We left Sipilay and headed for Dumaguete. After another day of tricycles and buses we checked into a mansion. Well, it was called a mansion anyway. Dumaguete was the first city we had been in for a while. It’s a college town on the bay. There are some bookstores, some gallerias, and a McDonalds. What else do you need? I was able to get in a couple of good dives in a nearby town, Dauin. There were plenty of ghostpipe fish, frogfish, leaf fish, clown fish, morays, and some really nice coral gardens. Ruthie was able to get in some good [View Full Entry]

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We landed outside Manila at the former Clark Air Base which turns out to be a 2.5 hour bus ride into the city. As we approach the city through the rice fields into the city itself you get a feel for how poor it is here. The shacks turn into the shanty towns as we approach the city. About 200,000 people live in an area 1.5 sq km. It’s estimated 1.5 million people live in slums of Manila. I have seen a lot of poverty on this trip but I think Manila is the worst. We stay in Malate, in an [View Full Entry]

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After the coldest plane ride ever, we touched down in Bali. We haggled with a few cab drivers, found the one who ripped us off the least and went to Kuta. Kuta was the scene of two different bombings (2002 and 2005) by Islamic terrorists. If you have ever been to Huntington Beach, CA just imagine it in Bali. If you want Hard Rock Café, KFC, Starbucks, McDonalds, Dunkin Donuts, Circle K, Versace, you get them all here. Needless to say, we were surprised again! I didn’t expect naked islanders, but I didn’t expect this either. So far the rooms have [View Full Entry]

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Hopping off the bus in KL (Kuala Lumpur) we knew we were back in the kinda city we like. There were tons of different people on the streets, hanging out, on the move, and just being city people. No more cookie cutter city, this wasn’t Disney. It had a mix of high rises (think Petronas Towers) and hundred year old Chinese shop houses, Islamic architecture and colonial buildings. People were trying to sell watches, bags, jeans, food and massages. Don’t buy a massage from a street vendor! This is the kind of place we like, a mix of everything on the [View Full Entry]

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A short flight from Kuching, Borneo to Johor Baru, Malaysia and a bus ride put us in Singapore. We had to exit Malaysia and go through customs/immigration to make it onto the island of Singapore. For some reason it took longer to do this than it did to fly from Borneo and take the bus to the border. It took less time to travel through communist countries than to cross this border, go figure. We had tried to book a room online (something we never do) and found the prices to be out of this world. We could book into the [View Full Entry]

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We made our way to Brunei by ferry boat after a brief stopover on the duty-free island of Pulau Labuan to stock up on some Vodka. There is no alcohol sold in the kingdom, so we had to plan ahead. The age of consent is 14, but one can never drink, maybe that makes sense after all. We made it to the capital, Bandar Seri Begawan and found out two of the top attractions in the city, as noted by the hotel and tour agent, was to visit the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque and the mall. No kidding! We did both. [View Full Entry]

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After leaving Phi Phi we were “On the road again”. We left Krabi, Thailand to cross the border into Malaysia. Our minibus took us all the way to Penang and dropped us off between Little India and Chinatown. We gorged ourselves on Indian food almost immediately and loved it. Luke (our visa run friend) stalked us a little later on that evening and we ended up drinking with new friends until sometime the next morning when he caught the bus back to Thailand. Something that caught us off guard was the Muslim holiday of Hari Raya, to celebrate the passing of [View Full Entry]

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It may be hard to understand but travelling is hard work. We stay in a guesthouse for a few days, do our walking tour, see the sights (day and night, it’s usually different), eat the local food and sit back and see what the people do. Then we hit the road again, which can sometimes be a 16 hour journey. After 3 months of this we were tired, grumpy, and wanted a rest. We decided to hit one of our favorite places, Phi Phi Don Island, Thailand. This will make our third visit here. After chilling out for a few days [View Full Entry]

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One Night in Bangkok… We arrived back in Bangkok, Thailand on August 1st after many wonderful weeks on the road. Bangkok was just a quick stop over for final destination in Thailand - Phi Phi Island (a.k.a. Paradise). Getting there was of course a journey also. We took the overnight train from Bangkok to Surat Thani. Our second class fan cabin was nothing like the comforts of the overnight train in Vietnam…but at least we had a bed to stretch out in for the 12 hour ride. Nothing ever plays out like we hope it will, connections from train to bus [View Full Entry]

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Back in Hanoi, we transfer to the train station for the overnight to Sapa. I can’t believe how nice the carriage is - our travel agent is looking out for us again! We arrive in Lao Cai in the morning, we are really close to China now, only about 3 km from the border. Sapa is one hour drive away. The mountains are beautiful, temps are cooler but not cold like everyone told us. Our hotel is really nice with a balcony overlooking town, green valleys and mountains. The area is most popular for trekking and visiting the nearby minority villages. [View Full Entry]

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