Click here to see still food & restaurant photographs – January to June 2023.

This place specializes in food from the Xinjiang region of China. They also have an entirely separate menu just for Vietnamese food, although I didn’t have time to try any of those.

I went to Blue Wonder Coffee Bean & Roastery, Cartimar wholesale shopping center, Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines, last January 2023.

I’m not an horological expert or serious watch collector. As both a TIMEX and a Peanuts/ Snoopy fan, I just wanted to share this new watch with you all.

00:00 Intro
00:19 unboxing
01:22 complaints about my other novelty watch, Swatch Sistem51

02:42 back to Timex
03:01 quick overview of the 2020 and 2017 reissue
03:16 the OG 1950s Marlin

04:14 how the 40mm case looks on my small wrist
04:36 the transparent case back and the Miyota movement (w/o day & date)
05:01 lume on hands
05:14 sunburst reflection, also compared with my recent novelty watch, Swatch X Omega Moonswatch Mission to the Sun’s sunburst
05:40 logo on the movement rotor

05:44 other Timex Peanuts variants
05:59 Snoopy Flying Ace
06:04 Snoopy on typewriter

06:08 black leather wrist strap, also more footage of the case back
06:13 quick release mechanism on the spring bars of the strap
07:07 buckle details

07:30 comic strip in the packaging
07:46 some of my Snoopy comics
08:02 outro

Sources:

1. https://theslenderwrist.com/timex-marlin-automatic-40mm-review/
2. https://theslenderwrist.com/timex-marlin-review/
3. https://www.surfacemag.com/articles/watch-wednesday-timex-marlin-automatic-snoopy-edition/
4. https://www.retrotogo.com/2020/09/timex-70th-anniversary-peanuts-watches.html
5. Times Ticking YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK81qmHWC5M (Charlie Brown Limited Edition Timex Marlin)
6. https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/timex-marlin-hands-on (2017 Marlin)

transcript of the video:

Timex is an iconic watch brand that needs no introduction. I recently picked up one of their Marlin models and I’d like to share more about it with you guys.

This is one of the various Timex Marlin models released in conjunction with the 70th anniversary of the Peanuts cartoons – another icon of the mid 20th century- featuring the beloved comic book characters of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, etc.

As a long time Peanuts fan, AND also as a casual watch enthusiast, picking up the Timex Marlin X Snoopy watch was a dream come true. Well, okay, dream sounds a bit hyperbolic. Considering the price is around $250 only, and you can even get it at a discount, as it occasionally goes on sale.

For a decent entry level automatic watch, I’d say that’s pretty good value for money. I’d even say it’s better value for money than some similarly priced fashion watches or even the hyped Swatch X Omega Moonswatch pandemic phenomenon, which retails at $300 and uses a quartz movement.

Full disclosure, I do own a Mission to Sun Moonswatch, more on that later. But when the Moonswatch mania dies down, I suspect the Timex Marlin Snoopy/ Peanuts character watches will hold its value longer, if we’re comparing them both on the “novelty watches” metric.

Or even not talking about them as novelty watches, but build quality.

Sidebar: I have a Swatch Sistem 51, the very first generation released in 2017. This was the very first automatic watch released by Swatch, prior to this, all their watches, from their famed plastic fantastic to their pricier stainless steel Irony line, were all quartz-movement watches.

What made the Sistem 51 a collectible and historical marvel was that it was built with only 51 distinct parts, which is very few for an automatic watch. It was also built completely by robots. Usually some part of automatic watches involve a bit of human assembly, even the cheap Chinese Seagull movements.

This first generation Sistem 51 was not exactly expensive at $200 or so retail back in 2017, but neither was it an ultra cheap $25 dollar Casio. The movement died after 3 and a half years, which is a very short lifespan for that price. It’s not repairable too, since the automatic movement was hermetically sealed- cue back to its marketing pitch of being totally assembled by robots, untouched by human hands.

So I don’t know how long this Moonswatch will last, although hopefully its quartz movement will last longer.

That’s why I feel the Timex Marlin will be of better value in the long run, not only as a collectible novelty watch, but the fact that it will still keep ticking after five years.

As an automatic watch, it doesn’t need battery replacements. You “power” it by simply wearing it on your wrist after setting the time. According to online reviews, it has a 30 hour power reserve.

This Timex Marlin is actually a second generation reissue. The very first Marlin came out in the 1950s as an affordable dress watch alternative to pricier brands like Omega, but which aren’t able to keep out moisture from the watch. The OG Timex Marlin was proud to call itself waterproof (we’d call it “water resistance” in today’s parlance) at a fraction of the price of much pricier watches. It wasn’t made to be a tool watch or dive watch, but as a more formal dress watch, so it being somewhat water resistant was a marvel for that time.

In 2017, a more modern Timex Marlin was reissued to great fanfare. It was nearly identical to the original mid century one, with the same 34 mm diameter. I’ll link to the primary sources I used to research this down below. I won’t talk at length about that 2017 one as I don’t own one. This 2nd generation reissue, at 40mm, the one I have now, is slightly bigger than the 34mm diameter of both the original 1950s one and the 2017 reissue.

40mm is the no longer considered large nowadays though. Men’s watches are usually larger than 40mm now, and many watches marketed as “unisex” are at 40mm.

To be honest it’s a bit bulky on my small wrist, but since it’s pretty lightweight, it doesn’t feel too bad.

The crystal is domed acrylic, nearly identical to the original 1950s model, very retro. The dome makes it look even bulkier, especially when viewed in profile.

The caseback is transparent, so you can see the movement. The 2017 reissue uses a Chinese Seagull movement, and this 2020 onwards 40mm one, including all the Peanuts collabs, uses one of two Japanese Miyota movements (one with the day & date, one without).

Mine is the one without the “day and date” complication, it only tells the time. If you get the one with the “day and date”, it costs a little bit more, I think $60 more or so.

Another nice feature of this watch is the hour and minute hands have some lume to them. Not super strong lume, it fades fast. But it’s helpful if you find yourself suddenly in a dark room after leaving a brighter environment.

When the light hits the watch face just right, you can see it give off a very nice sunburst reflection. This isn’t really a utilitarian feature but an aesthetic one, but it’s very eye catching and pleasing. It’s still subtle enough to not be obnoxious.

My Moonswatch Mission to Sun also has a faint sunburst reflection on it, but I think the silver Timex Marlin executed it in a nicer way.

There is a Timex logo engraved into the movement’s rotor, giving it a personalized touch.

The Peanuts collab models have different variations, they didn’t all drop at the same time during the 2020 anniversary launch. They came out over the span of months, and some coincided with the holidays, like the Charlie Brown variant.

The one I got was the Snoopy Flying Ace variant, where he’s in his World War I pilot costume. I wanted the one with him by his typewriter, but it was out of stock.

This variant came with a plain black leather strap by the same company that makes Red Wing shoes. The spring bars have a nice quick release mechanism to them, you can easily change straps without having to use a spring bar tool unlike old style straps. You just have to buy straps that also have quick release spring bars, which are very common nowadays in 2023.

Here, I put on one of the popular silicone material “sports style” bands on it.

Here, I put on an elastic type fabric one that fits a bit tighter. Just changing the straps changes the entire look of the watch from serious looking to either sporty or more “fun” looking. And I didn’t have to use tools too, since these two modern straps both have quick release spring bar mechanisms.

It’s very easy to buy additional straps for the Timex Marlin as 20 mm lug width straps are super common.

If you want to put on a slip through NATO strap on it, you can easily buy garden variety 20mm wide spring bars.

The buckle also has a nice logo engraved into it. When the original leather strap eventually cracks and breaks after use, you can even transfer the buckle onto a new leather strap, like I did with my over a decade old Timex Expedition field watch here. This brown strap is no longer the stock brown strap, that one already cracked and got worn out with time. But it was a cinch to transfer the original buckle onto the new strap.

The Peanuts “collab” also extends to the packaging. The inlaid fabric inside the box has a four panel comic strip of Snoopy role playing a WWI Flying Ace pilot. I imagine the other watches feature other comic strips- like the Snoopy on his typewriter watch model will feature a comic strip of him doing one of his angsty writer gags.

As you can see, I’m a big Peanuts fan, these three comic books aren’t my only Peanuts comic books, I just don’t have the time to dig through them all and it’s gonna make the video very long if I show them all.

I went on a short weekend trip to Bohol on April 14-16, 2023. It was an approximately 1 hour 30 minute flight from Metro Manila. This is the first ever commercial flight I’ve taken since the pandemic began!

The last time I was in Bohol was way back in January 2015, eight years ago.

They’ve moved their airport from Tagbilaran City to Panglao Island since then, back in 2018. So once you land, it’s only a fifteen minute drive to the Alona Beach strip of Panglao. It used to be a 45 minute drive or so from Tagbilaran City, then you have to cross from the mainland to Panglao Island.

The new airport also takes international flights unlike the old Tagbilaran airport also, but not from many points of origin, only from South Korea and Thailand for now. Click here to view other airport snapshots (both the New Bohol Airport and NAIA T2 in Metro Manila).

After the short 15 minute drive, we checked into the Henann Resort, which is in a prime location on the busy Alona Beach strip on Panglao Island.

We left our bags in our room then headed out immediately as it was past noon by then and we were very hungry. Even domestic flights used to offer sandwiches before, but even with the pandemic over, Philippine Airlines is still sticking to its “modified food service” (probably to cut costs). So we only got a very tiny packet of cookies (smaller than communion hosts) and a choice of coffee or tea.

My friend and I took a tricycle ride to Giuseppe Pizzeria & Sicilian Roast for our late lunch. It’s actually only 1 km away from the hotel, but since it was high noon in the peak of Philippine summer (a very sunny 37°C), we didn’t want to walk there.

I’ve tried this place already during my 2015 visit. I’m glad it’s still around.

It was pretty good. We had a few slices left over and I refrigerated them in the hotel and even flew them to Metro Manila after, they still tasted perfectly fine after reheating.

After a post-lunch nap, we walked around the hotel property.

The hotel fronts the Alona Beach strip so we headed out there after to explore and take photographs a bit.

I even had some interesting beach dog encounters:

Since the sun was starting to go down, we went in to swim a bit in the sea. The sunset was really lovely.

There was even a band singing by the beach at Henann hotel as the sun set:

We had dinner at Sea Breeze Cafe, the beachfront restaurant of the hotel, then walked the shore a bit again after dinner to digest our food before turning in for the night.

Click here to view all of my Day 1 still photographs.

Day 2 Morning

The day started with having a hearty hotel buffet breakfast in Coral Cafe, it’s the hotel’s restaurant in their main building, a different place from Sea Breeze Cafe last night. Although they serve the same breakfast spread.

I encountered this whimsically placed red balloon in a housekeeper’s cart while walking to and from the restaurant and my hotel room.

After that, I took a tricycle to St Augustine Parish Church, also on Panglao Island, around 4km away from Henann Resorts. My friend already went ahead an hour before to attend her niece’s baptism there. It’s the raison d’être for the weekend trip. I wasn’t originally planning to go to the baptism, just chill at the hotel, but after she messaged me that the church looked cool and would be something up my alley, I flagged down a tricycle outside the hotel and went.

After ten minutes, the tricycle deposited me in the front yard of St Augustine Parish Church.

This isn’t the grande dame of Boholano historical churches, that would be Baclayon Church. But this church is pretty grand for being “just” a neighborhood parish.

You can view more photos I took of St Augustine Parish Church here.

While my friend was taking photographs with her family, in-laws, and other friends after the baptism, there was a public lecture going on. The lecture was in Visayan so I can’t fully understand it, but I could gather from context clues that it’s either a pre-baptismal or pre-wedding lecture.

Very noteworthy to me was the bell tower/ watch tower towards the back of the church property.

The beach/ shore area behind the church is super interesting to me. It’s not a place you’d randomly stumble upon while walking on the main road. You wouldn’t have known there’s a beach behind the church property with a shore that you can access via a walkable dirt road. I only spotted it because I was photographing the bell tower.

There were locals chilling under little huts.

Click here to view the entire photoset of images from this beach area behind St Augustine Church.

I even had a very random bird encounter:

Click here to view the entire photoset of images from this beach area behind St Augustine Church.

In the front yard of the church is a classic Philippine monument. No, not talking about these historical ruins, although they do look neat.

No, the classic Filipino monument I’m talking about is the ever ubiquitous basketball hoops and makeshift court.

The rest of the baptism party had already left the church to go back to the hotel to prep for the lunch reception. My friend stayed behind to accompany me while I took photos of the beach area behind the church.

We flagged down a tricycle in the front yard of the church when I was done. The tricycle had this warning above his windshield. I guess rural tricycles are not “woke”.

Here are some small town street snaps I took while the tricycle was moving.

The baptism was held at the Henann Resort‘s convention center and of course, aside from the band, no Filipino celebration would be complete without lechon.

The lechon was already stripped when I got around to photographing it. It was excellent and you know the caterers knew it was excellent and were proud of it because when I asked for some gravy for it, they said that they don’t have any sauce for it because none was needed. Many lower tier lechon purveyors throw on a lot of gravy or sauces because they need “assistance” with the taste, but not this stripped one:

Day 2 Afternoon Part I

After the reception, my friend and I hired a car from one of the various guys on the Alona Beach shore holding out laminated cards offering tours to tourists.

Our first stop was Baclayon Church, in the town of Baclayon, on mainland Bohol. We crossed a bridge to leave Panglao Island.

I’ve been here before when I visited Bohol in 2015, but the church was under renovation then as it was badly damaged during the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that hit the island in 2013.

Baclayon was founded by the Jesuit priest Juan de Torres and Gabriel Sánchez in 1596, and became the oldest Christian settlement in Bohol. It was elevated as a parish in 1717 and the present coral stone church was completed in 1737. The Augustinian Recollects succeeded the Jesuits in 1768 and heavily renovated the church since then.

The church, built out of coral stones, is a cross shaped (cruciform) church with its juncture or crossing surmounted by a pyramidal wall. The original tiled roof was replaced by galvanized iron in 1893.^[5] The church complex is strategically located facing the sea. It originally has defensive stone walls around but was removed in the 1870s.^[1] It also has a school building built out of coral stones in the middle of the 19th century. A wood and stone market was built in 1881.

from Wikipedia

Click here to see more photos I took of Baclayon Church this trip, both exterior and interior shots.

There was an interesting room inside that held a collection of religious statues/ figurines, imageries, and icons. It was inside a dark stone room so the photos came out grainy.

Here’s a few samples, click here to view the rest:

We stopped by the Man-Made Mahogany Forest on our route to our next destination.

Day 2 Afternoon Part II

We arrived at the Tarsier Conservation Area maybe half an hour or so after.

Tarsiers are some of the world’s smallest primates. They’re very shy and skittish, that’s why this sign is necessary:

There was a time during the Covid pandemic that they disappeared from this area for almost a year, because there was a big typhoon that freaked them out. Luckily, a few had trickled back, although their numbers aren’t as high as during my 2015 visit. Which is a shame, since they’re already an endangered species to start with.

I don’t really have other photos of the tarsiers because I don’t have a telephoto lens and I didn’t want to stick my camera any closer as it may bother the sensitive creatures. If you want to see other photos I took of the place, however, you may click here.

After that, we drove to the famed Bohol Chocolate Hills. These are geological formations that resemble the Chocolate Kisses candy brand. They span a big area, covering many towns. The viewing deck we went to is in Carmen town, which was a 15 minute drive from the Tarsier Conservation Area.

These majestic hills are meant to be seen in person, my amateur photographs can’t really do them justice. I only took a few snapshots as a souvenir.

We had fresh seafood for dinner right on the main Alona Beach strip. Many places offer a wide array of fresh seafood that you can choose from and they cook it (whether steam/ grill/ sautée/ fry) it for you.

After dinner, we walked down the length of Alona Beach again to take photographs while digesting the big meal before heading back to the hotel.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW the rest of my Day 2 still images.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW the rest of my Day 2 still images.

Day 3 Morning

I walked around the beachfront area of the hotel to take photographs before heading to their breakfast buffet spread at the Sea Breeze Cafe, Henann’s beach front restaurant.

After breakfast, I had a final swim in the sea before heading back to the hotel room around 10:30AM to dry my swimming gear in time for the 12 noon checkout.

I spotted this really talented stray beach dog swimming and playing catch after my post-breakfast swim.

Day 3 Lunch

After checking out, we left our bags and walked to find a place for lunch. We took the concrete road behind the hotel instead of walking on the sandy beach this time. Here are some snaps of the parts of the Panglao Island Circumferential Road right behind Henann Resort,

and the little Alona Beach Road access road back to the beach.

We split some tacos and burritos for lunch at a cute little diner called Hola! on Alona Beach Road.

It was just all right, not great, not too bad, commensurate with its affordable price. The place turned on its air-conditioning when it got too hot close to 1PM, which we were grateful for.

Day 3 Afternoon

We continued to walk down Alona Beach Road back to the beach area after lunch.

It was so hot by then, past 1PM, and luckily The Buzzz Cafe was on our way back to Henann Resort. We had to go back to the hotel to get our bags and ride to the airport at 2:30PM.

This is the facade of the cafe. They have a take-out window for their home-made ice cream, and a door that enters into a gift shop selling honey and other goods from the Bohol Bee Farm and stairs leading up to their second floor dining area.

After that, it was time to go home. As I mentioned in the Day 1 portion, the New Bohol Airport is now on Panglao Island and not in Tagbilaran City on the Bohol mainland anymore, so it was only a 15 minute drive from Alona Beach.

Since it was only a domestic flight, we were done with check in and at the boarding gates within 15 minutes of getting to the airport.

It’s a small airport, but it looks nice and modern compared to the retired and defunct Tagbilaran Airport.

Tricycles

When I was last in Bohol in 2015, most of the for-hire tricycles looked like this:

I photographed the blue tricycle above on this April 2023, trip, it’s one of the few “old style” ones I’ve seen on this trip. In this one, the luggage compartment is at the back, and the sidecar is on the side, similar to the tricycles we have in Metro Manila (sans the luggage compartment in the typical Metro Manila tricycles).

The newer ones have a somewhat higher fare (at least compared to the city tricycles in Metro Manila), but you really can’t complain as these new ones are even nicer than the 2015-era Bohol tricycles, which are already much nicer than the beat-up city tricycles in Metro Manila.

Many of these newer ones use Piaggio engines to start with. The seats are very comfortable, and not super low, you won’t hurt your back. The “passenger cabin” is integrated into the front shell of the tricycle. There’s a luggage compartment still, since it’s a tourist town, which you access by climbing up a mini ladder to the roof.

Click here to view still images from my April 2023 weekend trip to Bohol. (link to highlights only)

I started off at Rizal Park, also known as Luneta. It’s a major historical site as it’s where the Spanish executed one of the Philippines’ pre independence-era national heroes, Jose Rizal. The park was named after him.

It was bustling as Easter is the end of the 4 day long Holy Week weekend.

The ice cream vendors were out in full force:

Families were chilling on the grass:

There was also a water fountain show. I didn’t shoot video footage because the background music was really bad.

I also snapped some of the interesting little structures inside Luneta like the Chinese Garden arch and the replica Japanese house at the entrance to the Japanese Garden (which was closed):

People were out and about with their bikes:

Of course, Filipino architecture is represented too, there was this replica of a typical Filipino stone X wooden house by one of the entrances, which currently serves as an office.

I made a pit stop to the nearby Manila Hotel after:

They had a fun little Easter Egg art exhibit:

After a fresh seafood dinner at Seascape Village, I dropped by the Harbour Square Complex near the CCP (Cultural Center of the Philippines) area to chill and take some more night photographs before going home.

There were lots of optimistic people trying their hand at fishing the very polluted Manila Bay.

The city at night:

These people probably dozed off after failing to catch a bite:

Random cat encounter:

Click here to see the other photos from this day that I didn’t put in this blog post.

I liked this piece printed on a “Good Morning Towel” (IFYKYK, Filipinos would know):

I also took some snaps of interesting looking people:

There were a lot of interesting art that I snapped as a souvenir, but obviously for things like this, you have to be there in person to appreciate.

You can view them in this album:

It was a 3 day event, I went on the 2nd day. There was a lot of interesting art, as can be expected. I took a few snapshots as a souvenir, but obviously this is the type of thing where you have to be there to appreciate. I’ll just share the link to the album, you can peruse it on your own.

Here’s a photo of one of the good dogs guarding the art:

A few random things that stood out for me:

April 6, 2023 was Holy Thursday/ Maundy Thursday, the day when Filipinos traditionally trek to seven (7) churches and do the Stations of the Cross. This tradition is called the “Visita Iglesia”.

I only ended up in one though. I visited St James Parish in Ayala Alabang in southern Metro Manila yesterday.

Since I already had my camera with me, I thought I’d also take some photographs and footage of the church to share.

Click here to view my album of still images on Flickr.

Visita Iglesia 2023- St James Parish

24 photos

I checked out Quezon City’s Chinese New Year Day festivities on January 22, 2023 held along the part of Banawe Ave. in between the corners of P. Florentino Street and Quezon Avenue.

Click here to view the album of photographs from this day.

I had Chinese New Year hotpot lunch here before shooting this street fair. (1 minute 26 second vlog)

00:00 Banawe corner Quezon Ave- red carpet
00:27 street food stalls
00:36 Philippine National Anthem
00:49 heading to the stage area
01:11 lion & dragon dance performance
02:20 more street food
02:30 rolling away the red carpet
02:44 hanging with Urban Sketchers Quezon City
(https://www.instagram.com/uskquezoncity/)
03:10 footage and street snaps of the lion/ dragon mascots and people milling about
03:50 my friend’s sketch of me
04:08 Urban Sketchers Quezon City’s completed sketches
(https://www.instagram.com/uskquezoncity/)
04:24 leaving the closed off portion of Banawe and walking towards P. Florentino

2023 Chinese New Year at QC Chinatown/ Banawe

67 photos

I’ve driven past this cool Katipunan (KKK) themed street art on a side street of Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard in Manila for years, but I only had time to actually stop and photograph it the other day, September 15, 2022.

I thought to shoot a small behind the scenes vlog also since people often ask me where I find these neat spots in the city to photograph.

Also on that same street is a Street Side Grotto, which was very fortuitous for me, since I’ve been photographing these little vernacular street altars for over a decade now, and I often driven past one but was unprepared to photograph. Luckily that day I had my stuff with me and had the extra time to do so.

00:00 KKK/ Katipunan street art, Valencia St., side street of Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard

00:43 Street Side Virgin Mary grotto, same street
My Street Side Grotto gallery on my website
My Street Side Grotto NFT collection on Solsea (Solana)-

01:17 bonus graffiti photographs, Ramon Magsaysay Blvd. Service Road

Music:
Look Both Ways- Nathan Moore
YouTube Audio Library

Click here to see still food and restaurant photographs – July to December 2022.

Click here to view my Flickr album of still photographs of the Stop the Killings (marginalized rural folk/ farmers) exhibit.

Shorts:

Click here to see still photographs – July to December 2022.