Blogs from Asia - page 149

On Friday morning we set off for a three-day, two-night tour in the jungle around Mount Kinabalu. The mountain is, with an altitude of over 4,000 metres, the tallest mountain in Borneo. It is surrounded by jungle, and one can take various tours. Amongst them is a two-day tour up the mountain. On day two, one can watch the sunrise from the peak of the mountain. However, Mizzi and I had deliberately decided against it. We both did not feel in the physical condition for it. Moreover, we were more in the mode of relaxing and exploring than in the mood for challenge. Thus, we had booked a tour that would take us camping at the foot of the mighty mountain, with a few easier hikes included. We left our hostel in Kota Kinabalu early, dropped ... read more

I picked up Buddy from the streets of Madurai on January 9. I didn’t have a fully thought-out plan. But the vague plan was this: help him get well, return him to the street where he seemed to be happy. Best case scenario: find him an adoptive home. Plans never go as planned. Everyone knows that. Over a month later Buddy is with me. He conquered a deadly case of tick fever, only to be diagnosed with mega esophagus. This diagnosis is a death sentence for a street dog. The condition is probably why he had lost so much weight since I saw him a year ago. The wide places in his esophagus trap the food, preventing it from reaching his stomach. It is a condition that rarely reverses itself. Medication can assist with the regurgitation ... read more

Start Saturday with a challenge.The plan is to walk up the mountain trail of Doi Suthep to the temple , Wat Phra That Soi Suthep, high above the city of Chiangmai. When I first came to visit Dorothy with Kath and Bob five years ago, Dorothy was in training for her own personal challenge: to climb to the summit of Kilimanjaro to celebrate her 70th birthday. She would trek up and down the mountain about 3 or 4 times a week, at dawn when it was still cool. Kath, Bob and I joined her on one of these hikes up the trail, and I found it really difficult, although I was wearing silly little canvas slip-on shoes with no grip, which kept falling off my feet. Dorothy stepped lightly on ahead ... seemingly no effort. And ... read more

Tuesday 18 February, 2020, cont'd We had a quiet afternoon and went outside at 6.50 pm for our dinner. Pat had steamed rice and I had a fried rice with chicken in a local style. After, we got to try buffalo curd, a local delicacy, with pineapple honey. Lights out 9.40 pm. Wednesday 19 February, 2020. Visit to Yala National Park. Pick up from the rooms was 4.20 am, so alarms were set for 4.00 am. As always we were awake before the alarm! Indika said he would come to unlock the gate to the property, prepare a boxed breakfast and see us off safely. Our vehicle arrived on time. They use modified single cabs, which have six seats set in three pairs, tiered in a frame stuck up on the back. This gives additional height ... read more

Saturday 22nd February 2020 Koh Muk translates as Pearl Island. We said it was a little gem! Like Koh Jum and Koh Yao Noi, it is rated as one of the few remaining truly exotic islands of Southwest Thailand, with very limited tourism and stacks of local flavour. We love it here! Well, we have stayed in countless bamboo thatched huts in our time, in different countries, but none as charming as the one we have now on the eastern side of Koh Muk: Everything is bamboo, the floor, window shutters, doors and furniture. Often the bed is just made of cheap boards with a hard mattress. This bed is chunky and solid bamboo, with a lovely deep mattress and soft pillows. The chunky furniture is made in the same rustic style. Of course, being bamboo, ... read more