entrance X, the right turn ended in what can best be described as a pig trail. A path. One could, of course follow the path on foot, motorcycle or bicycle. I was not inclined to do so.

Yesterday, I decided to settle the question, once and for all. I would enter entrance X from Rovira and see where it takes me. It could very well end at a pig trail too.

Most of entrance X is a paved road, although it will convert to a gravel road in spots. That's par for the course here.

 

When I reached the end, I could not have been more surprised. It wasn't a surprise that the road would run into Capt. A Cornelia Rd., but I never suspected the road would end at the Xuekashi Motorparts store. Heck, I ride by there almost every day and never noticed a road directly across from the motor parts store. Well, live and learn.