Morning in Manado

Above:  Chinese temple in Manado. We were due to be picked up at 2pm for our boat ride to Bunaken.  That left time for a leisurely breakfast and a walk around town … there’s only really a Chinese temple to visit and that wasn’t quite worthwhile as it wasn’t as impressive as the ones in […]

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Flying to Sulawesi

Killing time Today we fly to Manado in the north-eastern arm of Sulawesi.  We had to checkout at 1000 as it was the required time for Tune Hotel. It wasn’t too much trouble to fill in the time till the 1550 departure: A leisurely breakfast at the patio of the hotel. Walked over to the […]

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Nightstop or Not

When I booked my tickets 7 months ago, the flight from Kuala Lumpur to Manado was an early morning one. And that would require us to fly from Kuching to Kuala Lumpur today (a day in advance) and overnight there beforehand. But a schedule change a few weeks after we made the booking shifted tomorrow’s […]

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Revenge of the Pharoah meets Linda Blair

It is 3am.  Kim is rather sick from both ends … it is like Revenge of the Pharoah meets Linda Blair from Exorcist, the movie. We went to the doctor just to satisfy ourselves that the dehydration isn’t too severe that it would affect his kidneys (which were recently impacted by another event). We don’t […]

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Flying budget

Today we have an early start departing at 0650 flying Perth – Kuala Lumpur, self-connecting to hometown Kuching with a layover of 3h50 which gives us a little bit of buffer in case of delay.  That would see us arriving into Kuching at 1805. The fare from Perth to Kuala Lumpur was AUD65 return plus […]

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Fremantle and friends

With the 5 hour time difference between Auckland and Perth I was out of the hostel at 7am and caught up with a friend Carla for a juice at 8:15!  With a bit of wandering around to follow, I checked out of the hostel by the required time of 10am and spent most of the […]

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Feeling young once more

As a solo traveller in Perth, I had to relive my youth at the backpackers, specifically one called 1201 East. It was too expensive for me to stay in a hotel, being just one person.  It was good to know that I can still feel at home in shared accommodation with shared facilities. It will […]

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Leaving home

I left for Perth on my own today as Kim was staying behind for another day to ensure his mother was well enough before joining me.  It was a pleasant daylight flight leaving at 1425 and arriving at 1710.

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Arrive home

Despite some murmurs of aircraft weight issues, I managed to get on my standby flight home to Auckland.  With the International Deadline, I arrived two days later.

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Taking a walk on the wild side (Warning: Graphic narrative)

It is the last Sunday in September and that means it is Folsom Street Fair … the biggest gay event in San Francisco, especially for those into leather, fur (not of animal origin but on chubby human) and bondage/discipline. It seems to have evolved and there were many women and heterosexual couples dressed up (or […]

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