South-East Asia

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2017 Day 3: Sipadan heartbreak

We found out yesterday afternoon that we had been given an extra day of Sipadan (because we asked). So this morning, we paid for the additional permit fee of RM53 pp before we set off at 0830. I missed the name of the first dive. There were some turtles, a white tip reef shark, a […]

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2017 Day 2: Sipadan disappointment

Today, our second day of three days, was at Sipadan. It is the highlight for any diver as it is amongst the best dive sites in the world. Some rate it as #1. We left at 0830 like yesterday but the boat had trouble with one engine. We pulled into the village area for a […]

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2017 Day 1: Underwater Massacre at Mataking

Above:  Docked at Mataking briefly. Today is the first day of three days diving with Sipadan Scuba (officially North Borneo Scuba), an operator I’ve used twice before over a period of eight years. They’re very reliable in terms of guaranteeing Sipadan quota slots once booking has been made and paid for online (non-refundable though). Our […]

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Hello to the world’s best diving

Picture above courtesy of Tony Li. Arriving in Kuala Lumpur for our Transit We were advised to go to the Transfer Desk to find out about our connections. But I had retrieved our booking online and knew that we were on the 0650 to Tawau (a day later than booked). The queue at the Transfer […]

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By the sea

Today, friends Tim and Elena invited me to join them for a drive to their beach property near Lundu.  They had at one stage thought of building there but for now, there is no building there.  It was a lovely outing to get away from the hustle and bustle of Kuching.  

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Riding the North Borneo Railway

I had always wanted to ride on the North Borneo Railway (the only rail service in Borneo) but when I last checked, it was not operating. The tracks were supposedly being refurbished and I expected the service would die a quiet death but surprisingly it was back in operation. I had thought of taking Uber […]

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Back to Borneo

I woke before the alarm at 0530 and hopped to check-out. I told the frontdesk to hold off entering my departure into her system so I could continue to use the wifi to order a Uber cab. Unfortunately there was already a small surge pricing at 0600; it would be more expensive than an honest taxi […]

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Back to Manila & parting thoughts

Above:  My decorated tricycle to the airport. Back to Manila With my flight at 1415 and an 1100 checkout, I took it easy in my room.  My congestion was getting worse but it wasn’t bad bad.  I had a light breakfast of muesli and took my last saltwater (probably brackish rather than pure saltwater) shower […]

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Another lazy day

I had set the day aside free for lazing around, doing an excursion I hadn’t thought of or in case the previous days had been wet.  But with my flu growing I decided to do nothing.  In any case, the only excursion remaining around here were: an Island Hopping trip including dolphin watching (from boat), […]

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Balicasag Island

If you’re staying at Panglao Island near Alona Beach, you will have countless dive operators to choose from that can take you to Balicasag Island for diving.  I did two dives at Balicasag with Go Scuba at Alona. Their office is just on the right as you walk down to Alona Beach from the main road. […]

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