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SIXTY SEVEN March 9 - Last night we went to a birthday party of a mutual friend of both Lynn and myself. Her name is Gigi and she is also an accomplished golfer.
Lynn,
Gigi and others at Gigi's Birthday Party
March 12 - Lynn and I left for Davao today. Originally we were to leave on the 16th Flying to Davao from Cebu but, we made a change of plans and decided to take the van and drive there from Cagayan De Oro. We would go by ferry from Dumaguete on the Super Ferry #12 Boat. It was a new boat and the trip was only 7 hours. We left a 10am and got in at around 5pm. The cost for taking the Starex was $278.00 and our tickets were $52.00. I might have mentioned it before but water transit especially cargo is very expensive in the PI. Once we got to the port we had a little run in with the cargo handlers and exit guard. I misplaced the papers and in order to leave the port you need to show them. The first guy we were encountered on this told us $18.00 would take care of that problem. Then another guy told us $12.00. It could have been 50 cents the point is, it is still corruption and I really detest it especially as this is what keeps this country in the middle ages. Lynn went to the Ferry office where she found out there is no charge for RoRo. Roll on the ferry and roll off the ferry as we did with the van. In the meantime I found the papers and gave them to the guard and one of the cargo guys. When she got back to the guard gate and told them there was no charge they were so disgusted in not getting any bribe money they rudely threw the papers back at us. I told them to go fuck themselves as they should have known RoRO was free and to hassle us with a one month baby was almost criminal in itself. We then left in search of the Dynasty Court Hotel which would become our second misadventure in the port city of Cagayan De Oro. To make a long story short. CDO sucked, the Hotel sucked and we couldn't leave the place fast enough. I will probably only return to CDO in order to play golf at their two golf courses which are considered very good. We were on the road heading to Davao by 9am. The drive lasted almost 6 hours and it was really nice. We hit a patch of bad road for about 20 kilometers but it didn't bother me as we were on our way to our new home. I really enjoyed the scenery and green of the land which appeared to be far richer than in the Visayas. The road were also much better as were the conditions of the schools and almost everything else we passed. We arrived into Davao City by about 4pm and headed straight to Lynn's sister Charmane's house where we would stay for a couple of days. I guess this officially starts a new chapter as we are now in a new home called Davao City. Davao City as I have now learned is considered the largest city in the world. I don't know how it got this title as the city itself is actually quite small as cities go. More like a large town would be more like it. However, I guess one day someone decided to make the boundaries as far out as 25 miles in each direction including deep into the mountains so the city is something like 600 hundred square miles or something ridiculous like that. I could live in the mountains over an hours drive from downtown davao but be able to tell someone I live in Davao City. 2005
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