One day after our usual morning snorkel the clouds began to gather so we decided to go and explore the village after lunch. It was about a 30 minute walk from Lorenzo's. We'd set off another day but turned back as the temperature soared and there was little shade on the roadway. Today, however, with the lack of sunshine it made for a pleasant stroll. We spent a lovely afternoon speaking to the friendly villagers and letting the children practise their english on us. They loved it when we answered their text book questions such as "What is your name" Where do you come from?" etc etc. When we replied, they realized we'd understood their english and giggled shyly. They loved to have their photographs taken and were thrilled to see themselves on the camera screen. ... read more

We have just spent the last 8 days on the island of Bunaken off the coast of Sulawesi, Indonesia. Our flight to Manado was delayed by two and a half hours meaning instead of arriving at 7.50 it was 9.30pm. By the time we’d bought our visa and cleared customs it was approaching 10.30pm. We’d arranged to be picked up by Vasko, from Lorenzo’s, and taken to the port for the boat we’d charted to the island of Bunaken. We didn’t imagine he’d still be there waiting as we were so late but luckily he was. Malcolm and Sue, a couple from New Zealand, wanted to go to Bunaken but had no arrangements in place so Vasko phoned through to arrange a room for them and we all set off together. By the time we got ... read more

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009! After spending a fantastic New Year here 2 years ago we felt compelled to return as we were in the area. Last time we were here things were beginning to get back to normal after the Tsunami that had hit the region on December 26th 2004 and we were hoping that development would not have gone completely crazy. Well, it seems much the same as it was just a bit more development in the middle of the village. One thing that really shocked us though was the number of tour boats bringing hoards of holidaymakers from Phucket to Long Beach. The shore was lined with speedboats from around 11am until 3pm when they all finally went away and left us in peace to enjoy the view over to Phi Phi Leh. One ... read more

After 8 weeks back in the U.K. the lure of some sunshine was just too great to ignore. As Stan and I now both work in schools and they were all about to close for half term we thought "why not"? After trawling the internet for an evening we came up with a cheap late package deal to Kusadasi, Turkey. It didn't take us long to snap up the deal! We were staying in a small hotel just a few minutes walk to the old town, although it was the end of the season there were still quite a few restaurants and bars open. The temperature tended to drop to about 15 degrees C at night but being tucked away in the town away from the sea front it was still pleasant enough to dine outdoors. ... read more

We weren’t sure what to expect when we arrived on the island as people we’d met along the way had said how busy and expensive it had become. As we stepped off the boat most things seemed the same, quite a lot more people around maybe. We went in search of accommodation, our favourite place last time we were here was Edy Homestay, unfortunately it was full, after lots more searching and haggling of prices we found one nearby that was similar to Edy’s. 5 little bungalows around a cute well-kept garden. The price was over double what we’d paid 3 years ago but was still one of the cheapest around. We quickly discovered one downside to these bungalows though. A mosque was right next-door and woke us up every day at 5 am then again ... read more