I was very anxious to make it to the Philippines… mainly to visit the city of El Nido on the island of Palawan… the only issue with El Nido is that getting there takes some time as you can only get there by A) flying into the city of Coron on Busuanga island and then catching an 8 hour ferry to El Nido or B) Flying to Puerto Princessa and then taking an 8 hour jeepney ride from there to El Nido. We opted to fly into Coron as the town has its own attractions and a 8 hour boat ride seemed more scenic than 8 hours stuffed in a Jeepney driving from Puerto Princesa to El Nido. Coron Flying into Coron and looking out the window you got a good vibe about the place. As ... read more

1st things 1st I’m glad that we actually gave Railay a chance… the Similan Islands are a tough act to follow for darn near any beach destination but Railay drew the short straw and initially got a poor reception from us… I would say it initially earned a firm C-… to set the scene: Railay has two separate crescent shaped bays with a sliver of land in between them, one side is the “backpacker” side and the other side is the “Resort” side… class warfare at its finest. We arrived on the “backpacker” side in a longtail boat and found that the backpacker side did not actually have a beach at all… the boat pulled into mangroves and because the bay was shallow, we had to jump out of the boat into the brown water and ... read more

After leaving Phi Phi we made our way to Khao Lak, which would be our jumping off point to Surin Islands National Park. Surin Island NP is made up of 5 separate islands but visitors are only allowed to stay overnight on one island. Accommodations are limited to either renting a bungalow or a tent from the parks service, both of which are very basic. We rented a fan bungalow but don’t let the term bungalow lure you into thinking it was the lap of luxury or anything. The room was pretty basic and we only had electricity in shifts during certain hours which helped to make nighttime interesting … but more on that later. The Surin Islands Initial impression… the Surin Islands are beautiful (I don’t use that word much). As our boat approached the ... read more

After visiting Varanasi we packed up the circus and headed for our next destination, New Delhi. Although we had originally flown into Delhi we had only stayed there a few hours (just long enough to catch a train) so this would be new territory for us… but first we had to make it there. Getting to Delhi basically required us to retrace both train trips we had taken prior (Delhi-Agra, Agra-Varanasi) but as one very long overnight train. After the missing bag incident and people wandering the train on our Agra-Varanasi leg we opted to get a first class ticket because each berth has hard doors (as opposed to a curtain) and would allow a pessimist of my stature some peace of mind. We reported to Varanasi train station in time for our 3:00 pm train ... read more

As someone who loves to travel I also love just listening to other people's travel stories and tales from the road. Through listening to the travel stories of others I have heard tales of different destinations as past travelers are usually all too happy to tell you how great a destination is and what you MUST do there. Over time I have noticed one exception to this rule… the nation of India. When listening to those who have visited India, any reviews of the nation are almost universally preceded by a disclaimer from past travelers who seem anxious to portray the nation in an accurate light, while at the same time not discouraging prospective travelers from visiting for themselves. I guess we were undeterred because we included India in our itinerary, largely to experience the Taj ... read more