A Photo with 600,000 Views.

 

I just received an email from Google Maps telling me that one of my photos -namely, my photo of the front of Rosti Boss- has received more than 600,000 page views, making it the most viewed of all my individual photos posted to Google Maps.

I don't understand how this particular photo could possibly receive 600,000 views. I can't imagine that many folks trying to get information about any cafe in Dumaguete. I suspect that the majority of hits come from a bot, but again I can't imagine why.

 

Google Maps Can Be So @#%$ing Lame

Being retired and living the life of Riley, I have plenty of opportunities to indulge myself with various and sundry hobbies. Two of those hobbies are early morning bicycle riding and taking photos of the area to be uploaded to Google Maps. As of this writing, I have uploaded more than 3,400 photos to the website. These photos have received 31.5 million views.

This morning I rode into Dumaguete and thought I'd try to add two locations to Google Maps - the Tinago Canday-ong Bridge and the Banica Bridge #1. I took photos of both bridges, making sure to include photos showing the names of the bridges.

After logging on to the website, I attempted to add the two bridges and I did manage to upload my photos. However, my two edits were not applied. Google could not verify my edits. One would think that sending photos showing the @#$*ing names on the bridges should be verification enough.

Not so.

Be that as it may, I'm including all the photos here. Enjoy.

 

VW Beetle - number 73

Note:This will be simultaneously posted to all three of my blogs-
sorryalltheclevernamesaretaken
dumaguetewebsite
robertsimms

Anyone who has followed me for any length of time is aware of my occasional posting of photos of Volkswagen Beetles that I might happen upon while roaming about Dumaguete and Sibulan. This will be the 70th VW post published onto the first blog. Those 70 posts have featured 73 different Beetles - not including the VWs featured in a blog post on VWs in Davao.

As has been my routine for over a year, I went out early this morning on my bicycle. I don't always take the same route; I'm likely to go anywhere within a five or six mile radius of my home. Today, I took a slight detour toward the Negros Oriental Convention Center not far from the Main Campus of Negros Oriental State University.

As I passed an office of the Highway Patrol, I spotted the VW Beetle I'm featuring here.

Bicycle Ride to the Valencia Monkey Sanctuary.

 

Being retired, I try to keep busy by pursuing a few hobbies, one of which is bicycle riding, and another is photography. I combine the two in order to pursue a third hobby - posting photographs to Google Maps.

Not so long ago, I began riding along the upper portions of Rovira Drive. That area is heading toward the bundok (mountain) and is quite an invigorating sprint. I'd frequently ridden up the road to a friend's house - about 4 kilometers from my home. Looking at Google Maps, I set my sights on the Palinpinon Barangay Hall.

From looking at the map, I learned that not too far from the Palinpinon Barangay Hall is the Buayahan Bridge. On the morning that I road to the Barangay Hall, I considered going on to the bridge, but frankly, the climb had worn me out and didn't believe I could continue on.

A few days after that ride, I learned that the Valencia Monkey Sanctuary is located at the bridge and I decided to condition myself to make the ride.

According to Google Maps, the bridge (and monkey sanctuary) is 8 kilometers from my place - making the round trip 16 kilometers - or 10 miles. As far as distance goes,10 miles is within my range. However, also according to Google Maps, my location is 21 meters above sea level and the bridge/sanctuary is a whopping 166 meters above sea level. That's a pretty good climb for an old fart like myself.

The first part of the week, I did a couple of 10 mile rides along the Diversion Road to prepare myself. I took off at 6:00 AM this morning, determined to make the ride. From my previous ride to the Brgy. Hall, I knew I'd be taking mini rest stops once I entered the bundok.

Thankfully, I made it.

I had hoped that there would be monkeys feeding near the bridge when I arrived, but I wasn't really expecting them there, however. I had been told that the monkeys only get close to the bridge when hungry. The odds of my arriving at feeding time were slim. I didn't mind. I was able to post photos of the bridge and the sanctuary sign onto Google Maps, and the ride itself was an accomplishment.

As I wrote above, Google Maps says the destination was 16 kilometers (10 miles) but according to the odometer on my bicycle, the trip was 15.29 km (9.5 miles). Either way, the ride was a personal best for me, considering the uphill climb. Besides, it was all downhill on the trip home.