The pace of the trip has definitely picked up over the past week or so. We are currently in Malaysia, but tomorrow (Monday) we are leaving for Thailand. Thursday we left Kuala Lumpur at 3:30pm by bus to head to the Cameron Highlands. We arrived in the town of Tanah Rata at 9pm, and pretty much crashed. Friday morning we did a half day countryside tour of; the rose centre, bee farm, strawberry farm (which was excellent, I even had a strawberry waffle!), the famous boh tea plantations/factory, butterfly museum and a Bhuddist temple. It was great to see some of the sites that the Cameron Highlands are well known for. The town of Tanah Rata is pretty small, basically one long street, so we were able to walk around and shop and experience some delicious food! Saturday morning we took another bus (yes, these bus trips are common!) to Butterworth (located in the north-west area of Malaysia). This trip took about 5 hrs, but since we decided to upgrade from crappy buses to a VIP bus (which only cost one canadian dollar more), the ride was much more comfortable. From Butterworth, we took a ferry to the town of Georgetown, which is the capital of the island called Penang. Georgetown is a very pleasant place, as there are so many tourists here, especially around the area of our hostel. Last night (Saturday) we went to a food market for dinner, and had some great Japanese food - for only $3 CDN! Today we went to the local market which only occurs on the last Sunday of every month, where Melissa bought a few small items, namely a wallet, photo album and a dress. We also took a city bus to a nearby beach and hung out there and had some beers.
Tomorrow at 5am we are leaving for Thailand. The total time of the trek is approximately 12 hours (10 by bus, 2 by ferry). The place where we are headed to is called Ko Samui, which is an island full of beach resorts, and is at the southern part of the country. I am really looking forward to relaxing for the next 4 or 5 days here, as much of the trip, especially recently, has been go-go-go. Also, we haven't had too much beach time yet, so it will be a nice change of pace.
I am getting much more used to the South-East Asian way of life. It has taken a while to get into the swing of things and get comfortable with the culture, food, and the everyday life, but I feel like now, I am starting to really enjoy myself. Luckily there are still 4 weeks left of the trip for this!!!!
I'll keep the posts coming...
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
the days just fly by - Darryl
The three days we spent in Singapore were amazing! It's hard to describe Singapore. I feel like it is so westernized, but has such a unique culture at the same time. High end shopping malls and shopping centres, and fast food restaurants like McDonalds, KFC, Burger King are so popular in Singapore. Yet they have some sights that are just so unreal, it sometimes felt like we were in a fantasy world. The Clarke Quay is a very posh area with lots of restaurants, bars and shops on either side of the Singapore River. At night time, this seems like the place to be whether you are a tourist or a local citizen. The view of the river with all of the storefront lights made this a very desireable location. We also visited Sentosa Island which is located just south of Singapore. Sentosa has 3 man-made beaches, an aquarium and Universal Studios is currently being built here, slated to open in 2010. This island can be accessed via coach bus, mono rail or even cable cars! Sentosa Island is going to be a zoo once Universal Studios opens, as it was packed the day we were here, and that was a Monday! Melissa and I also checked out the Singapore Zoo. This is in the suburbs in North Singapore. The zoo is well well known world wide, however, we both agreed that we think that the Toronto Zoo is better. Still, getting a chance to see different types of animals made this a worthwhile trip. The zoo is much more compact and intimate than Toronto, so we felt like we were much closer to all of the animals.
The other night we took an overnight train from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The train ride took about 8 hours, and so we arrived around 6:00am yesterday. We spent most of the afternoon touring around KL. We saw the Petronas Towers, the largest twin towers in the world. That was really neat, and the view from the park across the street allowed us to take some great photos! We stopped and had some beers at a bar that was voted "Number One Bar in Asia". KL has a much different feel than Singapore. I think that KL is currently in the midst of becoming a "modern city", as they have most of the features of a Westernized city. Overall, KL has offered us some great sites, and some intense markets! We are leaving in a few hours to go to the Cameron Highlands, which is well known for its nearby jungles, and strawberry and tea fields.
Stay tuned...
The other night we took an overnight train from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The train ride took about 8 hours, and so we arrived around 6:00am yesterday. We spent most of the afternoon touring around KL. We saw the Petronas Towers, the largest twin towers in the world. That was really neat, and the view from the park across the street allowed us to take some great photos! We stopped and had some beers at a bar that was voted "Number One Bar in Asia". KL has a much different feel than Singapore. I think that KL is currently in the midst of becoming a "modern city", as they have most of the features of a Westernized city. Overall, KL has offered us some great sites, and some intense markets! We are leaving in a few hours to go to the Cameron Highlands, which is well known for its nearby jungles, and strawberry and tea fields.
Stay tuned...
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Where the World takes us... from Melissa
So here we are in Singapore, getting to where we are now was not all that easy...
things don't seem to be working out as smoothly as I would have liked, but we are rolling with the punches and enjoying our time in the countries.
I loved the underground river cave tour in Sabang, Palawan, Philippines (the Earth Science loser coming out in me) and I was really happy to be sharing my love of caves, wild animals flying at you and a sense of adventure with D.
Our island hopping tour was interrupted by some strong monsoon rains however feeding the fish while videotaping them underwater was crazy, I couldn't get over how many were there right in front of me surrounding us.
We got to walk the beaches, found so many star fish both alive and dead, crabs of all different shapes, sizes and colours and I have never seen so many sand dollars in my life on one beach!!! Even though it wasn't sunny and it rained on us the nature of it all was so beautiful and how can I forget about the swarms of GIANT blue jelly fish, loved it. Nature at its best.
I love feeling like a kid, chasing the craps down the beach, hunting for starfish and forcing D to touch them and most of all I enjoy having Darryl think that I am a huge loser for celebrating like a 5 yr old on Christmas morning every time I found a new animal to show him.
And now we are in Singapore... yes that's right not Cambodia as we had originally planned....
We realized about about a week ago that flights to Cambodia from the Phils were too overpriced, so being the cheap folks that we are we opted for the cheapest flight to Singapore, arriving at midnight on July 18/19
by the time we got to our hostel it was 1am and we found out that the women had given away our reservation....
so at 130am on a Saturday night, while stuck in Chinatown of Singapore we rushed around trying to find a room that was a) available b) open c) cheap (in Singapore standards)
we were in luck a bar/hostel just 4 blocks away could take us and it was worked out well, thankfully
Singapore is clean, very nice and expensive in comparison to countries surrounding it. Staying in Chinatown is awesome, so much good food surrounding us and the MRT lines are fast, cheap and so easy to us. We went to Raffles hotel today, where the original Singapore sling was creating, we enjoyed one at the famous Long Bar (please dont ask the price for one here cause we are too embarrassed to tell you) but it was worth it. We mainly walked around today, tonight we are heading to the posh, and popular Clark's Quay for some drinks (D really wants to go to Hooters, the only one in Asia)
Tomorrow we are headed to Sentosa Island here in Sing, and the next day we are probably hitting up the zoo.
On the 21st we are headed on an overnight train to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We think we are then going to make our way up north through Malaysia, Thailand (yes I am returning, just couldn't resist), then possibly overland to Cambodia, or flying whichever is cheaper.
We will probably axe Laos due to the cost of the visa ($35US) and D really wants to axe Indonesia due to its geographical location however being such a good boyfriend he expected my pouts and he has agreed to go (for now) as our last stop......
so that's the update...
I need a drink, too much typing
night
things don't seem to be working out as smoothly as I would have liked, but we are rolling with the punches and enjoying our time in the countries.
I loved the underground river cave tour in Sabang, Palawan, Philippines (the Earth Science loser coming out in me) and I was really happy to be sharing my love of caves, wild animals flying at you and a sense of adventure with D.
Our island hopping tour was interrupted by some strong monsoon rains however feeding the fish while videotaping them underwater was crazy, I couldn't get over how many were there right in front of me surrounding us.
We got to walk the beaches, found so many star fish both alive and dead, crabs of all different shapes, sizes and colours and I have never seen so many sand dollars in my life on one beach!!! Even though it wasn't sunny and it rained on us the nature of it all was so beautiful and how can I forget about the swarms of GIANT blue jelly fish, loved it. Nature at its best.
I love feeling like a kid, chasing the craps down the beach, hunting for starfish and forcing D to touch them and most of all I enjoy having Darryl think that I am a huge loser for celebrating like a 5 yr old on Christmas morning every time I found a new animal to show him.
And now we are in Singapore... yes that's right not Cambodia as we had originally planned....
We realized about about a week ago that flights to Cambodia from the Phils were too overpriced, so being the cheap folks that we are we opted for the cheapest flight to Singapore, arriving at midnight on July 18/19
by the time we got to our hostel it was 1am and we found out that the women had given away our reservation....
so at 130am on a Saturday night, while stuck in Chinatown of Singapore we rushed around trying to find a room that was a) available b) open c) cheap (in Singapore standards)
we were in luck a bar/hostel just 4 blocks away could take us and it was worked out well, thankfully
Singapore is clean, very nice and expensive in comparison to countries surrounding it. Staying in Chinatown is awesome, so much good food surrounding us and the MRT lines are fast, cheap and so easy to us. We went to Raffles hotel today, where the original Singapore sling was creating, we enjoyed one at the famous Long Bar (please dont ask the price for one here cause we are too embarrassed to tell you) but it was worth it. We mainly walked around today, tonight we are heading to the posh, and popular Clark's Quay for some drinks (D really wants to go to Hooters, the only one in Asia)
Tomorrow we are headed to Sentosa Island here in Sing, and the next day we are probably hitting up the zoo.
On the 21st we are headed on an overnight train to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We think we are then going to make our way up north through Malaysia, Thailand (yes I am returning, just couldn't resist), then possibly overland to Cambodia, or flying whichever is cheaper.
We will probably axe Laos due to the cost of the visa ($35US) and D really wants to axe Indonesia due to its geographical location however being such a good boyfriend he expected my pouts and he has agreed to go (for now) as our last stop......
so that's the update...
I need a drink, too much typing
night
Second Round of Blogs - Darryl
After we hit North Philippines, we took an overnight bus back to Manila in order to get a flight to the Palawan Islands (South East Philippines). We arrived on Tuesday evening, and stayed in Puerto Princesa until Saturday. It was nice and relaxing, and we got to finally experience a few tours while we were there.
On Thursday, we did a Subterranean River Cave tour that was amazing. This is a world renowned site that is dubbed as the 8th wonder of the world. The climatic point of the tour was the 45 minute paddle boat ride that we took inside an 8km cave. While our portion only included going 1.3 km deep, it was still an adventure to say the least! So many bats flying around like crazy, and drips of water coming from the ceiling of the cave, all while only having a spot light at the front of the boat guiding us through!
Friday we took the Island Hopping Tour which allowed us to visit 3 different islands within the Palawan Islands. Each island took about 30 mins by boat to get to, but at each of the three sites, we were able to swim. We also rented a mask and snorkel and bought some bread in order to feed the fish, and be able to swim with them under water. This was really cool, especially when bread was dropped in the water, it was a fight for who could get to the bread the fastest! Although the weather didn't really cooperate (it poured rain for about a good hour or two), and was cloudy for the rest of the day, it was a really neat experience.
Saturday we left Palawan Islands to head back to Manila, in order to catch our flight to Singapore. We didn't arrive in Singapore until just before midnight Saturday night. Today (Sunday), Melissa and I toured the city, mostly by walking, and a bit by the MRT (subway system). We both really like Singapore a lot. I had heard many good things about Singapore before arriving, but I have been really impressed with what I have seen so far. The city is rediculously clean, with so many buildings that have crazy architectural designs! Parks, shopping centres, the Singapore River (which cuts the city in half) and many historical buildings are just some of the few things that we got to see today. Did you know that chewing gum/selling gum is illegal here?? No wonder the city is so clean! The MRT system is intense and efficient. The subway was packed today when we were on it, and that was a Sunday afternoon - I wouldn't even want to imagine what it would be like during rush hour on a weekday!
Anyways, that is enough blogging for one day. I will keep the thoughts coming as they roll off me!
On Thursday, we did a Subterranean River Cave tour that was amazing. This is a world renowned site that is dubbed as the 8th wonder of the world. The climatic point of the tour was the 45 minute paddle boat ride that we took inside an 8km cave. While our portion only included going 1.3 km deep, it was still an adventure to say the least! So many bats flying around like crazy, and drips of water coming from the ceiling of the cave, all while only having a spot light at the front of the boat guiding us through!
Friday we took the Island Hopping Tour which allowed us to visit 3 different islands within the Palawan Islands. Each island took about 30 mins by boat to get to, but at each of the three sites, we were able to swim. We also rented a mask and snorkel and bought some bread in order to feed the fish, and be able to swim with them under water. This was really cool, especially when bread was dropped in the water, it was a fight for who could get to the bread the fastest! Although the weather didn't really cooperate (it poured rain for about a good hour or two), and was cloudy for the rest of the day, it was a really neat experience.
Saturday we left Palawan Islands to head back to Manila, in order to catch our flight to Singapore. We didn't arrive in Singapore until just before midnight Saturday night. Today (Sunday), Melissa and I toured the city, mostly by walking, and a bit by the MRT (subway system). We both really like Singapore a lot. I had heard many good things about Singapore before arriving, but I have been really impressed with what I have seen so far. The city is rediculously clean, with so many buildings that have crazy architectural designs! Parks, shopping centres, the Singapore River (which cuts the city in half) and many historical buildings are just some of the few things that we got to see today. Did you know that chewing gum/selling gum is illegal here?? No wonder the city is so clean! The MRT system is intense and efficient. The subway was packed today when we were on it, and that was a Sunday afternoon - I wouldn't even want to imagine what it would be like during rush hour on a weekday!
Anyways, that is enough blogging for one day. I will keep the thoughts coming as they roll off me!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
First Impressions of Philippines - Darryl
Ok, so I have never done one of these blogs before, but I'll give it a shot. The first week of this trip has provided me with the biggest culture shock that I have ever experienced. I'm the kind of person that likes visiting different cities and checking out tourist sights. Manila, our first destination in the Philippines was such a different city than I had anticipated. I knew it was a really populous place (11 million +), but didn't really know too much else. Was I in for a shock. I guess since I have never travelled to this part of the world, and have only visited large American/European cities I should have been more prepared. It was astonishing how crowded the streets were with people walking up and down the streets because there is no room on the sidewalks. Houses are built literally on top of each other in order to jam as many people as possible into the city. All vehicles use diesel due to its low cost, which pollutes the air, and makes just walking down the street a chore! I definitely was not ready for that aspect of the city, that's for sure!
Manila seems like the kind of city that you have to be there for longer than a few days to really get an appreciation for what it offers. Since we were only there for two days, we unfortunately did not have this luxury. We checked out a few of the "suggested places to visit"; the Rizal Park and the Mall of Asia.
The overnight bus ride from Manila to Banaue was long, but at the same time, I tried to stay awake as much as possible to view the landscape we were passing by. It seems like everyone in the country never sleeps, as in countless towns we passed by, people were always sitting outside of their houses - even at 3 or 4am! The Banaue hostel we stayed at was very nice, and our room had an amazing view of the world famous Rice Terraces (a World Heritage Site). They had a restaurant on the main floor of the hostel which really came in handy. Banaue is a town of a couple thousand people, primarily of indigenous background. This was another culture shock for myself personally to see the way they go about their daily lives. It is a very tight-knit community and everyone was really friendly to Melissa and I when we were walking around. Everyone would say hello, and ask where we were visiting from.
Now were are in Bagio - a 9 hour bus ride from Banaue. This is a city of 250,000, many of which are university students as there is a large university right in the city. We just arrived in Bagio about a few hours ago, and while it is raining right now, there are tons of people - mainly students - walking around doing shopping. Bagio has a much different feel from Manila. It appears as if it is much more upscale, clean, and energetic, but these are just my first impressions!
Stay tuned to the blog.
Manila seems like the kind of city that you have to be there for longer than a few days to really get an appreciation for what it offers. Since we were only there for two days, we unfortunately did not have this luxury. We checked out a few of the "suggested places to visit"; the Rizal Park and the Mall of Asia.
The overnight bus ride from Manila to Banaue was long, but at the same time, I tried to stay awake as much as possible to view the landscape we were passing by. It seems like everyone in the country never sleeps, as in countless towns we passed by, people were always sitting outside of their houses - even at 3 or 4am! The Banaue hostel we stayed at was very nice, and our room had an amazing view of the world famous Rice Terraces (a World Heritage Site). They had a restaurant on the main floor of the hostel which really came in handy. Banaue is a town of a couple thousand people, primarily of indigenous background. This was another culture shock for myself personally to see the way they go about their daily lives. It is a very tight-knit community and everyone was really friendly to Melissa and I when we were walking around. Everyone would say hello, and ask where we were visiting from.
Now were are in Bagio - a 9 hour bus ride from Banaue. This is a city of 250,000, many of which are university students as there is a large university right in the city. We just arrived in Bagio about a few hours ago, and while it is raining right now, there are tons of people - mainly students - walking around doing shopping. Bagio has a much different feel from Manila. It appears as if it is much more upscale, clean, and energetic, but these are just my first impressions!
Stay tuned to the blog.
Manila, Banaue, Baguio from Melissa
So it has been less than a week now and my Mom is demanding a blog entry....
We arrived in Manila late on July 7, it was surprising less humid than Bangkok and less busy.
I was unfortunately mildly disappointed with Manila as a whole, there isn't too much to do, our hostel was overpriced and dingy and the weather is hot and cloudy. We went to the Mall of Asia (yes all you GYN people laugh at me, i know i know) it is the largest mall around, or so they say. It has an olympic sized ice rink, and we learned they play hockey here in the Philippines...
Manila is very westernized, mostly everyone speaks English and a lot of the people were dressed nicer than I, you can find almost very north american retail chain in Manila.
We couldn't get out of Manila (population 11.2 million) faster, we decided to head North to Banaue's rice terraces, (population 2700) it was recommended by my Aunt and the lady who sat beside use for the 18 hours in flight from Detroit.
It was picture perfect, the weather beautiful, our room overlooked the rice terraces and you fell asleep at night to the sound of the river below.
We walked or trekked you might call it (for all you team Thailand people) the 4 kms uphill (both ways of course) to the view point, during our walk we were harassed to pay for a moto ride up or go on a tour but being the penny pinchers we are we took the stroll on our own, being so we met a nice lady and her daughter from China on our way back to the lodge and we grabbed a San Miguel beer overlooking the terraces after our hike. (the daughter only had juice of course)
This town really represented a true cultural experience for me and for Darryl, I realized that I have become more desensitized to culture shock over the years of volunteer travelling and I am glad to see Darryl take it all in with new eyes.
SO we all know I have travelled, and I have been on some pretty sketchy modes of transportation but the last 2 buses, including a 10 hr and 9 hr bus ride here in the Philippines have been some of the biggest pieces of strap metal I have ever travelled in.
Today we left Banaue at 630am to head to Baguio, of course there isn't aircon, but thats ok we are in the mountains, and of course the door to the bus can NOT shut for the entire 9 hrs because it is broken, however it does make it easier for our red tobacco chewing bus driver and employees to spit every 5 minutes out the door, but then it starts to rain but the windshield whipper (singular) doesn't exactly work, and the engine is overheating so he cant put the bus into 3rd gear and as I watch the engine light continuously register in the hot zone I also realize the speedometer doesnt move past 0....
BUT we made it!! a ride that is only suppose to take 6.5 hrs turned into 9, but we are here in Baguio for 1 night and I really like this city (population approx 300,000) mostly university students, it's raining but the streets are still filled with vendors and shoppers and I am liking the vibe this city has, we are 1500m above sea level, very foggy and much cooler by Philippine standards.
We leave here tomorrow, head back to Manila to catch our 45min flight to Palawan, Philippines.
Overall we have been getting up between 5 and 6am daily!! yes, I know I am not a morning person, but for some reason jet lag really got me this time and the rooster is following me...
We arrived in Manila late on July 7, it was surprising less humid than Bangkok and less busy.
I was unfortunately mildly disappointed with Manila as a whole, there isn't too much to do, our hostel was overpriced and dingy and the weather is hot and cloudy. We went to the Mall of Asia (yes all you GYN people laugh at me, i know i know) it is the largest mall around, or so they say. It has an olympic sized ice rink, and we learned they play hockey here in the Philippines...
Manila is very westernized, mostly everyone speaks English and a lot of the people were dressed nicer than I, you can find almost very north american retail chain in Manila.
We couldn't get out of Manila (population 11.2 million) faster, we decided to head North to Banaue's rice terraces, (population 2700) it was recommended by my Aunt and the lady who sat beside use for the 18 hours in flight from Detroit.
It was picture perfect, the weather beautiful, our room overlooked the rice terraces and you fell asleep at night to the sound of the river below.
We walked or trekked you might call it (for all you team Thailand people) the 4 kms uphill (both ways of course) to the view point, during our walk we were harassed to pay for a moto ride up or go on a tour but being the penny pinchers we are we took the stroll on our own, being so we met a nice lady and her daughter from China on our way back to the lodge and we grabbed a San Miguel beer overlooking the terraces after our hike. (the daughter only had juice of course)
This town really represented a true cultural experience for me and for Darryl, I realized that I have become more desensitized to culture shock over the years of volunteer travelling and I am glad to see Darryl take it all in with new eyes.
SO we all know I have travelled, and I have been on some pretty sketchy modes of transportation but the last 2 buses, including a 10 hr and 9 hr bus ride here in the Philippines have been some of the biggest pieces of strap metal I have ever travelled in.
Today we left Banaue at 630am to head to Baguio, of course there isn't aircon, but thats ok we are in the mountains, and of course the door to the bus can NOT shut for the entire 9 hrs because it is broken, however it does make it easier for our red tobacco chewing bus driver and employees to spit every 5 minutes out the door, but then it starts to rain but the windshield whipper (singular) doesn't exactly work, and the engine is overheating so he cant put the bus into 3rd gear and as I watch the engine light continuously register in the hot zone I also realize the speedometer doesnt move past 0....
BUT we made it!! a ride that is only suppose to take 6.5 hrs turned into 9, but we are here in Baguio for 1 night and I really like this city (population approx 300,000) mostly university students, it's raining but the streets are still filled with vendors and shoppers and I am liking the vibe this city has, we are 1500m above sea level, very foggy and much cooler by Philippine standards.
We leave here tomorrow, head back to Manila to catch our 45min flight to Palawan, Philippines.
Overall we have been getting up between 5 and 6am daily!! yes, I know I am not a morning person, but for some reason jet lag really got me this time and the rooster is following me...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
