Someone at Google Maps should really TEST all their bicycle
routes with a modern bicycle that goes faster than 10 km/h. I mean, come on, I can WALK further than 10
km in one hour! But then no one does
that anymore, do they? How many people
actually know how far they can walk within one hour?
Anyhuu, those gravel roads with big pot holes and too large rocks lying around are not the worst of Google's deficiencies.
Since the hard landing in Siem Reap, I know better than to hang out BELOW these things
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| ride towards the light ! |
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| a nice paved road .... |
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| .... can quickly turn into a high-speed gravel road |
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| ... then into a low-speed gravel road .... and then into NO ROAD. |
Coming back to Google Maps: In this picture, there is supposed to be a road in the direction that the front tire is pointing. And there are NO other roads drawn in. What to do? Turn left or right and hope for the best;-)
But after a bit of zig-zagging, the road re-appears and the quest continues ..
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| It is as rough as it looks |
When I finally get onto pavement again (I take a detour to spare my butt more punishment), the strangest thing
happens. Imagine the road in the shape of a T.
I’m coming from the top left and stop right in the middle of the top bar
on the side of the road to check my GPS and to make sure I’m going the right
way. An elderly man is coming up along
the bottom bar of the T and he stops at the stop sign. And stays there. I move my bike into the grass area on the
side, just in case he is a timid driver afraid of flattening this German
cyclist. Back to checking the route.
Next time I look, he is STILL there, his car right in the lane, stopped at the
Stop sign. But he got out of his car and
he is waving the cars behind him past him.
Then the older not-skinny man (Imagine Chef Paul Bocuse, including that
strange mellow smile) starts waddling across the road towards me.
I suspect he thinks I’m lost (HOW, with a cell phone in my
hand?) and wants to help. I show him Google Maps on the phone, and he starts
pointing into a direction that I’m not going to go. Strange but lovely old man. I point in the
direction I’m going to take and thank him profusely.
Not even 5 minutes later, it is now 10 to noon, I’m stopping
again, and find that I’m stopped right in front of a Golf Course with
restaurant. Perfect timing, in
particular since I just had to swap batteries 6 kms ago. Eat, recharge, rest, type, breathe, think. And the reason I found the place is that I
refused to continue along yet another gravel road that Google wanted to send me
on and used the Map to get me onto a main road with a name (D9something).
The place is packed (not the restaurant, the golf course).
Must be because today is Saturday. OMG, did I send the translation to my client
on Labour Day? LOL, no wonder they were pissed and didn’t answer ;-) But then
their attitude and ethics shouldn’t be my problem! It’s them who are sitting in cold and rainy
Vancouver, not me ;-)
The owner (restaurant) carries in one of those huge
blackboards on an easel (They actually do that for every table ;-) but I decide
that now is NOT the time to be fussy and just order Le Plat du Jour. Good decision, because it consists of rump
steak with rice and ratatouille. Ha! No wonder people here are skinny. Nothing
deep-fried, nothing processed, just real food like your mom made.
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| Too bad my mom (who is 1/2 French) never cooked this good ;-( |
Coming back to Google Maps: In this picture, there is supposed to be a road in the direction that the front tire is pointing. And there are NO other roads drawn in. What to do? Turn left or right and hope for the best;-) 
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