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FORTY TWO August 23 - Today Lynn and I went to Cebu. The reason was for Lynn to catch a plane to Davao to see her family and bring her older sister Bing-Bing and brother Jimmy back with her to Dumaguete. For me it was to find a vehicle to replace the Truck. Lynn wanted to go to Cebu by fast Ferry but I thought it would be better to take a Ceres Bus and get in hours earlier. I should have listened to her. It was the trip from hell. I kid you not from the minute we left Dumaguete at around 6:00am until we arrived in Cebu 4 hours later the driver honked his ear shattering horn no less than 700 hundred times. YES 700. And the horns on these buses are so loud and painful that they really can cause serious ear damage. He used it on every car, person, tricycle and I think tree he passed on the way. I seriously wanted to kill him as I was getting way to stressed for my own good. Then to top that off, about half way to Cebu we passed a dead guy lying in the road. He was lying flat on his face with his shorts down by his ankles and a stream of blood coming out of his head and flowing down by the side of his body. What a great photo that would have made but the exact moment I was to take the shot my camera had a problem and I couldn't. Poetic justice I guess by the higher being for my exploitation of the situation LOL. Anyway, as it turns out he was hit and killed by a Ceres Bus that did not even stop after the hitting the guy. Someone told me the bus line has a policy that drivers should not stop and actually continue to their destinations in fear of the driver being lynched by a mob that follows these incidents. I even heard that as a rule the driver conveniently disappears somewhere in the country to avoid prosecution and is never to be seen again driving a Ceres Bus. The bus company then settles with the dead guys family for what I understand is the standard 50,000 pesos (about $1,100 USD) payout. We made it to Cebu with plenty of time to spare. We went to Eddies hotel our normal place to crash in Cebu, checked-in and then proceeded to have lunch which Lynn partook in her favorite fresh corned beef, cabbage and potatoes. After lunch she caught a taxi to the airport and I started on my journey to find us a new ride. To make a long story short, I had an interest in the following vehicles. Toyota - Hilux Truck and Innova Minivan: Hyundai - Starex Van: Izusu - D-Max Truck and Crosswind Sportivo SUV. I did a couple of test drives and finally decided after cost comparisons, likeability, and practicality factors the Hyundai - Starex was the best bet for us. The ride was smooth and very quiet, the roominess was grand and perfect for our soon to be growing family and the comfort was awesome. In contrast the Innova felt like a poor mans Starex; the D-Max had way to rough a ride; the Crosswind Sportivo too sluggish and the Hilux was just too expensive so in the end the decision was quite easy. The sticker on the Starex was $28,478 (1,310,000 pesos). The sales manager then discounted me $1,087 so it came out to $27,391 which I felt was a good price for such a quality vehicle in the Philippines. Oh and she also threw in a DVD movie player costing $1,050. It was too late in the day to do anything so I told her I'd be back in the morning
August 24 - The next day I went to the bank and by late morning was the proud new owner of a 2007 black Starex. Delivery would be on Saturday. I arranged for Barry and Kay came to pick me up at the dealer the idea being to go and visit Josett and Marco. I had mentioned to Barry that I thought the Condo complex Josett lived at would be great for him and Kay to consider and I also wanted to show them Josetts work place where she makes Designer Costume Jewelry. In business 7 years, she now has about 100 workers and she sells to accounts like: Virgin Air; Gap; Marks and Spencer; Bendels; Duty Free Shops; and many other name stores around the world.
Kay,
Barry and Jossett
All of the necklaces, bracelets, earrings, buttons and other fashion accessories Jossett makes are from resins, fruits, vegetables, woods and other natural materials found in the Philippines. 2005
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