Our planning of where we go and when is somewhere between long term and last minute. Usually I have a fair idea of the places I’d like to go to before we get there. This is reinforced with a good reading of the Rough Guide shortly before entering the country combined with tips and recommendations we’ve picked up on the way. The Philippines was different. The routine of reading up about the country in advance was thrown by the fact we were still reading about Singapore and were too busy shopping to brush up on Philippines knowledge. That combined with…
After enduring a five hour bus journey from Manila to Batangas in the Independance Day “Bank holiday weekend” traffic (the driving standards here are second only to India’s, and that is not a good thing) we found ourselves on a “Banca” outrigger boat crossing over to the Island of Mindoro. Spotting dolphins on the crossing well and truly made up for the hellish bus journey. My first impressions of Sabang beach in Puerto Galera were not good. Concrete right up to the shore, loads of seaweed, expensive accommodation crammed into every available space, go go bars and a much older…
High rise Singapore came as a big contrast to everywhere we’ve been to so far. The place is so clean, so modern, so efficient and very multicultural. In fact it felt like Europe, albeit cleaner. Part of the reason for this are the strict rules enforced all over the state. Fines exist for eating or drinking on the metro, jaywalking and, get this, chewing gum. The result is the cleanest city in the world. A pleasant place to spend some time although I think I would go crazy day in day out waiting so long at traffic lights to cross…
I explained previously how Sharks are the coolest animals on the planet, but I have to say, cuttlefish come close. I was fortunate enough to spend ten minutes or so studying one while snorkeling off the beach in front of our chalet, but even more amazing were the two large ones I saw while diving. The way they just “hover” about with their funky fins that ripple all around their body and the mass of tentacles doing their thing at the front is, in my eyes at least, impressive. Even more so is their ability to change colour to suit…
Tough one for May. The choice was between an abstract picture of some leaves in the rain forest or yet another sunrise. The sunrise wins as it looks better on the blog, but download the leaves for your Windoze backdrop so that you can admire its beauty instead of doing any work. Sunrise from Perhentian Kecil.
By their very nature they are humid places but nothing prepared me for what the worlds oldest rain forest had to offer. We left the clean, cheap and well organised Sri Emas hotel in Jerantut and took a three hour boat trip up the Terrangan River into the national park. Having found another superb, cheap and well run guest house (Tehan Guest House – I’m impressed with this part of Malaysia) we were ready for 4 days of jungle exploration. On day one we went for a simple 3.5km walk, yet the humidity was stifling and we found ourselves exhausted…
No, nothing to do with atoms but the cars. Malaysian in case you didn’t know (although if you didn’t you probably didn’t care either). Having crossed the border many differences from Thailand and the previous countries we’ve been to were obvious. Apart from the afore mentioned increase in visible wealth the level of English here is much better (colonialism to blame again I fear) and I’ve spotted many Malaysians reading books (something not at all obvious in the countries further north). Something that wasn’t immediately obvious though (probably as we were on a road less island), was the lack of…
This is the first post in a new category that is destined to be irregular. Originally I had planned this to be “Photo of the Week” but that was seven weeks ago and I’ve not posted a single picture, so allow me to present the “Photo of the Month” category. I aim to show off my photos and make you jealous at the same time. Much like with my Inbox, I have a bit of a back log, April’s Photo of the Month is “Clouds over Koh Tao”. We stayed in a resort quiet resort on the south of Koh…