HandtheM

We had seriously high hopes for the Philippines, as we'd heard it described by a few people as an absolute beach paradise. So, back in August, we dug out our trusty Lonely Planet and found the following advice: "If it's white sand, rum and coconuts you're after, look no further than the the Visayas...beach bums and divers should select a Visayan island and go" Unfortunately, there was another section of the guide book that we didn't pay quite enough attention to: "The Philippines certainly has more than its share of dangers. Typhoons, earthquakes, volcano eruptions, landslides and other natural disasters can wreak havoc with your travel plans" As some of you will know, we don't always have the best luck with our travel plans vs. natural disasters, as we've had two long haul holidays scuppered by ... read more

After a long day travelling from Hong Kong, we eventually transited out of Singapore and took an evening flight to Jakarta. As the plane came down we could see many brightly lit fishing boats scattered across the sea, which we thought at first were the runway lights and were confused as to why we weren't landing (in our defence, it had been a 14 hour journey)! It took a while to get from the airport to the city - the taxi driver told us "Friday night is always busy in Jakarta". Having said that, every taxi/bus we took during our 3 day stay got stuck on roads clogged with traffic, so we're not sure it was just a Friday thing! We were so tired that we slept well on our first night, despite the local mosque ... read more

This blog covers our time travelling through Malaysian Borneo. We spent a great deal of our time in national parks and nature reserves seeing endangered monkeys. This means we now have hundreds of monkey photos and have posted a few videos to youtube. (For anyone who is interested the links are posted below.) It has been so good to see these animals in the wild, or at least semi-wild, and we can't begin to describe how much fun we had on our various outings...although we'll give it a try! Our adventure began in Kuching, the capital of Sarawak, in north-western Borneo. It's a picturesque city and has a small town vibe where everything moves at a relaxed pace. We were there for Malaysia Day, which is when the Sarawakians celebrate independence and all of Malaysia celebrates ... read more

After a little time in Malaysia, it feels more like home than anywhere else we have visited in Asia so far. Mark is currently pining for a good steak and glass of Malbec, but that's not exactly Malaysia's fault! The Malaysian people are really friendly and speak good English, even in the small market stalls and corner shops. There is also a more noticeable blend of different cultures here, so it feels less like we stand out from the crowd, especially with fewer white tourists around (as it also appears that we had left many of the backpacking/party types behind in Thailand). This could be due to the lack of hedonistic pursuits or that alcohol is more expensive in Malaysia, but either way we feel it is better off without them! As you will see, much ... read more

We didn't really know what to expect when we got there, but it turns out that we like Laos a lot. There are, however, are a few things you have to get used to: Firstly, it's small. Well, not actually, but figuratively - there were at least three couples that turned up everywhere that we went. Which is great for the ones that we liked, but less than ideal for one in particular (more of this later)... Secondly, everyone is really really laid back. Also great in theory, but it takes a bit of getting used to when you're talking about service. Especially as we entered Laos from Thailand, and the staff at our guest house in Chiang Mai were potentially the friendliest and most helpful we have ever met. We've heard the service described as ... read more