Author archive
6 August 2016
Today we finished our last day at Absolute Bangla Suites. The week went quickly. Just as a recap, this was our fabulous deal of NZD99 for 2 pax for 7 nights in a 3.5 star hotel including daily breakfast and nightly 4 course dinner. Yep, all up – not per person and not per night. […]
30 July 2016
Today I fly to Phuket for over a week of hopefully doing very little. It all started with an online promo for a 4-star hotel going at NZD99 for 2 pax, 1 week including breakfast and dinners. The catch is that we need to attend a timeshare presentation for 90 minutes (and it is low/wet […]
29 July 2016
Today I flew to Singapore (which I jokingly call the breakaway republic for historical reasons). It was a cheap way to get to Phuket and actually costs about the same as transiting in Kuala Lumpur. It is less efficient in terms of time but I get to spend some time with my aunt. Singapore culture […]
25 July 2016
I woke early again and set off around 0730 after breakfast. I have big day in front of me getting from Kudat to Kuching by road and flight. First up was the drive from the Tip to Kota Kinabalu took about 3h15 this time to Inanam and a further 40 minutes to the airport. So, basically, […]
24 July 2016
I woke around 0600 to an overcast morning. The sun does rise early here being in the far east of the time zone but it wasn’t so apparent. I had breakfast after 0700 which was way before the official start time of 0800. The tide seemed quite right for swimming but I didn’t want to […]
23 July 2016
This was my latest wake-up since leaving Auckland over three weeks ago. I woke at 0700 after retiring after midnight. Quite a change from the 2030 bedtime and 0330 wakeups I have been having in order to catch early flights etc and then it just continued. Today I leave Kalimantan after two weeks, flying to […]
22 July 2016
A sampling of the local fare in Indonesian Borneo on trips through the years. Posted by Alex Chan on Tuesday, January 8, 2013
22 July 2016
I woke relatively late today at 0600 and had breakfast at 0630. It was a good spread at Palmy Hotel for brekkie. They offered a free shuttle to Berau’s flash new airport. The airport was decorated with Dayak motifs and nice sape music was streaming through. I like how so much of Kalimanatan (except Banjarmasin) […]
21 July 2016
Derawan advice & summary The diving is awesome but come with a friend to share the cost of the boat to the best dive sites. One friend is adequate ‘cos with more people, you need a bigger boat and the price so it doesn’t really get cheaper. It is more of a local getaway and […]
20 July 2016
Getting going I arrived at the diveshop before 0830 and Doris was along shortly after. There was a short wait for the catering from next door before we set off on a small boat “Ferari” (sic) captained by a half-Chinese half-Bajau man (who didn’t look Chinese at all). It was very overcast, which is supposedly […]