JJCRU23RS JEEPNEY

[jeffy]

heh, good luck with the pedals, hopefully they wont get stolen :P !

[JJCRU23R]

youll need a couple good tools to take them off! hehe

[JJCRU23R]

The forbidden dance has come to a stop!

After the alternator cable fell off during a drive home @ night, all it took was for me to leave the headlights on, turned off the car and started it again to drain it enough that it didnt have enough charge to start up again...

after that I tried to push the car up the driveway which was kinda crazy to begin with if you saw this driveway... (will take pics)..

that didnt work, and in the process i somehow screwed up the steering. its really difficult to turn right.. theres a grinding noise and some real resistance when you turn the steering wheel right.. you really got to push the wheel to get it to turn.. turning left is much easier, but I still feel some minimal grinding..

the brakes seem to have weakened somewhat.. i gotta double pump the brakes to get it to stop without over shooting intersections.

its become pretty unsafe to drive now.. I was told by my father in law that the car shouldnt cost too much.. less than $10 bucks to repair but Ill believe that when the mechanics check out the car (sometime today).

so damn annoyed right now.. car = independance and now we gotta depend on other relo's to take us around.

[jeffy]

why not just rent a car for the time being, instead of driving unsafe ?

you know, like avis, then you can drop it off at the airport or something ?

[JJCRU23R]

That would make a helluva lot more sense except there aren't any rental car dealers to speak of here.

Life's a lot different here, the town of Butuan has some historical significance but it's like Wagga Wagga compared to Sydney..not huge at all. if you can't afford to buy a car it's a much more easier option to hop on a "motorcycad".. Modified motorbikes with carts built around em, used as taxi's and they're only 8pesos to get around in.. Seats at least6 passengers not including the driver.. Public transport is so much more depended on here that there no market for a budget rentacar service.

ANYWAY, BIG UPDATE, THE LAMBADA IS ON THE MOVE AGAIN!

Paid a mate of my father inlaws, the same mechanic who got it up and running in the first place to drive the car to his garage this morning, by the afternoon and 300 pesos later, the brakes are fixed and the steering needed oil or something.. But the car is back to a more safer dependable driving condition! IM USINg free wifi at this pizza place now.. Drove the car here no probz!

[JJCRU23R]

Heres a pic of the car last night.. Glamour shot outside the Philippines favourite TakeAway... McDonalds! Jollibee!

Now for today's adventure... after driving back to this store I went to yesterday because I thought I got ripped off (and I was.. paid 600Pesos when the pricetag on the box clearly said 400! Whats worse is the handwritten reciept said I paid 500! DAMn asians trying to rip me off! lol!!)

I drove back home and helped the wife fix up the joint and do some laundry (by hand.. who uses washing "machines" nowadays anyway!? lol)..

anyways, we were just about to head off and spend the afternoon with the kids and the relo's swimming at this resort when after just a few minutes warming up the car... the engine stopped.

Pretty clear what had happened. Since we had been driving around a fair bit and I only put in 300Pesos of fuel as advised by my wife... WE JUST RAN OUT OF GAS. Considering the petrol gauge isnt working and the amount of driving weve been doing getting around from place to place especially in the last few days.. it had to happen sometime! Just fortunate the incident occured at home instead of on the road!

Heres a few pictures of how you probebly shouldnt fill up in an emergancy...

Two 1.5L plastic bottles of Sprite gasoline later and various attempts at trying to start the car by choking the engine of air by taking off the air filter and putting our hands over the carby while turning the key... (and failing) a short push start and a good long turn of the key was enough to get the Lambada moving again! Thanks to my father in law (pictured above)

We did eventually make it to the swimming pool/resort...

Thats me with the donut around my head near the centre of the image

[JJCRU23R]

Heres a few pics of other places weve swum in so far this trip..

Me staring deep into the blue.. at that time I didnt think it was that impressive, just painted blue?!

Can you see the size of the fish in there?

I was thinking pretty cool scenery, treating the "enchanted river" like a swimming pool... that was until the attendant threw me some goggles and I looked down.. The blue part of the water was 85foot deep!

At another resort.. throwing my kid around while I can still lift him above my head and throw him (its a lot better when your kid can already swim :P)

Me + the kids..