Santa Monica, United States</h1> <article> <h1>Santa Monica, United States</h1> <p>Sun, 27 Mar 2016 14:50:00 -0700</p> </article> <article> <h1>Guanzhou, China</h1> <p>Sun, 27 Mar 2016 14:50:00 +0800</p> <p><br/>Hong Kong from the sky</p><p><br/>Crazy gadgets in Chinese airports</p><p><br/>So bored during the 7 hours between the 18 hours of flying</p> </article> <article> <h1>Manila, Philippines</h1> <p>Fri, 25 Mar 2016 14:50:00 +0800</p> <p><br/>Hog roast x2 everyday in the Dusit Thani Manila</p> </article> <article> <h1>El Nido, Philippines</h1> <p>Mon, 21 Mar 2016 14:50:00 +0800</p> <p><br/>Hanging Around</p><p><br/>Diner in El Nido harbour</p><p><br/>Boat tour 3 of 4</p><p><br/>Kayaking in the big lagoon in El Nido</p><p><br/>Our departure lounge in ElNido</p><p><br/>Transport to the plane from the departure lounge</p><p><br/>Little plane</p><p><br/>Happy (sort of)</p> </article> <article> <h1>Manila, Philippines</h1> <p>Thu, 17 Mar 2016 14:50:00 +0800</p> Layover </article> <article> <h1>Coron, Philippines</h1> <p>Thu, 17 Mar 2016 14:50:00 +0800</p> 17th March Cont.... After dumping our bags we asked the receptionist for a restaurant recommendation as the panini and cinibob seemed like a lifetime ago. We ended up at Kawagasan (??) grill. I had the meat grill which was good and Alex had chicken. As we sat and ate a couple of people approached us one selling a party for tomorrow night and another with your info. In Coron you have to do these as you cannot see much on land like we have done previously on other islands with the bikes. Most of the beauty here is on the surrounding islands for which there are 7-10 different tours. We took the itinerary from the grill tours and compared them to the ones we had picked up at the airport when we were waiting for our bags back at the room. Through a mixture of the book on Alex's kindle(which is our offline bible) and some hope we decided that the grills tours looked the best and if we booked both with them it gave us some bargaining power for discount-we would return tomorrow ready to haggle. On the Tv was fast and furious 7-vin diesel sent me to sleep! 18th March We have a plan today but somewhat of a loose one. We want to go to the hot springs and climb the mount tapyas on the main island as well as book the tours from the grill last night and also purchase two sets of snorkels as we came to the conclusion we will use these a lot and the £30 outlay will be worth it. The problem is we have minimal wifi and can't load maps and as we came in the dark last night minimal bearings. We got up and got a trike from the hotel, the driver was helpful and told us u go we needed and it clicked that also we should book our boat to el nido on 21st too as these get busy and only run twice a week. He first took us to the port and we negotiated down the price of two tickets for the 8 hour trip on Monday to 13 quid each. He then took us to town and dropped us. We found a coffee shop and the probably the only place with wifi in this town where it is a mix of market stalls, wooden shops, bar and restaurants but not in the style of what you are thinking of. As we made our coffees last we checked out different things to do and noted them down as well as checking if the flights have been changed for us which they hadn't. We then were content what we're doing and luckily the massage place next door was renting a moped which we tested and took as it works out cheaper than the taxis we would have to take to the springs and mount. We got on the bike and followed the road round to the Maquinit springs. After paying a minimal entrance fee we sat in the 40 degree salt rich Spring. It was like having an Epsom salt bath-sweating because of both the heat and also the osmosis type affect of the salt drawing the water out of your body. It makes you feel like you are floating when get out but also can become lightheaded if you don't rehydrate quickly. We spent about 90 mins resting and relaxing and the trike driver had told us to go to the mount for the views at sunset so we drive back to the hotel to relax by the pool and catch a few rays as well as some food. After time ticked by in the afternoon we showered and we stopped off at the grill from last night and booked two tours for the next two days-tomorrow the Coron island tour and the day after three paradise beaches tour. After some more negotiation this time by Alex we exchanged money and also save our selves 15quid-it all counts - we jumped back on the bike and parked at the foot of the 720 odd step climb-we were pretty good and did it without really stopping mind you I was dripping when I reached the top-not really worth having a shower! We sat and admired the view and took a few photos and descended after about an hour to literally roll the bike down the hill to the restaurant we had chosen to eat in whilst on the coffee shop Internet-tripadvisor is normally a pretty good guide for food (not so much for hotels as requirements differ from reviewer to reviewer but everyone knows good food or you would like to hop). In this case again it did not fail us - the t2nd ranked place gave us some amazing local food and for less than 8 quid with a beer and cocktail. 19th March The first of our two trips today. We always seem to be the first pick up and it was no different today. Also you never know how many people will be on these trips until you get to the boat, today it was just the four extra we had picked up on the way so the boat was nice and spacious which was good as we were due to be off and on 7 times and probably most straight from out of the sea. On there was a 50 year old couple who were French Canadian and a early 20s couple from Sweden-we didn't really converse too much throughout the day mainly because they did not seem like either wanted to spoken to. Again with these trips it is pot luck the type of people you will be with which can actually make or break the day. The first stop was an inland lake on Coron island which was ok and gave us the chance to test our new snorkel gear, so far so good and we also used the trick the girl in Koh Jum had taught us by putting shower gel on the lens to stop them steaming up but you obviously don't forget to wash it off first otherwise you will have sore eyes. At the second lake and the second stop we had joined a boat of Koreans-loud,rude and ignorant and as Alex swam through the cave to get there I could see they had no regard for anyone else just floating the width of the lake entrance for 5 mins posing for selfies whilst no one could get in or out. It's deep here too and Alex is a lot better with her swimming but when you have this its not great-they are fucking rude and I ended up just barging them out the way as they will not move. Anyway the lake was pretty spectacular and had some quite unique mixing of fresh and salt water which made the water turn hot and called on the matter of inches. Also where it mixes it gets hazy and difficult to see. After we made it back past the rude people we on and off the boat to eat food on a nearby beach, a mix of fish, pork, vegetables and rice-really very good. After this top was the first proper snorkelling stop-it was a wreck of a Japanese WW2 vessel sunk by American bombers in 1944. It was only 20m from shore and reasonably shallow. It made for awesome snorkelling and some great fish watching. We then went on to another beach and then "coral garden" which was a shallow shelf in between two island with fish and coral but was not a patch on the last stop which was called the Siete Pecados (7 islands-tiny but which were a marine conservation area with hugely diverse fish and coral which we swan and looked at before heading back to port and then transfer back to the hotel. A day in the sun and a lot of swimming built up an appetite and as it is Saturday night a few beers too. We stopped off for a few drinks at a bar first and then onto a pizza restaurant with good pizza. We then we're back to the hotel for some shut eye as we have the second of the two trips tomorrow. 20th March We were first pick up again today but it was earlier at about 7:30. They were 5 mins early and gave the room a ring. As we picked up the next two couples we waited about 15 mins a piece-so much for us rushing! A further 10 mins and we were boarding the already waiting other half of the boat. The next hour or so on the way to the first beach was the sussing out you do of the rest of the passengers-or as Alex calls it, people watching. On first glance a good mix of people all laughing and joking amongst themselves, good we have 8 hours with them. The sea was calm and the bangka boat reasonably comfortable. Alex and I passed the time by chatting until we got to the first of the three beaches on the itinerary. As we pulled up it didn't look much at all but we were told this was the back of the island and the boat was not allowed to moor on the actual beach and we were to walk across the mound to the the otherside. We took the bag and the snorkel gear we had bought a couple of days ago. Wow the beach was out of this world, one that is used on the cover of a glossy holiday brochure! A 300m stretch of clear white sand, coconut trees and every colour of blue you could associate with the sea. We had two hours here, the first of which was exploring it all and then we laid beneath a coconut tree with a coconut from the guy selling them there-literally paradise. The ants in my pans made me get up and snorkel while Alex carried on relaxing. I found myself further and further out passing bigger and bigger fish. I was on the search for the 15 inch clams that are unique to the area but as I got further out there were some quiet large jelly fish and when I saw a sting ray as big as me I didn't want to become Steve Irwin so decided to do a 180 and head back without success with the clams. On the boat on the way to the next beach everyone had woken up and had started to interact with each other apart from the moody French couple. As we got off the boat and sat in the villa huts on the next beach for food we continued chatting to a lovely philipino lady who now lives in Canada with he daughter who was accompanying her on this trip. She was hilarious - I kept thinking she was like a philipino Tina turner. She had the whole boat captivated at lunch with her jokes and her 23 yr old daughter laughed with everyone else at her mum with of the expected embarrassment you may see with that. Chatting to them she really had a zest for life and she told us how poor Manila is and that she came with three suitcases, one of clothes, two of presents (one full of chocolate). If she does not visit she sends 100 kilo food parcels back to Manila. It makes you realise how much people need to get out (and why a lot of the women marry westerners at the drop of a hat)-herself she married her first Canadian husband after knowing him for two days and the family told her to go. It gave her a better life and her two daughters she told me-"so why not". Now she does what she can for the rest of the family. I showed her how to snorkel as she wore her life vest and we were accompanied by some other expats from Cebu where we stopped over who now lives and worked in Dubai. She was so thankful and when we got back on the boat for beach three she told me an address, when I questioned her what she meant in her heavy Filipino English accent she said that it was her address and if we were red there she would like us to stay and she will make us the best spring rolls ever. She actually lives in the Canadian side of Niagra Falls where I have been with work and it's not unrealistic that I maybe knocking on her door. This gives you an idea hopefully of what she was like - a genuine good soul with a great sense of humour. It makes travelling all the more better when you meet people like this dotted along the way. By the third beach it was about 2:30 and the sun was intense so we all sought shade after exploring it. A beautiful beach island with a £1000 a night resort on one side and a short beach separated by a low tide sand bar in the middle. The ride back was a lot more choppy as it was against the current, Alex sat on the outrigger for the last part with the lady and daughter and I don't think there was one minute which went by where I couldn't hear Alex laugh. As we got off the boat the lady repeated her address to me and also we exchanged contact details. I hope we spend time with her again. After a shower and change we went back to the same restaurant from a couple of nights ago-I had pork sisig (minced pork with onions, egg and spices) and Alex had tuna belly-some seriously delicious food topped off a great day. Shame we have to be up at 6am for the 8 hour boat to El Nido in the morning. <p><br/>Riding uptop after airport pickup in Coron</p><p><br/>Entrance to the Hot Springs</p><p><br/>On top of Mt Tapayas in Coron</p><p><br/>Dutch courage for the snorkeling</p><p><br/>The most amazing beaches in the world are definatley in Coron </p><p><br/>The busy boat for 8 hours to El Nido</p><p><br/>Free chicken curry on the boat</p> </article> <article> <h1>Dumaguete City, Philippines</h1> <p>Tue, 15 Mar 2016 14:50:00 +0800</p> 15th March What a difference a day makes-don't get me wrong I wasn't 100% but functioned as normal. I think my ham and cheese toasty for breakfast helped, we checked out at 12pm and got the bumpy 20 min trike back to the port and waited for the boat to Dumaguete - our home for the next two nights. (Yesterday I had managed to drag myself out of bed for an hour and we booked up several things-I just hope what I booked was the right dates). More loud tv accompanied us both in the waiting area and on the boat and luckily the seas were not too choppy so someone was being kind to me. After a short 40 mins we had found ourselves a trike who dropped us at the Pedro villa after a stop off at both a bank and a shop for water and food. The villa had a steep 100m hill to get to the top and some rather large gates and a couple of security guards. The guard pointed the way to a blue metal door and as we approached it opened and behind it was a very friendly smiley face-"Hi Sir Mam" (you are called sir and mam everywhere here, they are both very friendly and polite). As we walked through the gate the villa was an impressive building with 4 large rooms, 2 up 2 down with a 15m pool in front and a little bar/restaurant outhouse. Junior walked us through the usuals and we then went upto the rather impressive room-well it was more like an apartment with a fully loaded kitchen, bathroom, living room area. A very nice place owned by a Swiss guy and this Filipino wife. After a swim in the pool that evening Alex and I pushed the boat out and both had steak. In nice places it is good to have good food and the rib eye we had was so tasty, we also shared a bottle of wine-the first I think we have had since we started the trip as its so hard to come by. This place is perfect for the day of planning and chilling we have tomorrow and very well chosen by Alex. We have our double flights to Manila and then Coron the day after so it will be a long tiring day but we are nearing the end of our Asian part of travels. I also realised today out visas expire on the 28th March and our flight is not until 31st so we are looking to change and bring them forward and Tokyo was way to expensive to change to so hopefully we can get this sorted. 16th March After our hearty breakfast we spent most of the morning planning Coron, El Nido, starting the process of changing flights and then looking into Cuba and beyond. We got a lot done -it's good knowing you are 10-14 days planned in advance-some comfort. The rest of the day was spent lazing round the pool and eating some cheaper local food (but no less tasty than last night) before hitting the sack to be up early to go to Dumaguete airport tomorrow. 17th March I thought we were cutting it fine getting to the airport and hour before takeoff but no problem at all-other tourists and locals were behind us. Through the scanners and into the waiting room (notice I don't use departure lounge-this would give the wrong impression-I will never moan about having to go to duty free shops again as this is like a doctors waiting room with many people coughing and sneezing but with luggage round their feet) We boarded the plane and surprisingly to me it was not the twin prop style we had got on about a week ago but a mini jet engined craft-compact and powerful or at least it better be as this runway is about the third of the size an A320 takes off on. Everything was fine and we were up and down in just over an hour. We were transferred from one terminal to another and waited in a large lounge-we were 3 hours away from departure-ow! We found some massage chairs and wasted 30 mins each in those-a real revelation for a pound ago. We also grabbed a couple of paninis and Alex got a cinibob-never heard of it before but she clearly had with how excited she was.like a cinnamon roll with cream cheese icing-it was pretty good. It needed to be as it was announced our flight was delayed by another hour. After what seemed like eternity we boarded the twin prop jet plane. We sat on there for at least another hour and were later told it was due to air traffic overcrowding. Whatever it was it meant we didn't touch down until just gone sunset and as we transferred in the hotel we are staying ins bus with some 10 other people it got dark. Again I prefer to have my bearings in daylight when we get somewhere so when we get out the next day I know where we are going.<p><br/>View from the Balcony at Pedro Villa</p><p><br/>Our guard dog mate who greeted us all the time as we went upto the room</p><p><br/>Not a bad gaff</p><p><br/>Getting a massage in these amazing massage chairs during our long layover in Manila</p> </article> <article> <h1>Siquijor Island, Philippines</h1> <p>Sat, 12 Mar 2016 14:50:00 +0800</p> 12 March Up slightly earlier than normal we had breakfast - I haven't spoken about the breakfast here but it is quite different to normal. Bear in mind it is organic here and everyday we get a different set breakfast, normally a fresh fruit blended juice with either a tea (weird herbal teas which we bought several of-more of that in a minute) or coffee. Then it is normally a bowl of salad with leaves, pineapple,carrot,cheese and other exotic vegetables I just eat and after is then normally a protein like gammon, chicken or fish served with rice. Normally this is served with homemade bread with mango butter or different herb dips. It is quite rich and becomes almost too much but non the less you can appreciate the the freshness of the ingredients in everything. They sell most of this in the farm shop and Alex bought some of the malangue (???) tea bags (most anti oxidant tea you can get so I am told) as well as some natural mosquito repellent which we go through loads of on the islands. Also in the shop they have a little ice cream kiosk which Alex had been sampling two flavours at a time after the evening meal - she will definitely miss it! After breakfast we got the short transfer to the port and got our tickets with the same company Oceanjet we had come with. You buy a ticket,then check your bags in then pay a terminal fee, all at separate kiosks all next to each other-probably hard to understand but I promise the most inefficient and annoying thing there could be and I'm not sure it is for a reason others than to charge you more. It's worth it though as the Oceanjet company is the most established and have some very fast boats which take 40% of the time of the other competitors for a fraction extra of the price plus their boats are akin to those smaller ferries you would use to cross the English Channel to France and not some rickety local boat you may have in your head. Anyway we were going through one port-Dumaguette to reach Siquijor-we will probably return here after for a few days but will see. The three hours gave me the opportunity to catch up on writing the blog as have again been a little bad in writing as the last few days have been jam packed and to sit and write for a few hours takes brainpower, shade and time. However the 50 mile an hour boat on slightly choppy seas and 3 hours writing gives you some good seasickness-I hope you appreciate that as you are reading this! ;-) Another thing while I sit here and type is the only thing which is slightly a negative about the Philippines. In every communal place-airport lounge, on a ferry, in a restaurant-virtually any place you can fit a tv there will be either an action film playing or karaoke. This wouldn't normally bother me but it is so loud always-being pumped through additional speakers most of the time to. Then all of the people in that area pretty much have to shout to each other to have a conversation-it is an audio overload and I have to stick my headphones in just to get some quiet and thinking space. I don't think even the locals want it on-not sure why it happens? After a 20 min trike we were at our accommodation the Danish lagoon resort. What a view we had!the room was ok and comfortable but outside was special-a veranda with table a chairs jutting over the sea. As we arrived a couple of hours before sunset we settled in the room and then sat and had a beer out of the fridge as the sun set. It was one of the most spectacular I have seen, all different colours as well as the tide coming in which started to cover the sandy island about 200m from shore. We went and had dinner and also arranged for a bike for the next day. We went to bed knowing we had a long day ahead of us. 13th March After breakfast we got ready and set out. The bikes typically come with an empty tank so the first job is to find petrol-either from a station as you would get bk at home or more usual a refilled 2litre Coke bottle from one of the local stores. After the lady helped us empty two of these bottles into the engine to fill it right up at a cost of £1.50 we asked their advice on what to do. First on the itinerary was "the century old tree" and when we got there it must have been a lie-this tree was 1000's of years old and at the foot of it was a clear water spring with some reasonable large fish. You were encouraged to put your feet in and they nibble the skin off like the foot spas at home but with fish 100 times the size. Alex really thought she was Pocahontas sitting at the foot of the tree and we got a couple of coconuts and drank them and then got the guy to cut them open for the flesh. The coconuts are huge and are great for electrolytes and dehydration you get from the intense sun. Next we move on to some picturesque waterfalls called the cambunasa falls - four tiered falls in the far south of the island. A handful of locals showing me the way of diving into the 4m deep cut of the falls at the bottom. There was also a Tarzan vine which you could swing out over the fresh water lagoon and fall which both myself and Alex did. After an hour or so there we jumped back on the bike and went to the islands main beach. It is Sunday and in the Philipines that means family day-there were several large families here. It's slightly different as there was not a large sandy beach as normal but more like a park with many tables as well as plenty of brick built bbqs. Around the corner a meat stand, essentially families would come, buy their meat and other bits and cook it on the free bbqs. Rather than a beach it was more of a kids fun area-a flume into the sea and a 10m diving board into the sea of course which I had to do both. When I got bk to the top and Alex showed me the video she screamed and I didn't! We headed back and what a picturesque drive it was! A quick turnaround and shower and then we went back out for dinner to a place we had passed and also also seen on trip advisor. As we went down the track and walked down the path this place was amazingly decorated and wouldn't have looked out of place in a 6star resort in the Caribbean. We sat and food was a bit slow in coming but was tasty and well presented when it arrived. I had a fish mixed grill and Alex had the tuna special. We both really enjoyed the food and were there for almost 3 hours. We made our way back and looked at the stars on the veranda for an hour or so before heading off to bed. 14th March The tv in the room said 03:50am on it as I woke and my stomach turned. I had felt a bit funny before bed but my next 24 hours were a bit of a blur. The prawns in my mixed grill were a little mushy and normally I would leave them but because of the quality of the place and also the way the other food was I ate them. Just goes to show you can eat dodgy food anywhere. I was pleased we both didn't have it, however I did feel bad for Alex being confined to the resort all day as I was the bed (and intermittently the toilet). No sickness just the other end-no word of a lie about 20 times in 5 hours I was so dehydrated. As the day flew by I slept and sipped as much water as I dare and had as many salts as I could. I even had to let Alex go to dinner on her own in the bar as I could get out of bed. Luckily we had a busy day the day before and done all of the main sites so we didn't miss out on anything major. 15th March What a difference a day makes-don't get me wrong I wasn't 100% but functioned as normal. I think my ham and cheese toasty for breakfast helped, we checked out at 12pm and got the bumpy 20 min trike back to the port and waited for the boat to Dumaguete - our home for the next two nights. (Yesterday I had managed to drag myself out of bed for an hour and we booked up several things-I just hope what I booked was the right dates). More loud tv accompanied us both in the waiting area and on the boat and luckily the seas were not too choppy so someone was being kind to me. <p><br/>Oceanjet ferry which has taken us around the Phillipines</p><p><br/>What a view from the room!</p><p><br/>An amazing sunset in Siquijor</p><p><br/>He nibbled my feet</p><p><br/>pocahontos beneath her tree</p><p><br/>At the waterfalls</p><p><br/>Cliff and flume at the family beach</p><p><br/>Fresh from the cliff jump</p><p><br/>Posing!</p><p><br/>The dodgy prawns(pains me to even post this)</p><p></p><p><br/>Trike riding</p> </article> <article> <h1>Panglao Island, Philippines</h1> <p>Tue, 08 Mar 2016 14:50:00 +0800</p> 8th March The airport we left from was just the short boat ride away from the port in Boracay to the mainland. Waiting at the small airport I knew it wouldn't be your normal A330 it was going to be a much smaller prop plane. When we boarded it certainly was, a 2 by 2 with about 15 rows, with your usual air hostesses. I actually prefer these than the bigger planes. After the short hour flight we get our bags within minutes (that's the good thing out here they are so efficient-no waiting around for things like bags) and out the front to the metered taxi-again always a metered taxi as its much harder for them to rip you off as the rates are published everywhere. After 30 mins and a bit of traffic we were checking in a standard city high rise hotel-clean,efficient and friendly but no character. It was fine for us as we typically are only staying for one day before we connect the next day to our ultimate destination. We were here and finished with everything by 2pm so we had the afternoon to venture across the big car park to the SM mall which was the size of a bluewater. (SM stands for San Miguel-the beer. They are huge in the Philippines, they own everything, land,malls,airports and of course the only type of beer you can buy is San Miguel- 3 types 1)light which is like corona 2)Pilsen which is the stuff we have at home and 3) red horse-this is rocket fuel 8% lager which tastes like an ipa and not very alcoholic. You only need 1 500ml bottle of that I promise you!) Looking around the mall you had very familiar shops like uniqlo, forever21, top man. Well we had time to waste and Alex did that in the hunt for shorts and shoes-she got a pair of cheap shoes and we went and had some food in probably what was the philipino equivalent of a garfunkels but didn't care. We got back and chilled for the evening and had an early sleep. We got into going to sleep passed midnight in the cities as there is stuff to do but on the islands after dark there is not much so we have to switch back to up early bed early-Alex hates it. 9th March After what was a truly awful breakfast we took a short 10 min can to the port to get our Oceanjet boat to Panglao, a 10mile Long Island off the South west coast of the main island Bohol. The two are connected by two bridges. The island of Pangalao where the tourists typically stay, the island of Bohol some natural beauty where day trips are run. We will be visiting these site on our own way by moped tomorrow. After a tricycle transfer to our hotel we were pleasantly surprised. We had booked to stay 3 nights in Bohol Bee farm an organic farm not only producing honey but foods, cosmetics and more. The farm was a tourist attraction in its own right with many different areas where bus loads of tourists visit during daytime hours with and organic restaurant on the cliff front. We had one of the twenty rooms but were upgraded to the top priced room from the lowest priced (I think here as there are not many western tourists just loads of Korean tourists who have a very alien and sometimes rude mannerisms we benefit from this). Our room was huge, with a queen size bed and an extra sofa bed,cable tv (good as it plays both English sport and Hollywood films). With all this it was very rustic with an amazing sea view veranda-a £120 a night room in the Philippines which says something for less than 30 quid-result! The only downside no wifi in the room-you may say who cares but we do need this for Planning and booking stuff and on travel days like this once checked in we now use this to plan so that when we have full days to go and explore. The restaurant had wifi and we sat there and planed and had fresh organic fruit and vegetable juices. We decided we were out in the bikes tomorrow and mapped out routes after picking the sites we wanted to see-u even have to plan down to where petrol stations are as there are a handful every 100km and with a full tank you may get caught out especially in the remote areas. It does become tiring as it is very methodical and laborious. The organic dinner was great and cheap and we went to bed early ready for the next two days out on the bike-it sounds like I make a big deal of it but you honestly do need stamina-not just the physical side of driving but the exposure the equatorial sun, after 20 mins it you know about it-we have to pull over every 20-30 mins to reapply suncream and down water. 10th March We got the bike after breakfast and had a day of driving around the island planned. The roads are on the right here, pretty good compared to most in terms of construction and not huge amounts of traffic. We stopped off in Alona beach which is the main tourist area of the island-walking to the seafront these tourist towns all look the same, dive shops, coconut stands and the workers pushing the boat trips. Always at the end is a beautiful beach but you know in 5 years it will be ruined. I much prefer finding beaches down roads off the beaten track. That's what we did next, we found the north western most peninsula beach. After buying a coconut from some really happy kids at the end of the track we went through a no trespassers gate manned by a security who let us trespassers through. (On a side note here, the Pilipino people are the most friendly and welcoming people I have ever come across, very polite but happy and friendly, out here you pass many schools on the bike and you have to slow down for safety reasons. As soon as they see you are white they all run to the gate and say hello and ask other questions, dance etc. The adults are just as friendly-workmen on the roads in ridiculous temperatures wrapped up with no skin showing to avoid sun burn all say hello or wave-it's initially bizarre-they look like jihadis but are only avoiding the sun, underneath an amazing race of people. Never judge!) After the gate we got to an amazing secluded coastline and as we walked to the tip the ocean merged with a mangrove with interweaving river ways. Some scenery I had never seen before-reminded me of the swamps (but crystal clear) you see in the south of the US-think the only fools and horses Xmas special with the mafia and Del and Rodney on the hover craft. After taking a dip in the sea and saying our thankyou and goodbyes to the guard and the family from who we bought the coconut we topped up the petrol and continued to sight see and just amaze ourselves with the beauty of the island. The Philippines are simply amazing and have, in my mind, overtaken the Thai islands for natural beauty to the lesser tourism rates-I would recommend for anyone to go, plus it's really easy as the Philippines have English as their second language. Once filled up we drove to white beach-most islands have a beach names white beach-exactly what it says on the tin-almost as if the sand has been bleached white on purpose. After some swimming and a rare sunbathe which we don't recall do as its too hot and we are already well tanned we jumped back on the bike to pick up some supplies at the local mini market and then back for food. There is only wifi in the restaurant here so we have to use the time to plan our next steps as well as eat. We have decided to go to an island south east of here called Siquijor after tomorrow for 3 nights so will keep posted on this. 11th March We set out at about 10am for the chocolate hills about a 2 hour ride away. We knew from yesterday it would be a hot ride so we put on plenty of sun cream and loaded the bag with water before we set off. Once we crossed the bridge onto the main land the drive became more and more picturesque as we got inland. The coastal road was not too busy but as we got into the hills towards the centre we barely passed another car. The roads reminded me of those in the south of France twisting through the steeps dips and climbs but with tropical rainforest vegetation. On the way there I had planned the route into my phone and I let google maps tell me where to go, really didn't need it I think we turned at two junctions only. We stopped off 2 or three times in the shade for a brief bum break (like riding a bike mixed with riding a horse on these bumpy roads) and some water. We had a very good new bike so it somewhat reduced the discomfort but not all of it. As we approached the chocolate hills (these are small hills about 400 m wide and 300m tall but about 3000 of them in a 100km square area) the scenery was hard to describe so hopefully the photos do it justice. We got to the viewing platform and paid the 50p entrance fee and joined the other 100 tourists in climbing the 250 steps in the 40 degree heat. Wow what a view! After some photos, then 30 mins in the air con with a can of Coke we jumped back on the bike filled the tank up for a quid as it was low and drive almost the same route bk but stopped off at the tarsier sanctuary. You will see from the photos these are the smallest monkeys in the world only native to the Philippines and Malaysia. This sanctuary houses about 100 and they are on the endangered list as they commit suicide as they become highly stressed with any unnatural outside influence in high frequency. They would fit in the palm of most human adult hands. After a guided tour to see them in total silence with our guide we got back on the bike and got back to the bee farm at 4pm for a slow beer and some food and an early night as we depart for another philipino island in the morning called Siquijor some 3 hours away. We have been looking at the possibility of changing our stopover from LA to Tokyo when we leave Asia as we may never get the chance again so will see how that goes.<p><br/>Sunset on our time in Boracay (actually sunrise of the day we left!)</p><p><br/>Prop jet to Cebu City</p><p><br/>The blind band kept everyone entertained in the port terminal on our way to Panglao</p><p></p><p><br/>Kids dancing for us as we boughg a coconut from them</p><p><br/>Pretty special beach off the beaten track</p><p><br/>The del boy beach(photo doesn't do it justice)</p><p><br/>Crystal clear waters</p><p><br/>Local monuments as we drove past</p><p><br/>:-)</p><p><br/>Sunset from the Bee Farm</p><p><br/>Spectacular river meandering as we drove</p><p><br/>An enchanted forest weaving across the road</p><p><br/>On top of the Chocolate hills</p><p><br/>Several of the 3000 plus hills</p><p><br/>Zooming around with our helmets on Mums!</p><p><br/>The smallest monkey in the world</p><p><br/>Looks like Yoda</p> </article> <article> <h1>Cebu City, Philippines</h1> <p>Mon, 07 Mar 2016 14:50:00 +0800</p> </article> <article> <h1>Boracay, Philippines</h1> <p>Mon, 29 Feb 2016 14:50:00 +0800</p> 29th Feb The football didn't finish until 1:30am and up a 6:30 was a struggle. After the huge buffet breakfast (however there is only so much you can eat after 10 mins of waking) we were on the train back to the airport. As soon as we got on the train my wifi logged back in as I had used it on the way here. Immediately flashed up the flight had been rescheduled for 2.5 hours later-for fuck sake when are we gonna have a smooth travel day! The delays aren't too much the problem themselves-it is the lack of currency which you spend out before you leave typically and also the fact that you will almost always have an onward journey and as the sunsets between 5pm-6pm in most places this is done in the dark. Both from an experience -looking out of the bus window (I feel disorientated when we get somewhere dark) to it feels a little less safe (not that it is but it's the natural apprehensive feeling coupled with the tiredness of what typically is anywhere between 5-12 hours worth of on the go and you have to be conscious all the time of your bad and valuables-not too much time to doze) Anyway this was the case as we got on the coach at 7pm with the delay. On the bus with a 50/50 mix of western and eastern tourists we weaved through the roads to the port some 90mins away. I can't remember if I have mentioned before but I always have the maps loaded in my phone so I can track distances and locations etc (both a control thing but also it is somewhat satisfying being able to assure fellow tourists of the situation as it builds rapport) At the end of the bus was a 10 min channel crossing from the mainland to Boracay. Once on the fast speedboat across the the strait we were the last stop on our transfer bus. We got to the villa at about 10pm and were so happy it is beautiful-6 rooms on a cliff top overlook the ocean. The lady had stayed up and checked us in with a huge smile on her face even though she had probably been working since 6am and felt like we did-knackered. Two things on travelling days-you will be knackered and you will be starving (crisps and peanuts normally) and most likely either have a banging headache or feel sick or a bit of both of the gods are totally against you-sick because you are hungry and headache because you are dehydrated. You might saying just take it with you-however there is only so much we can carry as all our bags are pretty much full to the brim and being added to by Alex's purchases and also in the heat anything that is not packaged perished in the heat-fruit starts to rot after a couple of hours so it's just crisps and bits. Here they don't really do anything other than the pot noodle things at the airports like we had the other time-if you are lucky you may get some fast food at the bigger ones but most of the time you really don't want to eat that type of food. Anyway as we were starving we decided to ignore the tiredness and go to the beach front in a taxi trike-basically a motorbike with a side car and seek out some food. We had no problem this place was heaving-we sat down had a beer and some food and tried to unwind. However it was hard to as it was so busy a full of Chinese and Korean tourists-a bit like their Ibiza but a lot worse version and way more over crowded-it wasn't the greatest first experience and going to be was starting to worry we had made a mistake booking six nights here even though the villa was great-most of the time you can tell straight away. 1st Mar We laid in until 9:30am today-7 days in the cities and shit loads of walking coupled with the marathon travelling day yesterday I could have slept until 9:30pm in the evening. However as we have breakfast included which stops at 10am we were up and it did take 3 cups of coffee for me to stop yawning (I never have more than one). We hung around the villa and it was pleasant chatting to the staff and the other guests and in particular a Dutch couple who we were to later spend quite a bit of time with during our stay in Boracay. At about 3pm we went out to explore and retraced the trike route to where we had eaten -about a 20 min walk through narrow streets with no pavements but a lot of traffic-mainly these sidecar trikes but some cars and transfer vans-you had to keeps your wits about you and walk single file not the most pleasant experience again. When we got back to the main area called D'mall it was worse than the previous evening-awash with huge amounts of Chinese and Korean tourists. Again not something we have come all this way to see and do and after walking the length of white beach our opinions did not change (later I was to be told that this stretch of beach was voted number one in the world 5 years ago-wow, just shows you how much tourism and notoriety fucks up the natural environment this definitely the worst we have seen. It is true, if you are reading it in a lonely planet guide or another tourist book out here it definitely is not the best place to see or do if it is a natural environment. It's crazy how much disregard there is to the environment by the locals and tourists, burning waste (plastics and toxins into soil), the litter which is ready to be burnt just dumped casually everywhere and not to mention the waste pipes that just flow out from everywhere into the sea. There is obviously little regulation here and doesn't look like there will be anytime soon. I much prefer the quieter areas and stay in rustic places which have little effect on the local environment not be herded into areas like Boracay seems to be. We chatted about this over a beer and a cocktail and said we should definitely try harder to plan our steps due to these problems. On the way back we stopped off at a place we had seen on the transfer in and had some really good food away from the crowds somewhat. We then wandered the short walk back upto the villa and watched a film on the to before bed. 2nd Mar Today we were still feeling a little slow and tired and again it took us quiet a while to get round.it was a chilled day using the wifi in the hotel to plan our next moves on Boracay away from the majority and also our next stop after Boracay (this was destined actually to change on advise from people we met and for the better) It is a hard mix to plan with reviews and Internet forums but still keep it flexible To go off of recommendations from people you meet on the way whom are probably the most reliable once you have judged their character. Tonight we walked down the hill to a dive bar-where the local diving schools hangout, however this was more where the kite surfers hangout. The beach below our villa you will see from the photos is awash with kite surfers due to the strong breeze blowing in from the ocean. We were quite early and there were only a handful of groups so Alex and I played pool whilst we awaited our sharing seafood grill. The seafood like most out here was top notch and well priced. I have now got to the point where if I had to I could live off of the seafood on offer here-as well as a few bags of crisps here and there ;-) When we got back to the hotel we found the Dutch couple sitting on the sofas outside of our room-they were staying in the one which adjoined ours. We stopped for a short chat which turned into several hours and several beers. They were a really great couple from Amsterdam, 36 and 30 and on a 3 wk holiday from their agency jobs back at home, their work something I could relate to. As we walked to the shop at the top of the road Ramco (apparently a very traditional Dutch name which I had never heard of) introduced himself and then we bought a 4 beers, one each. This was my first introduction to Red horse which you will read about later on. Whilst we were away Alex had similarly been introduced to Josephine and when we returned did not notice were back for 5 mins as they were so engrossed in their own conversation. We made that beer last a long time and it became apparent we had several things in common and shared a lot of interests-I wonder if you did psychometric tests on people who choose to stay at the same villa/hotel if there would be any correlation? Anyway we soon realised the time was gone midnight and said our good nights knowing we both had several days being neighbours and we bump into each other again without having to plan to. 3rd Mar Ramco and Josephine had told us of a couple of beaches to visit and we set off towards the first- puka shell beach. This was away from the mayhem slightly and we passed on the way what looked like a French Rivera golf resort - ridiculously lavish and so out of place! This island is weird-dirty with loads of people packed in like ants but if you look hard enough you will find something for every taste-exclusive/hip. I think it is all about knowledge here-where to visit, where to eat and where to stay-luckily we had already come up trumps with the latter. On Puka shell beach the waves were stronger and larger than any I have seen so far. The island obviously had wind due to the kite surfing numbers on the beach below our villa but this is where it must culminate in the sea. We found a sun lounger for free as long as we bought a drink so we both had locally overpriced iced coffees (£1.50 but more than doubly priced to pay for the bed). People watching here was great. A wedding photo shoot for some Koreans provided some enthralling watching-all about the bride, groom just in tow being ordered around, holding handbags etc also drones being flown by the Hong Kong Chinese for photos in the air. So different from your usual European beach. I had a few dips in the searing ing and jumping into the 10ft waves and then also body surfing them into shore. I had one last go in a particuLarly strong area where local kids were playing on the way off the beach-I must remember I'm not 18 anymore and winded myself well once. I had seen that there was another beach called Diniwid beach and decided to head her and I'm glad we did. The beach was quieter and more picturesque with steep sided cliffs with expensive apartments either side of the one beach front bar. Alex and I had seen there was a top rated restaurant on trip advisor here called the Spider House (Alex was in two minds because out here typically everything is named after what it is-White beach, island circumference road and loss more examples I won't bore you with). We walked to the right of the short 200m beach and up some steps and through a series of paths within caves and walkways cut through the cliff to Spider house. Luckily we did not see any spiders and when we got to the restaurant we were not disappointed. The bar was cut out of the cliff with around 30 tables, after a bit of hanging around we snagged ourselves the best seat in the house. A two person table built in a ledge over the sea. It was a great table we had a beer and shared a pizza (voted the best on the island and I would not disagree). As we were near leaving an American guy approached us. He looked like he knew a good time-worldly warn but very friendly. I knew that he was trying to sell us something just by his approach-both with work and having been in Ibiza for a season you can catch the "tells". He was a really top guy and we chatted for an hour occasionally he would try and close us on his boat party (this kind of organised thing just does not happen out here-where they are two a penny in Europe out here it is rare). We said we would think about it but for food drinks and a yacht and £15 each for 6 hours sounded good. He said he was going bk to the bar on the beach for happy hour (4pm-7pm not an hour) and we could join him if we wanted. We let him go but with the understanding we would join him shortly. It gave Alex and I time to discuss. Normally we would not do this kind of thing but here as it was only for westerners-not a racist thing but different culturally and also the price for food and drink plus a yacht we were erring on the side of yes. We found out over happy hour drinks he ran his events company with his philipino girlfriend and that he had previous been in the American military and then working for private companies in Iraq and Afghanistan (now retired-obviously seen some stuff). Speaking to him he was very intelligent and business orientated and I was interested to listen to his ideas, thoughts and processes. However I could also tell from his withered appearance drink and drugs had probably somewhat reduced his ability to execute on his ideas to make him truly successful. We told him we wanted to go on the boat before we left but as a back out option if we had to I told him we did not have the deposit money there and then to pay even though I had. Not that we would have likely backed out but if we needed to there was an option and also secondly I didn't wanna give a random guy I had met for 3 hours a tenner. We agreed to meet him tomorrow at the same place to give the deposit and also meet his girlfriend and maybe some of the other people on the boat. (As you read on you will see we did the boat party and I'm glad we did as we met some really good people) Back at the villa we sat with The Dutch couple and chatted about our days and told them about the boat party-they would have joined us but are leaving the day before. However we agreed to spend tomorrow together as we really enjoyed each other's company. 4th Mar We had stayed up pretty late with Ramco and Josephine last night. I swear they were the Dutch version of Alex and I. We had agreed to go for the afternoon and evening out together today. We hung around the villa after breakfast, cooling off in and out of the pool and collectively we decided to head off at 2pm. We got the trike taxi back to Diniwid beach where we had been yesterday afternoon as it was the best of a bad bunch to hang around. Back at the Spider house today we got a table for four people and spent some time in the sea on a raft platform messing around and jumping in. I have to say Alex is getting more and more confident by the day with the sea and swimming which is great. Ramco and I had spied a diving platform from a neighbouring restaurant and swam the 150m to get out and jump the 20m back into the sea like two big giggling kids. After drying off with a couple beers we shared some food tapas style and went back through the caves(actually Alex and Ramco did, Josephine and I swam back to shore to the only bar on the main beach) Alex and Ramco already had seats (beanbags on the beach) and we steadily tucked into happy hour and had great laughs chatting away. We say Stacey-the American guy to give him our deposit for the boat party tomorrow. After sunset we were bk on the trike taxi but had to turn back for Alex's sunglasses which she had left on the table. Back at the villa we got a couple of beers to share in the hotel glasses and continued to chat. They were off tomorrow and are found a similar route to us-I have a feeling this will not be the last time we cross paths-whether planned or unplanned. A really great couple. 5th Mar Ramco and Josephine woke us up with a knock for goodbye at about 9am-we all had slightly slow heads I think. After breakfast we got ourselves ready for the boat party. We got a taxi to the bar we were supposed to meet in-red pirates-no joke when we got there they had decorated one of the local boats as a pirate boat complete with jolly rodger and all. We waited for 5 mins and a couple of people also waited for the small speed boat to ferry us to the catamaran. Once we got there after the 5 min journey I would say we were the last of about 25-30 people to get there. A very diverse group-Americans, Australians, Saudis and more. I was handed a beer and sat down and started introducing ourselves and making chit chat with people. As the free booze flowed chat naturally became easier and the originally shy ones started to speak. We had a great time as the music played and the drinks flowed. In particular we met a group of 4/5 people from LA who were wedding photographers and videographers and ran their own company as well as some Saudi brothers who were really interesting to chat to and obviously enjoying the booze without the risk of being lashed! As sunset approached the music got louder and food was brought in, by this time we had chatted to almost all on the boat apart from a few. All of a sudden someone told us that one of the Australian guys was going to propose to his girlfriend at sunset-he sure did. Not what I would have in mind with 20 odd strangers but each their own. At about 9pm it was time to go back but the Saudi guys and Alex and I had got on well and they asked if we wanted to stay for drinks at the bar and so we did. We spoke mainly about cultural differences and I knew about most but Alex was amazed-we chatted for hours and didn't end up getting back until 3am to the hotel. 6th March Today was a true hangover day after the boat party and the previous day (I actually felt like shit for a couple of days after and my alcohol tolerance is that of when I was 16-a good thing definitely but two days in a row of 4 beers or more definitely had its toll). To top things off I got an email from the airline to say tomorrow's flight had been retimed to 5 hours later. However this also gave the opportunity to change plans as they were offering a refund because of the retime. We decided to change our plans and instead of flying to Manilla and onto Palawan we opted for Cebu and its islands that way as many people had told us we should. It also meant we could go to the airport closer and not have the long transfer times. We booked a hotel in Cebu city for tomorrow night and will be picked up at 6am on the 8th. With the hangover pumping we chilled around the pool and I watched the ufc on the tv- we were so lazy we didn't leave the resort and ordered a pizza takeaway-a true Sunday hangover-defo the first proper one we have had! 7th March As our flight was cancelled we took the time today to do some more planning looking to get a lot done. In reality you never get as much done as you want to. We spent the day in and out of the pool and got a weeks worth of planning done as well as getting some things in our minds ready for South America. We have to be up early tomorrow so went out earlier at 6pm to a Greek place, once we finished we found one of the ice cream places and got a couple of scoops of gelato. We were back and in bed for our early morning wake up for the plane -6am:-(. <p><br/>The Phillipines look good already!</p><p><br/>Knackered after a delayed day travelling but still smiling</p><p><br/>We seem to have a knack of picking great places under budget-see the kite surfers</p><p><br/>A better view of the beach from our Villa</p><p><br/>Guess where we are</p><p><br/>Hog Roast!</p><p><br/>Ronnie on the table</p><p><br/>You can always get a great seafood dinner!</p><p><br/>Getting the wind knocked out of me</p><p><br/>Wedding pictures on the beach</p><p><br/>Another beach shot</p><p><br/>Loving Puka Beach</p><p><br/>The cave trek to Spider House</p><p><br/>On the ledge chilling-notice we now have a selfie stick </p><p><br/>Sunset whilst 2for1 beers-50p a beer </p><p><br/>Just like the Little Mermaid</p><p><br/>Going Dutch</p><p><br/>Day two at Spider House with our Dutch Mater</p> </article> <article> <h1>Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia</h1> <p>Fri, 26 Feb 2016 14:50:00 +0800</p> 26th Feb We stopped for more juice and a pastry and headed in the tube to the airport. Once at the airport we wandered round and changed our leftover Singaporean dollars to Malaysian ringgit and boarded the flight a little late to KL. After an hour and 15 minutes we found ourselves in a queue at immigration longer longer than the actual flight-chaos, no order just pushing in. Once we got through the bags were still there and we got on the KL Expres train to the Klsentral station-luckily our hotel-le meridien was connected to it. After 45 mins on the train we were checked in and in a very nice comfortable room on the 27th floor. We were both hungry so decided to find little India which was the otherwise of the station. As with most stations here you have a huge mall above so I had to drag Alex through the numerous shops so as I could stop my stomach grumbling. We found a restaurant recommended in a lonely planet guide we have and it did not disappoint. We had tandoori chicken, dhal and spinach Pinner with naan-really good! Now that my belly was full I was happy to let Alex window shop for a little bit before we went back to the huge king size bed and some sleep. 27th Feb. We had checked out the facilities yesterday, a big pool, gym, several restaurants and many bars. I managed to et Alex to get up out of the most comfortable bed and get down there by 8am. After an hour in there we went straight to the buffet breakfast. Wow! Think of any item of food and it was there-literally. Normal full English, dim sum, sushi, soup, noodles, fruit, cheese, pastries, fresh blended fruits, yogurt even ice cream. As much as you could eat was both a bonus and a curse, we filled up for free but too much and felt lethargic. Not a problem today as we said we would chill around the pool. There was a jacuzzi and flume on the 8th floor-pretty cool and we spent most of the day lazing around in the 35+ heat welcoming the intermittent cloud cover but not often enough and we had to jump in every 30 mins to cool down. We are still on factor 30 the sun is so warm over here. We decided to try the Italian restaurant in the hotel-there were several others and more in the adjoining Hilton which we had use of the facilities in too. The food was not great but the evening got better when we went down for happy hour and they had live music to entertain us while we sipped our drinks. Back upto the room we watched a film on the big 52 inch TV in the room before sleeping for gym session number 2 tomorrow. 28th Feb Alex was aching after yesterday but I managed to drag he along again today but a little later than yesterday. Again straight upto breakfast and 3 or 4 plates of food before some more pool time. Today we had more planned for the afternoon-to an area 3km away for some boutiques and cool restaurants and then onto the pettiness towers for an evening drink. We took the skytram 1 stop east (sounds lazy but her the paths are essentially 5ft wide on the side of roads as busy as the M25, not too much fun and fumes can be overpowering when breathing in the humid air). Once off the tube we walked the little way to the shopping district and spent an hour or so wandering around (more like dragging ourselves around-this was the hottest we had felt, the temp said 41 and 100% humidity) -to be honest it was too hot and we then made our way back to the tube, as we did so the clouds started to form(Kuala Lumpur is the second most densely recorded amount of lightning storms in the world due to the heat and a mountain range behind the city) We went the 6 or 7 stops back past our hotel stop to KLCC which is the business district. Here we walked the 3km underground in air conditioned tunnels to the Traders building and in particular the Sky bar on 33rd floor above with perfect views of the Petronas towers. We took the lift up as daylight was drawing in. I had tried to book last minute but failed so we grabbed one of the empty high tables slightly away from the window booths with the better views. In the daylight the bar wasn't anything special and almost tacky looking with a long swimming pool stretching its length with big yellow "caution slippery" cones at each end. We were knackered from the heat but a pint came as a welcome refreshment. We grabbed some bar food and took some photos as it became slowly darker. As it got dark water started to drip slowly and then quicker and quicker until almost a waterfall was going into the pool. With a clap of thunder and some lightening I realised the roof was an open roof. The thunder and lightening storm set in for about an hour and it was an experience looking out from this height up at the Petronas towers We were on level 33 this thing is about 90 odd I think. The rain was still coming down as we left and decided to get a taxi rather than walk the 3km back and get the tube-it only worked out to be £4 so why not. Back at the hotel I flicked on the to and luckily they we showing the Man Utd vs Arsenal game live-after that finished it was well gone midnight and then shut eye as we are up at 6:30 tomorrow for our flight to Boracay in the Philippines. <p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p> </article> <article> <h1>Singapore, Singapore</h1> <p>Tue, 23 Feb 2016 14:50:00 +0800</p> 23rd Feb I think my body is getting used to early mornings, I used to get an upset stomach and headache previously for other early holiday flights but good today. I was feeling good but the couple who got the bus were not good. We were one of the first ones on but gradually the bus started to fill with more tourists and more of their bags. It was roughly a 30 seater bus with 35 people and 35 hold luggage size bags. Back to the couple....they got on last, walked past the driver and then the wall of bags the driver had sculpted behind him as he took from passengers and they then realised there were no seats. They didn't look well-sort of see through, as they got to our row a guy already sat down spoke to them-he knew them and asked how they were. Within 30 seconds they had sat on the isle floor and the guy grabbed a plastic bag and started throwing up in it-imagine Alex's face-lucky I was in the isle seat! After chucking up they went onto explain they had food poisoning from a market food stand they ate from last night....oyster pancakes!!!!idiots serves them right. Probably one of the highest possibility foods there is to be dodgy is oyster or mussels and they decide to eat it from a market stand in krabi town in the evening of a 38+ day after it's been sitting there for all of it! That's Canadians for you! As they were in the aisle luckily they got off first and that was the last we saw of them. We checked in and then proceeded through immigration to get stamped out of Thailand and through to the gate. We had a few baht left so thought we would join the masses and try the pot noodle type things most shops sell-I choose the wrong one it was blow your head off spicy, Alex's was better. Thailand has been great-I would say that the islands are wonderful, all very in their traits, some more busy, some quiet and most mixed. The weather has been pretty amazing for us and we have eaten very well for cheap. I will miss the islands but we have a lot more to do and explore. Goodbye Thailand! On boarding the plane, by coincidence in the same row on the other side of the aisle,the yoga teacher from koh lanta got on-she was on a visa run. Essentially every days she has to leave by air and then come back on a new visa-normally only an hour gap between flights she was telling us. She gave us some tips for Singapore and KL and she slept most of the rest of the flight. Once we got off the airport was easily the most vast and lavish we had been through! I knew Singapore was expensive but that reality would set in over the coming days. The tube (MRT) was as every bit as clean, fast and efficient as you would expect to the stop near the hotel. A short walk and we were checked in by 3pm. The room was small but clean and highly finished. We made a quick turnaround so hopped back on the tube and headed for one of the games hawker places (like street food bk in London). In the Bay Area this hawker stand served all sorts and we ate in the sunshine while it rained slightly. Then after finishing our satay chicken, nasi goreng and prawn chicken wings we walked towards the mall and the famous marina bay hotel. Singapore is vast and during an early week day very quiet in the daytime. We wandered towards our destination-the gardens by the bay. We had to go through the sands hotel and on the otherwise a tropical oasis with beautiful trees and flowers. As the sun started to set we paid the $5 each to do the tree top walk which provided impressive views of the skyline in the changing sky colours. As we left the structures began to change colours and there was a light show set to orchestral music but we headed to the bay back through the hotel to watch the bay laser display. Lasting 13 mins the bay lit up in all colours and something I had never seen before-video projected onto water spray in the middle of the bay. A real novelty, very touristy and some may say tacky extravagance but non the less impressive. By now we had been walking for hours and were in amongst the high risers and needed water, it's very hard to find supermarket/ newsagents to get cheaper water here-to give you an idea it is between £8-£10 a pint here in a pub or restaurant-not all places but most. After walking about 15km in the afternoon we used our unlimited 3 day tube pass we had bought on arrival to get back to the hotel and sleep. 24th Feb Today was originally going to be a visit to universal studios Singapore but after checking the weather and it being rain we decided to do shopping. Here everything is in walkways, malls and underground-always air conned and good for when it hammers it down. Also we need to replace a few bits(well I do-Alex just wants to spend-lol) tshirts and socks are getting a bit used. First stop was breakfast, a nearby hotel coffee shop-nothing special, a bowl of fruit and eggs,mushroom,sausage plus a couple of drinks-£25 quid +. Street food is the way to go to save cash! As we walked we wandered through malls and shopping areas all the size of small Westfield-literally 3 or 4 in a 3km radius. All with shops you would get back home but generally 25% more expensive. After this we had both little India and China town on our itinerary. First though as the rain started to come down hard when we were made our way to the Shoreditch of Singapore-haji street. There, a mix of boutiques, art houses, coffee shops and bars. We sheltered in one and has coffee moved on and the another as the rain came down again and had date cake-basically sticky toffee pudding-really good but it fucking should be at £10 per portion. Then to little India and a wander and food time came and we tucked into a spread at the food market-tandoori meats, naan, birianis and spinach paneer! Here again as its street food all for £20. You definitely need to know where to go to not get stung and eat good food and this was a really good curry! We were stuffed but still had china town to do and we pushed on, very much like Londons China town but more decorated but probably because of the new year just gone a week or so ago. Again we were knackered but when we got bk I went for a dip in the rooftop pool to ease the aching legs before showering and bed-another 15km of walking covered today and the legs are beginning to feel it! 25th Feb As we made our way to Universal studios we stopped for breakfast at the food market near our tube station. Huge variety but we opted for fresh fruit and vegetable juices and some breakfast pastries-cheap and good! As we made our way through another mall to the sky bridge to Sentosa island where universal was you could again see how lavish this place is. Sentosa island houses most of Singapore's attractions-along with universal there are about another 25 here including a water park, zoo, museums and more. I need to read if it is a man made island but initial guess is that it is. We got to universal early but it was still busy, I am not a theme park person really but looked forward to something different. The first ride was the transformers ride, a roller coaster with 3D screens-pretty cool. Then another 40 min queue each to go on the battlestar galactica rollercoasters, one blue and a Gforce one with lots of drops,climbs and bends the other red and lots of loop the loops and corkscrews. Not sure if it was this that caused my body to ache or the previous two days (30km) worth of walking. The day was good fun and a good break from the norm but again long-9 til 8 on our feet and walking. We went bk to the hotel to get changed and then out for a drink at Raffles Hotel-an apprentice institution where the Singapore Sling cocktail was invented back in 1915. Oh they charged for it too-£17 for Alex's and £10 for my pint but it was a beautiful courtyard we sat in. We said how we really enjoyed Singapore as we say savouring every drop, we had made the most of it and phone by the end of the day said we had done 50km of walking in the 3 days we have been here.... my legs know it too! I would like to come back another time but when I do it will have to be on a bit of a bigger budget! Tomorrow we have an 8am checkout for our midday flight to Kuala Lumpur-we are staying in a big hotel with large pool and plan to have some downtime to relax the legs-also KL is a lot cheaper so the wallet will get a rest too! <p><br/>Incoming Singapore</p><p><br/>Ordering the food from the Hawker food stalls</p><p><br/>Alex taking photos of herself!</p><p><br/>Skyline</p><p><br/>The gardens by the bay</p><p><br/>Singapore at night</p><p><br/>Alex Selfie</p><p><br/>and again....</p><p><br/>Colourful at night!</p><p><br/>Indian spread!</p><p><br/>Late night swim</p><p><br/>Universal day!</p><p><br/>Poser!</p> </article> <article> <h1>Krabi, Thailand</h1> <p>Mon, 22 Feb 2016 14:50:00 +0700</p> 22nd Feb After feeding ourselves and then back to the room to feed the cat and leave it a stash of water and food we checked out. Luckily the hotel put on a free ride to the pier and we got on the 11:30 boat back to the mainland at Krabi. We have one night booked here as its close to the airport for Singapore tomorrow. After an hour or slightly less we were haggling with a taxi driver, however he was asking way more than the bus so we jumped on that-downside we had to detour to krabi town and then back to Ao Nang where our hotel actually was. We made a quick switch of bus at krabi town and were dropped off right outside our hotel for a third of the price of a taxi in just over double the time. That's the thing with travelling you have time so can make these choices-also typically on busses you see more and also generally meet people to pass comment with. The hotel was clean and decent enough for what we needed. We dumped the bags and wandered-bit of Magaluf feel to it-a stark contrast to the islands and in no way a good way. We bought some of our essentials and then stopped for food at an American style diner-again something which does come a rest-bite to the Thai food - I had a burger and Alex had fajita. Alex then went to have a massage a couple of doors down from the hotel and I sat on the balcony with a beer. Once Alex got bk it was early bed as we are up at 5:50am for the bus to the airport and our mid morning flight to Singapore tomorrow.<p><br/>Nothing better to do in Krabi than have a beer on the balcony!</p><p><br/>View from the local bus!</p><p><br/>Not sure what this is on our room door?</p> </article> <article> <h1>Ko Yao Noi, Thailand</h1> <p>Wed, 17 Feb 2016 14:50:00 +0700</p> 17th Feb For the first time on this trip I had what you could call a hangover!4 beers (may have been 5 but who is counting) and I now get hangovers-ouch but at least it helps the budget. It reminds me of being 16 again where 4 beers and a kebab was 10 quid on a standard Friday night-shame there had been no kebabs but something I will look forward to in the summer in Greece! We killed some time at the bar with Kara and Jesse and waiting for the guys to ride us out to the main ferry. As we left Kara jumped on and get herself a free fishing trip-as we sat waiting in the long boat we cast out a few lines -again I failed-not as easy as it looks! Normality set in as we got on the boat-it started in Phuket and ends in krabi and is the main route for most Western Europeans going from one party town to another. The boat was the busiest I had seen and almost all looked very tired and hungover-mine had subsided by this point and I was very smug. As we got off the boat we got a taxi round to the other port to set sail for Yao noi-the port was again full of locals-a good sign the destination is relaxed and unspoilt. This was not a wrong assumption-the island grew more and more picturesque as we approached just like Koh jum! After a short taxi ride to the resort we headed out for dinner. RED MEAT!!!!- Alex and I shared a rib eye and sirloin-blew the budget for one night but still less than 30 quid with a starter and drinks-we needed it after 4 or 5 days of Thai food! Tomorrow is time to explore so we got to bed about 10 and enjoyed the air conned sleep! 18th Feb We woke and had the breakfast on offer which is not much cop but needed it as we had a full day of exploring ahead. We first went passed the restaurant from last night and ended up in the island main village (not many tourists as no beaches here) lots of local market produce being bought and sold-mainly food -fruit and fish. Up the road we stopped off at a holy Spring-not sure how holy it is but we put a couple of coins in equivalent to a couple of pence and drove along the beautiful coastal road to a coffee shop in the middle of nowhere. After some shade and an iced coffee we went for an adventure down a little dirt track and found an almost deserted beach other than a handful of people. Having spent a little time there we made our way back and shared a baguette in a local bakery-everything is so fresh and no additives just flavour. We went back round to the town and picked some essentials like toothpaste and sun cream and headed bk to the room to shower and change for dinner. We settled on a pizza place up the road and was pleasantly surprised-sangria and a great thin stone baked pizza! It was cool-run by I think an Australian-she had two out houses attached which looked like movie sets-no door just the outside where the outer wall should be. One was like a living room you would find in a stately home, the othe like and school pub with a pool table-very cool place. As we got our bill the restaurant was full and we mentioned to a couple to come and sit while we paid the bill-two local from Holland who had been living here for 16 years. Gave us some great day trip advice and also told of a great deserted beach near the one we had been to today-it is definitely on the plans for tomorrow! 19th Feb We got up and had breakfast and spent a good 3 hours planning today getting Singapore and Kuala Lumpur booked up and decided to stay on Yao Noi for two more nights. After speaking to Helmut last night in the pizza place we headed for the deserted beach. Down the track we rambled yesterday but not as far we turned off and true to his word a 1km stretch of beach with no one one it but a lot of crabs. It was so hot-even now we are used to the heat-15 mins without shade and I lose enough water through sweat to know I need a litre or two of water. We stayed a looked for shells, a swim, a sunbathe (in the shade) and then we left after a couple of hours to head to the village to pick up a few bits (and a few cans of beer-it's very Muslim so hard to find here) and headed back. Sometimes now we are here you almost forget to appreciate everyday but this place was special-deserted with probably the best view we have had in our time so far. Big rocks like island, uninhabited of course dotted across the horizon.Beautiful! Yao Noi is in the middle of Ko Lanta (busy) and Ko jum (quiet)-you can tell it attracts a lot of the rich certainly with two out of the 30 hotels on the island over a grand a night each! We set out for dinner early so as to get bk in a city pattern of sleeping so when we hit Singapore and kuala lumpa we can enjoy the two full days we have in each. 20th Feb After being moved room because of a shower problem we went to get some breakfast. Alex now does this to smuggle the cold meats they serve out wrapped up to feed to the cats. In this place it is a little black cat who definitely needs the food. A little tray of water to wash it down and the cat took turns to jump on each of our laps as we sat on the balcony. After tearing her away(Alex not the cat) we went on the beach opposite, half in the shade and half out. I tried to listen to music but my phone gets to hot and either cuts out or has s mind of its own turning its volume up or down of its own accord. After we had enough we wander a little and sat and had a coconut each-they are so good, a pint or so of juice and then the soft sweet flesh u scrape with the straw-it's very good for all of the sweating I am doing as is high in electrolytes and helps rehydrate. We tried them to sit round the pool but after an hour I was done and back to the room for more cat time-once u feed them they are at your doorstep until hunting time in the evening. Dinner was seafood and on the beach tonight, rock lobster, prawns,squid, mackerel and more-very delicious. We only left as high tide came and we came bk to the room and turned the tv on for the first time in ages-fast and furious 4, what a treat! 21st Feb Our last full day on koh Yao noi today, we went out and got coffee and cake over looking the beach and then went to the 7/11 to go and get cat food! Alex got a huge bag of biscuits and was keen to get back as quick as possible to feed the skinny pregnant cat which had started to turn up on out doorstep(it had been encouraged-previous days Alex had taken the cold meats they serve with our eggs wrapped up and given it previously!) Before we did go back we explored the last bit of the island we hadn't seen at the south, lucky we did as we came across an amazing restaurant overlooking the bay between us and koh Yao Yai, our islands bigger but undeveloped sister. We stopped for a fresh pineapple juice but as we saw a Chinese families food come out we knew we should book to eat there in the evening and we did so for 5:30pm - in time for sunset. We had a couple of hours to kill with cat feeding, planning and showering and went back to the restaurant. I had already eyed the mixed seafood basket for two and that with some mixed vegetable was our dinner. I didn't realise the guy was going to fish it straight out of the nets on the restaurant jetty! We had two blue crabs, 4 king prawns, a whole sea bass, some squid and octopus. The best crab I have ever tasted! We went to bed content we had probably had the best food of the trip so far. <p><br/>Bike selfie</p><p><br/>Chilling in a hammock attached to two palm trees on a beach with noone else here</p><p><br/>Apparently alex is losing her style</p><p><br/>What a view</p><p><br/>Deserted beach selfie</p><p><br/>Mr crab came to have a look at his mate we had on the table</p><p><br/>Sunset for our time on Koh Yao Noi</p> </article> <article> <h1>Ko Pu, Thailand</h1> <p>Sat, 13 Feb 2016 14:50:00 +0700</p> 13th Feb The boat was not actually until 1:30 so the monkeys who stormed over our balcony at 6am was not too much of a welcome sound. Alex went and got a pedicure while I chatted to a Spanish guy who worked at the dive shop opposite. After the £3 pedicure and a chat we made our way bk to get our bags escorted in metal trolley to the pier where we got on the smaller ferry to koh jum. There were literally 8 people on this quite big boat-I have come to realise since this that the less people on a boat the better the destination is in terms of quality of experience (less people have heard of it and the more original and Untransformed it is). The boat ride was about 80 mins and as we pulled up the island was noticeably quieter and less decorated along the coastline. The ships hand asked us of our resort to which he muttered "long tail"-at the time I had no clue but was to find out they were to moor 200 meters from sure and one of the staff from the peace paradise resort would sail their long tail boat to pick us up and ferry us back to the place. It was magical-like arriving at a desert island-I threw my shoes on to the beach and jumped ankle deep into the sea and helped the guy lift our cases out the boat and Alex and I walked the width of the beach into a cool authentic beach bar with many sea ornaments decorating it. ( like you imagine Richard Branson does on his private island but for 10 quid a night) Straight away we got chatting to an American girl, first impression was she was a lesbian, second was she liked to booze-it was 2pm and two empty pint bottles of singha beer and a 3rd on the go. She was really friendly and chatty over the next couple of hours she gave us the low down on the place-8 huts run by a husband and wife plus amazing cooking. All the time Kara was drinking and told us she was here with her gay male friend and the both worked together in an international school in China. He was out on s walk and she said when he returned we should eat together. What she didn't tell us as she chatted away was that there was only electricity between 6pm - midnight. When we finally got to the room it was basic, very basic-a double bed, mosquito net, a fan (when electricity) a toilet and no sink just a tap with a bucket. I loved it, took me bk to the cub scouts-I don't think Alex enjoyed the guides ;-) The guy, Jesse returned quite late and we said our hellos and ordered food-they catch fresh fish everyday and today it was mackerel with some sides of squid and vegetable and pad Thai-she wasn't lying about the cooking-amazing. It was quite surreal sharing a small table with two random people we had literally just met but we chatted for hours as we drank-what a great evening. It turned out they had been there already for 3 wks and were well in with the owners. The staff had been lighting fires in the beach in front at Kara's request one night and it became a ritual and we moved down on the beach after we finished eating. I think it was 12:30 by the time we got finished-by far the latest we had gone to bed as most nights it is 10 or 11. However we were to find out that midnight was no electricity but luckily Kara asked for them to keep the generator going for another 30 mins so we could get ready for bed and lockdown the mosquito net and get to sleep. 14th Feb Wow sleeping on a bungalow like that was an experience-you can hear everything-bugs, lizards, monkeys, the sea - everything. Plus with no fan I woke up with very little sleep in a pool of sweat. Our bungalow was at the back of the campus up a hill slightly and from the balcony was an amazing view of the ocean back to phi phi-20km away but could not be further in terms of remoteness This place is so small and quiet-only 5 groups of people and Kara and Jesse the only who really spoke English. We sat separate for breakfast and I needed the coffee to wake me up but straight afterwards we got together again. Kara is an artist and keen diver and snorkel me and offered to take us out as she knew where the best spots were in the sea in front. She also spoke about fishing and showed me a make shift line and hook she had made-since the squid fishing in Halong bay I wanted another crack and she told me the previous people in the bungalow next to us, now vacant, had bought and left line, weights and hooks. After changing I popped my head in and sure enough it was just laying there in the floor in the hit next door-the doors aren't locked here it's all on trust-sort of 1950s England-a Muslim thing-we were later told a story about a thief on the island a couple of years bk, after that I don't think anyone would steel from our room. My mission today-make a fishing rod and go out on the kayak and try and catch a fish. I hunted out some bamboo which is plentiful on the island and then found some old screws and nails and took them down to the beach. Use some big rocks I used the nails and screws to make a passable rod, construction done now just to catch. Easier said than done! Alex and I kayaked around for a couple of hours. I had been helped out by the male owner after I had showed him my rod he sort of laughed in a way a father does to his son when he try's his best but fails miserably (just re-read this-lol). However he went to the kitchen and came back with some off cuts of squid and gave it to me. We went back empty handed but said I would try again before our time was up. After another great dinner Alex and I wandered along the beach and sat looking at the stars and used an app I had previously downloaded spot the constellations and planets. This was one of the clearest night skies I had seen, you could see thousands of stars. As well as the gazing Alex had made a cat friend who played with her and also there were lots of hermit crabs walking the beach-every so often we had to turn out torch on in the moonlight just to ward of the crabs from crossing our path-I've heard they have a hard nip. An earlier bed tonight as tomorrow we explore the 15km Long Island. 15th Feb. Jesse recommended the noodles for breakfast so I had those-almost like a left over Chinese warmed up in the microwave for breakfast but much tastier and healthier! After breakfast we made our way down the beach and hired a bike. As we set off down the road it was about 10 mins until we passed another bike. We were going in a general north to south direction, I knew there were two "towns" but that was it-one long road connecting them with dirt tracks leading off to different beaches. We explored and found a pier where the locals get back to the main land and then stopped at a shop (someone's house with a Coca-Cola fridge outside) to pick up a drink and then we drove down to the main town where there were a few shops. Alex had her eyes on a caftan, little did I know it would take three return journeys before she finally settled on which one! Got lunch we stopped at another resort and sat in the beach and had a dip to cool off. We also stopped here on the way back for an ice cream. Once we dropped the bike off we got bk to the bungalows and sat around and had drinks chatting to the same two guys plus some other people and generally having a good time. This place is the best so far -the owners and locals are amazing-so friendly and will do anything for you-Yai the female owner kept saying as long as you smile I am happy. What a great way to run a device based business. I would come bk here in a flash even with the basic rooms it feels homely and welcoming-so much so we extend for one more night before we head to koh Yao noi 16th Feb More noodles for breakfast today-it's so good so you can't not! Last day the crazy screams kid is here as well. Kara successfully got us out snorkelling and I'm glad she did - the coral was beautiful, I had never seen it like this before. All different colours and shades-unfortunately the photos we got did not do it justice. After Alex got tired out me and Kara ventured further-about 400m out the coral got bigger as did the fish. After about 90 mins I started to tire as I was wearing shoes so as not to hurt my feet on the rocks. After lunch we decided to trek across the rocks to the next bay where there was more established resorts. Kara and Jesse had been there before and as Kara had decided to get a tattoo (to add to the dozen she already had) we walked 1km to a bar where there was a tattoo sign at. Kara had phoned ahead but when we got there we were told the tattooist would not come this far into the middle of nowhere so we ended up getting a ride down the road to a Thai cooking school-you may think this is some grand establishment but actually just a small room with a huge veranda and cooking equipment. The tattoo guy was set up and obviously expecting Kara as was the tiny little cat Alex. We had a beer while we waited and played with the cat and chatted amongst ourselves. Time seemed to go slowly but we were there until sunset. We had the same taxi man who took us bk-he had actually waited the whole time in his car-show how much they value one job worth a fiver. As we got bk it was dark and we walked the beach bk to peace paradise-it never ceases to amaze how peaceful it is. Veet (one of the bar staff) had lit a fire and after our usual quality food we sat round chatting and having some drinks with Kara and Jesse. They went to bed before us tonight and Alex and I chatted to Yai the female owner. A pack of cards made their way into my hands and I showed Yai some magic tricks I had learnt-they couldn't have gone better and she was amazed-it helped break the ice and she chatted to us for hours and I got to asked her about Thai cooking and bagged some good tips which I will certainly take home with me and use.<p><br/>Stargazing tonight</p><p><br/>Sunset out the front of the bungalow</p><p><br/>Camp fire time </p><p><br/>Playing with my rod!</p><p><br/>Footy on the beach!</p><p><br/>Snorkelling together-alex is getting better with the sea</p><p><br/>Taxi on way to tattoo man</p><p><br/>Kara getting a tattoo</p><p><br/>Veet catching a fish just as we board the ferry to Yao Noi</p> </article> <article> <h1>Ko Phi Phi, Thailand</h1> <p>Wed, 10 Feb 2016 14:50:00 +0700</p> 10th Feb Today we are out of ko lanta and on to koh phi phi. As usual with the ferry companies they are on time to pick you up from your accommodation-take you to the port, throw your bag onto the boat and deliver you to the next island. In the back of the jeep on the way to the port there was a Brazilian couple who got on. You share these pickups with anyone who has booked the boat that day in you hotels area. It actually quite a good way to meet people-you have been in the same place and are going to the same place so you can break conversation easily. Not so easily when they speak Portuguese and very little English however we communicated straight away. By the end of the 20 min journey to the port we had found out they had just got married 4 days earlier and were now honeymooning after 24 of their family members had left them to it and gone bk to Brazil. They had been out late the night before and even through their tan you could tell they were hungover-normally that is the one good thing about a tan it can hide your headache-I knew they had had a heavy one and it turned out to be true they had been out until 5am the previous night/morning. The guy was smart, he sat with us on the boat chatting and always asking me to correct his broken English while his newly wed slept off her hangover inside the cabin. By the end of the journey his English seemed 10 times better. We sort of clicked and as we got off the boat said that we should meet up for a drink once their heads were clear. We were greeted by the hotel staff as we got off-a little metal cart was where our luggage was put as we followed the guys through what looked like you average Balearic island bar strip. This was not what we had been accustomed to-loud, smelly and full of twatty Americans. We were here for 3 nights-better make the most of it. Luckily our hotel was not bad and up in the hills-on phi phi there are no roads, cars or even bikes-it would probably take two hours to walk from end to end. This was why the guys had metal carts to wheel our bags. However up in the hills meant steps and steps in close to 40 degree heat (they actually had plaques on the steps telling you how many (20 odd)calories you had burnt climbing all 183 of them) Once checked in we found our way to the beach and realised this was not a place to relax-more booze and dance-so why not join them! Except after 2 large beers for me and two cocktails for Alex we both said how tipsy we felt, in part to how much we had sweated but in part to how little we drink while on a budget. After grabbing some food we actually bumped into the Brazilians and agreed to meet them for a drink in a live music bar. The their woman was banging out Adele and similar music to good effect. We again agreed to meet on the beach with the Brazilians tomorrow and turned in (earplugs in all night to drown out the bass until 3am on the party island) 11th Feb Today was due to be our last day on phi phi but 2 nights is always too short when u don't check in until 2pm and then have to be out at 11am on checkout day so we extended for one more. Typically you can get a cheaper night anyway as you can pay cash and not through the internet where they lose percentage. Today we wandered around the crazy town which actually we found to have a small amount of charm in a weird way. After an hour or so doing that we made our way to the long beach on the island to chill and swim and sunbathe. To be honest we have hardly done any of this but it is so hot you don't want to do it for long anyway and after getting to about 3 or 4 in the afternoon and a little doze as it got cooler we walked across the low tide bed. On most of the islands the Sea bed is so flat and low tide can be hundreds of meters out and when it is you can walk across it seeing all the sealife left behind. After getting back and changing we went out for food and an early night as we are due to go on a private long tail boat at 630 in the morning for 4 hours to take us to several sites and in particular Maya bay which was the famous one from the film The Beach with Leonardo Dicaprio-one of the reasons this island is so overrun with partygoers! 12th Feb After peeling open my eyes and rousing Alex we made our way to the agreed meeting point and Meet our old, toothless boat chauffeur of the day(felt quite at home). First stop was Maya bay before the hoards of tourists come later - the brazillians had told us to go this early! As we went out the long boat (obvious where it gets its name from-a long wooden boat with motor bike engines attached to a propeller very common in Thailand) the view was not to dissimilar from Halong bag in Thailand-rock like islands rising from the sea. As we pulled into Maya beach we were one of the first and we waded through the shallow water to the beach after being dropped off. After a little exploring you could see that this used to be a haven but has been spoilt by people like us-rubbish, trodden paths and generally well visited. The second stop was time for snorkelling and I thought Alex would not be keen but she gave it a try even if she did drown me every time she jumped on my back-the fish were plentiful and it was the first time I have really had chance to see it with the borrowed mask. Alex left me to it for a while as she sat bk on the boat and as the captain cut us up a fresh pineapple and threw the rind in the sea the fish swarmed to feast and it was a sight to behold-I'm not the strongest swimmer but am confident but with hundreds if not thousands of fish it can be unnerving as you think Mr Jaws could be round the corner. The third stop was a much shallower bay up to chest height which gave Alex a better chance to snorkel and she loved it-I'm sure she will do more. After monkey beach were tens of monkeys gathered to be greeted by tourists we headed back(I have somewhat glazed over this as wasn't impressed by the crowds watching the local boat drivers feeding them bottles of Coke which they would unscrew and drink and also give them pizza left over from the previous night-training them to come bk for the next paying tourist boat ride-we were one of them!) Back on the main island we went on the main beach and had deal with more pissed Americans and we went off for food. After food we went to the beach and watched the fire acts and had a drink before getting bk to pack for our departure to koh jum tomorrow. Koh jum is a quiet island with not too much tourism and we have booked a remote resort with the traditional bungalows with no air con and mosquito nets-lets see how we get on! <p><br/>Getting off the boat to phi phi</p><p><br/>Even the animals are pissed here!</p><p><br/>Sargent major fish</p><p><br/>Knackered after snorkelling!</p><p><br/>Oh hey alex is snorkelling</p><p><br/>Monkeys on the balcony waking us up at sunrise</p><p><br/>Lady muck on the ferry from phi phi to koh pu in her new 3 quid hat</p> </article> <article> <h1>Ko Lanta, Thailand</h1> <p>Wed, 03 Feb 2016 14:50:00 +0700</p> 3rd Feb We got picked up from the hotel foyer at 11am, some confusion on the staffs side what we were doing and where we were going but I knew all would be fine-they try and get you to go with their mates boats/tours and they end up charging you a lot more. After heading back to the airport to pick up some arrivals we made our way to the port 30 mins away. After a brief chat to some of the locals who were like Asian Rastas (complete with smoking weed which at one point they offered me we got on the boat of about 100 people. We made our way up to the top deck and in the sun but with a nice breeze-it's about 33 here. Our island was three stops and 2.5 hours away all the way fantastic scenery! As we stopped at the little islands mini boats came out and picked up the passengers and their baggage. The boats got tied off on our boat and then people would walk (jump across when a wave came) and then we would be on our way. Luckily when we got to our stop in Ko Lanta there is a port. After a brief 10 min trip to the hotel we had been checked in and immediately Alex was playing with one or more of the seven cats owned by the hotel. We hadn't eaten much all day so went out for dinner at 5ish. The restaurant was a short walk through a nice resort - wow what an amazing setting! On the beach a long cocktail list and also a Tex Mex bar as it was run by a Hispanic Texan. It was the first time we had seen a sunset and it was great to relax -the last few weeks since we have left except a few days in Mui Ne have been constantly on the go-at the moment we have three nights here but I expect we will extend to almost a week (we have 3 wks roughly in the Thai islands and 3 islands on our list at the moment) We sat and eat our tacos and enchiladas (every night we share dinner and then I end up hoovering up the leftovers) they were ok but again nothing to write home about-the Thai food is about a third of the price and generally a lot better but after every meal you need a break. As we walked bk we passed a pharmacy and supermarket -we have everything we need here to survive comfortably and all in for £30 a day for both of us. 4th Feb Result .... The hotel offers toast, fruit and hot drinks for breakfast which was not mentioned when we booked. Also it gave Alex another 20 mins to play with the cats- there is an animal welfare place down the road where you walk cats and dogs I know if we stay longer this will happen. After giving our last 10 days of washing to the owner to wash at the cost of just over a quid we made our way to the beach. It looks even better in daylight-clear blue calm sea and white sand -the beach we are on is c. 3km long adorned with shack restaurants and bars. After being in and out of the sea I went for a run the length of the beach and back-it was hard going in the heat and unstable sand but felt good after I had done it-3 litres of water it took to rehydrate me! After some more bathing and cooling off we both walked the beach retracing the route I had run - Alex wanted to check out the yoga place I had seen which they have a class every morning between 9-10:30. We sat at the bar and had some fresh juice and a massive bowel of popcorn over looking the beach, as I sit and write this now the clouds have come over and it has dropped by about 5 degrees to about 30-at least the sweating has stopped! Wow as we went out for dinner I was glowing! We went across the road to the red snapper restaurant which was owned by the daughter of the 80 year old couple we met a few days back and had some red snapper (obviously the signature dish) and some prawns with garlic. I am not a huge fish fan but this was great-so fresh and well cooked and huge portions which we struggled to finish. 5th Feb, More toast and coffee and we set off on the 30 min walk along the beach to the yoga class. There were 12 people including Alex and I left her to go to another run and after a bit of a swim we chatted to the instructor who gave us some pointers on what to do on the island. The yoga place was at a bar/restaurant and everywhere here does fresh fruit smoothies and we learnt from the instructor to ask for no sugar as they lace it with shit loads of sugar syrup. We had coconut pineapple and lime, like a pina colada without alcohol. We walked half way back and stopped off to catch some sun but soon some clouds came over and we had about an hour of rain-we took cover in the nearest bar and I had a beer and Alex had a fresh coconut-they were playing some chill out music. This place was run by 6-8 young Thai guys who wouldn't have looked out of place in shoreditch with their hair dos. The bars also must love the rain which comes down hard as most of the beach decamps to one of these until the sun comes back out and obviously they take more money. However after the rain we decided to call it a day and got bk to the room and changed before going out for a walk and getting some Thai food again. Pad Thai is two a penny out here-so tasty but again we were told by the instructor it is laced with a lot of sugar-no wonder it's good! 6th Feb Alex had done a deal with the instructor to pay for 3 classes upfront for a cheaper rate so we were in the same pattern as yesterday-she stretched-I ran, Met and had our juice without sugar and relaxed in front of the bar after. We did this as we had the Wifi code and could sporadically get on the Internet. The wifi in the hotel we are in is not great in the room and even in the main area weak at peak times so planning and communication is hard-a but like the old school days of 32bit dial up-when someone was on the house phone you got cut off from the browsing! It seems like the weather is following our pattern as dark clouds came over the mountain behind the beach and we decided to get going on the 30 min walk.half way through the heavens opened-it poured!Everyday we take a bag out with our valuables here as no safety deposit in the room-very safe and secure hotel but better be safe than sorry-however torrential rain would defo get the better of our bags and as we didn't have a plastic bag to cover up we stopped off in the island park which has little pagodas where you can take shelter-in ours about 10 people-half Thai guys waiting for the diving and transfer boat drop offs and half tourists sheltering like us. After we made a break for it we got to the hotel and got chatting to our neighbours-a 50 odd year old couple from Dorset but live in Alicante. Again well travelled and full of tips as they had been to the island before. An hours chatting they told us stories-wedding in Sri Lanka and more but we were getting hungry and they recommended a restaurant on the beach which did BBQ Seafood which was cheap. The rain was still spitting so we took our umbrellas and torch and walked the 10 mins along the beach (except for a mini piggyback for Alex through a little streamlet that comes into the sea-it's not very tidal here but the 2meter change from the day meant she could hitch a lift) The restaurant was busy and we got on one of the few tables left-without cover and of course the heavens opened again-we grabbed our drinks and got under the tin roof.Luckily it wasn't for long and were sitting back down to eat our huge white snapper-wow again!it was bigger than my elbow to middle finger stuffed with garlic, ginger, lemongrass etc and was top notch and only £5! Two mins away from the hotel the rain came again-luckily the umbrellas saved us. I am talking like the rain is a problem-it's actually really refreshing it's still late 20s at 9pm here so it's like taking a cooling shower! 7th Feb Sunday today. Alex had her third class to use but we have made the decision to stay at another place for two days on the island, we have done our relaxing and there is a national park and other areas of the 25km Long Island to see. We laid in for a bit had our toast and walked to the animal welfare place for cats and dogs 10 mins up the road. They had 50 of both cats and dogs which had been taken in and Alex was in heaven. Kittens to really old cats all looked after and all up for adoption :-/ After a guided tour by some young English volunteers we played with cats donated a few quid and were on our way. You can take the dogs for a walk if you wanted but we decided against it, Alex obviously wanted to spend extra time with the cats! Back at the hotel we got our next accommodation sorted and headed out for a late lunch/early dinner. Burger and chips for me and avocado and eggs for Alex. Straight after this we hopped in a tuk tuk down to the main port and wondered around. The usual toot which even Alex agreed with me on and we stopped off for an afagato(vanilla ice cream and expresso - yum). We were back at 7 and I decided to get my haircut a couple of mins away from the hotel. I had popped my head in a couple of days ago. The lady did a good job-very friendly and I even got a bit of a massage and I could see Alex was jealous as she was sitting waiting. We got a beer and crisps and some chocolate for Alex and as I write the last few days I am tucking in on our balcony. Tomorrow we transfer to the the other hotel 10 mins down the road and continue our stay on Koh Lanta! 8th Feb A quick yoga session which I partook in today (first ever class!) then we rushed bk for our 11am checkout. After saying goodbye to the cats we went down the road and stayed in a fitness hotel where they had a full muay Thai kickboxing academy. If I wasn't so hot and sweaty all the time I would have taken one of the open classes but unfortunately not this time. After chilling by the pool(yes a pool-we haven't seen one of these for a while) waiting for our room to be cleaned we set out on a mission to find a waterfall. This waterfall was hidden in the rainforest in the island and we had to trek through 45 mins of quite dense vegetation to get there. I could see Alex looking around checking for spiders as she normally does before bed. When we got there it was not a full waterfall as the rain from the previous day's had not been enough to make it plentiful. It was good fun hiking through and we carried on and were planning to go to "tiger cave" however on the way the yoga teacher had told us about tea and cake at this shack on the way up and we stopped there. They were a funny couple who ran it-Asian hippies. A young hippy Russian couple (yes you read it right I've never met or seen one before) were on the wooden stumps beside them, we chatted and gave us some tips as we sipped our tea and cake( i felt quite warm after my chocolate brownie and I guessed it may have been laced with a little of the old hippy mans special tobacco he had been smoking quite often while we chatted) After sitting there for a while we decided that we were too hot and tired from the previous trek to walk to the cave so headed bk via a small bar for food and to Alex's horror she found a tic had embedded itself in her leg, don't worry it was well removed! 9th Feb Up out early again today, this time we were headed further south via the old village on the east of the island. We stopped to have some breakfast and take in the ocean views as well look at the local shops. Alex bought an ankle bracelet for a quid and we pushed on. Past some elephant tied up for rides (as you do) and then further down the coast. In the afternoon towards sunset we pulled over and found the Greek taverna the hippy Russians had told us about and we shared the meat meze-it was garlicky and meaty-just what the doctor ordered! As you can tell this is a little shorter than normal as I am writing a week after the fact and the little stories and anecdotes are a little merged-not because I am getting bored of writing but the bloody blogging app has stopped working-I will try and fix but must continue to write on time! <p><br/>On the boat to koh lanta</p><p><br/>Alex doing her yoga on the beach</p><p><br/>Alexs cat friends in our hotel</p><p><br/>Getting a haircut</p><p><br/>I think alex has a favorite</p><p><br/>Elephants</p><p><br/>Another swing-quite a good one this one!</p><p><br/>On the trek to the waterfall</p><p><br/>Hot and sweaty from the hike to the watergall</p><p><br/>The slightly dubious but lovely cakes from the couple in the hills</p><p><br/>Sunset on koh lanta</p> </article> <article> <h1>Trang, Thailand</h1> <p>Tue, 02 Feb 2016 15:50:00 +0700</p> 2nd Feb We are starting to perfect the early morning checkouts and after a 45 min drive to the airport we checked in for the first flight and were told for the second we would need to collect our baggage and re-check in and board the second flight. The first flight was smooth enough and we made it through immigration to get another 30 day Thai visa. The we found out on the second flight we had seats apart as the flight was full. In Bangkok airport straight away you could tell how different Thailand is to both Cambodia and Vietnam are. Here there was a McDonalds next door to a KFC which is next door to a Burger King with a Subway opposite-in the other place you were lucky if you saw a coffee shop! Luckily we found a Boots as we needed to pick up some bits, deodorant for me, painkillers, spf lip balm and some tiger balm. The down side to this more Westerm approach is they charge you 200 baht (about 4 quid) every time you want to withdraw money and then visa will whack you with a 3% withdrawal fee too! We said our goodbyes and were on opposite sides of the plane 5 or so rows apart-first time since getting the dollars in poipet and leaving Alex in the tuktuk. I used the time to catch up on the blog but it was pretty hard to concentrate as I write I have a little shit constantly kicking the back of my seat-I almost put my hand behind and squeezed it's leg hard as the parents are asleep but I refrained-Alex wins on transport seats again! We landed about 3pm and made our way via minibus to our stop over hotel in Trang about 15 mins away. When we got off the bus we had to cross some train tracks-never done that before but with two trains a day very safe. After dumping bags we headed out and found a supermarket to stock up on some snacks and then ate a bar after a couple of drinks. We got chatting to an 80 year old Dutch couple who actually live on the island we are going to tomorrow and again they gave us some tips and pointers-apparently her daughter runs one of the most popular restaurants on the island called the red snapper which later we found out was to be on the other side of the road from where we were staying. The food we had here was spicy-we were to pay for that the next day. <p><br/>Yet another train</p><p><br/>Train track crossing</p><p><br/>Showing the local kids how it's done!</p><p><br/>Tom playing footy with the local kids</p><p><br/>Enjoying the warmer weather here-28 at night!</p><p><br/>More waiting for busses! </p><p></p><p></p><p><br/>Boat life</p><p></p><p><br/>Hi</p><p><br/>Bye trang</p> </article> <article> <h1>Hanoi, Vietnam</h1> <p>Sun, 31 Jan 2016 15:50:00 +0700</p> Jan 31st Before we were due to disembark the boat at 11:15 there was one more little excursion on the day boat to some caves. Formed from a mix of earthquakes shifting the land up millions of years ago after sea caves had been weathered , it was a 100 step steep climb to the entrance. The caves were vast, some parts with ceilings no more than two metres tall and a duck in places right upto 7 meters tall. We were told that the caves were only discovered by the authorities 10 years ago but fisherman had lived in them for 100s of years. After some food we checked out on the boat and got in the minibus which took us the 4 hour journey to Hanoi were we have two nights before flying on Tuesday morning. Our goal was to fit as much in during the day and a half we have here-dump the bags and out a 3pm-first to a treehouse coffee shop (not in a tree just several floors up in a small building) we had been told about this place by the couple who ran the hotel-black coffee with whipped eggs instead of milk-very much like a latte. After this we wandered the narrow but heaving streets. We were staying in the old town where streets were narrow but traffic vast. It was like a scaled down Ho Chi Minh City. Hanoi is famed for its street food and certainly something I was looking forward to trying. We were pretty tired after a long drive so ate about 6:00pm just after sunset-it was like loads of different starters you would get in a takeaway with a huge herb salad and dipping sauces-Alex and I shared one which was more than enough and with a shared beer came to just under 2 quid. It feels so funny sitting on there tiny tables and chairs-God knows how anyone taller than me or with a bad back would be able to do it. The weather is cold and it started to rain so we walked the few roads back to the hotel, showered and then for the first time put the TV on and we found a US film channel and watched an Al Pacino film. After this finished we went to bed (we had a twin room as had booked late so were in separate singles) ready to get up early the next day 1st Feb We went down to breakfast and it was pretty decent for a £16 a night place-3stars... After eating as much as we could we set out on a pre-planned walking route which was in lonely planet. The walking route took us passed a similar setup to Bangkok in terms of different streets were associated to different guilds or types of shop. The first street we hit was a locksmith street. Passed that we arrived at the food and clothe markets-live prawns (huge) didn't see the price but I'm sure nowhere near the price of home. As we wandered the fumes were strong and almost overpowering coming from the traffic but also the burning of offerings at every shop front in little furnaces which we later found was in dedication to ancestors. The walk ended after a couple of hours at the south side of the lake and as we ended we were rather keen to get out of the dirty air and went to another of the treehouse coffee shops-this one a random one but better than the one we recommended to go to yesterday in terms of views. After this we wandered passed the new shopping area with designer brand shops and made a beeline to out preselected street food lunch destination which was a pho soup place. Here again we got one to share as these portions are massive-it had beef, spring onions, noodles and a really nice broth, once you added you own fresh chillies, lime, chilli sauce or soy sauce you dig in. Again really good-you can eat for so cheap out here and be constantly full. After this we ambled back to the hotel and about 4pm-6pm we fell asleep and had rather a nice doze. Afterwards we went out as we had a few dong left to spend so picked up some ornate chopsticks which are two a penny here and then went to our last street food stop on the third floor of this bustling makeshift restaurant. The food was two types of meat (minced beef and pork belly) in like a sweet and sour apple sauce with the same herb salad and noodles. After a short wander back to the hotel we again watched a film and to bed early for our 5:30 wake up for the two flights we have tomorrow which takes us from Hanoi into Bangkok and then from here to Trang to start our Thai islands adventure-hopefully 15 degrees warmer!<p><br/>Egg coffee in the trees</p><p><br/>Perfect fit! </p><p><br/>Safe to say Tom ate most of this! </p><p><br/>Chicken anyone? </p><p><br/>Toms new bar </p><p><br/>Pho lunch</p><p><br/>Our kitchen for lunch</p><p><br/>Birdcage cafe</p> </article> <article> <h1>Hạ Long, Vietnam</h1> <p>Fri, 29 Jan 2016 06:30:00 +0700</p> Jan 29th Woke up after not much sleep from the late arrival at the hotel compounded by the fact we had a hard mattress which didn't help in anyway. I went down to suss out breakfast and they said they would bring it to the room-wasn't quite sure what it would be but when it turned up..., fried egg on toast and a glass of milk-what do you expect for £12 a night. We wandered to the pier 10 mins away but were early! the other guests were coming in from transfer from Hanoi-we were told to come bk in an hour which we did after a coffee in a nearby cafe. We were booked on the signature royal cruise which has 16 rooms but we found out only 9 couples were onboard. The ship was amazingly well finished and we had a jet bath in our room. As soon as we had 15 mins to get ourselves settled we were upstairs on the top deck to have a 5 course lunch- the food was great but we were stuffed after! The itinerary is jam packed and the first activity is to go to a floating village where they have an oyster pearl farm. We transferred on to a little bamboo boat rowed by one of the locals. Through lagoons, passed caves and paddling adjacent to floating houses the whole experience was awe inspiring. Halong Bay and the surrounding area is made up of over 3000 islands and is a UNESCO world heritage site-it's is a pretty stunning location. Having studied geography I understood a little about the formations and how they came into existence. Over the first few hours we got speaking to two couples, a retired young couple about early 50s and a couple in their mid 30s who run a boutique hotel in Majorca. Both very pleasant and all well travelled, it seems the norm out here, people away 3-6 weeks all on multiple trips a year. Also they all are jealous of our 9 months. Back on the bamboo boat we were dropped off and have a little tip and then were taken around the small oyster pearl tour. The pearls are grown using a fake nucleus which is inserted by human hand and also then some juice type stuff to fertilise. Then after 2-8 years they are picked and opened to reveal one of four colour pearls - the longer they are left the bigger the pearl. After the obligatory wander around the shop at the end of the tour we were taken back to the main boat to relax between 4 and 7. Happy hour was at 5:30-6:30 and we chatted to all the people exchanging anecdotes. After another 5 courses they put the top gear Vietnam special on, or you could go squid fishing in the dark - we went squid fishing however to no avail. A couple of jets of black ink as I had some near missed but that was about it. After this we tried out our jet bath and went to bed as we wanted to be up early in the morning for sunrise and the tai chi lesson at 6:30am (if there is sun-it's cold here, about 16 degrees and cloudy and probably about the coldest of our total 9 month stint!) Jan 30th Alex was supposed to have set the alarm to get up for tai chi, 5 mins before it starts she woke me up as the alarm didn't go off! I left her to hurriedly get ready to not be late and I ambled up a little later and grabbed a coffee and took in the view. After a breakfast buffet we were out on the day boat at 9am. After a little cruising kayaking was the order of the day. There was the choice of this or going back out in the bamboo boats. There were us and the couple from Majorca and a young Australian couple. We weaved through the islets and then through three tunnels cut below the rocks each one getting less and less room (the last one I had to lay down for). Through the last one we entered a lagoon all shielded off from the rest of the bay-we were asked to stop paddling by Ling our guide-as we stopped you could not hear a sound-nothing-I dong think I had experienced that before, no animals no nothing! All in all we were kayaking for about 90 mins and back on to the boat to warm up. I forgot to mention-in the attempt to hurry Alex out the door we both forgot our change of clothes for the wet boating so instead of getting my jeans soaked I took them off and wrapped a towel round me a la getting out the shower,Alex did the same. Luckily the Majorcan couple did it too so we didn't look silly! Back on the boat we had lunch and after this were taken to a desolate beach at the foot of one of the formations and after so shell hunting we returned to the main boat for a jet bath and a relax again before happy hour! The same guys were there-really enjoyable company and stories flowed as happy hour progressed. Squid fishing again tonight but this time success-I (well up until we went to bed at 10) was the only one to catch a squid-I felt bad as when we used to do the odd bit of pike fishing as a kid I put them bk this apparently was going to be cooked as part of the crews tea! We managed to bag ourselves a transfer back and will follow one of the couples bk to their hotel as we don't have one booked yet however after Hanoi, our flight on Tuesday morning takes us to Trang in Thailand and on to the islands where 30+ degrees awaits us again!i can't wait to warm up but have really enjoyed the cruse - not something I would normally choose but great scenery, food, activities and most of all people! <p><br/>Ohhh this is nice!</p><p><br/>Afternoon Tea</p><p><br/>One of many caves at Halong Bay</p><p><br/>Our bamboo boat rower</p><p><br/>Alex opened one and found a pearl</p><p><br/>Heated toilet seat-what luxury</p><p><br/>Making spring rolls</p><p><br/>Alex trying her hand at fishing</p><p><br/>Morning thai chi</p><p><br/>Wrapped up warm but spot the wrap around towels</p><p><br/>Guess who did all the work</p><p><br/>The winner at squid fishing</p><p><br/>Dinner for the crew</p><p><br/>Some of the guys we met</p><p><br/>View from up at the cave entrance</p><p><br/>The caves we visited-watch your head</p><p></p><p><br/>In the cave where gisherman and their families lived just 10 years ago</p><p><br/>The signature royal cruise ship we stayed on</p> </article> </main></body></html>