http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/diamond_ace/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from diamond_ace en-us Sun, 03 Jan 2010 09:21:16 +0000 Sun, 03 Jan 2010 09:21:16 +0000 Alice and I are in Baddeck right now waiting until 5 or so to head back onto the road towards our campgrounds. She says if you check in after 6pm you don't have to pay for the day's fees so we figure we'll laze around Baddeck for the time being.One of the gift shops have the cutest mugs They are 'Buddha' mugs that are easy to cradle. I like http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Nova-Scotia/Cape-Breton/Baddeck/blog-317690.html Iceland is such a beautiful unspoilt country. The views are spectacular since there aren't really any trees to get in the way The water is delicious and it's just natural phenomenon after natural phenomenon. Alice and I did the Golden Circle Tour with Iceland Excursions. The hot chocolate at the Geysir caf was the best deal. 200kr but free refills I just wish I knew that beforehand so I could http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Iceland/Southwest/Reykjavik/blog-279051.html On the train headed for Paris and Alice and I didnrsquot even have a place arranged to stay at We emailed a bunch of couchsurfers and crossed our fingers that someone would call. We didnrsquot want that to ruin our first day in Paris though. We met up with the guy whose place wersquod be renting starting the 12th since our Mom was flying in to stay with us in Paris for 5 days and paid him http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Ile-de-France/Paris/blog-279047.html Alice and I took the Free Berlin Bike Tour which pretty much took us everywhere. Berlin is so flat and easy to bike. Itrsquos a capital city but it doesnrsquot have the dense population that most other capital cities have and I love that It was a Thursday afternoon and everywhere we looked people were relaxing on the grass like it was Sunday. Enrico our host said therersquos a high unemp http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/District-of-Berlin/Berlin/blog-279046.html Heidelberg is SO beautiful Cobble stone streets old buildings nice people patios everywhere Alice and I went up to the Castle and walked the famous Philosophers Walk. We stayed with a couchsurfer great projectlook it up in his single room apartment and it was AWESOME He was such a great host and so eager to show us around the little town. Unforgettable http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Baden-W-rttemberg/Heidelberg/blog-278242.html I went on a tour of the demilitarized zone up north of Seoul. I only met one guy who had done it and he said it was boring but I quite liked it. We started at Jimingak Park might have spelled that wrong where there was the freedom bell which they still ring every hour and the bridge where they exchanged POWs. Very plain bridge but powerful. Next we went to the 3rd infiltration tunnel which Nort http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Seoul/blog-171048.html Aidan and I walked everywhere. At least it felt like it. We headed out at 1030 am. First we went by City Hall where some huge bicycle rally thing was going on. Next we went to a Palace that was ridiculously huge. I want a Palace. Doesn't have to be all that big. Just a few acres and I'll be happy. What else...um...the air here is more dry hot than humid hot so I was really thirsty and my skin http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Seoul/blog-170303.html So on the 14th my sister forwarded me a travel agency newsletter with a cheap flight to Seoul. I looked at it and then emailed the agent about the upcoming weekend. The next day I scootered my way to his office and bought a ticket for Seoul departing the 16th. I contacted my old lab partner Aidan who's teaching English there and asked if his offer for me to crash was still goodit was. I was http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Seoul/blog-170295.html After some beaching in Bantayan I decided to go to Malapuasca to do a specific dive the Thresher Shark dive off Monad Shoal. It's this sunken island where threshers go to be 'cleaned' by the wrasse. Since my diving experience was so minimal I had to sign up for the dive as a Deep Dive Adventure Dive meaning I had to do some reading and had an instructor with me at all time. So disappointed I d http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Cebu/blog-170291.html I'm just relaxing at Bantayan at the moment. It's low season so there was pretty much just me on the beach for a quite a long time. Unfortunately the sand wasn't as nice as the pictureit never is. Lots of shell bits. I saw a baby jellyfish. I think it's the first time I've ever seen a jelly fish. It was so smallpretty dark coloured though. I've never seen a jellyfish but I assumed that that i http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Cebu/Bantayan/Sta-Fe/blog-170287.html Urgh...that bus ride was long. 3.5 hours on a nonAC bus. I stayed at a place called Quo Vadis. Pretty sweet room actually. Even had a mini fridge. I went on my first Fun Dive and saw a turtle A turtle in the big blue It was so cool. Moal Boal had no ATM and I didn't have a lot of currency on me so I had to head back to icky Cebu City. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Cebu/blog-170247.html Ok I've already decided that all cities in the Philippines are gross. 091Edited after a comment left by a random guy093And I mean gross by SE asian standards. NOT western standards. Do they think that 'installing' aluminum 'urinals' in the middle of the sidewalk actually handles the public urination problem I got a comment from some reader about staying home if I expect to see cities like http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Cebu/Cebu-City/blog-170239.html I arrived in Manila with every intention on buying a ticket to Boracay but all the flights for the day had already left by the time I arrived. And Palawan was booked. I didn't want to stay in Manila overnight so I booked the flight to Cebu. This was at 2pm. Flight was at 7pm. The wait was excruciating long and the domestic airport had nothing but a donut shop a fruity drink shop a cafe and massa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Manila/blog-168649.html I have an early flight tomorrow from KL to Bangkok to Taipei. I've returned to Le Village which is where Emma and I stayed during our brief visit to KL but they have no dorm beds available. I'm going to see if I can just crash on the couch. I have to be up and out by 5am anyways. I can stay awake for another 12 hours right Easy as PI. 3.14159. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Wilayah-Persekutuan/Kuala-Lumpur/blog-163796.html This might be my favourite place thus far. I'm only upset by the fact that all I have are my Crocs as they are insufficient for hiking through the numerous trails available. Some of which are supposed to lead to beautiful waterfalls and hot springs. Some girl I met in Singapore said that if I decided to go to Cameron Highlands to stay at Father's Guesthouse. Her recommendation was excellent. This http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Pahang/Tanah-Rata/blog-163500.html I've been in Singapore for two days. Leaving tonight. Managed to see the Night Safari which sounds a lot cooler than it is but still interesting to be walking around a zoo at night. I have also been to lots of museums and learned about the British and Japanese rule of Singapore. Um...did some shopping. Gotta catch the train soon so I guess I'll just have to update this blog later. Must agree that http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Singapore/blog-162689.html Someone stole my bikini topI left it just outside my hotel room door on the clothes dryer rack provided last night and this morning it was gone In it's place was a black and white flowery bikini top mine is brown and gold. I reported to the front desk who informed me that someone else reported a missing top earlier that morning as well. Emma had found the matching bottoms to the black and wh http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Bali/blog-161035.html Had my first surfing lesson today. Boy did I ever drink a lot of seawater involuntarily Those of you who know me slightly more than average will know that I am not that strong of a swimmer. So with that bit of information you can imagine my 'slight' hesitation as I was being lead further out to sea towards the waves that are crashing down towards me. Anyways the surf school guaranteed standi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Bali/blog-161033.html I'm now travelling with Emma from England. She's going to try to get the same flight as me to Bali. We're trying to get down to Kuala Lumpur. Going to take tonight's overnight express. Currently at the mall just killing time. I had made a nice schedule for myself but I think I gave my only hard copy to my mom and didn't email an ecopy to myself. Stupid me.Believe it or not I'm not that tanned. I http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/blog-158993.html I stayed at On On which was also featured in The Beach. Roomed with a girl I had met in Koh Tao and another girl we met at the Phuket BoatBus station. We went to Patong Beach for the daynight where I looked into getting a suit made but decided not to due to time. In the evening we found a bar with 1 tequila shots and 241 drinks where we began our night of debauchery. Around ten we headed to http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Phuket/blog-158989.html