Thanks for exposing the true face of the Philippines I really feel for you guys for being victims of the worst kind of rascism and exploitation by the locals in the Philippines. I can’t believe the price of the bus had gone up by a whopping 75 pesos! That is just unacceptable. Not to mention charging 50 pesos for internet access, which should be a human right! It is just so terrible what you guys and other rich Westerners are going through, being exploited in the worst possible manner by the greedy local slum dwellers at every opportunity. Yeah, I really can feel your sorrow and frustration.
And you are so right about those other tourists from Korea. Clearly they are not like you at all. Everybody who reads your blog know how happy you are to interact and engage with the locals and that you always totally immerse yourself in the local culture. Unlike those Koreans, you are happy to spend huge amounts of money that always benefits the locals and you never complain about prices or anything, which I guess the Koreans do. Yeah, those Koreans need to be banned from Boracay immediately. Then the island can be the territory of real travellers like Donna and Neil, who are so much appreciated by the locals for all the money they spend without continously moaning and bitching about the price level.
Keep up the good work! Looking forward to you exposing more injustice!
that's a shame :( I feel sorry for you both...I've always worried about Boracay getting too commercialized, and i guess it actually is getting way too commercialized. It used to be much of a beauty, it'll turn into a waste if the goverment don't do something about it. I think the president actually mentioned about preservation actions for the island. I hope the succeeding flight went well! x
What a tale! Wow, we are headed to Koh Samui in Feb next year for a wedding (Staying at the 'Peace Resort') and after reading that I think we will be looking at car hire rather than moped! Would you be able to pass on the details of the guy you used? Also any recommendations on things to do/places to visit? We are short on time so will only have about 5 days there.
tips and recommendations Hi Andy and Nicola, happy to give you tips and recommendations - we'll send you a message with details. Feb is a good time to visit, the weather should be nice!
Glad all was ok Hi guys
Good to hear what you are both up to. Sorry to hear you had a bit of a bad time with Paul but it sounds like he was very well cared for both in the hospital and by you both so hopefully it didn't spoil his holiday too much.. that scar will be an everlasting reminder though! Hope you are both great, we are heading over to Asia in January so maybe we'll bump into you again!
Fingers crossed that is the last of your bad luck for a good long while xx
Fingers crossed! Hellooo! Looking at it statistically, the number of flights we do chances are something will go wrong at some point but we do actually have our fingers crossed that our bad luck concerning flights is over!
Let us know your plans closer to the time, we would love to meet up with you and catch up! xx
Double Ouch.....but at least you are all still in one piece :) Sounds like you had a barrel of laughs :/ Why can't my holidays ever be this eventful.... I always get turbulence free flights and hire bikes that work....although I did once end up in a ditch after swerving round a cow in India......anyway, I hope Paul is recovering well. Yup, gave Chavy Chaweng a miss completely and sadly it seems that Lamai is going in exactly the same direction. I was chatting with a fellow teacher the other day who is in his 60s. He was telling me wonderful stories of an untouched Ko Samui that he visited back in 1973.
Eventful holidays Well we would have definitely preferred an uneventful holiday but despite everything we still had a good time and spent lots of family time together.
Ahh, those fabled tales of the Samui of old...unfortunately everywhere changes but at least it's still possible to find a little slice of heaven even on a developed island.
If you cannot afford insurance, you cannot afford to travel! Sorry to read about what happened to Paul, but he was lucky to have a loving family around him at that difficult time. Glad that he will make a full recovery, but that scar is even scarier looking than that "horribly poisonous" spider!
Agree...never travel without insurance Exactly, Shane and this has highlighted to us how essential travel insurance is. The scar looks a lot better now, but that spider had us a little bit scared!
:) Geez, you have been on some scary flights. Am I just lucky, or are the experiences you had the usual... Hope the rest of your trip is a bit less eventful, in the bad luck areas of travel. :)
flight bad luck! Well until the last 6 months we had never had anything like this happen to us either with flights. Today, for instance we had another incident...we ended up circling the airport for 30 minutes as a military plane had to make an emergency landing. Maybe we are now jinxed with flights?!
Nice blog! I've been wanting to visit Hong Kong for years, still haven't made it. Maybe next year. The zig-zagging was something I experienced in Bulgaria especially, for some reason. It is indeed very infuriating, I can perfectly relate to your sentiments.
Cheers,
Jens
My feeling is that you've toned this down - it is far worse than this in mainland cities
those people are so very uncivil - you left out that even single walkers will snap their heads sideways to pretend they do not see you. You're supposed to think, oh my god, they are gonna run into me! I better move! Nope. I carried my bag in front of me and let them smack into it. The bag also helped me get off the Line One subway in Beijing.
Good Tour Nice photos. I'll be going there in September so now after seeing these pics it makes me more anxious to go there and experience the beauty of this country =)
Cool entry...as always! Guys, we are actually going to end up meeting...one day! Love your run for your flight...my two best....35 minutes to the airport...in JFK, for a New York-Tokyo in December 2001 , made it to the plane, still don't know how!....Getting to the airport in Phuket...is there a flight earlier?...yes sir, but do you have any luggage...no Mam.... than run, the flight is closing boarding in 2 minutes....to the best ever...got stuck in a traffic jam-cum accident in Saigon...with lots of bags...and a plane to HK...called the airport staff...don't worry, we hold the plane for you...sure, but the plane depart in 45 minutes and we are not moving...it's ok sir, just be here 15 minutes before the flight...never made it that day to the airport...but wow, that was a reply from Cathay!
Really hope to see you soon guys...
one day we will meet! Ha, well you have almost missed flights (and actually missed flights!) way more than us...makes us feel a little bit better. We are surprised that it hasn't happened before now for us!
Looking forward to your blogs from your next trip :)
You expect common sense in Asia??? :P Great blog! I\'ve been through Bangkok a few times but never out of the airport so next week will be a first for me and I\'ll be off to that MBK place to rid myself of loadsamoney so thanks for the heads up :D I\'ll let you into a secret about the Swedes. I lived in Sweden for 9 years and discovered that the only holiday destination most of them know is Phuket and the surrounding islands. I think it is programmed into their DNA at birth. I\'m curious about your next blog location....a chilly perspective...hmm...I\'m totally baffled!
MBK food court! You definitely have to try the MBK food court...it's great. Particularly good is the vegetarian food stall and the one to the right of it (look for the escalators in the middle and they are opposite those). Although we once got fried rice with green curry paste from the one to the right of the veggie place, it made our eyeballs sweat and us cry, so we don't recommend that ;)
Hope you are having fun in Thailand!
Good food choice! That MBK food court is the best! The one at the top of the Big C that was burnt during the protests is great too for next time you're in Bangkok. Safe travels!
Wow That's a one heck of a experience for you guys but what can we do, when we travel to difference countries or places expect the an expected and hope for the best that your itinerary will be somehow correct. There will be a lot of unforeseen events that will effect your travel but it will make it more exciting and challenging.
http://www.travetel.com
We saved for 3 years and then went Hoff to travel the world. Chris Columbus and Magellan eat your heart out...do you reckon other people will have already discovered the places we are going to? You bet!
About Us
Neil, originally from Hartlepool, UK and Donna, originally from the Wirral, UK have known each other for 19 years. We bought a house, got cushy jobs in Nottingham and always had a passion to travel and see what more was out there in the big wide world (sounds corny or what?). The opportunity came when we were both made redundant and given nice r... full info
LBL
non-member comment
Thanks for exposing the true face of the Philippines
I really feel for you guys for being victims of the worst kind of rascism and exploitation by the locals in the Philippines. I can’t believe the price of the bus had gone up by a whopping 75 pesos! That is just unacceptable. Not to mention charging 50 pesos for internet access, which should be a human right! It is just so terrible what you guys and other rich Westerners are going through, being exploited in the worst possible manner by the greedy local slum dwellers at every opportunity. Yeah, I really can feel your sorrow and frustration. And you are so right about those other tourists from Korea. Clearly they are not like you at all. Everybody who reads your blog know how happy you are to interact and engage with the locals and that you always totally immerse yourself in the local culture. Unlike those Koreans, you are happy to spend huge amounts of money that always benefits the locals and you never complain about prices or anything, which I guess the Koreans do. Yeah, those Koreans need to be banned from Boracay immediately. Then the island can be the territory of real travellers like Donna and Neil, who are so much appreciated by the locals for all the money they spend without continously moaning and bitching about the price level. Keep up the good work! Looking forward to you exposing more injustice!