http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/odedromi/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from odedromi en-us Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:20:50 +0000 Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:20:50 +0000 As we approach the end of our travels before we head back to Bangkok for two more short nights and our plane right home before getting back to rainy London we wanted to salvage these last few days of this incredible country and headed to what is known as the tourist Mecca of the Philippines Boracay. Now we did have some reservationsWe had heard from fellow travelers that Boracay is always bu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Boracay/blog-200436.html Moalboal was our next beachdive destination after Bantayan and Panglao. And boy what a terrific place to dive and relaxThe city 22k citizens is located southwest of Cebu and we arrived there with a 3h bus. Moalboal is known for its great diving location which we agree with although in our specific case the BalicasagBlack Forest dive in Bohol was better.A few words about Moalboal. Wh http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Cebu/Moalboal/blog-200344.html Our first taste of the Philippines from Manila left us in great spirits and eager to discover more of this amazing country so off we went on our way and starting with for a short stop over in Cebu city.Our stop only gave us just a small taste of the city. During the day we visited the Carbon Market which is a huge mainly fresh produce market i.e. quite nice to see but nothing of interest to bu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Cebu/Bantayan/Sta-Fe/blog-197996.html We really tried not to come to Manila. Everyone we met told us not to come whether because of her traffic dirtiness or crime. Heck even the lonely planet insinuates that you might as well head straight to Cebu if you have diving and beaches in mind. Combined with the fact that every single weather website we've checked said that AugSep is the worst time to come to ManilaPhilippines due to t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Manila/blog-197954.html After the notsoamazing weather in Krabi 75 rain we really weren't expecting anything from the beaches in the East. If you try googling for Thailand weather in August search a zillion weather websites or even look at other people blogs you simply cannot find any clear answer besides It's the wet season between JuneAugust.So when we got to Ko Samui and had nothing but beautiful clea http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Samui/blog-197979.html A few words are due about our China experience which was just wonderful.We met lots of fellow travellers who didn't rave about China but they most shared the same complaint it was just hard travelling in a country where almost noone speaks English and some of those that do speak some words especially the touristfacing ones may try to overcharge rip or sell you something you don't need http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/blog-197945.html Many travelers often decide that when a fairly long trip is coming to an end they will take the grand total of whenever is left from their budget and blow it on whatever luxuries they can afford. Whether it is a great meal a long massage a shopping splurge a few nights in a overly luxurious resort or even all of the above.For us we foresaw that we would desire a bit of pampering before heading http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Krabi/blog-192941.html By the time we got to Chengdu we knew it would be our last station in China. Yes we did plan to go to Tibet you remember right. But having heard that taking the permit would take 10 days turned up to be BS being a bit templedout and critically craving for beachtime we decided that Thailand and Philippines would be our 21st and 22nd countries to visit rather than Tibet and Nepal. we http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Sichuan/Chengdu/blog-192959.html It's fair to say that the apparent hassles associated with visiting Jiuzhaiguorsquos park may be sufficient to sway most travelers into leaving it out altogether this was the case for many travelers we met along the way. At best the entry costs' match if not exceed the costs' of going to top national parks in the US approx. 2230 studentadult. This does not including the extra bucks you http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Sichuan/Jiuzhaigou/blog-192947.html From Ulaan Baatar we flew to Beijing rested 2 days in a more luxurious hotel reading the final Harry Potter book before continuing on with our travel from Beijing to Xi An Our time restraints of getting to Tibet left us with only a day to spare in XiAn which turned our to be just enough for us. After checking into our hotel we took the bus straight to see the famous Terracotta warriors. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shaanxi/Xi-an/blog-190895.html As you can imagine after our previous experiences we were more than excited to get started on our trip. After shopping around we decided that our new tour would be with the tour company Golden Gobi. Mainly because we had only heard great things about them the were fairly cheap and they could leave the next day. What's more we even found three fellow travelers who also wanted to leave the next http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Mongolia/Khovsgale-Lake/blog-189155.html In retrospect despite all that has happened we'd wholeheartedly recommend staying a few good days in UB. Despite what Read on. We arrived in Ulaan Baatar UB after the most relaxing 30hour train ride ever. we organised the deluxe cabin on the transmongolian railway before we left so we got it for cost price of 150 and it was 100 worth it We had a beautiful mohogany cabin all to oursel http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Mongolia/Ulaanbaatar/blog-188376.html Getting to Hangzhou from Guilin 22 hour bustrain 1 day lost and we don't have too many left here 60 US Dollars about Saving it by flying GuilinHangzhou 2 hours130 Priceless Arriving late 1amish in Hangzhou we were exposed first time to the prices of eastcoast Chinese cities. The cheapest we found was a nice youthhostel for http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Putuoshan/blog-188362.html Welcome to our blog and to our very first test post here... We're just back from Dominican Republic yesterday. We now have 5 days to pack for Asia sell all our furniture and electronic appliances and prepare the shipment to the UK. Oh yeah and attend all of Oded's graduation events in HBS. Next week we're already in Singapore http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Massachusetts/Cambridge/blog-188346.html Well despite hearing some warnings about Hanoi from other travelers we left Hoi An on our merry way to the capital yesterday. We were sure the other travellers were over exaggerating about the noisedirt and people just as they had done for HCMC which we loved but needless to say we were proven wrong As soon as we arrived around 10p.m. we were simply bombarded with a million and one aggressiv http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-170569.html We left Hanoi with an organized group to Ha Long Bay for a 3d2n trip. Many told us to take only 1 night tour but we decided to take it easy and have an extra day. What a great decision. So far this has been the highlight of our stay in Vietnam. We took off with an organized group which turned out great too. In the first day headed off to the beautiful bay had a good swim and good lunches on our http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Halong-Bay/blog-172409.html Since we didn't want to ruin the string of good time we had in Ha Long three hours after we were back in Hanoi we already boarded a night train to Lau Cai and from there to Sa Pa. Sa Pa is probably the most touristic city in Northern Vietnam so we weren't sure if we'd like it but from 7am when we started climbing the gorgeous mountains from Lau Cai to Sa Pa we immediately fell in love with the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Sapa/blog-174236.html Got yesterday to Hoi An after a onehour flight from Ho Chi Minh City. The train was 10 cheaper and 25 hours longer which made our choice to fly rather easy. Vietnamese haggling is definitely different than what we're used to from Guatemala Turkey or Brazil. It could be because 1 the Vietnamese don't know how to haggle 2 Vietnamese are into price fixing especially the waterbottle sellers a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/blog-169665.html For our second day in HCMC we took an organized fullday tour to the Cao Dai Temple and the Cu Chi Tunnels. Caodaism is a quite a new religion with 4 million strong believers mostly in southern Vietnam combining beliefs of Buddhism Confucianism and Christianity. It was amazing to watch the noon mass inside the main Cao Dai temple. The rituals colors temple and people was simply overwhelming. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/Cu-Chi/blog-169662.html After an amazing week of graduating from HBS and leaving our apartment in SFP4 we've landed today in London. We have some last arrangements to do like packing our bags... and tomorrow 2125 we'd be on our 13hour direct flight to Singapore. Wish us all the best Zai Jian Romi and Oded http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/blog-167390.html