After saying goodbye to Justine in Manila, I caught a flight to the steamy jungles of Malaysian Borneo. After a brief stay in the city of Kota Kinabalu, I headed to the Orang-Utan Rehabilitation Centre at Sepilog. This is where the Orang-Utans with drinking problems and drug issues come to be weaned off their dependencies. This is the Betty Ford Clinic for apes. Of course, I am only kidding. The work done here is heartwarming. The centre takes orphaned Orang-Utan babies which are found in the wild, or apes which have been captured as pets, or those which have been injured. There are roughly 20,000 Orang-Utans left in the wild, so this centre is taking a stance and helping BEFORE they become an endangered species, not when it is almost too late. The baby orang-utans are ... read more

Mine and Justine's next destination was an island in the far north of Palawan. But getting there wasn't straighforward. There were two cargo ships a week, but the timings weren't suitable. Hiring a fishing boat was also out of the question because it was an 8-hour journey over open seas. We eventually found a private company that sailed a 40-person boat every Friday. Once again, this boat left at the magical time of 7am. The boat looked fairly seaworthy, which is always a good sign when venturing into rough seas. But when they fired up the engine, thick black smoke started pouring out of the engine room. Their initial solution was closing the door to stop the smoke from escaping. Then another more capable crew member came to the resuce with a kettle of water, which ... read more

Our next stop was Palawan, an island province in the far Western waters of the Philippines. The island is 800km in length, and has been called "The Final Frontier" of the Philippines. Most of Palawan is an untouched wilderness and it did not disappoint! The only downside is that Palawan is the "cockerel capital" of the world. The little menaces are everywhere. Cockerels are supposed to crow at daybreak, but someone obviously forgot to give these ones a wristwatch. 1am... "cock-a-doodle-doo!" 2am... "cock-a-doodle-doo!" 3am... "cock-a-doodle-doo!" Every place we visited over the next two weeks was infested with the damn cockerels. I was tempted to buy some gaffer tape and seal their little beaks shut. Then I thought using elastic bands over the beaks would be more humane, because the cockerels could then stretch their beaks open ... read more

Why oh why do air-conditioned buses always turn the air-con onto full? It’s as if they only have two settings: “off” and “right, let’s make 'em freeze”. The direction vent above your head can’t be turned off, and so you are subjected to an icy breeze throughout your journey. I’m usually sitting there wearing a fleece, and I am used to cold weather. The poor locals sit there wearing blankets and wooly hats. Makes no sense. And the larger long-distance companies insist that you turn up an hour before your journey. Why? It’s a bus for gods sake, not a plane. Also, for some reason, when you arrive an hour before the engine is already running. Gasoline here is expensive, about a dollar a litre. Everyone complains about it. So it makes no sense to leave ... read more

Manila, one of my least favourite cities so far. I wasn't expecting much from it, but I was not prepared for the poverty, pollution and general seediness. The traffic congestion here is amongst the worst I have seen anywhere, and sometimes you can see the choking fumes in the air. In the area I was staying (Malate), there were mothers and children sleeping on sheets of cardboard on the streets and in the filth. And yet, just around the corner was a huge shopping mall with fashionable shops and an 11-screen cinema. The difference between the people's wealth in this one area was staggering. The Philippines has a reputation for it's sex scene, and it appears to be justified. I saw lots of middle-aged men walking around with young Filipino girls, and there are lots of ... read more