Oslo - Berlin - Munich - THAILAND: Bangkok - Pranburi - Koh Phi-Phi - Ao Nang - MALAYSIA: Kuala Lumpur - INDONESIA (Java): Jakarta - Yogyakarta - Cemoro Lawang/Bromo - INDONESIA (Bali): Kuta - Nusa Lembongan - Padangbai - Tulamben - Ubud - Kuta - MALAYSIA: Kuala Lumpur.
#2: An unfortunate incident...
MALAYSIA: Kuala Lumpur - Cameron Higlands/Tanah Rata - Ipoh - Kuala Lumpur - THAILAND: Phuket.
#3: Finally in the Philippines...
THAILAND: Phuket - Koh Phi-Phi - Phuket - Koh Phi-Phi - Bangkok - PHILIPPINES: Manila - Banaue - Manila - Purto Princesa - Icadambanuan Island - El Nido - Coron - Manila - Legaspi - Donsol - Makepascua Island - Tagbilaran.
#4: Back in Europe
PHILIPPINES: Tagbilaran - Alona Beach - Dumaguete - Punta Ballo - Dumaguete - La Carlota - Bacolod - Dumaguete - Moalboal - Cebu City - SINGAPORE - MALAYSIA: Kuala Lumpur - THAILAND: Bangkok - GERMANY: Berlin - NORWAY: Oslo.
Back in Asia...Again! Travel mail #1
18/09-04/11 2007
Oslo - Berlin - Munich - THAILAND: Bangkok - Pranburi - Koh Phi-Phi - Ao Nang - MALAYSIA: Kuala Lumpur - INDONESIA (Java): Jakarta - Yogyakarta - Cemoro Lawang/Bromo - INDONESIA (Bali): Kuta - Nusa Lembongan - Padangbai - Tulamben - Ubud - Kuta - MALAYSIA: Kuala Lumpur.
Click here to see interactive Google map of the area covered in this travel
diary.
New e-mail: My old e-mail are no longer in use due to excessive spam mails (~100 per day!). I might have missed some mails to this e-mail for this reason. To get my new e-mail look at the contact page.
Back in South-East Asia after a little more than 2 years in Europe. Lydia has now finished her psychology studies in Berlin and I have been working for Accenture in Oslo/Stockholm. Not too much traveling the last years other than the usual Oslo-Berlin trips, but now we are back in Asia...again.
We were very late booking the flights, but we still managed to get cheap flights to Bangkok flying with Mahan Air via Khomeini Airport in Teheran. Then, only 3 days before departure, we got the message that Mahan Air was added to EU's black list, meaning that they could no longer fly in or out of Europe. We bought new tickets the same day, it cost us a little bit more, but now Lydia did not have to wear a headscarf in the plane.
We had little time in Bangkok since we had a hotel reservation in Hua Hin the next day, but the main impression was that the city had not changed much; at least the Khao San road area was the same hot and spicy mix of guesthouses, restaurants of all flavors, noisy tuk-tuks, Thais wanting to sell you something and sweaty tourists adjusting to all this.
The next morning we were on our way to Evason Hideaway Hua Hin. So what brings us from a small EUR 6 Guesthouse without bathroom in Kao San Road to a fancy 5 star EUR 300 room with own private swimming pool? Janne had won a 3 days stay at the hotel, but the voucher expired in September 2007, so she gave it to us. Our Pool Villa was 248m2 and came with private swimming pool, outdoor bathtub, two showers (one outside), butler, wireless internet, complimentary breakfast and a large menu of DVDs and pillows. After 3 days of enjoying our own private luxury we went to Hua Hin to kill some time before taking the night bus to Koh Phi-Phi.
The trip down south was as usual: the bus ride was nice, but then they have all these stops where you just sit around waiting with no information about what is going to happen next. Due to too much waiting in Surathani (2,5hrs) we missed our ferry and had to do some more waiting (4hrs) before we took the next ferry out to Koh Phi-Phi. Luckily we met Monique and Patrick, a Dutch couple, with whom we were hanging out with for the next week. Being back on Phi-Phi is connected with mixed feelings, since we have both very bad and very good memories from this recovering paradise island. Phi-Phi is more or less back to its former "glory", but with less palm trees and more concrete. We did some diving with Sea Frog, the shop we have been working with before. It was nice to be back diving around the Bida islands, even though we did not see any Leopard Sharks this time. Other than diving we had some lazy days on the island, but not that much beach time as the daily rain showers reminded us that we were still in the rainy season.
Before heading to Malaysia we stayed some days in Ao Nang, a small beach town in Krabi. The weather was better than on Phi-Phi and we managed to get some sun on the beach and jellyfish stings in the water. One day we rented a tuk-tuk for a small excursion to the Fossil Shell Cemetery, a large area (200x50m on low tide) of stone plates covered with 75 million years old fossil shells. On our way back we stopped at a Marine research center that had pools and tanks with various aquatic species.
After almost 16 hours on the bus we arrived in the middle of the night in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. We checked one more guesthouse before going back to our usual place concluding that this is much less dirty and stinky, even though our room had "Helene and Alfredo were here March 2000" written in the dust of the roof lamp. In the 2 days before our plane was leaving for Indonesia we indulged in the simple pleasures of big city life: shopping malls (high tech heaven, I modified my PSP and filled up the memory stick with games), food (bakeries, Indian and Chinese) and cinema.
Jakarta is lacking the charm of most of the other capitals in South-East Asia, but we enjoyed it still, as we had a very nice afternoon with our friend Stephen and his family.
We were the only tourist on the night train from Jakarta to Yogyakarta, the artistic and intellectual center of Java. I did not sleep too much as the train was constantly stopping and picking up loud vendors selling everything from food to hand powered lights. After a long morning sleep in our nice little room with murals on the walls we were ready for some sightseeing. Prambanan was built in the 9th century and is the most grand Hindu temple complex in Java, featuring some 50 temple sites. The largest temple, the 47m tall Shiva Temple, is flanked by two of the areas other main buildings, the Vishnu and Brahma temples. Unfortunately the earthquake in 2006 destroyed parts of the restored temples and therefore it is no longer allowed to walk among and inside the main temples. After the visiting the temple we went to see the Ramayana Ballet with the illuminated Prambanan temples as an impressive backdrop. We watched the first of five acts of the ancient Hindu tale about Rama and Sintha with dancers and classic Javanese "pling-plong" music. The next morning we went to Borobudur, an impressive early 9th century Buddhist monument. The monument comprises six square platforms topped by three circular platforms, and is decorated with 2.672 relief panels (some of the most interesting tell the story of Buddha's former reincarnations) and 504 Buddha statues. A large dome is located at the center of the top platform, and is surrounded by 72 Buddha statues seated inside perforated stupas. On the way back we stop at another ancient Buddhist building, the Mendut Temple. We spent the last day walking around in Yogyakarta visiting the Sultan's Palace (not really too impressive; the low point was the exhibit with the Sultan's old kitchen appliances and the highlight was when the guide was singing all the instruments in the local orchestra) and the Water Castle (a crumbling ruin, but with nice views of the city).
We booked a trip to Bali via Mt. Bromo, so we were sitting the whole day in a mini-bus traveling to the cozy little village of Cemoro Lawang where we spent the night. Before 4:00am a jeep brought us up to see the sunrise at the Penanjakan viewpoint (2.770m). The view is spectacular! The landscape is formed by the massive ancient Tengger volcano (10km across). Within this lunar landscape lies the smoking volcano Mt. Bromo (2.329m), the inactive Kursi volcano (2.581m) and the perfectly coned mountain Batok (2.440m). The whole scenery is bathed in a "mystical" fog and completed by the impressive sight of Gunung Semeru (3.676m) erupting mushroom shaped smoke every 20 minutes. When the sun was up we went down to foot of Mt. Bromo. On top of the volcano, we walked around the smoking crater, a very rewarding 1 hour walk (including numerous photo breaks). I have been to Mt. Bromo before, but I enjoyed it even more this time as the highlights were the viewpoint and the walk around the crater, both things that I did not do on my previous trip to Java 11 years ago.
Arriving in Bali we stayed 2 days in Kuta eating good food, relaxing on the beach and strolling the vendor packed streets, before heading for Nusa Lembongan. Lembongan is the nicest of the 3 islands southwest of Bali. The main export of the island is seaweed and from elevated areas you can see the square seaweed fields in the crystal clear water all along the beach. The seaweed farming makes swimming and sunbathing not ideal, but some excellent white sand beaches can be reached either by foot or motorbike. We mostly had the beautiful Mushroom Bay beach for ourselves. But the beaches are not the only attraction of Lembongan, the island also has nice waves for surfing and more importantly great diving. The Mola Mola (Ocean Sunfish) is the heaviest bony fish in the world (average/max: Length: 1,8m3,3m. Weight: 1000kg/2300kg) and resembles a flattened fish head without a tail, but with large fins above and below the body. The fish are pelagic and spend a large portion of their lives at depths greater than 200m, but in July-November they come up to be cleaned from skin parasites by small reef fish. On our first dive trip we had no luck either seeing the Mola Mola's at Crystal Bay or the mantas at Manta Point, but the second trip we did 2 dives in Crystal Bay and saw 3 Mola Molas, one came really close. It is a really magical feeling to see these large and strange fish gliding through the water. We spend 8 days in Lembongan, we would have loved to stay longer, but with a 30 days visa only, we felt that we had to move on.
A small sailboat and a bemo took us to our next destination; Padangbai, a small village located on a small bay. It is the main port for ferries to Lombok, but due to time constraints we decided to stay in Bali. We spent one afternoon in the Blue Lagoon, a small beach with decent snorkeling and vicious stinging jelly fish. Due to lack of cash and ATMs in Padangbai we went to the next bigger city, Semarapura (also known as Klungkung), to take out some money and check out the sights which was basically the Kertha Gosa (Hall of Justice) and Bale Kambang (Floating Pavilion), both with detailed ceiling illustrations including grotesque descriptions of what happens to you if you do bad things, graphic battle scenes and Hindu rituals.
Our next stop was Tulamben, home of the most visited dive site on Bali; the US Liberty wreck. The 120m, 6.211 ton cargo ship was hit by a Japanese torpedo in 1942 and is now easily accessible from the beach at 5 to 30m depth. The wreck lays on its side and is covered with various pretty corals and home for countless fish including Great Barracuda, Humbhead Parrotfish, a large school of Big eye Trevally, Sting rays, Ghost Pipefish, Nudibranches and several species of Garden eel. The other dives sites in the Tulamben are also very interesting, a drop off and sloping sand/coral areas with good macro diving. Staying at Tulamben had two major advantages, it was really cheap (dive professionals with own equipment pay only USD 6 per dive including porter) and you could avoid the times when hordes of divers arrive on daytrips from all over Bali. The night of the full moon we were invited by one of the Divemasters to attend a Balinese Hindu ceremony. All the villagers gathered in the temple bringing offerings to the gods, to pray, eat, socialize and watch the dance performances. In the afternoon on our 5th day of diving we left Tulamben for Ubud, after 9 dives and more than 12 hours of underwater exploration.
Ubud is the artistic central of Bali and the roads into the city are covered with shops selling art/souvenirs for export. The first day we walked around in the city and visited the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary. The Monkey Forest is the home of about 340 Macaque monkeys and 3 Balinese temples. The monkeys are very used to people and while sitting down several young monkeys climbed on me, one gently nibbling my ear. We rented a scooter for two days and cruised the area. Besides the idyllic scenery with small villages, endless rice fields and typical Balinese temples we also visited the Goa Gajah Elephant Cave (a cave with carvings and a small Ganesh statue inside), Yeh Pulu (14th century carved bas-relief), The Blanco Renaissance Museum ("the Dali of Bali"), Neka Art Museum (Bali art collection) and Petulu Village (where White Herons nest in the trees).
Before flying back to Malaysia we spent 2 more days in Kuta. Some beach time and a little shopping were our only activities.
Since the turn of November we have been now in Kuala Lumpur, not really doing much, just walking around in the city, been to shopping malls, using the fast internet (even have a unsecured wireless net that kicks in every now and then in our room), finishing this travel diary and going to the cinema ("30 Days of Night" and "Stardust" are really cool movies).
We have booked a flight to the Philippines from Singapore to Cebu the 14th of November, so we are really looking forward to traveling around there and hope to find some work. Before that we will visit some places in Peninsula Malaysia, starting with Cameron Highlands.
I have posted 4 picture albums and 1 video from the period covered by this travel mail:
#1 Thailand: Pranburi, Koh Phi-Phi, Ao Nang.
#2 Indonesia: Java: Yogyakarta, Bromo.
#3 Indonesia: Bali: Lembongan, Padangbai, Tulamben, Ubud.
#4 Indonesia: Diving Bali: Lembongan, Tulamben.
Video: Dving Bali.
Updates from home, comments and greetings in Guestbook, e-mail or SMS (Lydia's mobile#: +49-1636806474) are highly appreciated.
That's it for now! Keep in touch!
:)
Helge & Lydia
An unfortunate incident... Travel mail
#2
05/11-31/12 2007
MALAYSIA: Kuala Lumpur - Cameron Higlands/Tanah Rata - Ipoh - Kuala Lumpur - THAILAND: Phuket.
Click here to see interactive Google map of the area covered in this travel diary.
There will be no extensive traveling, deserted beaches, cultural treasures, ancient temples or natural wonders in this travel e-mail. We had an unfortunate incident and as a result of this the mail will look more like a travel insurance report.
After 4 days in Kuala Lumpur we went to Tanah Rata in the Cameron Highlands. At 1.500m above sea level the Highlands are the highest area on the Malaysian mainland. It has a cool climate, with temperatures no higher than 25°C and rarely falling below 12°C. The first morning we headed out for a short trek in the surrounding jungle together with a British couple, Charlotte and Tom. On the way we met a local man that showed us around. We went through some steep hills in dense jungle to get down to Robinson Falls waterfall, walked around in the farming district and ended up in Cameron Bharat Tea Estate.
On the tea plantation Lydia slipped and fell unfortunately directly on her elbow. The impact was so strong that the elbow dislocated. The arm was in a weird position and the bones were moving around. We managed to get hold of a pickup and then hailed a taxi to the local hospital, where they did not have the expertise to handle the situation, so we went with an ambulance to the nearest larger city, Ipoh. In the Ipoh hospital they said that there was no need for an operation, so they pushed the bones back in place and put on a half cast. We spent one night in the hospital and Lydia was discharged the next day. When we were on our way back to Tanah Rata the arm went out of the joint again. We went back to the hospital, they put on a new cast and we headed back to Kuala Lumpur for a second opinion.
In the night the elbow dislocated again, so we went to a large private hospital (Tung Shin) that luckily was next door to our hotel. The surgeon saw right away that he had to operate ASAP, as the Radius bone was broken and the Radial head was displaced. Lydia was operated in the morning 8th of November. The surgeon put the bone together again by attaching a small metal plate with screws. He told us that the elbow was severely damaged with torn ligaments. The operation went well and Lydia stayed in the hospital for one week before being discharged.
We stayed the rest of the month in Kuala Lumpur. Lydia went to physical therapy, but other than that nothing much happened. The highlight of the week was when new movies were released at the cinema. Other than that we walked around in the city and the malls, visited the Aquaria KLCC and went up the KL Tower with Melissa and friends.
Right after the accident we were thinking about going home, but the more we thought about it, the less tempting it was to pay lots of money to go back for some months of darkness, cold and nothing really to do. So we needed a place were they had both good hospitals for Lydia and good diving for me. We decided on Phuket in Thailand.
When we arrived in Phuket's Patong beach the high season had just started. Still we managed to find a nice place for an acceptable price (~EUR 350 per month). We now have a cozy, fully furnished, centrally located air-con room with cable TV, fridge, WI-FI internet, hot shower and room service every day. We live very close to the new large Jungceylon shopping center, so it is convenient to go to the cinema or buy fresh bread and other groceries.
Lydia goes to physical therapy at the hospital in Patong and I am working for Scandinavian Divers. The diving is at Racha Yai, Shark Point/Anemone Reef/King Cruiser wreck and sometimes to Phi-Phi Island. Most of the instructor work is at Racha Yai. When the weather is good we go to the more interesting sites at Racha with nice visibility and good chances to see some cool underwater creatures.
Lydia's arm is much better already, even though the bone is not yet fully healed and the arm is not back to full range of motion. She will probably need another month of physical therapy to improve the movement.
We will probably stay in Phuket until mid February and then follow our original plan to go to the Philippines.
I have posted 2 picture albums from the period covered by this travel mail:
#5 Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur, Cameron Highlands.
#6 Thailand: Phuket.
With thanks for the old year and the best of wishes for 2008!
Updates from home, comments and greetings in Guestbook, e-mail or SMS (Thai mobile#: +66-857869334) are highly appreciated.
That's it for now! Keep in touch!
:)
Helge & Lydia
Finally in the Philippines... - Travel mail #3
01/01-03/04 2008
THAILAND: Phuket - Koh Phi-Phi - Phuket - Koh Phi-Phi - Bangkok - PHILIPPINES: Manila - Banaue - Manila - Purto Princesa - Icadambanuan Island - El Nido - Coron - Manila - Legaspi - Donsol - Malapascua Island - Tagbilaran.
Click here to see interactive Google map of the area covered in this travel diary.
Are now finally in the Philippines, but again things did not go according to plan. Lydia had to go home 18th of March as the cancer of her father is now getting worse. I will continue to travel in the Philippines and keep my flight to Singapore the 9th of May and then head to Bangkok for a return flight to Berlin 20th of May.
It has been a while now since my last mail. The first one and a half month into 2008 we stayed in Phuket, Lydia was doing her physical therapy and I was working and diving at Scandinavian Divers. One crazy thing happened to us there; the Guesthouse owner just left with our deposit money and without paying the staff, internet fee, electric bill etc. Luckily we had not paid for the full stay, so we did not loose that much. Others lost much more since the same guy had through his travel agency received payments for flights and hotels that he never booked. The good thing about the whole experience was that we got closer to the other people living in the place, we had BBQs and did our best to empty the bar that was left for us.
We also went to Koh Phi-Phi a couple of times to visit friends. For the first time we stayed in another place than Tonsai Bay; Ao Toh Koh Beach is a small beach on the east side of the island with only one backpacker resort. Great place to relax and snorkel. The second time we came to the island we celebrated Keira's birthday and I even did some freelance work.
Finally in the Philippines! This island nation was one of the few places we had not been in South-East Asia and one of the major reasons for going on this trip. We were especially looking forward to the many underwater treasures of the Philippines (about 30% of the tourists in the Philippines are divers for a reason). Our last effort to get here was stopped by Lydia's broken arm, but now...
We met Andreas on the airport in Manila. Andreas was a friend from Berlin that had come over to travel with us for 2 weeks. Manila is not that interesting really. We went sightseeing in Intramuros, a section of the city walled in by the Spanish in1571. The area has some nice churches and a fort. The walls are surrounded by the Club Intramuros Golf course.
After 10 hours in a night bus we arrived in Banaue the home of the World Heritage listed rice terraces. A beautiful mountain area, but unfortunately we were not so lucky with the weather; it was cold, foggy and rainy. Shortly after arriving in Banaue we were in a jeepney climbing up the bumpy road for trekking in Batad. When we returned to the jeepney, about 5 hours later, we were wet and tired, but happy. The Batad stone wall rice terraces are beautiful and impressive, especially considered that they were build 2000 years ago. Walking on the narrow path on top of the walled rice terraces was nerve wrecking at times and only the most eager of us made it all the way to Tappia Waterfall. The next day we just relaxed in Banaue. The fog and rain discouraged us from going up to the Banaue viewpoint. I went to the Museum of Cordilleran Sculpture, an interesting display of Ifugao art including some headhunter displays.
Back in Manila we had a couple of days to check out a few more sites in and around the city. Lake Taal is a volcanic lake outside Manila. The area is a part of the Taal Volcano and has 47 craters and 35 volcanic cones. We trekked up the main volcanic crater where we had great views of the lake and the lake inside the volcano (that itself was on an island on a lake. Got it? A lake within a lake!). The next day we went to the Chinese Cemetery in Manila. The cemetery feels more like a ghost town than a cemetery with it's many streets and house-like mausoleums in all shapes and sizes; one was 3 stories high, another had a crystal chandelier, several was shaped as houses of worship from different religions and many had running water, kitchen and toilets (more for the family visiting the grave, than for the dead spirits).
Puerto Princesa is the capital of the Palawan province and supposedly the cleanest city in the Philippines thanks to the popular Major and his strict anti littering laws and the fact that you can actually find a garbage bin on every corner. The city itself is not that exciting, but is the main entry point into Palawan (we flew), it has some nice places to eat and is a convenient base for a daytrip to the Subterranean River National Park. The Subterranean River is the longest navigable river-traversed tunnel in the world. The river is more than 8km in length, but the 45 minutes trip only took us about 5km in. The tunnel was impressive with bats, swiftlets, huge rooms and stalactites/stalagmites that resembled a wide range of shapes from dinosaurs to churches. The area outside the Subterranean River had a nice beach as well as plenty of large monitor lizards and Macaque monkeys.
Taytay is a small town on the east coast of Palawan. The Santa Isabel Fort was erected in 1667 and is a pretty cool and well preserved fort by the waterfront. But the main reason to go to Taytay is the nearby archipelago, well known for it's secluded islands and beaches. On most of these islands the only accommodation are expensive resorts, but Dilis Beach Resort on Icadambanuan Island has the luxury of your own private beach (only 5 rooms, but we were the only ones there) and great food (best in Philippines!) at a reasonable price. The owner, Frank, an ex Foreign Legion that is locally known as Mr. M-16 from occasions where the locals have tried to go fishing near his beach. We had a couple of lazy days of relaxing, snorkeling, sunbathing, eating, drinking and listening to Frank's colorful stories and opinions.
El Nido is famous for it's beautiful Bacuit Archipelago. The Archipelago is similar to Ha Long Bay (Vietnam) and Krabi (Thailand) with limestone islands, bays, lagoons and white-sand beaches. Island hopping trips are easily arranged from the village. We went mostly around Miniloc Island where we visited 3 beautiful lagoons, various equally beautiful beaches and did some ok snorkeling.
The next day we parted with Andreas and headed for some wreck diving in Coron. Unfortunately Lydia's father condition had gotten worse, so we had to spend the first day trying to find a flight back to Berlin for her. Not easy to find a reasonably priced flight at such short notice just before Easter. Most of the wrecks in Coron Bay are Japanese auxiliary ships sunk by American fighter planes on 24th of September 1944. The fleet was trying to hide in the bay after a devastating air strike in Manila Bay, but I guess they did not hide well enough. The depth of the wrecks in Coron (bottom at 25-45m) make them perfect for Nitrox diving (increase the dive time by increasing the percentage of oxygen in the tank), so we figured that this was the perfect place to get Nitrox certified. The diving in Coron was great! The wrecks are large and full of life, but the most impressive thing about the diving is the possibility to penetrate deep into the ships. A special feeling when you swim through a dark corridor of a large WW2 ship at the bottom of the ocean with streaks of light penetrating from pot holes and other openings. Our favorite wrecks was Irako (147m long Refrigerated provision ship) with it's deep penetration and Okikawa Maru (160m long Oil tanker) where you could swim trough the propeller shaft to be greeted by the impressive sight of the enormous rudder. After diving 5 of the 6 major wrecks in Coron we headed for Manila with the night ferry.
In Manila we had a final day together before Lydia had to go home. The plan was to do some shopping, but the plan did not materialize into much. This was supposed to be the trip where we explore the Philippines together, but due to a series of unfortunately events I am doing the rest of the trip alone. My visa was expiring, so the first thing I had to do after Lydia left was to renew my visa. As we were waiting for our visas to be finished I walked around in Chinatown and a market area with an American with Pilipino roots. Next I had a couple of days of doing nothing really. I did not want to go anywhere during Easter (the Philippines are mostly Catholics, so traveling and getting accommodation during Easter is difficult) and when I was in the area anyway I wanted to check out the freak show that gathers thousands of people every Good Friday to a small place called San Fernando. In San Fernando, Easter is not about cuddly Easter chickens, marzipan or relaxing in your holiday. It's about pain. Hundreds of people are walking the streets whipping their back bloody, but the main event is the reenactment of the Golgotha happening where the most dedicated get crucified to wooden crosses with real nails. According a Manila Times, 23 people was crucified, but I was "happy" after seeing 6.
Had a short stop-over in Legaspi, the provincial capital of Bicol. The town is seated at the foot of the very impressive Mt. Mayon, a 2462m high volcano that had 47 eruptions the last 400 years, most recently in 2001. The volcano looks really impressive, but unfortunately it was covered by clouds for most of the time. Cagsawa Ruins is a ruined church where, in 1814, the 1200 people seeking refugee from the erupting Mt. Mayon got buried alive by ash.
We had two underwater creatures that we really wanted to see on this trip. In Bali we were lucky to have a close encounter with the strange and large Mola Mola (Oceanic Sunfish) and in the Philippines we were hoping to see an even bigger fish, the Whale shark. So what better place to go than the self proclaimed Whale shark Capital of the World; Donsol. The whale shark is a harmless filter feeding shark and the largest fish in the world. There are claims that it can grow as big as 18m (or larger), but according to Wikipedia the largest confirmed specimen was 12,65m long (21,5 ton). During the 3 trips, of 3 hours each, we had 30 encounters with whale sharks (sizes were estimated to be between 6 and 10 meters). The slow pace of the sharks make it easy to keep up with them unless they dive down. It's a really special feeling to be snorkeling next to a 10m big shark!
Next I wanted to go to Southern Leyte to dive with the Whale shark (not allowed in Donsol), but a call revealed that they had not seen any the last two week, so I skipped Leyte and went straight for Cebu via an overnight ferry from Masbate.
Malapascua Island is a small island on the north tip of Cebu. It has very nice beaches, but the main attraction is the diving at Monad Shoal, one of the best places in the world to see the rare Thresher shark. Thresher shark is a large pelagic shark that can grow up to 5m (more typically 3-4m) and is easily recognizable by the long fin (1/3 of the body). During 5 dives at Monad Shoals I saw plenty of Thresher sharks, Manta rays and Devil rays. On one of the early morning dives we were only 4 people on the shoal and experienced Thresher and Manta swimming together as well as a very long and close encounter with a Thresher shark. This was one of my best dives ever and one of the best the dive guide ever had on Monad Shoal. I also had some nice dives at Gato Island (Cave, White-tip sharks, Cuttlefish, Seasnakes, Nudibranches) and Lapus-Lapus (swimming Frogfish, Nudibranches).
Are now in Tagbilaran, the capital of Bohol. Will spend some time in Bohol checking out the Chocolate Hills, the Tarsier reserve, the beaches and diving. After Bohol I will go to Negros and finally back Cebu. Fly to Singapore 9/5 and then to Berlin from Bangkok 20/5.
I have posted or added pictures to 6 picture albums from the period covered by this travel mail:
#6 Thailand: Phuket, Koh Phi-Phi.
#7 Diving Thailand: Phuket, Koh Phi-Phi.
#8 Philippines - Luzon: Manila, Banaue, San Fernando, Legaspi.
#9 Philippines - Palawan: Puerta Princesa, Icadambanuan Island, El Nido, Coron.
#10 Diving Philippines: Coron, Donsol, Malapascua Island.
#11 Philippines - Cebu: Malapascua Island.
I have also added 4 videos: Crucifixion Ceremony, Wreck Diving Coron, Donsol - Snorkeling with Whalesharks and Diving Malapascua.
Updates from home, comments and greetings in the Guestbook, e-mail or SMS (Pilipino mobile#: +63-9276025783) are highly appreciated.
That's it for now! Keep in touch!
:)
Helge & Lydia
Back in Europe - Travel mail #4
04/04-29/05 2008
PHILIPPINES: Tagbilaran - Alona Beach - Dumaguete - Punta Ballo - Dumaguete - La Carlota - Bacolod - Dumaguete - Moalboal - Cebu City - SINGAPORE - MALAYSIA: Kuala Lumpur - THAILAND: Bangkok - GERMANY: Berlin - NORWAY: Oslo.
Click here to see interactive Google map of the area covered in this travel diary.
When I wrote my last travel mail I was in Tagbilaran in Bohol. I will spare you the details of my visit to the hospital to fix my knee infection, but rather tell about Bohol's trademark attractions; the Tarsiers and Chocolate Hills. Tarsiers are small (~10 cm), furry primates that can be seen in the Tarsier Visitor Centre just outside Tagbilaran. The tarsiers look very weird, cute and cuddly with their huge eyes, long fingers and soft fur. They are difficult to spot in the wild, but the centre has a large fenced area where you can see them up close. The Chocolate Hills are 1.268 perfectly cone-shaped hills spread over an area of more than 50km2. The hills were formed by the uplift of coral deposits and the action of rain water and erosion. They are covered in green grass that turns brown during the dry season, but when I was there it looked more like the Mint Chocolate Hills.
Alona beach is Bohol's most famous beach, situated on Panglao Island just west of Tagbilaran. The area also has good diving. I did several dives at Balicasag Island with schools of Trevally/Barracuda, Turtles, Frogfish and a tiny Pygmy Seahorse and on Alona beach with plenty of macro life. When I was not diving I spent most of the time relaxing by the pool at my hotel.
My next island destination was Negros where I spent 3 weeks. Most of the time in Dumaguete, a nice little campus town with lots of great diving nearby. There are several great macro dive sites in the area with the highlight being Ducomi Pier. The pillars of the pier have nice corals and are a majestic view from below, but the main attraction are the small critters in the sand and on the pillars like various Nudibranches, Flatworms, Seahorses, Pipefish, Frogfish, Scorpionfish, Cuttlefish and large schools of Catfish, Batfish and Shrimpfish. Apo Island has strong currents and large stuff like schools of Trevally, Turtles, Humpheads, Seasnakes as well as Frogfish and Nudibranches. Also did some daytrips with motorbike to the Twin lakes, Malatapay (large market every Wednesday), Casarona Falls and Zoo Paradise World / Museum of Natural History and World Peace (a scabby zoo and a taxidermy exhibit with highlights like "Pig born with human head and one eye").
Punto Ballo is a small resort beach close to Sipalay on the west coast of Negros. I stayed in a nice little resort with a pool on the beach for a few days, but after being spoiled with great diving in the Philippines I was a bit disappointed about the diving there.
There are a lot of colorful festivals in the Philippines. The last weekend of April thousands of locals and one tourist (me!) gathered in La Carlota in the south of Negros for the annual Pasalamat Festival.
26 Dumaguete-La Carlota: 5,5hrs bus. CT Comfort Inn.
27 La Carlota: Pasalamat Festival Parade.
28 Bacolod: 1hr bus. Pension Barcolod. Pana-ad sa Negros Festival. Cinema: 88 Minutes / Shutter.
29 Barcolod-Dumaguete: 6hrs bus. Harold's Mansion. Cinema: Fool's Gold. Massage.
Philippines (Cebu)
03 Dumaguete-Moalboal: 1hr bus. 0,5hrs ferry. 2hrs bus. Clarita's Cottage & Resort.
04 Moalboal: Diving: Pescador Island (Green Turtle, 2*Frogfish) / House Reef (Green Turtle, Pipefish).
05 Moalboal: Diving: Talisay Point (Pipefish, Nudibranches).
06 Moalboal-Cebu: 2hrs bus. Teo-Fel Pension House. Cinema: The Forbidden Kingdom.
07 Cebu: Basilica Minor del Santos Nino. Fort San Pedro. Ayala Mall. Cinema: Iron Man.
08 Cebu: Cinema: Speed Racer.
09 Cebu-Singapore: Cinema: The Possessed. Magellan's Cross. Carbon Market. 3,5hrs flight. Betel Box Backpackers Hostel.
Singapore
10 Singapore: The Inn Crowd Backpackers Hostel.
11 Singapore: Sentosa Island: Southernmost Point of Continental Asia. Dolphin Lagoon. Underwater World Aquarium.
Malaysia
12 Singapore-Kuala Lumpur: 6hrs bus. Anuja Backpacker's Inn. Shopping malls.
13 Kuala Lumpur: Shopping: Campbell Complex / Pertama Complex: Music.
14 Kuala Lumpur: Shopping: Bukit Bintang Plaza: PS3, Imbi Plaza: Acer Aspire 4520 Laptop. ScubaZone (Plaza Berjaya): BCD.
15 Kuala Lumpur-Bangkok: 10+12hrs bus.
Thailand
16 Bangkok: Welcome Sawasdee Inn. Cinema: The Counterfeiters.
17 Bangkok: Chatujak Weekend Market: Bought large painting etc.
18 Bangkok: Thailand Dive Expo. Cinema: My Blueberry Nights. My money belt, visa card, camera and watch was stolen from my room.
19 Bangkok: Last day in Asia!
Germany
20 Bangkok-Berlin: 11hrs flight.
29 Berlin-Oslo: 2hrs flight.
I have posted or added pictures to 3 picture albums from the period covered by this travel mail:
#10 Diving Philippines: Alona Beach, Balicasag, Moalboal.
#11 Philippines - Visayas: Tagbilaran, Alona Beach, Dumaguete, Sipalay, La Carlota, Cebu.
#12 Diving Philippines: Dauin, Apo Island, Sipalay.
I have also added 3 videos: Pasalamat Festival, Diving Negros and Philippines.
Comments and greetings in the Guestbook, e-mail or SMS are highly appreciated.
That's it for now! Cu soon!
:)
Helge