http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Wanderlusst/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Wanderlusst en-us Thu, 24 Dec 2009 07:51:12 +0000 Thu, 24 Dec 2009 07:51:12 +0000 Wednesday January 12thTogether with Oliver Juliane and Mike I left my private paradise of Coco Loco Island today and headed out for the bus station in Roxas for a four hour bus journey to El Nido. Once we stepped foot off the boat in Roxas a man appeared and offered us a private minvan to El Nido for the bargain price of fivethousand pesos. We eagerly accepted his offer knowing that riding http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Palawan/El-Nido/blog-119689.html NOTE These are some photos from my last day in Boracay and a night in Manila last week before Jimmie left back to California and I continued my island hopping adventure to Palawan. I never got around to writing a blog for these last few days but I figured the pictures were worthy of inclusion here. Enjoy http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Boracay/blog-119245.html Tuesday January 9th The exciting overland transportation fun continued this morning when I joined three Italians from Maryrsquos in organizing a minivan to take us further Northward on the Island of Palawan. Leaving Sabang early in the morning we sped down the RFH Road from hell until we reached a rain slicked muddy incline and the van came to a spinning wheezing stop. Instinctively we all http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Palawan/blog-118740.html A short one hour hop from Manila lays one of the really pristine treasures of the Philippines the island of Palawan. The elongated island stretches from the Mindoro Straight down to the tip of Borneo and its isolation and distance from the other islands in the Philippines has enabled it to maintain unspoiled beauty. The gateway to Palawan is through the small town of Puerto Princesa which for me http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Palawan/Sabang/blog-118359.html Wersquove settled into a groove here and as of yesterday have purchased a beachfront bungalow with a few mopeds opened a joint called the Sand Bar enrolled in Filipino language class and have been taking our catamaran out to sea every morning to fish for our lunch. Okay well at least the last one is true but the rest of it also becomes such a tempting possibility when yoursquove spent a we http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Boracay/blog-116120.html After about forty five days of globetrotting my body was telling me it was time for a break. On Christmas Eve we arrived into Bangkok at the Dream Hotel and I spent the better part of three days ensconced in my room sucking down fluids watching movies and trying to get well. I had to make an exception to venture out of the hotel on the night after Christmas to meet up with Vegas buddies Adam http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Boracay/blog-114842.html Our available options for transport to Siem Reap included air overland by bus or high speed boat up the Tonle Sap river the latter two options we were told taking about five hours or sohellip.lies lies all lies. There is no more scenic way to travel through a country than by boat we thought so without further research we purchased tickets for the Rambo Express boat and showed up on the doc http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Angkor/blog-113654.html Sadly after an insufficient amount of time spent in Saigon I boarded a flight bound for Phnom Penh Cambodia. Not sadly I had my dear pal Jimmie waiting on the other side to join me for the next few weeks in doing what we do best together having a good time. Checking into the hotel in Phnom Penh five hours later than Jimmie I was not surprised to be informed by the front desk staff that he was http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/South/Phnom-Penh/blog-113308.html My anticipated visit to Nha Trang turned into a few days of braving out the wind clouds and occasional shower while sipping mojitos by the pool and doing plenty of reading. Nha Trang is a medium sized city situated towards the southern end of Vietnam and showcases some of the nicest beaches in all the land here. Long stretches of white sand are lined with palm trees and loungers covered by big t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-112600.html The overnight train from Hanoi down to Hue was about twelve hours but less painful than I imagined due in part to the abundance on Heineken onboard the train. My sleeper cabin fit four people snuggly on two bunk beds. Aside from the two local Asian speaking cabin mates one of which I had to scold for trying to smoke a cigarette in our tiny compartment I was lucky enough to be accompanied by a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/blog-111538.html After two days of eating and shopping my way through Hanoi I set off for my highly anticipated tour of Halong Bay the natural wonder located about three hours drive from the city. Halong Bay is a collection of over three thousand islands rising from warm emerald waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. The area has twice been designated as a Unesco World Heritage Site once for its status as a natural won http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Halong-Bay/blog-110775.html Via a onehour flight from Laos I arrived into Hanoi the cultural and political capital city of Vietnam. I arranged for a hotel prior to my arrival which for an extra ten dollars included a driver to meet greet me at the airport and take me to the hotel located thirty minutes into town. When entering foreign countries via air having a smiling driver waiting on the other end has been the w http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-110294.html The Road Less Traveled Sometimes leaving the guide book behind and venturing off the well trodden tourist path can bring unexpected pleasures and reveal more about a country and its people than one could ever glean from being a follower. Putting fears aside and heading off on bike into the countryside with no maps no sense of place and only the sun to guide my way provided me with one of the more http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-109323.html A Few days in Chiang MaiHundreds of miles to the North of Bangkok lay one of the cultural gems of Thailand the city of Chiang Mai. Where Bangkok is the flashy and fast paced city firing on all cylinders Chiang Mai is itrsquos more authentic and sedate sibling and the heartbeat of the kingdom in the North. Many travelers make the trip through here to embark on multi day treks to the ldquor http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-108853.html Like many travelers who have come before me I chose to get reacquainted with Bangkok by heading straight for Khoasan Rd. the backpacker Mecca of South East Asia. With an abundant selection of affordable lodging block after block of restaurants bars street vendors and cheap tour agencies Khoasan provides an excellent home base from which to explore the city. Itrsquos a transient place wh http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-107653.html Never staying more than two nights in one spot Irsquove gotten pretty damn good at packing my bag it has become a ritual at this point. Everything has its own place and it takes me all of about ten minutes to go from having everything completely strew out across the hotel room to packed and ready to go. Saturday morning my trusty bag and I boarded another flight and landed in a city quite dif http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-106934.html On Friday morning I joined up with the Ingall's again and headed out to visit the various historical Christianity sites a stones throw from Amman. Our first stop was Mt. Nebo the Memorial of Moses the presumed site of his death and burial place and center for pilgrimages since early Christian times. The site was located high above the Jordan Valley on a cold windswept hill with sweeping view http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Jordan/West/Dead-Sea/blog-105908.html Spanish BeerPongFor my last night in Egypt Tuesday night I met up with Rosa and Juan Carlos on the Dahab beachfront promenade for a night of drinking pool drinking crazy pingpong games and some more drinking. Our night of fun drifted on until the wee hours me trying to understand their English and them trying to understand my feeble attempts at Spanish. By the end of the night we were http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Jordan/South/Petra/blog-105440.html Stuck in HorghadaLeaving Luxor I took a five hour bus trip across the Eastern Arabian desert and through the Red Sea Mountains to the coastal port town of Hurghada. This was to be a jumping off point for me to get over to the Sinai Peninsula destination Dahab Egypt. I arrived into Hurghada Saturday evening and hoped to pass through quickly but unfortunately learned that the next high speed f http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Sinai/Dahab/blog-105091.html Nile CruisingLeaving Aswan I boarded the splendid Thebes Nile cruiser imagine a floating box for our twonight journey up to Luxor. Compared to my accommodations in Aswan the cruiser was a big step up. This baby was no Queen Mary but the cabins were clean and nicely appointed with awesome views of the Nile River. After checkingin I quickly acclimated with some sunbathing on the astroturf http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Luxor/blog-103939.html