I did return to the same area on my bike yesterday. This time, however, I made sure to have a big breakfast before I left, and that made all the difference to my mood. If there is one rule I should always stick with it is that I should have a full breakfast at the beginning of every day before I get on my bike. And I should have a secondary rule that I should always eat lunch. My mood improves tremendously. However, I find that so difficult to do. I just want to get going. Futzing around with breakfast seems like such a waste of time, and, to be honest, eating seems like such a chore. I think breakfast is the worst because the developing world generally eats the same food three times a day. As a Canadian, I’m used to a different type of breakfast. I find it hard to face the exact same dishes – rice, pork adobo, etc. – for breakfast as I face for lunch and dinner. Plus, just eating is such a chore and so tiring with the uncomfortable seating, the crowding, the heat, and the dirt. Eating is a difficult job, and it is hard to do it three times a day. It feels like that is all you do.

But with that breakfast fuel in my belly, I was in a much better mood. The endless honking of horns did not get on my nerves nearly as much. Neither did the stupid things that people kept calling out to me. I was just generally happier and I enjoyed the day much more – all because of breakfast.

The entire day came together much better than my previous day. I found the road I was looking for very easily. It led to a place called Tamarindo and then branched from there to Ilyusin and Sampao. Both of these last places were supposed to be surrounded by beautiful rice terraces, and I found them to be so. They weren’t nearly as steep or extensive or beautiful as the famous terraces in Northern Luzon, but they were very pretty nonetheless, and I stopped often to snap a few pictures. It’s on days like that that I do find my Olympus experience a bit lacking. I enjoy using the camera for street photography. But for landscapes, it just doesn’t seem to have enough horsepower. The main problem is the lack of an optical viewfinder. And the sun is generally so bright that I can’t use the LCD screen at all. So I’m taking pictures almost blind. I can see what I’m talking a picture of through the digital viewfinder, but it shows me composition and little else. I don’t really see the picture that I am taking. And I keep wishing I had a polarizing filter. I imagine that they exist for these Olympus lenses, but I never got around to buying one. I often wish I had two cameras with me – this Olympus plus a regular DSLR. I often have a crisis of faith with my Olympus, and I wish I had a DSLR to compare it to so that I can reconfirm my faith that it is a good camera to have.

[slickr-flickr tag=”The Rice Terraces of Ilyusin” type=”slideshow”]
The trip to Tamarindo and Lyusin was relatively easy and I actually rode my bike most of the way. To my surprise, the rice terraces there were famous enough to warrant an actual sign pointing visitors in the right direction. On the trip to Sampao, I was back off the bike and pushing it up the steepest road yet. Every step was an effort. I was astonished that the motorbikes even made it up that steep grade. The rice terraces at Sampao were not that special, but I got beautiful views of the coastline, the ocean and the offshore islands. The road ended at Sampao and after a few minutes there, I turned around and raced back down the mountains. I stopped once to take a picture of a sign that told motorists to honk their horns. That’s the crazy thing. For me, honking the horn is rude and annoying. For Filipinos, it is a courtesy. I noticed the same thing when I watched that show about driving a taxi in India. The Indian driver kept telling the British guy to honk his horn. It was clear that it was considered polite and the proper thing to honk your horn all the time. For the British guy it was rude and, worse, illogical.

The trip was much shorter than on the previous days, and I was back in Naval earlier than I expected.

 

 

 

Tags: bike, Biliran Trip, DSLR, job, LCD screen, Northern Luzon, Philippines Bike Trip 2013