We left Sabang bright and early for Port Barton. Our boat supposedly could hold 12 people but only 8 booked, so we were light in the water. On the way we passed another fully loaded boat that was headed to El Nido. The ride to Port Barton was actually really nice. Only 3 hours long, with great views of the Palawan coast along the way. We saw a lot of flying fish that were scared by the boat and soared for probably 300 feet or more, just barely above the water. We also saw two sea turtles, just hanging out on the surface. One of them was probably 3 feet wide and 4 feet long. He stuck his head up and looked at us as we passed. Port Barton is a quiet and secluded beach town. ... read more

We flew from Cebu to Puerto Princesa on feb 18th, a few hours ahead of my parents, who flew in from Manila. My parents had been planning on taking a 2 week vacation to meet steph and I wherever we might be in our trip, and they followed through! It was pretty cool to be able to meet up on the other side of the world like that. They even brought us rice crispy treats (steph ate them all in 2 days), and a bunch of Trader Joe's beef jerky (it's the best). Puerto princesa is by far the biggest city on Palawan Island, which is a long, skinny, undeveloped island in the western Philippines. Puerto princesa itself was not a big attraction to us, but the nearby Honda Bay made it worth staying one full ... read more

Our original plan was to go to Bohol for a few days, and hit up at least one more spot before catching our flight to Palawan on the 18th. But somehow we ended up staying for 8 days, and we ran out of time to go anywhere else. Some places are just hard to leave. After flying to Cebu city from Davao, we took a taxi to the ports and booked a ferry to Tagbilaran, the port city of Bohol. The ferry ride started out going pretty fast, but then the sound changed and we slowed down a LOT. It was soon announced that we were operating on only 1 engine. The ride was supposed to take 2 hours, but at this rate it probably would take 2 or 3 times as long. But luckily it ... read more

Good ol' Khaosan Road. Or KSR, as we affectionately call it. KSR is like an oasis (or a cesspool, depending who you ask) in the middle of Bangkok. If you walk 10 minutes away in any direction, you would be in the heart of Bangkok with not a tourist / backpacker in sight. There's really nowhere else like it that we have been. It is just so over the top - millions of souveniers, all the supplies you need, tons of used book stores, loud clubs that stay open all night, cheap street food, sweaty old men that have been in Thailand way too long, inexperienced travelers about to start their first adventure, live music, neon lights, getting accausted by vendors selling suits, massages, tattoos.... Love it or hate it, it is almost inevitably on the ... read more

Pai is a laid back town in northern Thailand, surrounded by beautiful waterfalls, rice paddies, caves, hot springs and canyons. I was there in 2007 and it seemed like it was a bit more touristy and expensive this time around, but the motorbikes are still only 80 baht (about $2.50) for a 24 hour rental. We spent our first few days just driving around on a motorbike to some of the local sights. The roads are nicely paved and the scenery is amazing. One day we went piranha fishing. Yeah, you heard me. A friendly english guy (I think his name was Dave) came up with the genius idea of throwing a bunch of piranhas in a pond, and charging people to fish there. There are actually now 17 kinds of fish in there, but we ... read more