http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/pkeusgen/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from pkeusgen en-us Mon, 04 Jan 2010 14:16:14 +0000 Mon, 04 Jan 2010 14:16:14 +0000 The following morning I got to the bus station at 750 to find that their were no seats on the bus and even the plastic stools in the isle had been sold out. Being a once daily service this meant a day in Udomxai which even the guide book usually pretty positive described in less than glowing terms. I wandered up the main street actually the only street and found myself agreeing with the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Muang-Xai/blog-111275.html On the first morning of my trek I met my guide Sook at my hotel for breakfast. He was a good guy very earnest and just passable in English. More importantly he was trilingual in Lao Punoi and Laosang which would cover most of the areas in which we would be trekking. He also had a most irritating habit of laughing if he didnrsquot understand me and laughing again whenever I rephrased t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/North/Phongsali/blog-111276.html Tonga unique among Pacific nations never completely lost its indigenous governance. The archipelagos of The Friendly Islands were united into a Polynesian kingdom in 1845. Tonga became a constitutional monarchy in 1875 and a British protectorate in 1900 it withdrew from the protectorate and joined the Commonwealth of Nations in 1970. Tonga remains the only monarchy in the Pacific. Tonga has http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Tonga/Vava-u/blog-220052.html For anyone who is interested in what I've been up to for the last six weeks here's a quick description of my day they were all pretty much the same. 0600 A slight disturbance in my sleeping pattern as Net my Thai girlfriend gets out of bed and heads to the morning market 0700 A slight disturbance in my sleeping pattern as Net returns from the morning market with fresh fruit vegetables jui http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Samui/blog-170199.html DelhiFirst impressions15 June 2007We arrived at Delhi Airport to find that our hotel taxi didnrsquot show so we were left to the mercy of the touts. They didnrsquot swarm us as I had expected as they do in Manila but had a good try at ripping us off. Our first tout asked 800 rupees and we agreed to go with the second guy for 350 rupees USD7.50. The guy was as dodgy as I expected. He g http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/National-Capital-Territory/New-Delhi/blog-170207.html Kuta BeachldquoDeadrdquo is the best way to describe this place at the moment. Itrsquos a bit like Melbourne during a football final everything is open but nobody is home except in the odd well patronized joint and the mix of nonIndonesian Asian and Australian seems pretty even more so than in Sydney. The hordes of Western Australians have been replaced by a few Koreans and other A http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Bali/blog-76839.html Mt KinabaluMt Kinabalu at 4200m is the highest mountain in South East Asia hugely spectacular and a bloody hard climb. 5 July 2006I was picked up at the ungodly hour of 0630 I get up late in cities in Kota Kinabalu for the two hour ride up to 1800m where we would begin the climb. Climbing with me was Vong a Scot of Chinese descent and a MalaysianSingaporean couple who werenrsquot dest http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sabah/Mount-Kinabalu/blog-72499.html I arrived on Labuan a tax free island that caters to the oil industry to meet Alex who had promised diving work for 500 a day. See My first call got through to his answering service so I left a message saying where I was and giving my contact details. My next calls over the next two days didn't even get the answering service.I sent an email to Alex and Teresa and found that they were i http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sabah/Labuan/blog-75722.html Georgetown to KLWe all had a lazy start to the day traveling being tiring even on a sleeper train and with two of us recovering from dengue fever but managed to get up for an 11 orsquoclock brunch at a local India place for about a dollar. The others all bought tickets to KL and I changed my plans from the Cameron Highlands to join them the main reason being that the highlands are 1800m http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Wilayah-Persekutuan/Kuala-Lumpur/blog-68991.html I dropped into Singapore to catch up with Sonia for dinner. It's so close to Malayisa and yet so far removed. The outdoor restaurant where we ate was incomparable with the dingy cafe where I watched the world cup final in JB full of westerners I was the only one in JB clean efficient decorated modern and bloody expensive. Luckily Sonia was payingA bit of history Singapore joined the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Singapore/blog-75723.html Sipadan and MabulOne of the ten best dive spots in the world according to the literature. Certainly some of the best diving I've done.14 July Heading to the oil rigI met my dive buddy Juliana for the fourth time at the pick up point for the Seaquest drilling platform. This time we recognized each other. The previous two times on Mt Kinabalu and at the Karaoke bar we were familiar but it di http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sabah/Sipadan/blog-75720.html The Kilabantan The longest widest crocodile infestedest wildlifest junglest river. I guess I had to go.11 JulyI woke in Sangatan to find power restored to the city and had a leisurely morning before catching the bus to Mile Sixteen where Uncle Tanrsquos guesthouse and office is. I met the other dozen or so backpackers who would be joining me on the trip paid my money and jumped onto the bus http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sabah/blog-75721.html Orangutan Sanctuary at SepilokOne learns a lot about people when watching orangutans. Especially some of the people I know.I spent this afternoon at the Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre in north east Borneo watching our cousins feed on bananas. They were all juveniles and aged the rest were out hunting fruit in the forest and creating havoc in sugar cane plantations.At 3pm the local ra http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sabah/Sepilok-Orang-Utan-Sanctuary/blog-75826.html 25 June 2006Tourist traps around MalaccaThe Swiss guys we met in told us that MiniMalaysia and the butterflybirdmonkeyreptile park were worth the trip so we decided to spend the day as proper cameratoting tourists. We managed to get about twenty metres from the guesthouse when we encountered a reasonably sized crowd and traditional band all waiting expectantly. The crowd had reached crit http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Melaka/Melaka-City/blog-70956.html 23 June 2006Great big shite KL to wonderful little MalaccaI started the day by watching Italy get a penalty in the 95th minute of the game. What a way to start the day. I slept for about five hours and was up at 9am for a chat with Azmi.Azmi according to him is a Malaysian born New Zealander whose father retired there after serving as military attach to Wellington. Azmi also let on that he w http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Melaka/Melaka-City/blog-70955.html 20 June 2006Georgetown MalaysiaWandering around ChinatownWaking up on the train I met Alex and Teresa and English couple and wasted an hour and a half watching The DiVinci Code on their portable DVD player. Probably the worst Tom Hanks movie since his last one The Terminal. Movies are so overrated as far as constructive pastimes are concerned. More constructively I read most of The Postma http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Penang/George-Town/blog-68988.html Surat Thani ThailandAN EVENING IN SURAT THANIOn arrival at the jetty I found that I still had a one hour bus ride to Surat Thani and than again when I got off the bus I still had half hour taxi ride to the station. The girl at the bus station quoted me THB250 or THB150 if I were to wait for another passenger to share a cab with me. However I was fortunate enough to meet two Thai ladies gettin http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Surat-Thani/blog-68646.html Fasting in Samui againThailand has some of the best food in Asia and probably the world making it by simple logic one of the last places where you would fast. And yet here I am for my fourth or fifth time on the tropical island of Koh Samui living at a resort with according to one survey one of the fifty best restaurants in the world and actually paying not to eat. Even worse the money http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Samui/blog-66905.html I finally finished and am now eating after seven days of famine.POST FAST They say what doesnrsquot kill you will make you stronger but I fail to see how I could possibly be stronger after seven days of starving. But my energy is up and Irsquom looking forward to watching Australia thrash Brazil tonight.My cofasters asked me the usual questions on my last dayldquoIs much stuff still co http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Samui/blog-67534.html As a tourist in a poor place like Myanmar we have a moral obligation to support the local economy spending money on stuff they make is much more beneficial to the economy than filling begging bowls and most tourists would prefer to be tailed by vendors selling knick knacks than beggars. Nevertheless after being dragged to several tourist traps we did exercise our right not to see any more.Silk http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Inle-Lake/blog-63636.html