http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/esaav22/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from esaav22 en-us Sun, 29 Nov 2009 08:57:02 +0000 Sun, 29 Nov 2009 08:57:02 +0000 The reason people come to Coron is for the diving. Specifically for the wreck diving. During World War II the Japanese put a large amount of their supply ships in Coron Bay. Their thinking was that its location was too remote and far from USA troops to be affected. That was a major miscalculation. In 1944 the US launched its longest range attack ever. They had just enough fuel to get to Coron Bay http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Palawan/Busuanga/blog-200607.html El Nido has to be one of the most beautiful scenic areas that I have ever been to. Its bays and countless islands are amazing. Most are made up of eroding limestone and shoot up from the water. There are hidden beaches everywhere so finding one to call your own for the day is very very easy.Shortly after getting to El Nido I teamed up with a mixed crew. There was William New Zealand Nadine G http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Palawan/El-Nido/blog-199142.html My week in Cebu was packed full of diving. I spent half the time at Malapascua Island off the north tip and Moalboal in the south. Malapascua is a great place. Especially the week that I was there. Since it is low season the island was almost to myself. It is covered with pristine white sand beaches and very friendly locals. It is the beginning of the rainy season but I got lucky and it was sunn http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Cebu/blog-196405.html Bangkok It a place that almost everyone has heard of. I had no idea what to expect. I knew that there would be the endless calls from tuktuk drivers busy traffic and deals deals deals everywhere. Would I like it That was the big question before coming. The answer with no doubt is a big yes. The city is big. It's big not is just area and population but in diversity. There are so many unique http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-192582.html My sole reason for coming back to Borneo this time was to dive again off of the world famous island of Sipadan. Every year it is voted within the top 3 dive destinations in the world. Its steep walls attract all sorts of open water animals along with several reef species. There are so many sites that would be highlights anywhere else that are common there. On one dive we ran into a school of at l http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sabah/blog-192235.html After visiting the two powerhouse capitals of Indonesia and Malaysia I thought a comparison of the two is due. This is just my opinion and my better might be the opposite from another's. Here's some comparisons and contrasts that I saw between the two cities. 1. SIZE Jakarta's population of almost 10 million dwarfs KL's 2 million but KL has a more concentrated city feel. 2. TRANSPORTATION KL http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-142670.html Three places that 99.9999999 of the tourists that visit Laos go are Luang Prabang Vang Vieng and Vientiene. All three were on my route to Bangkok so I stopped by in each for a visit. Luang Prabang is rapidly growing in popularity these days. One reason is the concentration of Buddhist temples in the area. Another is the tasty international food and the peaceful atmosphere. The tourist center http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-186002.html The journey to Vieng Phoukha was a long one but well worth the ride. From Vientiane it involves taking a 23 hour long local bus to the city of Luang Nam Tha. From there it is a quick 1 12 pickup truck ride to town. I ended up staying the night in Luang Nam Tha to rest and get a good meal and shower. On the bus there I met a Japanese traveler Moo who has been on the road for the last 13 months http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/North/blog-183829.html After waiting too long in Hanoi for my Vietnamese visa extension I was almost ready to explode and needed to go some place where there were no tourists or people trying to sell me things or scams. Not saying that all of Hanoi is bad just select parts. From Hanoi I took a 7 hour local bus to Son La. It's a city in the northwest and I thought it would be a good base to check out the area. The p http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/blog-178646.html After going from tourist trap to tourist trap the last couple weeks my head was hurting from the constant yells for transport or tours. I had seen way too many backpackers nothing against them after all I am one too and I just wanted to see a town where it was just Vietnamese living there. With that mindset I made the bet that Cao Bang was just that type of place. Its eight hours north of Han http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/blog-171735.html When getting off the tourist bus from Hoi An I was quickly surrounded by hotel touts. The bus drops you off right in the middle of the hotel district and the touts sit back all day waiting for the chance to pounce on a tired foreigner. I kept telling them that I already had a hotel and they kept answering back to check out their place. Didn't get the hint that I wasn't interested but after walki http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/North-Central-Coast/Hue/blog-169753.html After leaving Buon Ma Thout I was not alone. I was talked into doing a three day motorbike ride with my guide Tam. We would spend the night in Kon Tum then in Kham Duc before heading to Hoi An. The plan was to stop by local sites along the way. On the first day we motor biked about 6 hours to Kon Tum. There was not really much to see along the way. The mountains were nice along the road but t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Central-Highlands/blog-169739.html After leaving Cambodia I arrived to my first stop in Vietnam. The city of Ho Chi Minh or Saigon was a great surprise. It's a busy city with traffic coming from every direction. It was much cleaner than I expected and the roads made sense. Signs were up along with working traffic signals big change from Cambodia. The people were also very friendly. I met up with a few guys on the bus ride over http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/blog-169728.html After seeing tourist run Siem Reap and the packed streets of Phnom Phen I wanted to see the more natural side of Cambodia. This brought me to Kratie. I have read that there are some extremely endangered fresh water dolphins that can be seen there. That news made it worth stopping by for a look. The road to Kratie is strait and paved. Many in Cambodia are like this because of a recently redone http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/blog-164141.html My time spent in Phnom Phen was split up over two appearances. The capital is in the center on Cambodia and all major highways lead to it. The road network extends from the city but unfortunately doesn't interconnect much outside of it. This means you often have to backtrack to the capital to get to another destination. That's why I went through it twice. My first time in Phnom Phen was shortly http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/South/Phnom-Penh/blog-160595.html The majority of tourists come to Cambodia for the sole reason of seeing Angkor Wat and its surrounding temples. Siem Reap is the nearest city to the temples and has an international airport that shuttles tourists in and out. It is no doubt a tourist town that has boomed with Angkor Wat's popularity. My first thought shortly after landing was that I was in for a headache. There was the endless ye http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Angkor/blog-160325.html Immediately when entering Singapore I felt tension go away and the need to look over my shoulder disappear. It was a vacation from my vacation. The first thing I noticed was how green the city is. Trees are everywhere. I was expecting more of a concrete sterile looking city but instead it still had a natural fresh feeling. It is an example of what a city should look like if proper city planni http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Singapore/blog-159604.html My first stop for my second return to Malaysia was Melaka. A funny thing I noticed was that everyone kept spelling Melaka differently. I saw it spelled Malaka Malaca Malacka Malacca Melaca Melacca and the one I spell it as Melaka. I guess everyone likes their way better and a common spelling hasn't be voted on. Melaka was a very different city than the rest I've seen in Malaysia. All the o http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/blog-156606.html From Aceh I decided that my next stop in Sumatra would be Danau Toba lake Toba. It took a solid night and day to finally get there but when I arrived it was calm and welcoming. Toba sits at a high elevation so the days and nights are not humid or have the ovenlike temperatures of the Sumatran coastline. My first thought of Toba was ghost town. 99 of the accommodations in the Toba area are http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/blog-156602.html After jumping city to city my body was starting to crave some place that moved at a slower pace. That is when I found Pulau Weh. It is off the northern tip of Sumatra. The small town I stayed in was Iboih. It was a great surprise for me. I was only planning on staying for one week to do some diving but ended up staying two. The town itself is just a small walking path with several very rustic b http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Pulau-Weh/blog-150161.html