Random Threads

This is a late post, but El Nido always seems to be in the news of late and I haven't been back. We actually went to Corong-Corong, El Nido, a beach just before the town itself in January of 2015. It was blustery and not still and quiet waters like you seen in the postcards. I never did get to swim as the waves made it uncomfortable on my bad back but it was truly beautiful. We did try to drive into El Nido town in our truck, but the roads are too narrow to accommodate it so we stuck to Corong, Corong where we were able to park on the lot of a friend's friend. The town of El Nido as of this writing is very congested. The water in Bacuit bay has coliform bacteria due to raw sewage running into it. But people still throng there and once you get out of town on the tours to the various coves, all seems well. Personally, I am more of a forest elf, but I do upon occasion, enjoy the beach. I do like going out to snorkel in the sea on our banca, which is much different that sitting...

I was in Manila for  two weeks getting overhauled in a hospital for a week, and staying with good friends there afterwards. It was nice seeing friends I never get to see and strangely. I saw more friends from Palawan there that I never see in town. Odd to run into more of them in Manila than where I live. It's always wonderful to get back home after seeing nothing but sky scrappers, except for the verdant garden at the friend's house I was staying at. But for that little oasis, I might have gone nuts. It was nice to go for a walk down the road I live in and see not one concrete structure, but the road. Here is what I like to see, not much of anything but green and verdant valleys. It help me remember why I love Palawan. I have been so upset over the approval of a coal fired electric plant and the  Ocean Park  in a marine sanctuary, I almost forgot why I live here. Mangingisda Road. This is walking back towards my house from the Mangingisda Pier. A very common...

We moved to Palawan after searching other islands for our retirement base. I liked Palawan because it was so pristine compared to other cities. I also loved the fact that earthquakes don't happen here, nor the ferocious winds of the Typhoons that strike Luzon and other islands. In 2009,when we moved here, it was a laid back town. Not much of anywhere to shop for groceries except for NCCC and the public markets. I hated NCCC because they constantly blared Christian music so loud I couldn't even think straight, much less remember what to buy. I don't have anything against Christian music in general, except I didn't expect to have it blasted in my ears at a Supermarket!!! I think that should be left to churches. If I wanted to listen to that type of music...I definitely would have gone to church to hear it. To make matters worse, at checkout, they would stop the process to pray!!! This drove me crazy and I actually had to force them to stop praying and continue to check ...

Our daughter is now going to the local public school since we live almost 2 hours round trip to city center, which is where the private school she last attended was. Now she gets to ride in her daddy's e-Trike which he developed as a R & D research project with former Mayor Edward Hagedorn. It's still going strong and now we use it to take our daughter and her friends to school everyday. We only live 5 minutes by etrike away from her school. Several of the her friends ride with her everyday and we pick up more kids as we go. It makes 3 round trips per day, as Alysha likes to come home for lunch since we live so close. Our number one assistant Jhun, taking our daughter and her friends to school. This trike prototype was built by local a Palawan  body shop owned by William Russel.  We used some of his mechanics and ours.  Dave Dewbre designed the mechanical system and helped Russel with the design based on the roads here and passenger capacity of the 5000 watt...

I live in Palawan and I love it here. I can't remember when I have been happier and more content. I love the greenery around me (I don't live at city center). The wildlife here is like no other. Where we live is where we want to be, and I for one will end my days right here on this green slice of personal heaven. This is Bindi the masked Asian palm civet that was brought to us to rescue. She was 3 days old; deaf and blind like a kitten for a few weeks. The first baby wild animal was brought to me last year on Nov. 1, 2012, was a masked Asian palm civet aka musang locally. She was just 2 or 3 days old we estimated.  Like a cat (although civets are not related to cats), they born deaf and blind. She was so tiny and helpless. I had to research online what and how often to feed her. The first night Bindi the musang was brought to us. Not much larger than my cell phone. Eyes and ears still closed until 2 weeks later. She cried like a baby with a high pitched screec...

My story about Dave Dewbre's etrike project in Palawan was featured in C! Magazine's May 2013 Issue. I document his adventure in research and development in electric tricycles. Charley Boorman , celebrity biker host of Freedom Rider's Asia dropped in to check out the e-trikes and had a good time driving one around Luzviminda. The magazine feature talks about the evolution of the different models Dave has developed and he talks about the problems people are having with after sales service and parts. A very big issue in this new field. I also talk about how then Mayor Edward Hagedorn was the first person to convert a regular gas trike to electric back in 2008 with the help of Rolly Conception and how Dave became involved with him in developing the successive prototypes. On this page top photo is Dave with one of his 3000 watt electric motorcycles and his eT4 tricycle taxi prototype,  driving the half moon shaped eT3 etrike prototype is Mayor Edward Hagedorn ...

When Dave decided to buy a banca (a motorized canoe with outriggers), I was thrilled. We live on a small peninsula surrounded by mangroves, the South China Sea and Puerto Princesa Bay. I've read that both spinner and bottle nose dolphins ply these waters. These, I believe are spinner dolphins. Spinner dolphins can be found in schools of up to 200 individuals!  They like to feed at night on fish and squid and I read they like to do most of their jumping and spinning at night as well. I guess we were lucky to see them during the day. A spinner dolphin doing it's thing!! A lot of tourists come to Puerto Princesa, Palawan for the Underground River , I'll take dolphin watching over it any day...although I have seen the Underground River three times now!! Shot taken with a GoPro Hero cam in a waterproof case from above the water from the front of the bangka Spinner dolphins are considered small and weigh up to 79 Kilograms. Shot with a GoPro Hero2 cam, mo...