Articles from this Category
14 June 2013
My dilemma Today’s arrangements had been a toss-up between walking the Valley of the Winds or climbing Uluru. The English doctor I met yesterday had been convincing me to do the latter as she is a mountain junkie. I’m far from being a mountain junkie and I feel that Kinabalu at 4095m is a big-enough […]
13 June 2013
As I retired at 9pm last night, I woke naturally at 0300 (six hours usually does it for me). I dozed till 0540 when I started to get ready for my 0615 departure to Uluru.I had a nice brekkie of a cheap clearance croissant (heated in a pan), muesli and three-in-one coffee from the supermarket. […]
12 June 2013
With the advantage of 2h time difference, I woke up easily at 0640 to train to Sydney’s domestic airport for my flight to Alice Springs, with a connection to Ayers Rock. It was meant to be a direct flight with Qantas but they had moved that route to subsidiary Jetstar which didn’t fly on a […]
11 June 2013
Arrival formalities at Sydney were quick and in no time, I was at my hostel on George St dropping off my bag so I could head out to the Sydney Harbour Bridge’s Pylon Lookout. This had been something I had wanted to do on previous visits but had always been sidetracked. The Sydney stopover isn’t […]
3 March 2013
I toyed with the idea of replacing my phone. I have a Sony Ericsson Android which was getting badly scratched on the screen; it does everything but in slow motion as it has a slow single-core processor. I felt no urgency in replacing it though; I like its more compact form compared to most smartphones. But on […]
2 March 2013
Above: Mt Mayon from Legazpi. Today I leave Philippines after more than two weeks. Because the hotel breakfast was stodgy and unappealing, I went to the supermarket and bought some mini-muffins, mangoes and milk. It was a much better choice. After lunch, I flew to Manila with a self-connect to Hong Kong where I met […]
1 March 2013
Above: Mt Mayon from the Embarcadero waterfront. Following the successful sightings of the whaleshark, I was happy to leave Donsol. After a wash, I took a tricycle, van and another tricycle to the Ellis Ecotel in Legaspi for my last night in the Philippines. It was intended to be a change in scenery, located next to […]
1 March 2013
I had been of two minds as to whether to do the whale-sharks for a third time in Donsol today. On one hand, chances of a sighting are pretty slim. But on the other hand, I do have the time and it isn’t very much money for something that I could possibly never do again. […]
28 February 2013
Above: Mt Mayon faintly seen from the sea in the early morning before the clouds gather. Today I had my second attempt at Donsol for the whale-sharks. Our group comprised of John and Yvon from Netherlands, plus David and Jane from Singapore. We found a French man to make up the maximum party of six. […]
27 February 2013
Above: Manta on a poster. That’s the closest we got to any manta. I did a day’s diving with Bicol Dive Centre at Donsol, hoping to see mantas at Manta Bowl. Three Dives The dives were led by local dive masters who have better knowledge of the area. We did three dives as follows: One […]