Blogs from Palau, Oceania
February 20th 2012
It’s spring 2010. Expo Shanghai is crowded and hot. Kirsten and I venture into the South Pacific pavilion to escape the crowds and get a taste of island life. Numerous little grass huts are scattered in an air conditioned arena. Tahiti, Fiji, Vanuatu, Guam,....and Palau?? Hmmm, what is this place, Palau? Pictures of swimming with jellyfish and beautiful azure waters tweak my curiosity. Flash forward to fall, 2011. Matt and I are seeking a warm February getaway. That jellyfish picture calls out from my memory. And now the discovery begins! Every twist and turn throughout our journey reveals to us a place of surprising ease of travel, familiarity, and yet exotic pleasures. First it’s location: a mere 5 hour direct flight SE of Seoul AND using frequent flier miles, free for Matt! Widespread use of English ... read more
August 3rd 2011
Every once in a while something comes along so good it just completely blows your socks off. As a youngster, full of the joys of spring, this sort of thing happens all the time: Sparklers, Scalextrix, Star-Wars, and Special Brew spring to mind, hopefully roughly in that order. As time slides by, though the spacing of these superlatives starts to stretch, and it becomes significantly harder to find the next Best Thing since Sliced Bread, new attractions plowing a steady downward path from the perfect to the paltry to the downright pathetic: Pop Tarts, Pay TV, Paris Hilton and Pension Plans, until ultimately your biggest thrill is a poke up the posterior at your annual prostate check. So it was with a certain sense of skepticism that I booked a trip to the paradise of Palau. ... read more
March 11th 2011
17:30 we are at the Palm Bay Bistro – a worried waitress – there had been an earth quake in Japan. We order our dinner. Next time she passes by: there is a tsunami coming at 18:30. They turn their TV to a local channel. There is a Tsunami warning – all Palauan on coastal areas are to go to higher grounds. And it is a bit later - at 19:25 that it is coming. We had arrived back an hour ago from Carp island – an isolated island 1 hour away by speed boat. Thinking if we would have had the information if we had strayed there today. The staff are obviously nervous. The restaurant is right at the harbor with the serving area over the water. We quickly finish our dinner and halfway run ... read more
March 10th 2011
The place of some of the fieriest battles of WWII pacific theatre – from Sept.-Nov.1944. The 10.000 Japanese defenders dug into the ridges and applied heavy casualties to the Americans. Episode 5-7 of the Pacific (Stephen Spielberg) is about the landing on Orange Beach, the fight for the airstrip and the long struggle to dig out the Japanese from the Bloody Nose Ridge. We had not really booked anything from Koror, thinking that since Peleliu was just across the channel, it would be easy to arrange from Carp. Writing with Amy, the organizer in Koror before coming, had said so. So I talked to Diana the night before, and she arranged a boatman to make the transfer, and she would do the land tour. The price was 2x30$ for the boat and 2x40$ for the tour. ... read more
March 7th 2011
Expectations were high for today – visiting one of the world’s wonders – the Jellyfish Lake – only found this one place in the World, a small lake in the rock islands of Palau. It was partly cloudy. We were picked up by a bus with Japanese and at the IMPAC office there were even more. Hmm. All equipment were included, and we supplied our stock. People were divided out in boats, by the activity they were going to. Our boat included Win as our guide and another Japanese guide for the 14 other. No problem. The boat slowly left the harbor and powered up the two big motors. The rock islands were right around you – lime stone rock with jungle, as small drops in the ocean. Similar to Halong bay in Vietnam? Passing a ... read more
April 11th 2010
mit dem gouverneur waren wir innerhalb von 1h in koror, wir checkten wieder im gleichen hotel ein und machten uns einen gemütlichen tag im hotel und am strand. leider war das wetter diesmal typisch für palau, zuerst scheinte die sonne und dann fing es zu regnen an. die kanutour für den nächsten tag, freitag, cancellten wir auch frühmorgens, da es schon am morgen total bewölkt war, da hätten wir keinen spaß gehabt beim schnorcheln, auch nicht bei dem glasklarem wasser. wir genossen den letzten tag zusammen und abends ging es dann auch schon zurück nach manila, wo wir diesmal im international youth hostel eincheckten (keine hp), da es nicht weit weg lag vom airport. sehr zu empfehlen, auch wenn man länger in manila bleiben möchte. tja, hier endet nun der offizielle teil der reise, der abschied ... read more
April 11th 2010
wieder ein tag voller reisen sollte uns erwarten: es gings wieder mal morgens los, wo wir mit dem öffentlichen mini-van von donsol nach legazpi fuhren, um von dort nach manila zu fliegen. im bus kam mani drauf, dass er sein handy im zimmer vergessen hatte, nach einem telefonat mit dem resort würden wir mittags einen fahrer beim flughafen treffen, der uns das handy vorbeibringt, weil er sowieso einen transport hat - das nenn ich mal hilfsbereit!! mani zweifelte zwar, aber der typ kam wirklich und wollte noch nicht mal ein kleines dankeschön dafür haben, die menschen hier sind so unterschiedlich manchmal. in manila zocken sie dich ab, hier wollte er nicht mal 50 peso (nicht mal 1 euro) annehmen... unser flug startete wieder mal verspätet, wir haben uns gar nicht mehr gewundert, aber da der flug ... read more
April 11th 2010
mit der fähre ging es am montag nach peleliu. vollbepackt hätte kein zusätzlicher passagier mehr platz gehabt, wir waren die einzigen ausländer und als der einheimische neben mir seinen rucksack öffnete und ein kleingewehr rauszog, war ich etwas beunruhigt für den rest der fahrt. nach 3h überfahrt kamen wir an und wir hatten schon im vorhinein die unterkünfte angerufen, wieviel eine übernachtung kostet bzw. ob etwas frei ist. das einzige resort mit tauchschule ist das dolphin bay resort, da kostet aber die übernachtung an die 80 dollar, pro person versteht sich. da ist aber alles inklusive, da es auf der insel keine bar oder kein resti gibt. da war uns trotzdem ein bisschen zu viel, wir wählten wenty´s sunset inn (keine website), kann ich aber nicht empfehlen. das guesthouse gehört einer alten dame, die uns etwas ... read more
November 21st 2009
Now I am contemplating whether or not to write this blog or not. I mean, do I tell you, do I not? I want to tell you about this beautiful, beautiful place but I don't want to wreck its cozy and lovable feel. I mean it's still a non-commercialized, non-super-touristy place, where the locals say hello to you as you pass by and cars stop to let you cross the street. It's so beautiful half of you readers have stopped reading my blog and have breezed through the photo's. Don't deny it! I don't blame you either though. Anyways, I'll tell you a bit about my Palau adventures but you have to promise me not to ruin it. I'm going back one day to check on it so don't think I won't notice if it has ... read more
March 1st 2009
As I said before, the place is absolutely pristine. On our diving days we would stop at beautiful beaches for lunch. We've never seen so much gorgeous water in our lives. We rented a car with another couple from California and drove around Babeldoab to see some of the land based sites. The pics speak for themselves. ... read more
