Blogs from Asia - page 14740

Of all the beautiful places that I have visited, Palawan is the place that is closest to my heart. The fresh breeze, the fine white sands of its beaches, the abundant marine life, and of course the warmth of the people - these are just but a few reasons why I couldn’t get enough of this wonderful place. This year, Culion, Jericho’s birthplace, is celebrating its Centennial Year. When we’ve learned that Nanay & Tita Malyn will be going home to join with the celebrations, we were ecstatic enough that I’ve immediately purchased our online Super Ferry tickets. We couldn’t afford to miss this momentous commemoration of the town’s founding year. Super Ferry has regular trips to Palawan every week. The ferry leaves at Manila on Friday, 8pm and arrives at Coron, Palawan after 12 hours. ... read more

We arrived in our van in Inle Lake, a small town in the mountainous Shan State bordering a lake, obviously. I was told that 'Inle' means lake in Myanmar. So basically Inle Lake is lake lake. We sadly said good-bye to our comfortable (relatively) vehicle and settled in to spend a few nights here; it was quite a few nights of one nighters on our ride up. Our first full day we hired a boat to take us on a tour of the lake and the surroundings. This was one of our favorite activities in Myanmar. We rented the boat for less than $2 per person for the full day. We visited a local market, Indien (a collection of old stupas) and several workshops (blacksmith and silk). Also, we stopped by the 'Jumping Cat' Monastary where ... read more

We woke up at about 7.30am the next day. We took the subway and stopped at Ginza and walked to Tsukiji. Past the Kabuki Theatre. We thought that we went the wrong way as the pedestrian traffic towards was minimal. So, anyway, it was one straight road (Harumi-dori) from Ginza to Tsukiji. Then came a centre, bustling with activities. It was a row of eateries at the External Market. We saw many people queuing up to order at a what seemed to be a very popular ramen stall. It was crowded with people standing and slurping down their noodles. There was another tempura soba/udon a few stalls away, it was also crowded with people. We made turned left and walked further in, along the perimeter Tsukiji External Market. There were shops selling dried nuts and all ... read more

Here's a great idea: Take two people with no extensive camping/trekking experience, set them loose in the highest mountain range in the world and see how they do. Yes, i admit- i am an idiot. So, monday we spent at ganden monastary. It was a very quiet day of rest and relaxation before the big hike. Tuesday: Eric and Corrina (our irish trekking buddies) show up to the monastary with our guide early in the morning. The guide is talking with the yak man and working out last minute details. After a minute or two of talking with the guide, we find out that this man has never done this trek before. I'm thinking to myself, "what are we paying you for?" I admit, it makes me a little bit nervous. But the yak boy (who ... read more

So after leaving Vattapaarathi at about midday, bit late, but when there's 11 of you to shift out of a place it takes a while. Got over to Trichur and sorted hotel out...room rates sky high, but didn't want to take advantage and stay in house again. Arrived and met up with a few more people from the Ashram and varkala...so now there were 15 of us....bloody hell from one extreme to another!! Travelling on your own is great as you get to do stuff really quickly, going to 15 is just rediculous...but wicked to share the experience with. the Pooram was awesome...I'd seen the pics in LP and fancied it...so to come back up made sense as I could easily get across to Munnar from hear before heading on to Madurai, which was my original ... read more