I had a pretty relaxed day yesterday, read a book watched some TV and wandered around Dumaguete, the Cathedral and the area around Quezon Park are scenic and the Promenade is really attractive. I bought a book by Anne Rice I should have known better, women authors always ruin things by trying to write in love and sex scenes, this one was between a bodyless spirit and a dying woman, I probably wont bother finishing it now. This morning I caught a boat to Siquijor Island there are supposed to be witches here although I am pretty sure I havent seen any. I have just spent the last 5 hours triking all over the place looking at churches, waterfalls and beaches and Asias oldest convent, this island is really quite beautiful for the most part, ... read more

I have just arrived in Puerto Galera and I have a room over looking the water which isnt too bad except the power is out hence me sitting in an aircon internet cafe. Manilla is not the most pleasant of cities, its dirty, smoggy, smelly and has a lot of poor and down out people. It also has way to many touts and scamming cab drivers, and the weather is unbearable humid at the moment. I arrived in the wee hours of the morning and after going to 3 or 4 places finally found a room at the Cityscape in Ermita more expensive than I would have liked but the location isnt to bad. The hotel slugged me an extra day because I arrived so early I found this a bit rude, but I had ... read more

I was on the 9am bus to Baguio the first 3 or 4 hours were back the same way I came but after San Fernando (La Union) the bus headed up into the foothills of the Cordilleros, the bus rides seem to take forever, the roads are concrete slabs and are not very wide, the buses seem to stop every 5 minutes as well. Eventually we arrived in Baguio which is an impressive sight in itself with buildings clinging off the sides of mountains everywhere. Even large public buildings like schools and hospitals. I met my first touts today haven't seen any so far, one of them was quite good natured though and showed me to the place I wanted to stay at, so I gave him 50 pesos ($1.50) he seemed satisfied with that. ... read more

It has been a long 24 hours, I had the worst seat on the plane leaving Adelaide and had a huge verbal stoush with the Chinese guy next to me, he was very aggressive which of course made me a little hostile, I think we would have come to blows if we werent on a plane. Anyway I arrived in Singapore at about 5pm then had to wait 3 hours for the flight to KL, annoying that as there isnt much to do in an airport for that long, but eventually I was on the way to KL only to circle above the airport for half an hour till we could land. Once on the ground there were more problems, the transit hotel was at one terminal my bag was on the other side of Immigration ... read more

I was talking to a mate last year about going to Brisbane for a weekend to watch the football and perhaps just have a few drinks. In the end four of us went, Timmay, Kutts, Steve and myself, we booked a few rooms at the Marque Hotel right in the middle of the CBD close to the Casino and South Bank bridge. We arrived in Brisbane around 10.35am and took a cab to town before leaving our bags at the hotel and heading off to explore a bit, first stop was Queens St where we had a bight to eat before crossing the river and wandering down South Bankwhere we hopped on a Catamaran for a view of the city from the river. Brisbane reminds me a bit of Auckland and Dunedin and perhaps a little ... read more