http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/mexsmission/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from mexsmission en-us Fri, 25 Dec 2009 15:58:07 +0000 Fri, 25 Dec 2009 15:58:07 +0000 We stayed one night in a cheap hostel in Miri. The next day we caught a taxi to the airport joining us was a German guy called Hubert. We were heading to a remote place deep in the jungle called Bario.It can only be reached by plane a very small MAS Twin Otter 19seater aircraft. This was the first time I had ever flown on such a small plane so I was petrified. Bario is home to 900 people living http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-165386.html So we arrive at the port of Brunei after a 1 hour boat ride from Labuan. James had made arrangements with one of his old Bruneian friends to meet us at the dock as we were staying over at his place for a few days. The transport in Brunei is completely unreliable and the busses run spontan http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Brunei/blog-158173.html After a three hour boat journey we arrived on the island of Labuan 8km from the coast of Borneo. The island is completely tax freeThe first night we stayed in a really large apartment on the 16th floor it even had a kitchen I was dying to cook mashed potatoes with gravy and vegetables. When we got down to the supermarket we figured it would be a lot cheaper just to buy a takeaway pizza. So i ha http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sabah/blog-156284.html we arrived in kota kinabalu KK in the early hours of the morning as we had traveled throughout the night on a bus from Simporna luckily there werenrsquot many passengers on the bus so I got the prime spot at the back to lie across four empty seats it was freezing with the air con blowing so I grabbed my sleeping bag from the boot and slept the whole journey. I only rolled off the seat once http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sabah/Kota-Kinabalu/blog-152553.html We traveled to an island called Sipidan which is renowned for its natural beauty. It has been classed amongst the top three sites to dive worldwide. There are only 100 people permitted onto the island at any one time in order to preserve its beauty. We booked our dives and caught a speed boat out to the site. It was so beautiful the nicest beach I have ever seen. It had the whitest sand and the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sabah/Sipadan/blog-152537.html We left Sandakan for a journey deep in to the centre of the Jungle The journey took us four hours in a mini bus but there were only two other travelers so we had a sufficient amount of room to breathe their names were Patrick and Sophie they were on their 4 month honey moon and were such lovely people really good fun to be around. We eventually came to the very end of the road we had traveled http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sabah/Sandakan/blog-147595.html We left Penang and the lovely guys at 75 travelers lodge who have been mentioned twice in the Lonely Planet guide to South East Asia for their lovely friendly nature and hospitality with a BIG smile.Caught a bus to Kuala Lumpur as we had a cheap flight from the KL airport out to Borneo island at 7am the next morning. We didnt spend any time in KL as we thought it would be a good and conviently c http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Wilayah-Persekutuan/Kuala-Lumpur/blog-147588.html The journey so farcherie Denise Preston We travelled down to the Malaysian border on another mini bus being very careful to avoid travelling through the problem area of south Thailand where their have been a number of murders reccently. The BBC reports.... S Thailand hit by wave of bombs Banks across Yala province were attacked A series of small bombs has exploded almost simultaneously at comm http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Penang/blog-147441.html We arrived in Hat Yai from koh Lanta to stay one night before we embarked to the Malaysian border. It was midday the bus had dropped us at the station we were hot tired and carrying our heavy back packs 18.5kg and we needed to search for a place to stay. We looked at another budget guesthouse and I moaned saying to James I need a little luxury. We found a gorgeous hotel 30 pounds for the o http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Southern-Thailand/Hat-Yai/blog-147085.html We arrived on the island of koh Lanta after spending hours squashed into a sardine can on wheels and a crazy driver The island was relatively small and had plenty of beach resorts more family holiday orientated I think after almost 3 weeks of staying on beautiful beaches with clear warm sea we had had enough of chilling out so we hired a moped and drove around the island it was quite poor http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Lanta/blog-147077.html Hey sorry I haven8217t updated for a while the Internet was really expensive on koh Tao. So we arrived on the island of koh Tao that is renowned for its diving courses. We found a nice diving resort to stay at whilst we learned how to dive the first course you take is an 18 meter open water dive. My first dive was amazing we descended a rope about 10 meters or so and sat on the sea bed whi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Tao/blog-143589.html 18th February We booked a threeday trip in Chaing Mai which is north Thailand and takes 12hours on a train to get there. We decided it would be really good fun to go on a three day jungle trek where you get to stay over with native villagers in the jungle these tribes live completely independently out in the jungle farming food in the fields and pumping water from the streams their houses are http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Chiang-Mai/blog-133676.html We left bangkok thank god at 7pm to embark on our long bus journey down to Koh Phangan as the full moon party was being held on Sunday the 4th. It was a 15 hour journey down to the ferry port I managed the long journey with the aid of some sleeping pills although I had I pretty bad neck in the morningThe full moon party is a Mecca for travelers and has become a global dance music festival hel http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Pha-Ngan/blog-135821.html We have just arrived in Cambodia as soon as we departed from Thailand through passport customs it was a completely different story all together we walked a hundred yards or so and the whole status of the place changed there were children as young as four begging in the street bare footed and dirty some people were behind what looked like a prison feeding their hands through the bars for money a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Angkor/blog-133698.html Hey sauadicarthat means hello but im not sure how its spelt. we made it after a very long cramped flight were here in Bangkok its 30 degrees we were met by a police man who is a contact of the Thai restaurant where Sam works in the u.k. He's called A although i'm sure its not spelt that way. The Thai food is just fantastic so many flavours i really dont know what us Brits are playing http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-131397.html