I'll start by putting this trip and its experiences into context... I've completed almost 800 dives in 50+ dive locations around the world and one of the dives we did on this trip ranked up there in the top 10! As Ali says in his blog Awesome, Awesome, Awesome! This is the second of our forays into East coast Penninsula Malaysia diving. The first was Pulau Tioman a larger island with the mass tourism that makes things comfortable yet a bit inefficient. The diving was 'Ok lah' but nothing special... maybe we were a bit unlucky with the weather we thought [View Full Entry]

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I (San) did this trip more than a year ago and had all the right intentions to fill up this blog as well as post up the pictures but this is a classic example where one gets caught up from apartment renovations, starting a new job (that is now history since 4 weeks ago), settling into KL etc etc etc. I did not even load the RAW file recognition software onto the newish PC until 4 days ago as I started to sit down and learn how to use the video editing software to turn the hours of tape from our [View Full Entry]

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No soon were we back from our travels we were planning a short dive holiday to recuperate from the big holiday. As soon as we set foot in Singapore, our transit location with Silkair from Kathmandu, Eric suggested a Christmas in the water at Lembeh Straits, the undisputed muck diving capital of the world. Having not been in the water since Thailand back in August we were itching to get wet and took all of a few seconds to agree. The 14th December came around very quickly with us busy sorting out our lives in KL and the flat renovation. Off [View Full Entry]

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Zhangmu to Kathmandu As the clear blues made way for grey haze from the increasing humidity as we made our way down in height towards Zhangmu the border town before Tibet, we were bumped along the road still in the midst of construction - mostly by hand labour. Against this landscape straight out of a Chinese painting, mud covered workers were attacking the rock face and trudging through the squidgy surface maintained by cascading waterfalls, trying to get as much done as possible before winter made everyone pack up their bags only to return in spring. Forget about safety gear, the [View Full Entry]

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Journey through the clouds After the manic arrangements of the earlier few days, it felt rewarding to jump onto the T24 Lhasa bound train (Hard sleeper, top-bunk 524 yuan). Although a little put-off by the unchanged sheets in the hard sleepers on this Beijing originating train and not being in the same compartments, we each clambered up to our top bunks and tucked away our goody bags consisting of "pao-pao mien" (instant noodles), oodles of fresh fruit and titbits to sustain us on the train ride of a lifetime, a ride that would take us across cloud touching ranges, glorious plains [View Full Entry]

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A bit of raw Chinese History without the sanitized rewrite In preparation for China we both read "Mao - The Unknown Story" by Jung Chang and her husband which took 10 years of in depth research. This is a fascinating read and shows how Chinese history has been rewritten to glamourise the whole Mao era till this day. I just tried following the above link here in China and it is blocked. But there are some sites reviewing the book that are still accessible e.g. Mao His bust still adorns most of the notes here in China. Below is a brief [View Full Entry]

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We both agreed (a rare thing I know) that to travel in China is a mission, one with chances of significant higher success if there is either a) the ability of speaking some of the language or b) paying for an interpreter. San chose the former whereas Rich chose the latter (gratuitously!)....Both of us had short scourges before into China, Rich in Shanghai for a few days with John and Siti a few years back and San with her Mum in Beijing 2000 but these short trips were like smelling the cork without tasting the wine. Four weeks of self-arranged travel, [View Full Entry]

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HanoiHanoi turned out to be a pleasant surprise after seeing it in the gloomy, drizzly, dark hours of the night before. We arrived in the city at a brain numbing 3am and found ALL the hotels in the old quarter shut with shutters down. Gates were rattled, bells were pressed and the best we got was "Hotel is full, sorry". We did this aimlessly with the half hearted taxi driver for a few streets and finally reached a bright little sign in the gayest purplePrince II Hotel. Although again being told 'full', the young gentlemen squinted at us, bleary eyed, and [View Full Entry]

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Satisfied with the touch of quaint, small city hospitality afforded to us by Vientiane, we hopped on a tuk-tuk to the Southern Bus Station for the 7am bus towards Lak Sao but alighted at the market in the small and simple village of Ban Na Hin, SE of Vientiane. This 1 road town is an ease to navigate and we walked back along the road amongst Buffalo, Cows, Chickens, Goats and Pigs to one of the two available guest houses - XokXai Guesthouse is a comfortable, clean yet basic abode a little out of town run by a local family - [View Full Entry]

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We were both looking forward to Lao after so many great reports from friends and fellow travellers. We were not disappointed by any means..... On the surface, it looks like a quieter, equally as friendly and polite, cheaper version of Thailand. (35$/day for two without skimping - amazing to think that 2 can live well on the same amount as you would pay on a short commute into London each day!) . The food is similar but interestingly different. People take the time to chat. Wats (Temples), beautiful cultural heritage and nature abound. It is simply THE best place to relax [View Full Entry]

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