When we arrived in Bali the cloud of sad thoughts was upon us....were we really to leave Asia in just 10 days? It was kind of hard to believe, considering that we have spent past 11 months exploring different corners of that vast continent. We still had a lot of places to see on our list but no time left to see it all. Have we miscalculated the amount of time we needed to complete this part of our trip? Maybe we overstayed too long in some places because we liked it there so much. Nevertheless we had to make a decision what really we were going to do and we opted for 'no rush - no fuss' type of travels. After being dropped by the agency at the ferry terminal we hopped on a ferry ... read more

So we were counting days to the end of our Asian adventure now. We had our flight to Sydney booked in around 3 weeks time and still had to visit Java, Bali, Lombok and Gilis. No regrets as it was worth it to stay in Sulawesi for 4 weeks ;-) We did not want to rush and for some reason we kind of already knew that we would end up skipping Bali. After seeing all those magnificent paradise spots we just did not think Bali would work for us. Nevertheless, we thought we give it a try if we find time. We flew from Manado to Surabaya and went straight to the long distance bus terminal and hopped on a bus to Yogyakarta (68,000R/7$ including dinner). We had no idea that arriving at night would be ... read more

We all remember summer camps when we were kids right? They were full of fun days at the beach, swimming, playing and having fun. They got even better when we were teenagers as we could party, drink and smoke which was like breaking bad in a way. However the most important element of the memories we have from those days is people. People we had never met before and had nothing to do with initially but could not imagine better holidays without them at the end of the term. Summer friends we swore to be in touch with forever and holiday romances we thought were going to last. Now we know that it was the place that made us friends and that we share the memories of. I never thought 30-year old us could feel that ... read more

Off the beaten path in Borneo Our journey to Derawan was interesting and frustrating in the same time. We must admit that it was very exciting to be faced with all the struggles on the way that you don’t encounter often in South East Asia i.e. huge language barriers, lack of local transport, lack of budget accommodation etc. We left Sandakan knowing that it would take us many days to reach our final destination but we were absolutely fine with it. The bus to the border town of Tawau took long 9h instead of 4 because we had engine problem, then breaks problem and then tire problem. In the end we had to be transferred to another bus to be ... read more

After the unfortunate visit to Boracay we flew to Palawan hoping to spend some wonderful time over there. Yes, we were hoping as El Nido is also quite a popular tourist destination in Philippines and we were not sure what changes tourism has made to this place. Fortunately, El Nido is not the easiest place to reach unless you can splash on a charter plane so that already narrows the number of visitors down. During our travels we have learnt that any place that takes time to reach does not attract tour groups but different class of visitors therefore is worth a visit. We decided to stay overnight in Puerto Princesa even though there were charter minivans and night buses available. It was quick decision after we made friends with a friendly Argentinean guy – Patrick ... read more