http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Donna-and-Neil/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Donna and Neil en-us Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:49:50 +0000 Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:49:50 +0000 Let us get one thing off our chest straight away Perhentian Kecil has the worst value accommodation in our 3 years of travelling and the most expensive internet but conversely it had some of the best snorkelling we have done and some of the best beachescleanest water we have seen. Our flight from Hong Kong got us to Kuala Lumpurrsquos Cheap Charlie Terminal at around midnight and our flight to http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Terengganu/Perhentian-Kecil/blog-436180.html A side note for those wondering about the blog title...as Sandakan is where we flew into we just couldnrsquot resist a reference to the Clint Eastwood films from the lsquo80rsquos featuring Clyde the Orangutan...and yes it does show our ageSo we were up and at lsquoem at 5am so we could get another extortionate taxi to Kota Kinabalu airport...we decided on the 45 minute flight versus th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sabah/Sepilok-Orang-Utan-Sanctuary/blog-427868.html Our arrival into Borneo didnrsquot go exactly as we had planned...our flight was delayed because the incoming flight was late in arriving yep thatrsquos usually how it works isnrsquot it but we didnrsquot have to worry because we had booked into a hostel in Kota Kinabalu which offered an airport pick up...or so we thought The airport pick up didnrsquot arrive though and after an h http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sabah/Kota-Kinabalu/blog-427867.html Our day started off well in Cebu city with our Maccie Drsquos breakfast and hot chocolate we have thoroughly learnt our lesson about drinking coffee on travel days it makes us need the toilet constantly It then turned a little bit hectic as we scrambled to find a taxi to take us to the airport who would actually turn on the metre and then when we were at the airport none of the cash machin http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Surigao/Siargao/blog-423811.html This blog is rather late seeing as we have been back in Asia for a month...but better late than neverSo the time had come to switch to the other side of the UK to go to Neilrsquos parents in the North East which involved a nice drive over the Pennines and North Yorkshire moors it also included a stop for lunch in a typically British country town Kirkby Stephen. The thing that struck us the m http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/North-Yorkshire/Yorkshire-Dales/blog-400785.html Our flights to the UK had been booked since November 2008 for our very brief visit to the UK to attend Neilrsquos big brotherrsquos wedding congratulations Darren and Vicki. As we hadnrsquot been back to our home country for 2 years and 7 months we would undoubtedly find it a very interesting and possibly strange experience so the next couple of blogs are about our experiences in the U http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Merseyside/Liverpool/blog-400784.html It was that time of the year again Donnarsquos birthday and she chose Sabang in Palawan as the place she would like to be to celebrate. So we got a flight to Puerto Princesa and decided to make it the same day to Sabang...problem is that the flights land at 930am and the jeepney doesnrsquot leave until 12noon well sometime after it depends on how the driver is feeling so cue Donna and N http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Palawan/Sabang/blog-383273.html Instead of taking a ripoff rickshaw we opted to walk to the bus station for our 2 hour local bus journey to Mamallapuram. After asking at 6 buses and kept getting pointed to the next one along we finally found the right bus and proceeded to settle into some seats. As it was a local bus there wasnrsquot any room for bags so Donna put her big rucksack on the seat next to her...big mistake The co http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Mamallapuram/blog-372650.html We hopped on a local train for the short 40 minute journey to Thiruvananthapuram better know as Trivandrum and more easily pronounced where our train to the state of Tamil Nadu would depart from. We were extremely lucky that we arrived at the opposite platform to where our train would depart from and we only had to wait another hour to board the train.Sitting on the platform again Neil had a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Pondicherry/blog-372646.html Excited to be travelling by bus again ha Stacey and Ross and ourselves boarded the public non aircon bus to take us further south in Kerala to Varkala well Kallum Ballam to be exact. The conductor was a little to eager to help us get off the bus and we ended up standing for the last 20 minutes of the journey. Of course there was the obligatory scrum to get into our seats...we really hate it http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/Varkala/blog-366347.html A lovely luxurious journey in a taxi was a real treat for the 2 hour ride to Alleppey from Kochi after all it only cost as much as the bus would when it was split between the 4 of us itrsquos a rare treat that we get to use taxis between places as they are usually too expensive The taxi driver was very helpful when we arrived and suggested a place to stay and as we were only planning on being http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/Allepey/blog-366344.html Catching the local bus from Palolem to Margao for our train journey to Kochi in Kerala in hindsight probably wasnrsquot a good idea. With a huge push and shove effort translation Donna elbowing people in the head and stomach we got the last 2 seats on the bus...unfortunately for Neil his seat was next to a 23 year old Indian guy who not only struck up a conversation which lasted the entire 3 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/Kochi-/blog-364033.html The beaches of Goa was just what we needed for our Indian Christmas yes this blog entry is a bit postChristmas so we wonrsquot go on about Christmas too much. During the 9 hour train journey from Mumbai to Goa the scenery slowly changed to palm trees rice paddies and luscious tropical greenery of Goa. There are so many beaches to see in Goa we couldnrsquot possibly see them all in this our http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Goa/Palolem/blog-363308.html Having diahorrea and sickness was not the best thing to get 1 hour before a 15 hour bus journey and yet this is what happened to Donna for our Volvo lsquosleeperrsquo journey from Udaipur to Mumbai Bombay. The bus itself wasnrsquot too bad we had a double bed thankfully made out of plastic. The main problem was that the bus made sexist toilet stops. What we mean by this is that it stoppe http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Mumbai/blog-360391.html A strange title but very suitable as you will see when you reach the end of the blog. The train from Jaipur to Udaipur ran almost like clockwork if you discount an hourrsquos delay and took 8 hours on a 2AC sleeper carriage the second poshest class on the train...we know how to travel in style It wasnrsquot that posh really we had the bottom berths and an elderly Indian couple had the to http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Udaipur/blog-355279.html We got to Agra Fort train station very early to arrive in plenty of time to get our 615am train to the city of Jaipur south of Agra. The train platform was littered with Indians sleeping wrapped in blankets looking like they had been there for many hours which is not unusual for an Indian train station so we thought nothing of this. However the train was first delayed for one hour then two hou http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Jaipur/blog-357385.html How do you like the snazzy panorama picture of the Taj Yes we took this with our new camera...not bad eh for amateursOur 2 hour train journey from Delhi to Agra home of the Taj Mahal was very classy with us being served a pot of tea each newspapers breakfast and even chocolate clair sweets. We used the prepaid rickshaw stand to get our rickshaw to the hotel but Donna decided she didnrsquo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/Agra/blog-355060.html We are finally back with another country to blog about and wow what a countryWe travelled to India via a marathon journey of a flight from Manila to Singapore another flight from Singapore to Chennai followed by a flight to Delhi...all done in 24 hours without stopping in a hotel but sleeping in Chennai airport...hey it saved us 5So obviously we were very tired when we got the taxi from the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/National-Capital-Territory/New-Delhi/blog-355051.html As travellers it always seems like a good idea to go back to places where you had a good experience. For the second time in 6 months we have been very disappointed by places we have revisited. We should have known things would not go smoothly when stupid Cebu Pacific wouldnrsquot allow us to book flights online itrsquos website has an inability to accept foreign bank issued credit cards. Whe http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Malapascua-Island/blog-325944.html Ok ok we said we werenrsquot going to do blogs for places we have already been to...that has gone out the window due to the fact we went on a shopping trip to Hong Kong bought a new camera and just couldnrsquot resist taking loads more pics so here is our doubletake Hong Kong blogWe decided to fly into Macau officially the worst airport in the world...wersquoll go into this later a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/Kowloon/blog-289175.html