And so it almost comes a full circle. Some 23 months ago, on the fifth day of my Southeast Asian adventure, I crossed the straits from Eastern Java to Bali and arrived in Kuta. 23 months later, and nearing the end of my two year sojourn, I'm back again on the island paradise. Finishing off from the Visayas in Central Philippines, I took the flight back home for a quick week's break in Singapore, before heading back to beautiful Bali. This time though I came with a more defined agenda -- a good friend was getting married. While both bride and groom are from Singapore, they'd decided to hold the wedding reception in Bali. And who could blame them? If there were a more idyllic location within a few hours flight from Singapore, well I don't ... read more

I guess I shouldn't have remarked that I hadn't taken much land transportation yet in the Visayas. Having made a somewhat last minute decision to make a long detour to a somewhat remote beach on the Southwestern coast of Negros, it was an exhausting 6h+ journey from Bais to my next destination, Sugar Beach, just a few kilometres north of the closest town of Sipalay. And when I say exhausting, I mean 2h standing-room alone Ceres bus ride (Bais-Kabankalan), 2x jeepney (Kabankalan-Inayauan-Montilla), tricycle ride (Montilla-Nauhang) and finally paddle boat ride across a tidal river to Sugar Beach, then 10 min hike with all my gear on the sandy beach-exhausting! Ok, I've taken longer and worse journeys before (the 16h train ride from Mandalay to Katha in Myanmar and 18h trans-Sumatran bus ride from Bukittingi to Parapet ... read more

And with some tinge of sadness, I said goodbye to the pretty beach of San Juan, Siquijor, and made the short 1h ferry ride to the Southeastern edge of the large Visayan island of Negros, where the university town of Dumaguete was my first port of call. Centred around Silliman University, Dumaguete certainly looks the part -- uniformed and youngish-looking students everywhere, with green, grassy fields and tree-lined boulevards in and around campus, flanked by cozy, stylish cafes. While the university itself seems neither particularly grand nor architecturally-impressive, it surely imparts a very collegial feel, and of course offers yet another variation of a typical Visayan city. Dumaguete serves up the additional bonus of a coastal promenade that overlooks the bangka-dotted sea, complete with evening-strolling locals and playing kids, thus offerring yet a glimpse into Negros ... read more

Moving on from Cebu, it was a 2h fastcraft to the neighbouring island of Bohol, where its capital Tagbilaran would be my staging area. Tagbilaran might as well be tricycle capital of all of Philippines, with its innumerous noisy critters scooting around what really isn't that big a town to begin with. I'm not quite sure why there seems to be a particularly high concentration of tricycles here, considering the population isn't that great, given the size of the island. But anyway, pretty much everyone who comes to Bohol has two things in mind -- the Chocolate Hills and tarsiers. The Chocolate Hills are a scattering of some 1200 regularly-shaped and roughly even height mounds in central Bohol, which were supposedly formed by the uplift of coral deposits and the action of rainwater and erosion, though ... read more

And so with my fresh new 14-day visa in hand, it was time to start heading back to the capital. But first not without a layover at my third stop in the this mini-Isaan adventure of mine. Just a short 1h bus ride away from the Mekhong, and I found myself in Udon Thani. Like Nong Khai, truth is this was in fact not exactly my first time in Udon. For my Laos trip seven years ago, I'd landed in Udon airport, but was bussed directly to the Friendship bridge. So yes I'd seen the airport, but that was pretty much it. This time though I had a little more time to spend exploring the place. Udon isn't a particularly popular destination for cultural buffs, though it is home to a sizeable population of retired Western ... read more