We left Koh Tao during a torrential downpour hoping that by the time we arrived in Ko Samui the storm and bad weather had passed. After a relatively calm 2 hour journey at sea (well it couldn’t have been any worse than last time) we arrived at Nathon Pier at the northern tip of Samui to grey skies; the cockroaches-come-taxi drivers wanted an extortionate 550-700Bht for the journey to Chaweng Beach and after trying to tell us that no local transport run’s this route we managed to find someone who pointed us in the right direction of the local Songthaw’s (open sided bus). The journey took a little over an hour due to the amount of stops we had to make but at 75% saving on the taxi price it was more than fine. It is ... read more

After a fantastic three weeks in the Philippines, we flew back to Bangkok where we had splashed out and pre-booked a fancy hotel for a couple of nights as a treat for Scott's upcoming 30th Birthday, complete with big soft bed, real pillows, hot water and a tv - it was called Dream hotel and it really was a Dream! We always look forward to visiting Bangkok anyway but it was so nice to have a bit of luxury for the first time in ages and we really made the most of it, even though to get there from the airport we stuck to our traveller roots and took the train and metro instead of a taxi! The hotel was in the Sukhumvit area of the city and we chose to stay here instead of our ... read more

Sometimes the harder it is to get to a place, the better it is when you finally get there. Sweetly named Sugar Beach on the West coast of Negros was no different, and the long journey to find it was well worth the time and effort that it took. We made an early start at 8am and the 6 hour trip included a tricycle, three buses and a boat which was tiring, but after a lovely few days here we would do it all over again to spend some time in this special little retreat. We weren't sure if we would have time to make it here but we are so glad we did, even just for a few days, and as usual, we could have stayed longer and when the time came to leave we ... read more

Mystery, magic, and magnificent beaches are amongst the highlights of this incredible island, and as like everywhere we have been so far in the Philippines, as soon as we arrived we knew that we would love it here. Siquijor (pronounced Si-Kee-Hor) is situated between the larger islands of Negros and Bohol, and known for its natural healers and old black magic traditions with Filipino people (some of whom are even afraid to step foot on this island), although locals are sceptical about the uses of such ‘herbal’ remedies, but we loved it for its picture postcard beaches, friendly people and chilled out vibe. It was quite a journey to get here, and as we were late arriving and had not expected to come to Siquijor today, we had nowhere booked, so we quickly phoned a local ... read more

As the title of the blog suggests, Malapascua is a place that we both fell in love with – However up until about an hour before we left, we almost cut-it from our itinerary completely due to all the bad weather forecasts we were reading online and the fact that to get there we would have to contend with a fairly long journey from Cebu. We decided to go with our gut instincts and try it out and if the weather was that bad, we could always move on. We first needed to make our way early to the northern bus terminal on the outskirts of town and board a yellow Ceres bus heading to Maya. This journey took around 4 hours but passed some spectacular scenery along the way, we then had to negotiate getting ... read more