http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Twig/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Twig en-us Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:20:36 +0000 Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:20:36 +0000 We flew from Kutching in Sarawak into Johor Bahru in southern Malaysia so as to save a few pennies and it meant that we then had to take public transport into Singapore. Thankfully the two are only separated by a small causeway and two buses and two hours later we found ourselves in the depth of little India to the northeast of Singapore's shopping district and most cosmopolitan neighborhoods. S http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Singapore/Little-India/blog-295924.html We landed in Miri and headed for the long distance bus station where we caught a night bus to Kutching the capital of Sarawak. Kutching means 'cat' in Bahasa so I had high hopes for some kind of feline paradise. It turns out that while there once was an abundance of stray cats littering the Kutching streets they have since been 'relocated' and all that is left in there wake is a few strange cat http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sarawak/Kuching/blog-293408.html Gunung Mulu National park a UNESCO heritage site is the largest national park in Malaysian Borneo and is famous for it's enormous cave network and variety of animal insect and plant life. It's also very difficult to get to and from Sabah it's nearly impossible overland. So one very short prop plane journey later and we were arriving into the tiny air strip that serves the park and were checking http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sarawak/Gunung-Mulu-National-Park/blog-293042.html A short bus journey four hours that's considered short now brought us to the gates of the Kinabalu National Park and to our dismay we found that it was very very cold. Colder than we had anticipated and a lot wetter.We made our way to our hostel and almost immediately climbed into our bunks to shelter from the chill and prepare ourselves mentally and physically for the days ahead of us. As http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sabah/Mount-Kinabalu/blog-293032.html From Semporna we took a bus north east to the ery large town of Sandakan the jumping off point for the world famous Sepilok orangutan sanctuary. We checked into a hostel with a sea view and hit the town for a spot of exploration and to pick up vital supplies for the impending mountain climb...The town is quite newly built following a series of bombs that all but levelled it and is very modern mu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sabah/Sandakan/blog-285002.html We arrived into Semporna at 4am and unwilling to pay for a nights accomodation for just a few hours sleep we ended up spending our first night in town on a pier Thankfully at 7am we were able to check into our hotel of choice and settled down for a few more hours sleep in the 'Floating Inn'. It was a really lovely hotel and so called because it is built out on stilts over the water you can see http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sabah/Semporna/blog-284315.html Our flight from Manila to Kota Kinabalu KK turned out to be a little more exciting than expected when Ais and Donna didnt make it to the airport in time We reluctantly left without them and landed into sunny and extremely humid Sabah two hours later. We wandered the streets in search of a hostel and ended up finding one that far surpassed our expectations and it was there we settled for the nex http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sabah/Kota-Kinabalu/blog-283628.html Our second time in Manila was a hot and sweaty affair and we left as soon as we could buy bus tickets onwards. Our next destination was Donsol a small town in Southern Luzon and we made it there following a 12hr bus journey and a 2hr mini van ride. Donsol is an absolutely tiny village on the coast with very little to do but we got lucky because the 'Butanding' festival was in full swing on our ar http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Cebu/blog-282529.html A long and uncomfortable night bus journey north left us in the gorgeous little town of Banaue high in the North Luzon mountains. The town itself is situated on the bend of a river on a hill overlooking a beautiful valley surrounded by other tiny rural villages. Many of the hotels and restaurants ours included are built on stilts on the very edge of the cliff and have amazing views of the ent http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Ifugao/Banaue/blog-273462.html So after a four hour flight we arrived into Manila and immediately the contrast between here and Kuala Lumpur the capital we had just departed was obvious.Manila is a huge place that actually comprises a number of smaller cities that have grown into one enormous city and the airport we flew into is several hours outside of Manila proper. The journey into the city gave us a chance to see what wou http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Manila/blog-271471.html We arrived into Kuala Lumpur in the late evening and to our dismay found that it was lashing rain. Thankfully we were quickly poached by a local guest house and made our way past the gates to Chinatown and on to Wheeler's Hostel. A towel and a decent room awaited us not to mention a free dinner and aside from the occasional mouse we shared our room with things were good.The following day was http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Wilayah-Persekutuan/Kuala-Lumpur/blog-271462.html Getting out of the jungle was nearly as difficult as getting into it and we spent the best part of a day and more money than we would have liked but eventually arrived in Tanah Rata in the heart of the Cameron Highlands. Tanah Rata is a small town situated on a long road of villages markets and farms and has some gorgeous views of the surrounding hills and countryside. The Cameron Highlands i http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Pahang/Tanah-Rata/blog-269919.html We left Kuala Terengganu a little apprehensive about the journey ahead of us and with good cause.Taman Negara is notoriously difficult to reach and for us it was no exception Following a 7hr night bus journey from Terengganu to Kuala Lumpur we loitered in the hotel lobby of the 5 Crowne Plaza Hotel they were not pleased to see us and boarded a second bus after 3hrs that would take 3hrs. Havi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Pahang/Kuala-Tahan/blog-262005.html From the Perhentian Islands we took a boat back to the mainland and from there we took a a very packed public bus to Kuala Terengganu. We didn't have much planned for our time there but I hoped that we would get to visit Kenyir lake the largest man made lake in Asia.We checked into a mediocre hostel and enjoyed our first McDonald's in a long time Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim country and th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Terengganu/Kuala-Terengganu/blog-259606.html Having decided to depart Thailand a day later than our visa technically allowed us to we expected some hassle at the border. That didn't turn out to be an issue but the journey itself wasn't the best.We took a boat from Koh Phi Phi to the mainland and then caught a bus from Krabi to a town called Sungai Kolok on the ThaiMalay border. From there we walked into Malaysia stopping briefly to pay ou http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Terengganu/Perhentian-Kecil/blog-259257.html Donna and Aisling were due to be arriving into Bangkok on the 15th of February so we bid farewell to Cambodia and departed by bus for the infamous Khao San Road. This time around though we knew what to expect and where we'd be staying.The bus journey seemed particularly long because we were both excited and looking forward to seeing the others after all the time that had passed. We eventually arr http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/blog-258597.html We departed Kratie for another long bus journey through the arid and dusty landscape broken only by a short rest stop where we got the opportunity to sample fried tarantulas. Yummy. Actually they weren't all that bad really and seemed to have some kind of a delicious glaze on them....Anyway we arrived into Siem Reap just as the sun was setting and got to see the first of many stunning red sun s http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Angkor/blog-253664.html From Sihanoukville we travelled back to the capital and then from Phnom Pehn we took a mysterious bus journey in the direction if the Ratanakiri province. I say mysterious because according to the Lonely Planet this journey takes about 19hrs... best case scenario... but the bus company we were travelling with claimed we'd make it in 12hrs no matter what. So as we sat there questioning to what len http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/East/Banlung/blog-251006.html We boarded a bus bound for Sihanoukville and arrived a short 6hrs later. We discovered on route that the reststop food was considerably less palatable than we had experienced in other countries after Dec got a bowl of something stirfried with the unusable bits of a chicken. So on our arrival we headed to Serendipity Beach and hit the sand for some lunch and for a quick paddle. There are loads o http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/South/Sihanoukville/blog-246154.html Following a night of rest and relaxation after our journey into Cambodia we rented a tuktuk and we spent a couple of days sightseeing around the capital city. This of course included the obligatory trip out to the Killing Fields and to the S21 concentration camp.The Killing Fields for anyone who hasn't seen the movie were used as an execution centre during the three years the Khmer Rouge we http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/South/Phnom-Penh/blog-245405.html